What's the truth about tires for snow and ice?

[NickBrewer]

The place where a dedicated winter tire really shines and outperforms all-seasons, even the ones with the snowflake, is on ice and packed snow.

Going through snow isn't much of an issue, even with the stock Michelins that came on my truck, but being able to stop and steer on ice was spooky. I'll take my Blizzak's on ice and packed snow any day over an all-season tire.

[Angus_NB]

Originally Posted by FSS

How would we know if the other snowflake tires are better than this "so called" minimum? How odes anyone here know if the KO's are only at this minimum??

I agree with the member from Colorado about running the BFG's all year.

I would like to see testing results of how these tires were rated.
I didn't say that the KO's were at the minimum just that not all tires with the symbol are equal to a dedicated snow tire.
A know a guy that runs KO's all year. They work fine. My Brother-in-law uses Michelin LTX year round.

[The Raisin]

Today I had my Toyo MT's in the snow and ice. Drove over a mountain pass today to do some hunting. The pass was compact snow and ice. The Toyos were awesome. Never slipped or spun a tire. Traction control never kicked on either. Also had them on some logging roads that had about 4" of powder on top of compacted snow. They did even better there. I did have it in 4hi just to help with starting again after stopping when we stopped to look at Elk.

Mark

[garrymacd]

I have a couple of things to add.

I am pretty sure the snow flake refers to the rubber compound only. It sgnifies a rubber compound that will not harden as much in cold weather. In any event, remember terms like snow tire and winter tire are often marketing terms used by manufactures and have no specific defintion. Hence the T/A K/O's have winter rated rubber compound but the manufacture chose not to market them as winter tires.

Also, in relational to traction, the stopping frictional forces is equal to the coeficient of friction times the vertical resultant force of the weight of the vehicle. This stopping force will be the same regardless of the width of the tire. Only the pressure distribution changes. So on ice there is no difference. Although I have heard tire salesman say that a wider tire is more likely to find a patch of dry pavement than a narrow tire.

[chrispitude]

Originally Posted by NickBrewer

The place where a dedicated winter tire really shines and outperforms all-seasons, even the ones with the snowflake, is on ice and packed snow.

Going through snow isn't much of an issue, even with the stock Michelins that came on my truck, but being able to stop and steer on ice was spooky. I'll take my Blizzak's on ice and packed snow any day over an all-season tire.

Amen amen amen, Nick.

The BFGs do well in moderate to deep snow, but they are not nearly as confident in glazed packed snow or ice. With the BFGs, I don't like to go out in winter storms until the snow gets deep. If I go out when everyone else is out, the snow is packed down and the BFGs are only somewhat confident. If I go out when the snow is nice and deep, they bite great.

There is a misconception that having a set of summer tires and winter tires costs twice as much as having one set of all-season tires. You'll have two sets of tires, but you'll now be spreading the same amount of mileage across both sets of tires. Think of it in terms of cost-per-mile. Of course, there will be additional cost to either mount/remount or to buy a second set of steelies for the snows.

I've always owned separate spring-summer-fall and winter tires for every other vehicle I've owned. The Tundra was an experiment to see if I could get by with four-season tires with 4WD. After two years, the answer is - yes I could get by with it, but I'd rather not have to. I miss the "I can take on anything" confidence of having snow tires in the face of packed snow, freezing sleet, and ice. I've just placed an order for some Firestone Winterforce tires for my Tundra.

- Chris

[Machine]

Originally Posted by garrymacd

This stopping force will be the same regardless of the width of the tire. Only the pressure distribution changes. So on ice there is no difference. Although I have heard tire salesman say that a wider tire is more likely to find a patch of dry pavement than a narrow tire.

I have to disagree on this one. There is more at work than one simple equation when it comes to tires. I can remember this, even when I first learned the equation in Physics class. Put your truck on some 205's and let's have a braking competition on dry pavement. And the opposite for winter - I can't keep my Camaro on the road with 275's, but do fine with 215's. The reality doesn't fit nicely into one equation. Why do dragsters need wide tires even with light vehicles that wouldn't overburden narrower ones?

[insaneR6]

Tread makes a big difference, in addition to having softer rubber that's good on ice.

In addition to a softer compound you want tires that will bite/grab the snow, packed or not...



You'll notice the tire on the right has the voids all the way to the edge. Tire on the left is basically a solid block on the outside edge. When you make your turn in snow or even on ice, the tire on the right bites in which you can both hear and feel.

The tire on the left just slides around and pushes the snow or rides on top of it...

It's like using a brick vs a shovel to dig a hole. In theory both will work, but one of them won't work very well.

[RichR]

R6,
What tire are you showing us to the right??

[Machine]

Originally Posted by RichR

R6,
What tire are you showing us to the right??

It is a Silent Armor - he did a nice writeup on the site.

[rockstate45]

I had some Silent Armors on my ol'd Expedition and that thing would go anywhere in fresh powder in 2wd. I put it in A4wd just for safety of having it in there. I'm probably the most conservative driver when it comes to snow too. Dry pavement and it's not the same story.

-rockstate