Snow/winter tires & driving (long, sorry)

[MK1Scirocco16v at comcast.net (Dave Ewing)]

Getting long??  Whew, that was the longest question about snow tires I've
ever seen!

Anyway, I wouldn't go with studs as when you get your snow tires on you
probably will wanting your other tires back so you will probably want to use
them as little as possible.  That being said, if WA is going to outlaw studs
I would go for the studless snow and ice tires.  Put them at all 4 wheels
and your good to go!

As far as brands go, I haven't had gobs of experience with snow tire brands
as I live in Western WA and have since I was 17 so most of my conscious life
has been here.  But, I have been able to use a few different kinds in the
mountains and find that some of the best brands are the Goodyear Blizzaks
and the Nokian Hakkapalliitas.  I was once stranded in Seattle (remember a
few years ago the big ice storm??) and everyone was bouncing off one another
(very fun to watch!!) and a friend of mine came to rescue me with his car
sporting the blizzaks and it drove like normal on solid ice!

I spotted a few sets on Ebay if you interested and a good amount of them are
new.  HTH!!

Dave
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "T. Reed" <treed2@u.washington.edu>
To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 2:00 AM
Subject: Snow/winter tires & driving (long, sorry)


> Hey list,
>
> Back in August I moved out of Seattle and in to an area in Eastern
> Washington that reportedly gets snow ~5 months a year. It's getting colder
> by the day (down to ~30 degrees at night) and it's becoming apparent that
> it's going to start snowing pretty soon (in the coming weeks).
>
> Previous to moving I'd lived in Seattle my whole life, so I've never had
> to do much snow driving. When there was snow, I was hesitant to drive
> my Scirocco in it because I didn't want to end up in a ditch or a
> guardrail. That might sound stupid, but in Seattle, ice was always a
> bigger factor than snow. When it snowed it was usually just enough to dust
> the rooftops and not "stick". When it did stick, it would typically melt
> by the afternoon and the roads would stay wet then freeze that night..
> resulting in lots of accidents at night and the next morning. The ice
> would remain frozen (and invisible) in the shade under bridges and
> overpasses even with 40 degree air temperatures. It was very rare to have
> any appreciable accumulation of non-slush snow.
>
> The only snow driving I've done was up at the pass with my brother's
> Rabbit (now sold) w/studded tires, and that was a blast! But we didn't
> care about that car.. so it didn't matter if I slammed sideways in to a
> snow bank. (too bad we didn't have the antlers bolted to the front of
> the hood back then!)
>
> Anyway, the situation is quite a bit different here. So far I have seen
> it get very cold and very windy, and I have a feeling the snow will be
> more powdery than what we had in Seattle, since the humidity here is so
> low. On days that there is no cloud cover, the air really heats up by
> noon or so.. but it can stay cold all day when it's overcast. I can
> picture there being significant amounts of snow on the ground if it
> remained overcast for several days.
>
> So, I'm thinking about buying a set of snow tires and I would appreciate
> some advice from those with experience (both using snow tires and driving
> in the snow)
>
> When I say "snow tires", what I really mean is someone else's used snow
> tires on a set of stock rims. I'm a broke-ass college student so I can't
> quite afford to run out and buy 4 new Blizzaks.
>
> What's the deal with studs? They're still legal in WA for at least 1 more
> year; my understanding is they help more with ice than with snow. But I'd
> like to be safe on both, so I guess I'd want studded tires? Do they have
> any disadvantages other than tearing up the pavement?
>
> Thinner tires do better in snow, right? But of course have worse traction
> when dry..
>
> I've been drifting around some crushed-gravel roads (don't worry, I'm
> being extra careful not to harm my 'baby') at high speeds trying to get a
> feel for controlling the car with less than perfect traction. I'm still
> fighting my impulsive overcorrection around tight corners. I'm having lots
> of fun, though!
>
> I'm sure one of you will chime in with an exact explanation of how FWD
> cars react to loosing traction in various places and while performing
> different maneuvers, but so far I've noticed that the back end likes to
> swing out around hard corners, at least until I step on the gas a bit.
> I've also noticed that I can steer in gravel much better if I keep moving
> the steering wheel left-and-right constantly, rather than holding it
> perfectly still.
>
> Also, it seems a lot easier to get going if I start out in 2nd gear then
> shift early to 3rd or 4th at 5-10 mph. The torque at the wheels drops to a
> value low enough to keep them from just spinning and throwing gravel.
>
> What I'd like to learn about most is how to stop in snow or ice; I can
> picture scenarios in my head where somebody pulls out in front of me
> without looking and I just go gliding in to their bumper. The obvious
> preventative solution is to 'not go fast', but let's be realistic here! I
> live on the highest hill in town..
>
> I'm kinda afraid that since my braking (ferodo pads up front, brembo
> rotors, properly bled and flushed w/castrol gtlma) and acceleration
> capabilities (well-tuned cis-e 2.0l 16v with eurocam and 4k tranny) are
> quite a bit above average, when my traction drops off-- the brakes will
> just lock up (that can be dealt with to an extent by modulating them, I
> know), and the wheels will just spin when I step on the gas or just try
> to get going.
>
> My daily commute is.. well, on foot. But every 2-3 days I need to go
> somewhere (ie. buy groceries); typically no further than 16 miles round
> trip. The only exception to that would be when I'd occasionally want to
> make the 300 mile trip back to Seattle to see friends and relatives. To
> do this I have to drive on a lot of long, flat, country roads then cross
> a steep mountain pass. So the first 275 miles of that trip (the part
> through eastern washington and the mountains) would probably have snow. It
> takes 5 hours when you're averaging 70 mph, I can't imagine how long it
> will take with that much snow. Ugh.
>
> Okay, this is getting really long. I'll just stop here.
>
> -Toby
>
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