Snow tires anyone?

From the first commercial introduction of "all season" tires I have used nothing but. Along with that I also have stuck with front wheel drive. I think that is an important part. To me, rear wheel drive cars are a whole different animal. They do work better with rear snow tires. (IMHO, snow tires on the front of a rear wheel drive cars are just an exercise in throwing away money. They don't do any harm, but, they don't really help. Four wheel drive cars would benefit from snows on all four, however, if you aren't planning on doing any snowplowing with them, they really aren't needed. Up until 8 years ago I lived in Vermont for all of my adult life. I never got stuck no matter how much snow was on the ground. Handling was stable and I never once felt that I was out of control. That was reserved for the ABS braking system that left me sliding into an intersection more then once. But, I digress. It has easily been 30 years since I last owned snow tires. And I have never needed them. The most important thing is knowing how to drive in snow and neither snow tires or all seasons can help if you don't know what you are doing out there.
 
I live in an oddball state when it comes to winter driving. Along the coast it almost never snows/freezes. If it does it's a 25 year event or it's gone within hours. I remember this from about 9 years ago:


But there are a lot of people who go up to the mountains where it does snow. I mean - it's only 80 miles from the edge of LA to Big Bear. That's pretty crazy because there are inevitably drivers who are experiencing winter conditions for the first time.

Last Christmas my family was in the Seattle area when it started snowing. We went home on Christmas Day and were worried about road conditions. There was definitely snow on the ground (my kid was very happy about it), but the main roads and freeways were absolutely clear on the way to the airport.

But then you worry about stuff like the infamous occasions when Portland, Oregon has been snowed in.


That was more ice than anything else. The conditions were such that chains or dedicated winter tires might have been the only safe way to go. However, most people figured it wasn't worth trying to drive, although there were a lot of parked cars that were damaged by others.
You are correct... that last film was ice not snow. In ice no matter what kind of tires you have on will not make an iota of difference. Studded snow tires might have helped a little but not enough to make a big difference. Moral, no matter how good a driver you might think you are, no one is a match for ice on the roads, especially if there is a light layer of snow on top. Stay wherever you are, do not venture out unless you know for sure that the sand or salt trucks have been through.
 
From the first commercial introduction of "all season" tires I have used nothing but. Along with that I also have stuck with front wheel drive. I think that is an important part. To me, rear wheel drive cars are a whole different animal. They do work better with rear snow tires. (IMHO, snow tires on the front of a rear wheel drive cars are just an exercise in throwing away money. They don't do any harm, but, they don't really help. Four wheel drive cars would benefit from snows on all four, however, if you aren't planning on doing any snowplowing with them, they really aren't needed. Up until 8 years ago I lived in Vermont for all of my adult life. I never got stuck no matter how much snow was on the ground. Handling was stable and I never once felt that I was out of control. That was reserved for the ABS braking system that left me sliding into an intersection more then once. But, I digress. It has easily been 30 years since I last owned snow tires. And I have never needed them. The most important thing is knowing how to drive in snow and neither snow tires or all seasons can help if you don't know what you are doing out there.


They most certainly do! You need traction for steering and braking as well.
 
They most certainly do! You need traction for steering and braking as well.
Snow tires up front on a rear wheel drive car help neither of those things, but, as I said it causes no harm so if one feels better using them... go for it.
 


Snow tires up front on a rear wheel drive car help neither of those things, but, as I said it causes no harm so if one feels better using them... go for it.

They most definitely help with steering in snow/ice. And the front wheels are where most of your braking traction should come from. They'll probably be worse in dry conditions though since they tend to be extremely spongy, but they'll be much better than all-seasons in snow. Here's an explanation from a tire tester:

https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/bens-blog/three-winter-tire-myths
Myth 2: If your vehicle has rear-wheel drive, you only need two winter / snow tires.

Two winter / snow tires on a rear-wheel drive vehicle used to be a common configuration. There are two main changes that explain why this is no longer the case.

First, snow tires have improved greatly over the years, therefore the difference in traction is much greater. When winter tires were less effective, they were only giving a boost in traction to the drive wheels to keep people from getting stuck in the snow. Now the difference between winter and all-season tires is big enough that there would be a more obvious imbalance in traction. There have been cases where the traction of the rear wheels pointing straight ahead have overpowered the front wheels' effort to turn, causing vehicles to plow straight ahead into obstacles or incoming traffic while attempting to turn.

Second, there's a much greater emphasis on safety today than there was in decades past. You or your parents may remember the days when seatbelts were optional, dashboards were made of metal, airbags were unheard of and safety mostly meant "don't hit anything." Things that would be dangerously negligent or downright illegal today used to be viewed as perfectly normal.

In summary, the front wheels are responsible for the steering and most of the braking, and it doesn't make sense to shortchange them when it comes to winter traction.​
 

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