Winter tires
- Thread starter HelloMsDoll
- Start date
This is both good and bad advice. The good part about going to a vacant snow covered parking lot it you can learn a lot about car control without the fear of running into things. You can experience ABS braking and turning at the same time so you know what to expect. I used practice all sorts of maneuvers/techniques handbrake turns etc. which certainly improved my car control.
Now the bad. As of 2008, you could be charged with "Stunt Driving" for for doing donuts etc. in a vacant, snow covered lot. It's up to the discretion of the officer, but if he's an asshole (and some are) you can get an immediate seven (7) day driver licence suspension, vehicle impoundment and a fine between $2,000 - $10,000 and 100% increase in your insurance rates.
Hopefully if a Cop saw you "practicing" car control in a parking lot, they would give you a break. But since they have the powers to be judge, jury and executioner, I wouldn't count on them letting you off.
Truth! ^^^
If there's one thing for sure, insurance companies know their numbers.
Lol. Spoken like a tire salesman. You must be more knowledgeable than the people doing the testing. I've had mine for a few years and they are great in snow and in the summer. Like I said, fine for the GTA. Maybe if I lived in Barrie I would consider snow tires over the all weather for winter
Good to bring up the ABS. Absolutely every driver should learn how it feels when ABS kicks in and winter in an empty parking lot is the best place to practice. ABS changes the way you brake. The instinct is to back off the pressure when you feel the brakes start to pulse and the noise can be unsettling if you don't know what's happening. But the proper technique with ABS is to simply jam your foot down and let the ABS control the braking pressure - which allows you to just concentrate on steering control. Also good to practice with and without traction control systems. Handbrake turns are one of my favourite manoeuvres but getting harder to do with automatic parking brakes.
I live near Glendon campus so took my daughter to the lower parking lot. Had the entire lot to ourselves (because the hill scares people from driving down). I've also taken her to the big lot in Leaside near the Home Depot. Here we were actually stopped by a cop, but he didn't give us any problems - Just drove up so see what we were doing then just warned us not to do anything crazy and gave a thumbs up. I think if it had been a bunch of teenage boys, or 20 somethings in their "ricer" the cop would have been a little more officious. A Dad teaching his daughter is pretty harmless looking. But you're right - some cops can be assholes to everybody.
I 100% agree, best thing to do is practice and get to know what your car feels like when it starts to slide - and more importantly how to recover. I'm an aggressive drive so I'm always practicing LOL. I actually don't mind ABS but I HATE traction control, but then my car is RWD. I always turn traction control off in slippery conditions.
Agree about traction control - it can really cross you up if you don’t know how it will react. Eg: with TCS on you can’t throttle induce oversteer because many systems will shut down power and pulse the brakes at specific corners to control a detected slide (eg: radical understeer). I had a weird fault with my car too - a Yaw sensor failed, so after turning a corner (at normal speed on dry pavement) the traction control system applied hard brakes on one side (enough to chirp the tires), causing the car to swerve slightly. TCS will save a lot of accidents, but is not perfect so it is good to practice skidding with it on and off.
You clearly know nothing about tires
You also know nothing about tires. All-weather tires were designed exactly for that, so you can drive them in all weather and not have to take them off in the summer (like you do with winter tires).
Ever since I installed my Nokia all-weather tires on my Jeep my driving has become much safer, I rarely skid or spin my wheels anymore
That is absolutely correct
The need for snow tires in the GTA is a subjective one. Yes any vehicle will perform better with snow tires in the winter than with all seasons. How much better will be the performance depends on the type of vehicle and the road conditions. Some vehicles simply must have snow tires while others seem to be almost fine without all season tires. With the mild winters of the past few years sometimes with no snow, then the snow tires may not appear to be useful for many. Add in about 5cm of snow and then many will wish that they had snow tires on for their safety and that of others as traction, stopping distances handling and fuel economy become noticeable. Did the op mention what vehicle she plans to drive this winter?
Under any given winter conditions, snow, ice, slush etc. Winter tires will always outperform all seasons. The greatest benefit of winter tires is reduced braking distances and ability to climb snow covered hills. This comes in handy when you have to avoid cars with all season tires spinning out and getting stuck on hills.
If you're looking for an excellent winter tire at a great price, have a look at these. I used to dive on Bridgestone Blizzaks and I've found these are just as good, for a lot less money.
https://www.sailuntire.ca/plt/WSL2.html
https://www.sailuntire.ca/plt/WST1.html
The people doing the testing to standards set by the tire mfrs themselves, going with a "no child left behind" philosophy? That's why almost every major tire line scores AAAA on the uniform tire quality index (UTQI). Just like all the meat and eggs you buy in stores are grade A, because no one wants to buy grade B products. The "severe snow" mountain snowflake symbol only requires 10% better snow traction than an average all-season tire. If you are satisfied with 10%, raise your standards.
Aren't you the internet tough guy.
No tire can be great in all conditions. All weather tires are a compromise between wear and traction while winter tires have specific design parameters. As the science/manufacturing process improves all-weathers will improve but so will winters. I'm sure recent designed all weathers can match winter designs from 20 years ago but they can't compare to modern winters.
Even in winter tires, there are differences in performance as the tire compounds and the tread patters can be optimized for snow, sleet, or dry cold conditions. There is no way that an all-weather can match them in the factors the winters were designed for.
But if want to wear your khakis to a wedding and a workout then I'm not going to stop you.
Right, I'm not disputing any of that, but you claimed all-weather tires need to be changed, which they don't
The biggest difference between an All Season tire and an All Weather tire is the tread compound. When it gets cold (towards freezing and below), and All Season tire's tread compound loses the pliability to safely maintain optimum grip. The All Weather tire has a compound that maintains pliability at low temps but doesn't get too "squishy" during summer temps and usually has a slightly deeper and more aggressive tread pattern for biting in snow. They are still a compromise but good for somebody who does not want to bother with tire changeover.
The 10% better snow traction that's been mentioned to get the snow designation is a minimum requirement - many snow tires exceed this 10%, so buyers should search reviews before making a purchase. One piece of advice for tire reviews is to discount the reviews at both ends (the overly good and overly negative). Look for balanced reviews. Same advice applies for reviews on this board... LOL! Based upon my own personal use, I'd have no hesitation recommending Michelin X-Ice Xi2's, Bridgestone Blizzak's, or Nokian Hakkapeliita's - probably in that order.
The 10% better snow traction that's been mentioned to get the snow designation is a minimum requirement - many snow tires exceed this 10%, so buyers should search reviews before making a purchase. One piece of advice for tire reviews is to discount the reviews at both ends (the overly good and overly negative). Look for balanced reviews. Same advice applies for reviews on this board... LOL! Based upon my own personal use, I'd have no hesitation recommending Michelin X-Ice Xi2's, Bridgestone Blizzak's, or Nokian Hakkapeliita's - probably in that order.
^^^^ thats pretty much correct.
The only cavaet I wanna add is you're pretty much only gonna get about 3 years out of your all-weather tires before they're bald (or so I'm told). I'm now entering year 2 and mine have lost quite a bit of rubber already.
But IMO you can never pay enough for safety, so I'll be buying another set in 2020
The only cavaet I wanna add is you're pretty much only gonna get about 3 years out of your all-weather tires before they're bald (or so I'm told). I'm now entering year 2 and mine have lost quite a bit of rubber already.
But IMO you can never pay enough for safety, so I'll be buying another set in 2020
I wanted to say thank you to everyone who made recommendations and sent me private messages. I got my snow tires last week and felt SO MUCH SAFER on the drive to work this morning. You guys made my day a little happier <3
Did anybody have to drive last night? I had to go to Waterloo after work, and the roads were pretty bad on the way out. Surprisingly few accidents along the way - just one car off the road on Highway 8 and a couple fender-benders. On the way home the plows/salt trucks had been out on the 401 so the roads were better. Glad I had my snows on though...
Hopefully you purchased a set tires with rims. That way next year all you have to do is go to your tire place and get them simply change them over instead of removing and re balancing the tires. Also call your insurance company and let them know you now have winter tires as they will give you a token rebate.
