Are Front-Wheel Drive and All-Season Tires Enough for Winter Driving?

[KennyGS]

 

[dentrecords]

Oh yeah. I don't know if they salt the roads in the prairies.. but salt + steel + moisture + 5 seasons = a wee bit less pristine

 

[webby]

flat black could be interesting... do you have a way to get all the rust off easily?

 

[iluvmycsx]

flat black could be interesting... do you have a way to get all the rust off easily?

i just used steel wool and a hand sander most of the rust was just surface rust.

Oh yeah. I don't know if they salt the roads in the prairies.. but salt + steel + moisture + 5 seasons = a wee bit less pristine

use more sand than salt just cause the fact that salt only works till a certain temp and most of the months of jan/feb its -40

 

[dentrecords]

use more sand than salt just cause the fact that salt only works till a certain temp and most of the months of jan/feb its -40

touche

 

[webby]

-40!

 

[K-Dubs]

Great review on page 1 about the Blizzaks. I've got my heart set on the WS70s... went to Belle Tire, and they want $950 for 4 of them and some 16 inch steel wheels. I've been looking on TireRack. For $850 I can get 4 Blizzak WS70s, 4 steel wheels with bolt on covers, AND the TPMS sensors, all mounted, balanced and shipped to me. Then I can take those to Belle Tire and have them put on the car for 15 bucks. The only reason the guy could give me for buying them at Belle Tire was that if I have a warranty issue, they're "local" (30 minute drive for me), instead of having to take them to South Bend, Indiana, which is a 45 minute drive for me. Belle Tire can't even get the sensors for my car, supposedly they are dealership only, but TireRack seems to have them.

Belle was too busy to get into any kind of conversation with them about 15 inch vs 16 inch. TireRack recommends 15 inch, but they recommend 205/60R15 in the Blizzak WS60. They only have 195/65R15 available in the WS70. I have heard that a narrower tire is better in the winter, so I'd think the 195s would be better, but they recommend the 205s... do I really care? Why is a 15 inch wheel better than a 16 inch?

I live in Michigan, and they're predicting a horrid winter. My biggest concern is that our roads are the last to get plowed... the county only plows from 8-4, M-F, and I'm an RN, so I can't just randomly call into work because I can't get my car down the road. The Civic sits way lower than my Corolla (which I never had a problem with)...

Incidently, the review talks about the OEM tires being Bridgestone. Mine are Continentals... not sure if they are better or worse.

 

[Nix]

I believe the idea behind 15 vs 16 in the snow is that the narrower tire profile of the 15 allows the tire to "cut" down through the snow to reach the pavement better. But it is a tradeoff. The wider tire is better on ice and the narrower better in snow. I don't think you would go wrong with either. What size wheel did your car come with?

 

[webby]

Original Equipment tire and wheel sizing has evolved over the years to where yesterday's typical 13", 14" and 15" sizes have been replaced with today's 16", 17", 18" and larger sizes. For that matter, many current cars, vans and light trucks now feature wide, low profile tires mounted on large diameter wheels as standard equipment or factory options.

Unfortunately wide, low profile tires have to "plow" a wide path through deep snow, where narrower tires have an easier time. So if you're likely to drive through deep snow this year, you'll want winter / snow tires and wheels in sizes that help put the laws of physics on your side.

For example, a 2012 Honda Accord EX Sedan would store its original 225/50R17-sized tires in favor of the 2012 Honda Accord SE Sedan's 215/60R16-sized winter tires on 16" wheels. While only a small dimensional difference, this combination will reduce your cost while increasing your vehicle's winter-time traction.

 

[K-Dubs]

I have an EX-L, which came standard with P205/55R16. My Corolla LE had 15 inch wheels, where the S came with 16 inch wheels. I always heard the S wasn't as good in the snow. Maybe I'll just order the 15s. It is a lot cheaper, and it sounds like it might be the better route. I wonder about the 205s vs the 195s though. Too many choices! I could go with the WS60 205s, but to get the newer WS70, I'd have to get 195s. Now if I could just figure out how to swap them myself, I could avoid the big lines to get them swapped at a tire place.

 

[webby]

you can see the actual differences here -

option 1 versus stock - 205/60-15

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option 2 versus stock - 195/65-15

as you can see, the 195 has .2 inches taller sidewall. Honestly, either option will be an improvement over the stock tires in winter. As for swapping them over - you can totally do this yourself. Have you never had to change a tire before? You can use the jack that comes with the car, and swap one tire at a time from your OEM wheels.

 

[K-Dubs]

Actually... I never have had to change a tire before. I had a flat tire one time when I came out of work. As it turned out, it took multiple people to get the stupid wheel off the car so the spare could be mounted. I wound up getting new tires later, and Discount Tire couldn't even get the wheels off the car... they sent me to Lentz, who completely ruined the wheels getting them off. They were some fancy painted crap (this was an 87 Grand Am SE), and they were all gouged up after Lentz finally got them off the car. I have never been back to Lentz. They totally lied about ruining the wheels... then they said that I brought the car there at my own risk. Morons.

I'm going back and forth between Blizzak and X-Ice. The Blizzaks (WS-70) are out of stock until 12/19. The X-Ice I can get now, but I'm really thinking the Blizzaks will work better for my purposes.

 

[webby]

I have no clue what happened with your previous tires, but that is not normal. It is a simple process, and you could totally do it yourself. Take a look at this video


You'd just repeat the process at the end of winter to put your OEM tires back on.

 

[Michael Hogains]

It's all about the driver is think. I made it out of a closed frwy in The snow with all season tires just make sure ur in the right gear and at the right speed and keep your distance.

Sent from my 4g 3d lg thrill using tapatalk

 

[webby]

unfortunately, you can't always count on the drivers around you.

 

[07TLX]

I can't agree more Webby, I already don't trust any driver on the road but when the snow is falling I get even worse and start thinking that everyone in the road is out to hit me and kill me and I know that the snow tires on my car has helped me enough to justify the cost 3x over so far...

 

[webby]

Well, I've seen plenty of drivers in the northeast on tires looking like drag slicks. If you live in a snow belt, it's not happening. You'll either cause a wreck, or you won't be able to avoid one.

 

[Nix]

My recommendation would be to fit snows to the stock wheels and buy a nice looking set of wheels and performance tires for summer.

And who needs "treads" on a tire anyway? Race cars have way more traction and they don't have ANY!!! hahaha

 

[Ian Robertson]

I'm originally from Chicago, moved to Texas for school. Let me just say....beware of southern drivers in snow. They have a fatal combination of lack of experience and cockiness. They kick their truck into 4x4 mode and keep right on driving at 80 MPH like nothings happened. One day I was in class, the snow started coming down. On the way home I saw easily 10 accidents...and there was only a few inches on the ground at that point. You'd have thought the car graveyard on the side of the highway would've taught some drivers a lesson, but nope. F250's were still passing me going 75 miles an hour and up. Later that week I heard my cousin had been one of those jackasses. I asked him why he was going so fast if it was snowing and his answer was this.

"I thought four wheel drive helped you stop better in snow too!"

0____0

 

[Michael Hogains]

up hill 2nd gear keep ur distance and cruise on around. down hill 1st gear and coast around lol. wow thats some crazyness ive never seen that out here b4 geeze. they need to go back to driving school.