First trip out in the snow, confused where to put this, tires?

R

Road Warrior2

:
Mazda CX5 Touring with PEP
Exactly what I did not want to happen happened. I had to drive my 2 week old CX5 in the snow. I have an Xterra beater for winter duty.

I was at work on a 5 day trip. I was in Indianapolis and came home Sunday, headed for Erie PA and then another 1.25hr south after that stop. South of Cleveland, it began snowing all sorts of stuff, snow, sleet freezing rain, ice balls..... accumulated about a solid 3 inches. Came down fast. Came down harder and faster after I finished work. So now I had to drive home 1 hour.

I have the Yoko all season tires that came stock with the vehicle. Not a slip or slide or trouble with traction control etc. Roads were between packed snow cover and slush. Felt like very firm controlled footing.
 
Road Warrior2 said:
Exactly what I did not want to happen happened. I had to drive my 2 week old CX5 in the snow. I have an Xterra beater for winter duty.

I was at work on a 5 day trip. I was in Indianapolis and came home Sunday, headed for Erie PA and then another 1.25hr south after that stop. South of Cleveland, it began snowing all sorts of stuff, snow, sleet freezing rain, ice balls..... accumulated about a solid 3 inches. Came down fast. Came down harder and faster after I finished work. So now I had to drive home 1 hour.

I have the Yoko all season tires that came stock with the vehicle. Not a slip or slide or trouble with traction control etc. Roads were between packed snow cover and slush. Felt like very firm controlled footing.
Click to expand...

FWD or AWD?
 
Road Warrior2 said:
Exactly what I did not want to happen happened. I had to drive my 2 week old CX5 in the snow. I have an Xterra beater for winter duty.

I was at work on a 5 day trip. I was in Indianapolis and came home Sunday, headed for Erie PA and then another 1.25hr south after that stop. South of Cleveland, it began snowing all sorts of stuff, snow, sleet freezing rain, ice balls..... accumulated about a solid 3 inches. Came down fast. Came down harder and faster after I finished work. So now I had to drive home 1 hour.

I have the Yoko all season tires that came stock with the vehicle. Not a slip or slide or trouble with traction control etc. Roads were between packed snow cover and slush. Felt like very firm controlled footing.
Click to expand...

Are you trying to make the point that you dont need winter tyres?

You do.
 
some countries have strict laws that force you to use winter tyres during winter when there is ice and snow and there is a very strong evidence for how your car behaves with and with out winter tyres during winter road conditions. Just go and look at the you tube videos telling you just that. It does not matter if your car has AWD or FWD. Be safe, use winter tyres if your climate demands it.
 
I believe much of your experiences in these snowy conditions are by and large measured by your driving habits. I agree with others, if you're in an area that demands optimal traction I would invest in snow tires. That said, I live in Maryland and have never needed them.
 
Anchorman said:
Are you trying to make the point that you don’t need winter tyres?

You do.
Click to expand...

Me personally, no, I don't. I have been driving for 40 years. I have been a commercial driver in the NE US for 15 years. I work up in what is called the snow belt where lake effect snow can be unpredictable and heavy at times. My experience with what I encountered the other night again confirmed I don't need winter tires.

This was a good test of the tires and drive system of the car. They worked very well and I could really not tell if I had any slippage at all, whether that was from the TCS or not. The possibility that I might encounter conditions that were so poor for driving that the only way I could proceed was with snow tires is somewhere between slim and none. If it gets that bad, I find a place to stop, perhaps eat and give it a little time for the State to get out and treat the roads. I don't live in a nanny state that, by law, forces a driver to install such equipment. Now the company I work for, the first sign of ice or snow, the signage comes out about employees wearing the Yak Trax pull on shoe spikes while on company property or time.
 
Glad they worked for you, I on the other hand was not impressed with the snow performance of the stock Yokohama Geolandars and replaced them. While my Yoko's would slide all over the place, my new tires do not at all.
 
rj_make said:
I believe much of your experiences in these snowy conditions are by and large measured by your driving habits. I agree with others, if you're in an area that demands optimal traction I would invest in snow tires. That said, I live in Maryland and have never needed them.
Click to expand...

RJ, do you remember the big Nor'easter 2 years ago that engulfed pretty much the whole east coast the third week of January? and all the traffic that got stuck on the PA turnpike for longer than a day? I was in that mess and sat for 24 hours in my commercial bus. Yes, the people that do not get much experience with driving in poor conditions, they need snow tires and the further south you get from where I mainly live and work, they REALLY need snow tires because they just do not adjust their driving habits to drive in those conditions.

That day, everyone knew the storm was coming. I had to go to DC with people from Erie, PA that already had feet of snow on the ground, just like they always do. They heard that there was going to be more feet of snow on the ground and decided to go anyway, despite the warnings that DC was closed for business and all were advised to stay away. We headed for home about 4pm in the afternoon, the snow had already started and it took us 4 hours to travel what normally took 2 hours(DC to Breezewood). We got to Breezewood, took a meal break and then got back after it, went about 30 miles and everything came to a stop and there we sat for 24 hours. We did not have snow tires on any of our buses and could have driven thru the conditions if the road was free of traffic, but it was not as 2 trucks had collided and closed the road ahead that could only be accessed by way of a tunnel going downhill to the accident(jersey barrier down the center of the highway, tall hillsides to the right). Our state sent all the crews and equipment over toward the state capitol to treat the roads there rather than keeping people in place to do the job we pay them to do here. Thanks Nanny State. The tow truck got stuck trying to clear the accident and the State treatment truck got stuck too and it was game over.
 
ColoradoDriver said:
Glad they worked for you, I on the other hand was not impressed with the snow performance of the stock Yokohama Geolandars and replaced them. While my Yoko's would slide all over the place, my new tires do not at all.
Click to expand...

Those tires might suck in Colorado as you get a different moisture content of snow than we do in the east, your's tends to be a dryer snow ours is wet and somewhat sticky. Now if it gets really cold, our wet and sticky will turn to ice, but the colder it gets on ice the less slippery it becomes. Sort of like what is more slippery a wet ice cube or a dry one.

I had no idea how these tires would perform on snow, this was just the first try with them. I might find out later on that they are not that good in snow and then I'll have to consider getting snows. It won't be this season as I plan to park the CX5 for the remainder of the winter and drive my Xterra for the foreseable future. Am also considering getting a second set of wheels for the new CX5 and doing summer tires on them if I see the need for snows.
 
Road Warrior2 said:
Those tires might suck in Colorado as you get a different moisture content of snow than we do in the east, your's tends to be a dryer snow ours is wet and somewhat sticky. Now if it gets really cold, our wet and sticky will turn to ice, but the colder it gets on ice the less slippery it becomes. Sort of like what is more slippery a wet ice cube or a dry one.
Click to expand...

Makes sense.
 
It’s up to individuals where the law doesn’t dictate it but trying to convince oneself that normal all season tyres are as good as winter tyres is somewhat naive. It might be possible to get along with all season tyres but they are not as capable and not as safe. It’s a scientific fact.
 
Road Warrior2 said:
RJ, do you remember the big Nor'easter 2 years ago that engulfed pretty much the whole east coast the third week of January? and all the traffic that got stuck on the PA turnpike for longer than a day? I was in that mess and sat for 24 hours in my commercial bus. Yes, the people that do not get much experience with driving in poor conditions, they need snow tires and the further south you get from where I mainly live and work, they REALLY need snow tires because they just do not adjust their driving habits to drive in those conditions.

That day, everyone knew the storm was coming. I had to go to DC with people from Erie, PA that already had feet of snow on the ground, just like they always do. They heard that there was going to be more feet of snow on the ground and decided to go anyway, despite the warnings that DC was closed for business and all were advised to stay away. We headed for home about 4pm in the afternoon, the snow had already started and it took us 4 hours to travel what normally took 2 hours(DC to Breezewood). We got to Breezewood, took a meal break and then got back after it, went about 30 miles and everything came to a stop and there we sat for 24 hours. We did not have snow tires on any of our buses and could have driven thru the conditions if the road was free of traffic, but it was not as 2 trucks had collided and closed the road ahead that could only be accessed by way of a tunnel going downhill to the accident(jersey barrier down the center of the highway, tall hillsides to the right). Our state sent all the crews and equipment over toward the state capitol to treat the roads there rather than keeping people in place to do the job we pay them to do here. Thanks Nanny State. The tow truck got stuck trying to clear the accident and the State treatment truck got stuck too and it was game over.
Click to expand...

Indeed, those who don't have much experience in such driving conditions are going to have problems. Those, such as yourself, who know how and have more experience will only be stopped by others or by obstacles.
 
Anchorman said:
It’s up to individuals where the law doesn’t dictate it but trying to convince oneself that normal all season tyres are as good as winter tyres is somewhat naive. It might be possible to get along with all season tyres but they are not as capable and not as safe. It’s a scientific fact.
Click to expand...

That is true, but I would just add (and I'm sure you know) the best performing winter ties will be useless to those who are inexperienced in driving is such conditions or are just plain reckless, where as those who have experience and heed to cautionary driving may be just fine in the same conditions with good all weather.

There's no doubt that well designed winter tires have better handling characteristics in said conditions.
 
You have to just slide off the road once in your life time during winter ice and snow to make you realise how important the winter tyres are. Or even feel the car slipning on turn and anti slip system trying very hard to Keep it on track and you feeling helpless trying to controll the slide on ice will convince you why winter tyres are worth it.
 
I live in Phoneix, I drive on summer performance tires all year because well... if it gets below 50 degrees that's "inclement" weather and I take my truck. (lol2)

But if I lived anywhere where it got below 40 degrees on the regular, I would buy "winter tires". Note I did not say "snow" tires but WINTER tires. Why winter tires? well they stay softer in colder weather, improving traction, not just in snow/ice conditions but in cold conditions. I made the mistake a number of years ago driving pretty new all seasons to visit my family up in utah. There was no snow, but I went through Jacob lake, and it was well below freezing. I had to brake going down hill pretty hard to avoid hitting a semi truck going unexpectedly slow around a corner. I slid like I was on ice. Ground was dry, but the temperature causes the rubber in the tires to harden up, and prevents them from gripping the road.

Its your life, but its also everybody else's on the road. If you live where it gets below 40 degrees on the regular, buy winter tires. Please.
 
^Hey Arkansas...Lake Placid NY called- said come on up and see what a real winter is:)
PS- GL w/the half worn LX20s..you'll need it!
 
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There have been a few threads already where we have this ongoing debate between winter tires and all season tires. I don't think anyone has ever said that all season tires are as good as winter tires when it comes to snow. What other people have said is that based on their experience, they have been able to get by with all season tires just fine, in their respective locations. Still I don't remember anyone claiming that all season tires are superior than winter tires when it is snowing. So I'm confused as to why we keep on having this same discussion.
 
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