Are winter tires a meme?

Not even studs, just a proper winter compund and siping will do so much, even on glare ice.

A good winter friction tire with proper siping does wonders until you have glare ice. We don't usually have that here because everyone is so damn salt and sand happy.

I run Nokian WRG3s on my Subaru year round because I live in northern Ohio and it's my errand car / winter beater. It does great.

Hardly, it was first snow and I was just pushing my limits as long as I could because I didn't want to kill my studs. But realistically, I could not drive out there without extreme caution and looking far ahead in order not to crash.

Well, not on glare ice, but yeah, it'll do a lot in snow.

Git gud.

youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s

>Live in Houston

This.

Also winter tires are not a meme. All seasons are.

...

>At those speeds
Yeah, If I crawled at 16kmh everywhere, I'd trust bare rubber too

Didn't they mandate winter tires for Canucks starting a few years ago?

Do buses get a waiver or is that guy an idiot?

>>>>americans

its mandatory to have winter tiers only from December 15th

>buys all-season tyres
>they are shit in tough winter conditions
>hurr they we're intended for a different market

Do you realize, how retarded you sound?

quebecquois only

>spraying salt while he's about to crash

THE ABSOLUTE MADMAN

bus drivers are fucking bad too

What do you do if braking won't stop you on ice/snow

Try to steer around obstacle, or at least minimize impact.

These stupid fuckers just sat there like a deer in the headlights. And NO ABS. Fucking hell, Canada!

what isn't?

Move car into higher snow for it to slow down or try to find traction elsewhere on the road.

Put the car into a lower gear and hope for the best

Learn from your mistake for driving where the car isn't fit for the road conditions.

NO. I would never consider driving a car in the winter without, the difference is HUGE

Winter tires are just a scam to get people to buy twice as many tires as usual. I don't think I have to tell you who's behind the scam

But you dont wear out the other set while its in storage

>two buses
>a truck
>a cop
>and the truck spraying salt

Can't make this shit up.

>Can't justify spending $500 on winter tires / steels

What's your insurance deductible?

Don't mind him, he's just attempting to deceive.

Trucker fags can chime in on this, but I dont believe they have a winter compound for 22.5.

Now chains would help, but that weight of the buss would tear up the streets.

Problem there isnt snow, its the ice, and a steep street. Only chains, or studded snow tires would help.
That snow plow was also having issues, and he is probably on offroad tires.

How can people be this stupid?
Can't they see ahead that there are several crashed vehicles? Don't they realise they will crash as well?

Well, we .are. talking about Quebec here....

Come on, I was just playing along!

Question for americans; where do you guys buy premium winter tires, aka stuff like Nokian Hakkapeliitta, General Altimax Nordic, Michelin X-Ice 3 and similar tires?

In central Ohio we have these guys: grismertire.com

Discount Tire / America's Tire also carries most everything, or can get them in 2 days.

Dedicated offroad stores. Or shipped north from places in Canada that have them on almost year round

Yes but they wear faster and you're paying to get them swapped all the time. Better off just getting a AWD and some good all seasons

What insurance? Only suckers pay for that scam

In canada theres tons of independent shops who sell them

Most dealers have them too, at a price of course

Do people really pay somebody to swap out their wheels?

I'm not saying this to be an elitist ass, but as long as you have a jack you can trust and a breaker bar & you're able-bodied then there really isn't any point in not doing it yourself

Unless, ofcourse, you get it done for free or you have them stored at a tire-hotel as you don't have the space for them at your home

Myeah, I'd imagine Canada has'em. Stil, don't seem all that generally available in the US, which I kinda understand as you don't really need that class of tires there

saw it happen a few winters ago when I was driving to work. Drove along a street passing a plaza that had a dip with a bend, and there was black ice under the snow. Minivan in front of me goes full speed because "lol what are weather conditions?" and literally turns 180 around into the other lane, while I'm like halted at this point watching this majesty of a moron. Luckily the traffic in the opposite lane had JUST had a gap at the point where the idiot curled into it, and they just started driving again like nothing happened, the other way.

So I start moving down this same bend after making sure they're clear of me, uh oh, same shit even though I'm just going like 20km/h. My tires essentially just didn't grip, while I was turning and my brakes wouldn't stop me. So I put it into neutral, turned the wheel against the fishtailing and pumped the brakes slowly, came to a safe stop in my own lane and continued moving forward cautiously, zero problems.

I've only ever used all season tires, they're supposed to be rated for snow, you just gotta drive according to conditions. I'm really just weary about getting on the highway during heavy snowfall because on ramps can be too slippery and there are always people not driving according to conditions, without snow tires as well. My city does clear up snow very fast though on main streets and highways, so it's only really a problem using side-streets or during the initial snowfall.

>paying for getting your tires changed

Really?

Downshift and pray

Yep, local tire shop ends up being booked solid for 2 months before and after winter just swapping tires. The masses would rather pay $20 a tire then get a single spec of dirt on their hands

Same thing that happens here, but with me being young & strong I'm the designated tire monkey of the family

No different then paying for an oil change. Hell people will go to the dealer just to get a fuse changed.

AWD doesn't help you stop or turn. Winter tires and FWD or RWD will beat out AWD with all seasons every time unless all you care about is getting up hills.

Even then you still might get beat by somebody with winter tires.

An oil change is a degree more complicated than swapping out wheels - and the tools to change a wheel is something all car owners should have, and the knowledge on how to

Not all people have an oil collection pan, filter cup/remover and so on, and people are fucking baffled and helpless when it comes to picking the right oil

Imagine how many idiots would be flinging 20w40 motorcycle oil into their BMW's and similar scenarious

I just buy winter rated off road tires and run em all year. Honestly don't really notice much difference since ice is usually the problem here and winters tires don't really help much on ice. chains or studs is what you want for ice but they are illegal here

>No different then paying for an oil change

Except you're wrong.
You have to get new oil
To replace the oil you would need to raise the car.
You would also need to dispose of the oil

Partly true but it's still a pretty simple process and the owners manual tells you everything you need to know.

>AWD doesn't help you stop

Let's say you're engine braking on a (varying) icy road.
Wouldn't a car with braking on all four tires slow the car down better than from just two tires braking?

AWD helps you keep in control and accelerate, but ultimately is all about those 4 little patches of rubber.

A FWD car with winter tires is better than an AWD car with all seasons.

>I just buy winter rated off road tires and run em all year

Pray tell, how often long does it take for them to be worn out?

Depends on the car but if it's really an issue just park on a curb or something. As for disposing the oil, around here any place that sells oil legally has to take used oil so not an issue. Of course if you're smart you'd want to really get your money's worth out of that oil and buy a waste oil furnace

A RWD car with winter tires is better than an AWD car with all seasons.

You did not answer my question.

If all you were doing was engine braking sure the AWD would be better.

But if you used your brakes in the 2WD car it would be better because of the better tires.

You should try the latest generation of studless winter tires, like the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2, Continental ContiVikingContact 6 and Goodyear UltraGrip Ice2 (last two are only available in northern Europe, to the best of my knowledge). They are damned good, even on ice

This is how many meters it took from 50kph to 0kph on straight ice, with the bold names being studded tires and the normal names being studless. As you can see they are rivalling some of the lower-end studded tires, and even beating a few that was further down on the list, although yes; there is still a huge difference in performance on ice between studded and studless, which is a gap that will always be there

>But if you used your brakes in the 2WD car it would be better because of the better tires.

Totally agree.

Got 4 years out of my last set. I'd be buying off road tires either way and they last about the same so really no reason not to buy a winter rated set unless you're looking for a more aggressive tread pattern

Holy shit dude. Noone uses engine braking on a slippery road jesus fuck. You use your brakepedal, in order to put the ABS into play, and brake on all four wheels. My god what the fuck man.

I just drive slower. Live in the middle of nowhere so it's all open country roads with hardly any traffic. Also don't have a regular job to worry about getting to

90% of my braking is engine braking.

Engine braking won't lock up the wheels at all .

You'll get around just fine even on shitty all-terrains during winter, I understand. Most of the pickups at my job run BFG AT's all year around, and although they can be sketchy as fuck when you're coming down the worst hills and tightest corners we've yet to have someone kill themselves

I'd never use them as winter tires for my personal vehicle, but I recognize that its not complete suicide

Quebec, not even once

It's not just slow, winter tires stay soft and grippy when the temperature falls below 7C/40F

Out of curiousity, what do you do for a living?

Snow tires are for the weak

>ABS
>on ice

BFGs are actually what I went with this time around. Last winter wasn't much of a winter so not sure how well they'll be but they are great running around in muddy fields. As a bonus there's very little road noise compared to most others I've had

>having tires

At that job I work in a ski resort, in the "technical" department. I'll run and operate lifts, help people out, service the lifts, fix stuff, transportation, moving/removing snow and similar stuff. I'll also assist the ski patrol if needed

Ah, righty.

Yes they will. It all depends on traction.

The car would stall then.

Yeah my AT's are fine on anything other then really hard packed snow or ice

No ABS either, so I try my hardest to avoid going out on days with lots of ice, I usually just borrow my parents car if I really need to get somewhere

pic related; typical cozy drive

sounds comfy as fuck senpai

You should fix your traction DS, user

Nokian .. those Finns know how to make winter tires!

>relying on abs
just unplug the abs computer and learn to control your vehicle properly, abs wont help you if you start to spin

Traction was off because it was pretty intrusive on that car and was in sport because I was downshifting down hills prior to that pic I think

DURATRACS

>ABS on ice

Are you retarded m8? WTF is that gonna do on ice?

steer

>Whats threshold braking?

I can also make the wheels spin. Trust me

I live in Montana where the winters can get pretty bad, as well as the roads and I've had all-seasons on my FWD shit boxes and got around just fine. My dad has all-seasons on his 05 outback and has no issues as well.

Kinda. They'll help you stop, maybe.

However, people use winter tires as a substitute for for cautious and responsible winter driving, which is not what they're for.

Same goes for people with AWD / 4WD. They think because they have it, that it will save them from wrecking and allow them to drive as if the roads were dry.

No
Most brands are available everywhere in Alaska but only Anchorage has a shop that stocks Nokian.

A lot of murricans don't get a second set of wheels so they have tires remounted 2x a year.

I scored a wreck with a set of wheels and new looking goodyear ultragrip ice studs for $250+ tow

true I use my old 2wd Hilux to run trash and with sandbags and cheap studded tires I have passed awd cars without good tires stuck on our hill.

Yes but test it again in sub zero arctic temps and I bet the gap widens.

mechanical grip ftw

neat, I used to help out at Aurora Skiland up here. The lift is powered by an ancient cat diesel I would have to coax to life in the morning. I would always hoon the snow go back up through the trees after checking the bull wheel.

>Yes but test it again in sub zero arctic temps and I bet the gap widens.
They did 15-20 tests with each tire in different temperatures, all the way from a few degrees above 0c, and all the way down to -20c or what it was

They're nordic class tires, they all handle whatever sub-zero temperature you throw at them

>The lift is powered by an ancient cat diesel I would have to coax to life in the morning
Aww, we got rid of our last diesel powered lift, an old t-bar, after the last season ended. Its been replaced by a modern Leitner 6-seater now

>They'll help you stop, maybe.

If you get good ones, they'll do more than that.

Had a bit of a storm yesterday, couple inches of wet heavy snow with some pretty decent ice under it.

Saw two wrecks on the way to work, people sliding into other people. Getting off the interstate, there were about 8 cars stuck on a very slight hill right after the stoplight, along with a pepsi truck.

Made it through all that crap just fine with nice winter tires on my FWD econobox.

Mind, I wasn't doing 75 all the way to work either, but the tires definitely help out a shitload.

If you have a Haldex AWD system the back wheels are likely just along for the ride, they don't have any engine power going to them thus you can't engine brake with them. That's why Haldex is fucking stupid, it's not there when you need it the most.