Catpiano

In Vancouver?  all season + awd SUV is more then enough ..

Of course, winter tires will offer BETTER stopping distance on ice ..

However, driving winter tires on dry pavement, also will creat more noise, less traction, and wear out quicker ..  

Yes, for 2 or 3 snowy day in Vancouver, winter tire is better, but how about the rest of 362 days??

cremedelacreme

Thanks very much for all the great advice. Now I feel much better, and I will just keep my all seasons tire for this winter, and drive with extra cautious. Thanks guys!!

chobit

IMHO, I think winter tires are better choice and would be money well spent.

That's unless you only stay within Richmond, where everything is 100% Flat, and avoid snow driving most of the time.

There are different types of Winter tires, Some are maximize for deep snow & ice, while others are maximize for light snow, rain/wet road condition similar to what we get in the Pacific NW.

For example, my previous Dunlop M3 (new replacement are callled Dunlop 3D) are performance winter tires, which are designed for very good dry weather traction, but excellent water/rain, and good snow/ice conditions.

Since you can save some milage from using your summer or all season during winter with your winter tires, your regular tires would last you longer.  In the end, they aren't really costing that much more than driving with just your summer or all season.

Catpiano.  While many people think that winter driving is not that bad in Vancouver, I totally disagree.

Alberta is very cold in the winter, but it also keep the snow very dry and powder like instead of turning into ice quickly, then snow are clean-up by trunk before it gets a chance to turn into ice.  While in Vancouver, snow/rain usually get melt during the day, then form a good layer of ice overnight, and they are cleanup for at least a week.  The amount of traction is just less with these black ice with a good layer of water sits on top.

It is easier to get yourself going + easier to control on AWD w/good traction control, but weak tires still wouldn't cut it, especially when it comes to stopping.
Check out this link from tire rack comparing summer/all season/winter tires on ice:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=116

At the end of the day, your winter tires can probably save your car from a costly accident.  Getting out of control in slow speed hitting a curb would probably cost you a rim, control arm or alignment, and that cost more than a set of winter.

Again, I don't claim to be an expert, but years ago, when I still have my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I would purposely driving anywhere with snow locally in Vancouver, or go 4x4 off road in the mountain with fresh snow, and ice, etc..!  (Using BFG all Terrain Tires only).  Then, once I get a chance to put on some snow tires on my 06 Subaru, I can already see night and day difference with snow tires, I highly doubt I would ever drive in the winter w/o winter tires.

pkphilip

This winter will be worse than before, winter is longer and colder, and expect more snow. I think this year is the year to get some tires.

Philip

chobit

Here is some good info about M+S tires vs Snowflake symbol: http://www.tirerack.com/winter/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=125

Also found this site with a review on summer/all season/winter tires test on not just snow, but hot dry & wet condition.

http://autos.aol.com/article/tire-technology/

Lik

Thanks very much for all the great advice. Now I feel much better, and I will just keep my all seasons tire for this winter, and drive with extra cautious. Thanks guys!!
cremedelacreme 發表於 2010-10-22 20:52

Still, knowing that this winter is gonna be especially wintery (and quite possibly snowy), my recommendation is still to go pick up some winter tires la.

-Lik

chobit

BTW, here is my other theory.

Let's say the amount of traction goes from 0-10 (higher is better)

An average driver can maintain their driving pretty well in all condition with traction index of 5.
index of 8 of above you can push the car pretty well
index of 3 it's very difficult to drive

On warm/dry condtion:  All tires provide enough traction
summer = 10
all season = 9
winter = 8
Note: Anyone can drive well since the worst winter tires still provide enough traction for easy driving.

On warm/wet condtion:
summer = 8
all season = 7
winter = 7
Note: Anyone can drive well since the worst winter tires still provide enough traction for easy driving, but you don't push the car as much in the corner.

On cold/dry
summer = 5
all season = 7
winter = 7
Note: Anyone can drive well since the worst winter tires still provide enough traction for easy driving


on cold/wet
summer = 4.5
all season = 6
winter = 7
Note: Summer tires no longer provide good enough traction, but all season and winter tires still provide enough traction for easy driving.

on cold/snow/ice
summer = 0
all season = 2.5
winter = 3.5
Note: Summer tires simply don't work, all season provide some traction, and even winter tires won't allow easy driving, because it's far more difficult to drive in the snow/ice condtion.

So, my big idea is, any tires can probably proforms relatively well in any condition, but cold/snow/ice, which even with the best fitting tires, still isn't easy.

Lik

From my racing experience, summer tires are still grippier in both the cold and the wet than all seasons down to around 6 or 7 deg C. Beyond that, I have no personal experience with whether summer or all seasons would be grippier, although it should be obvious that the colder it gets, the more advantageous all seasons will be over summer rubber.

Additionally, in warm and dry conditions, winter tires just fall flat on its face. Instead of being a summer = 10, all season = 9, winter = 8, it is more like summer = 10, all season = 8, winter = 5.

Also, in snowy/icy conditions, winter tires are vastly superior to all seasons la. Every tire test you can find will tell you exactly the same thing.

-Lik

chobit

yeah.. u r right about hot/summer with winter tires.. =D Thanks!!

and summer tires at 7C/44F is exactly what the minimal rating on summer tires.  Once it get down to around 5c or below.. it does get very hard, and slide quite a bit..!  That's kind of what we have in the winter here in Vancouver/Seattle...! 2-4c in the morning.. for many months..

From my racing experience, summer tires are still grippier in both the cold and the wet than all sea ...
Lik 發表於 2010-10-22 23:47

Catpiano

Still, the fact is, even at 7c or 5c, no matter summer or all season tire, still offer SOME/not bad traction .. then once down to -5c or -10c (you guys dont need to worry about -10c) then summer tire become very very low traction, even not much snow/ice, but all season still offer not bad traction .. and winter tire are doing well.. ^_^

Then from -10c to -20c, pretty much zero traction on Summer tire, and low/OK traction on all season.
Ok, when down to -20c to -30c .. forget about summer tire, even all season tire, very low traction, much better with winter tire..  

-30c to -40c ? Summer tire = hockey puck, and all season, not much better, even winter tire, quite low traction..

Ha ha .. -40 to -50c? usually lots of snow as well, even winter tire, need to good/aggressive one ...

- 50c, even -60c  and before? who else has driven in that cold weather?  starting could be a problem for most cars ... even with winter/snow tire, need to be very careful, and know what you are doing ...