7 ms·

Put winter tires on your vehicles. I'm surprised by the number of people who tool around in snow and ice in 'all season' tires. Also, that writing tone is obno

Put winter tires on your vehicles. I'm surprised by the number of people who tool around in snow and ice in 'all season' tires. Also, that writing tone is obnoxious.

bigstrat2003 7mo ago
Eh, all seasons do you just fine. Not worth the effort to put winter tires on, imo.
- antupis 7mo ago
  Difference is pretty big if it’s icy like breaking 100 meters vs 10 meters. Especially if there’s wildlife like reindeers/moose’s you are going to do emergency breathing semi regularly.
  - literalAardvark 7mo ago
    If it's icy there's no difference at all. The only tyres that do anything on ice are the ones with spikes or chains. If it's snowy a good modern all weather tyre can hold its own, but will brake a few feet later than a good winter tyre. In all other conditions a good all weather is a lot better than winter tyres, and pretty close to a good summer tyre.
    - ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
      You must live in Florida or be a terrible driver. The difference between winter and all seasons is very apparent.
      - literalAardvark 7mo ago
        It is. However the difference between winter and a modern all weather (it's a different class) isn't. And yes, we're probably terrible drivers. I do not live in Florida. 45N, continental winters. I'm never using winter tyres again unless society breaks down and no one shovels the roads anymore.
        kjkjadksj 7mo ago
        There are laws of physics you can’t hand waive away. Winter tires are really more cold temp tires. The rubber formulation is different to allow for grip in the cold and dry (tread pattern for cold and snow). As such a winter tire wears heavily driven in the summer, rubber formulation is just too soft. For an all season that level of summer wear would be unacceptable. So a different formulation is used to improve summer wear at the cost of the winter low temp performance. You can’t have it both ways, a long wearing summer performance and good sub 40 degree grip.
        literalAardvark 7mo ago
        Please read the studies in this thread. Modern high quality all weather tyres are excellent in summer and winter. Except on actual snow, where they're just ok, because of the hybrid sipe patterns, and ice, where they suck exactly as much as everything else except studded tyres (which suck on tarmac instead).
        ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
        Even after the streets are plowed there's still a bit of snow on the main roads and a lot on the side roads. Maybe you live in a place with really mild winters, but my car would have drifted into a ditch many times this winter if I didn't swap my tires.
        literalAardvark 7mo ago
        No one is saying to drive all year with your summers. Those will glass in winter.
        ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
        Assuming every road you drive on in the winter will be perfectly plowed and salted is a great way to end up in a ditch.
      - Slothrop99 7mo ago
        Just pointing out - a lot of snowy areas are very aggressive about plowing (and salting). For most people this is probably like "don't drive tomorrow" and not some need for knobby snow tires.
        kjkjadksj 7mo ago
        Even when the road is dry the rubber compound is a lot softer on winter tires so you get significantly more grip than all season or summer in cold temps when they get hard.
    - deleted 7mo ago
      [deleted]
    - nucleardog 7mo ago
      I... Well, I had started explaining point by point how wrong this is but frankly the answer is just "all of it, very". I've driven summer tires, all season tires, winter tires, and studded winter tires in every season in Canada. (Yes, I live in Canada and own borderline-usless summer-only tires. Yes, I've tried driving them in snow.) None of what you're saying lines up with my own experience, various YouTube videos on braking distances, or literally anything else I've ever seen anywhere. Edit: And, well, to be clear... I've lived on the West coast of Canada where it's a bit more mild but you're in the mountains, in the middle where it hits -50, and in the East where it only hits -30 but snows like hell.
      - kalleboo 7mo ago
        There are also actual studies that show the difference https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-66968-2_89 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-66968-2_...
        literalAardvark 7mo ago
        Yes, there are. And they show that it's a trade-off well worth investigating. Do you really want 10% better performance on snow at the cost of 10% worse performance on tarmac? How much do you drive on snow anyway? Probably nowhere near as long as you do on tarmac, even in a tough winter.
- joecool1029 7mo ago
  You’re right usually (about not needing blizzaks) but there’s important nuance here. There are warm all season (with usual M+S stamped on, this just means tread pattern, nothing about compound) and winter all-season with a compatible compound for cold conditions. The industry created a logo for the tires some years back it’s like 3 peak mountain snowflake or something. This ensures the compound is soft enough to keep gripping in freezing temperatures. It’s required in some jurisdictions (Quebec I think and maybe some lake effect zones)
  - Ekaros 7mo ago
    There is lot of variation between tires. From summer, to all season, to European winter to Nordic winter(studdles or studded). Only Nordic ones designed specifically for snow and ice are really usable in conditions where there is often snow and ice. They fare worse in wet not freezing conditions and ofc in dry. But not all winter tires are made equivalent.
    - colechristensen 7mo ago
      Following an ambulance a couple years back I was up to 110 mph on my rather aggressive snow tires and was just fine. Not to say it wasn't a little worse, but I was fine. Everything you're saying is an exaggeration. A whole lot of people in snowy areas don't drive with snow tires and are usually fine. Good snow tires are a bit of a superpower up north but we all learn how to drive without them being a requirement outside of times where traveling at all is questionable.
    - fifilura 7mo ago
      I only trust studded tiers (but i live close to a non-paved road that is always very icy during the end of the season). But that said - there are lots of research that points towards that studded tires kill more people than they save lives because of the asphalt particles they cause. But then there are people that claim that non-studded cars rely on at least 10% cars with studded tires to make the surface more rugged/rough. Anyway, down the rabbit hole.
qixv 7mo ago
I find it quite funny. I read it as if he is obnoxious towards himself, because the lessons presented are learned the hard way.
dlcarrier 7mo ago
I'm in the foothills in Northern California, and I've never met anyone here that changes their ties out for winter. When there's chain controls, they'll let you through if you have winter rated tires, including all-season, and all-wheel drive, otherwise you need chains. Everyone I know who drives a lot in the snow gets a vehicle with all-wheel drive and everyone else carries chains. (really they're cables, on a small vehicle) The difference between what winter-only tires can handle vs winter-rated all-season tires is so minimal that they're not with getting. Chance ate conditions are either fine for the all-season tie or there so bad that the difference is inconsequential and you need all-wheel drive or chains. I've only heard of people changing their tires on the Midwest, where snowfalls are in the inches, not feet.
- brabel 7mo ago
  Interesting, here in Sweden it’s mandatory to change tires. Once I did it a bit late and drove on some ice, just a little. The car was like on ice skates for a little while .
  - matttproud 7mo ago
    Driving discipline, culture, and rules in North America are Mickey Mouse. The reality of car dependency there means that there are people driving and owning cars who can't really afford to do it properly, nor do they know they need to do it properly (e.g., having a second set of tires for the winter). You can see this evidenced by the rust buckets on the road that look like they are one pothole away from losing part of the vehicle body. Deferred maintenance and investment everywhere and in everything …
    - NetMageSCW 7mo ago
      The United States also covers a vast difference in climate. What good are snow tires for people in South Florida, or Texas, or New Mexico? Where I live I switch between summer and all season cause we get enough snow to justify snow tires once a decade for a couple of days. This year has been the worse with two weekends with a decent amount of snow that was cleaned off the roads by Tuesday.
shaky-carrousel 7mo ago
The writing tone is obviously self-deprecating.
xxs 7mo ago
Around this parts of Europe, they are mandatory.

Put winter tires on your vehicles. I'm surprised by the number of people who tool around in snow and ice in 'all season' tires. Also, that writing tone is obnoxious.

bigstrat2003 7mo ago

Eh, all seasons do you just fine. Not worth the effort to put winter tires on, imo.

antupis 7mo ago
Difference is pretty big if it’s icy like breaking 100 meters vs 10 meters. Especially if there’s wildlife like reindeers/moose’s you are going to do emergency breathing semi regularly.
- literalAardvark 7mo ago
  If it's icy there's no difference at all. The only tyres that do anything on ice are the ones with spikes or chains. If it's snowy a good modern all weather tyre can hold its own, but will brake a few feet later than a good winter tyre. In all other conditions a good all weather is a lot better than winter tyres, and pretty close to a good summer tyre.
  - ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
    You must live in Florida or be a terrible driver. The difference between winter and all seasons is very apparent.
    - literalAardvark 7mo ago
      It is. However the difference between winter and a modern all weather (it's a different class) isn't. And yes, we're probably terrible drivers. I do not live in Florida. 45N, continental winters. I'm never using winter tyres again unless society breaks down and no one shovels the roads anymore.
      - kjkjadksj 7mo ago
        There are laws of physics you can’t hand waive away. Winter tires are really more cold temp tires. The rubber formulation is different to allow for grip in the cold and dry (tread pattern for cold and snow). As such a winter tire wears heavily driven in the summer, rubber formulation is just too soft. For an all season that level of summer wear would be unacceptable. So a different formulation is used to improve summer wear at the cost of the winter low temp performance. You can’t have it both ways, a long wearing summer performance and good sub 40 degree grip.
        literalAardvark 7mo ago
        Please read the studies in this thread. Modern high quality all weather tyres are excellent in summer and winter. Except on actual snow, where they're just ok, because of the hybrid sipe patterns, and ice, where they suck exactly as much as everything else except studded tyres (which suck on tarmac instead).
        ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
        Even after the streets are plowed there's still a bit of snow on the main roads and a lot on the side roads. Maybe you live in a place with really mild winters, but my car would have drifted into a ditch many times this winter if I didn't swap my tires.
        literalAardvark 7mo ago
        No one is saying to drive all year with your summers. Those will glass in winter.
        ThrowawayTestr 7mo ago
        Assuming every road you drive on in the winter will be perfectly plowed and salted is a great way to end up in a ditch.
    - Slothrop99 7mo ago
      Just pointing out - a lot of snowy areas are very aggressive about plowing (and salting). For most people this is probably like "don't drive tomorrow" and not some need for knobby snow tires.
      - kjkjadksj 7mo ago
        Even when the road is dry the rubber compound is a lot softer on winter tires so you get significantly more grip than all season or summer in cold temps when they get hard.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - nucleardog 7mo ago
    I... Well, I had started explaining point by point how wrong this is but frankly the answer is just "all of it, very". I've driven summer tires, all season tires, winter tires, and studded winter tires in every season in Canada. (Yes, I live in Canada and own borderline-usless summer-only tires. Yes, I've tried driving them in snow.) None of what you're saying lines up with my own experience, various YouTube videos on braking distances, or literally anything else I've ever seen anywhere. Edit: And, well, to be clear... I've lived on the West coast of Canada where it's a bit more mild but you're in the mountains, in the middle where it hits -50, and in the East where it only hits -30 but snows like hell.
    - kalleboo 7mo ago
      There are also actual studies that show the difference https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-66968-2_89 https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-66968-2_...
      - literalAardvark 7mo ago
        Yes, there are. And they show that it's a trade-off well worth investigating. Do you really want 10% better performance on snow at the cost of 10% worse performance on tarmac? How much do you drive on snow anyway? Probably nowhere near as long as you do on tarmac, even in a tough winter.
joecool1029 7mo ago
You’re right usually (about not needing blizzaks) but there’s important nuance here. There are warm all season (with usual M+S stamped on, this just means tread pattern, nothing about compound) and winter all-season with a compatible compound for cold conditions. The industry created a logo for the tires some years back it’s like 3 peak mountain snowflake or something. This ensures the compound is soft enough to keep gripping in freezing temperatures. It’s required in some jurisdictions (Quebec I think and maybe some lake effect zones)
- Ekaros 7mo ago
  There is lot of variation between tires. From summer, to all season, to European winter to Nordic winter(studdles or studded). Only Nordic ones designed specifically for snow and ice are really usable in conditions where there is often snow and ice. They fare worse in wet not freezing conditions and ofc in dry. But not all winter tires are made equivalent.
  - colechristensen 7mo ago
    Following an ambulance a couple years back I was up to 110 mph on my rather aggressive snow tires and was just fine. Not to say it wasn't a little worse, but I was fine. Everything you're saying is an exaggeration. A whole lot of people in snowy areas don't drive with snow tires and are usually fine. Good snow tires are a bit of a superpower up north but we all learn how to drive without them being a requirement outside of times where traveling at all is questionable.
  - fifilura 7mo ago
    I only trust studded tiers (but i live close to a non-paved road that is always very icy during the end of the season). But that said - there are lots of research that points towards that studded tires kill more people than they save lives because of the asphalt particles they cause. But then there are people that claim that non-studded cars rely on at least 10% cars with studded tires to make the surface more rugged/rough. Anyway, down the rabbit hole.

qixv 7mo ago

I find it quite funny. I read it as if he is obnoxious towards himself, because the lessons presented are learned the hard way.

dlcarrier 7mo ago

I'm in the foothills in Northern California, and I've never met anyone here that changes their ties out for winter. When there's chain controls, they'll let you through if you have winter rated tires, including all-season, and all-wheel drive, otherwise you need chains. Everyone I know who drives a lot in the snow gets a vehicle with all-wheel drive and everyone else carries chains. (really they're cables, on a small vehicle) The difference between what winter-only tires can handle vs winter-rated all-season tires is so minimal that they're not with getting. Chance ate conditions are either fine for the all-season tie or there so bad that the difference is inconsequential and you need all-wheel drive or chains. I've only heard of people changing their tires on the Midwest, where snowfalls are in the inches, not feet.

brabel 7mo ago
Interesting, here in Sweden it’s mandatory to change tires. Once I did it a bit late and drove on some ice, just a little. The car was like on ice skates for a little while .
- matttproud 7mo ago
  Driving discipline, culture, and rules in North America are Mickey Mouse. The reality of car dependency there means that there are people driving and owning cars who can't really afford to do it properly, nor do they know they need to do it properly (e.g., having a second set of tires for the winter). You can see this evidenced by the rust buckets on the road that look like they are one pothole away from losing part of the vehicle body. Deferred maintenance and investment everywhere and in everything …
  - NetMageSCW 7mo ago
    The United States also covers a vast difference in climate. What good are snow tires for people in South Florida, or Texas, or New Mexico? Where I live I switch between summer and all season cause we get enough snow to justify snow tires once a decade for a couple of days. This year has been the worse with two weekends with a decent amount of snow that was cleaned off the roads by Tuesday.

shaky-carrousel 7mo ago

The writing tone is obviously self-deprecating.

xxs 7mo ago

Around this parts of Europe, they are mandatory.