Snow/winter tires & driving (long, sorry)

[veedublu at prod.net (John Van Vuren)]

155/85/13 is the absolute best tire for snow on an A1 VW, in my opinion.
They are cheap, skinny (so the tire has more psi on the contact patch and
also doesn't have to push as much slush, etc out of the way before getting
to the ground), and tall enough to give you decent ground clearance.

My first trip to Colorado  (from Wisconsin)....   did an ice autocross with
my '81 VW Sportruck.  Was running 14" GTI snowflakes with some 185/60/14's,
which I knew wouldn't do very well.  I left the "fat" tires on the back, and
borrowed a set of 155/85/13's on steel wheels for the front.  These tires
were cheap Walmart specials.  Using that combination I was beating the Audi
Quattros who were running Blizzaks.  Only thing faster was a Quattro on
studs.

Take a look at a rally car during a snow stage....   skinniest tires you
ever saw

John


> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Dan Smith" <sad_rocc@yahoo.com>
> To: <scirocco-l@scirocco.org>
> Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 11:16 PM
> Subject: RE: Snow/winter tires & driving (long, sorry)
>
>
> > Speaking of that, what's the narrowest I can go on a set of 13"
> tarantulas? There's someone in town here selling a set of 4 very good snow
> tires for like $100 but they're 165/70/13. I checked my collection of 13"
> rims and I have 185 and 175 width tires, but no 165.
> >
> > Dan