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mk @ Apr 1st 2008 1:30PM
Sorry, but I don't buy it.
If we're talking deployable studs on winter tires... OK.
If we are talking about trying to make tires perform well all year 'round... not so much.
There is more to winter tires than studs or not studs. Cold-temperature rubber compounds, more flex in the tread blocks, smaller and more finely cut treadblocks, non-directional tread pattern, and usually fitted with smaller diameter wheels, and taller sidewalls than summer rubber. If you are talking about that sort of tire having deployable ice studs, that sounds fine.
If you are talking about hard, high-heat-tolerant, directional, low-profile summer tires getting studs, and then all of the sudden being good in the winter, then you have no idea how snow and ice capable tires work.
And for all the talk of hassle in mounting winter rubber... it is called: WINTER WHEELS. Mounting winter tires is no harder than changing a flat. Jack up, Unbolt, replace, torque down, you're done. If it is worth it to you to have separate winter tires, it is worth it to have them mounted on a set of wheels, even cheap aluminum no-names, or steelies with hubcaps.
I know of what I speak, and I wish this darn snow in the upper-midwest would stop, so I can actually put my summer tires back on the car soon. They do better in the wet, but not good in the cold slick stuff. But with proper tires for the conditions, and Subaru AWD... I have had a lot less trouble this winter than most people.
Jon @ Apr 1st 2008 3:44PM
Geeze...that doesn't sound so hard to do, but wouldn't it just be easier to buy a Ford Taurus?? That's what I have and I live in the 'upper-Midwest'. No problems for me, even with marginal generic 'all-season' tires.
I'm surprised the Subaru isn't more stable, even with non-seasonal tires.
I guess I just think getting studded tires would be a waste of money (just like buying extra tires and having them changed or an extra set of wheels would be)...
mk @ Apr 1st 2008 6:43PM
Nah... My Legacy is solid as a rock. Because I use dedicated warm weather and winter tires. All Seasons are compromised in both settings. AWD helps, but can't overcome crap tires, it still spins or slides under throttle or brake, respectively, if the tires aren't up to snuff.
But summer, and even "all-season" directional rubber is going to suck in snow and ice, no matter how many wheels are driven. It is a matter of rubber compound and tread block geometry. Directional geometry that works well to push liquid water does almost the same for snow, and just pushes it around, without much movement of the car. The tire pictured has directional tread.
Non-directional tread with smaller, jagged, flexible blocks, with sipes perpendicular and parallel to the direction of travel tend to bite better, for accelerating and stopping. max lateral grip isn't exactly a focus of winter tires, since the surfaces are usually loose or smooth, anyway.
If they are talking about adding studs to such a tire, that could be good. But studs are not going to make summer tires much less dangerous in the winter cold, and they aren't going to make all-seasons less compromised. And all they'll do is just wear away during the warmer months anyway, and add weight to an un-sprung rotating mass.
Winter tires suffer under dry pavement friction and warm temperatures. Summer tires get hard and slick, and tend to load up the sipes and get even more slick. All Seasons have middle-of-the-road rubber that starts to get harder when it gets cold, and starts to feather and wear when the tires are heated. They usually have semi-directional tread with more sipes than a summer tire, but not as many grip edges as a winter tire. Jack of both trades, master of neither. Studs, retractable or not, aren't going to fix those design characteristics.
Your Taurus may do fine in the summer on All-seasons, and may be passable and adequate in the winter.
But my 300hp AWD Legacy would eat those all-seasons alive in the dry, and would spin them incessantly in the cold and slippery. Ultra-High Performance 225/45-18s in the warmer weather, and dedicated narrower 215/55-17 snow tires in the cold have made this car about as invincible as I would want, or could ask for.
The car has beaten blizzards without any drama whatsoever, and allowed me to help other people stranded, without being stranded myself.
Any more invincible than that and I would be less conscientious than I should be on the road, in less than favorable conditions, and get myself into trouble, no matter how well the tires fight for traction.