Speaking of Snow Tires

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

 

 

[Longjohn ★]

I have no idea how well those would work. Old school wisdom to go in snow you need skinny tires. Wide tried tires just spin iron top of the snow. Low profile tires might be different but I doubt it. Now for mud it’s a whole different ballgame.

[Kirby]

Can that car transport Airedales? 

[bikeman564™]

9 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I have no idea how well those would work.

Poorly, there is very little tread depth.  Years a go I had a friend who put summer taars on his Sierra, but changed them oot for snow/all terrain taars in the winter. But his weren't dooshy like those. And his truck wasn't lifted.

[maddmaxx ★]

Donk.  

[Bikeguy]

58 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

Old school wisdom to go in snow you need skinny tires

This is still true today.  Skinny tires with tread depth, lots of sipes, rubber that still flexes in the cold.

This year was the first year my Subaru had all season tires rated for winter use, Michelin Crossclimate2.   They are WAY better than the old all season tires.  That said, I can still steer around a corner using the gas pedal on the snow. You can do that in a Subaru... 

[Further]

I bet those are loud on a dry road, and slippery on a wet road

[team scooter]

I was prepared to hate the wide-ish Falken Ziex all season tires that came on our CX. I had plans (that never happened) to replace them before winter too. The tread just didn't look very impressive. But after the trip up north where it never stopped snowing, and parking lots get cleared every third-ish? snow event, they performed much better than I expected. Even while towing the trailer. I even needed to pull our sons loaded trailer (he only has front wheel drive on his suv) out to the plowed section of the resort when it was time to head home too. I've seen good reviews on the Falken brand snow tires. I might try those next time. But not until these tires wear oot.

[Further]

I think the rubber compound has a lot to do with it. But I also think that the sidewall needs some height to it so it can flex and conform to the surface 

[Longjohn ★]

The expensive Goodyear’s my wife bought for the Pilot have a tread pattern that looks like that. They worked good for her, I seem to get stuck in the mud with them. Of course I have no idea how many years ago she bought them. I had one tire get slashed so I took it back where she bought them. They said that tire isn’t made anymore but it did have road hazard protection on it so they sold me a similar tire for $70 instead of the over $200 she paid for them. I guess that was based on how much tread was on the slashed tire.

[team scooter]

Using my pickup truck for towing the snowmobile trailer up north, I've always bought more aggressive snow rated tires for it. It was kind of nice NOT listening to the tire buzz for five hours there, five hours back in the CX.

Oh, and the other thing I need to do is get a more aerodynamic set of extend-a-mirrors too. With my old ones, the wind turbulence beat on the CX mirror breakaway mechanism, making them fold back while I was drafting other trailers at 80 mph. 

[JerrySTL ★]

I have a set of Bridgestone Blizzak snow and ice tires for WoJSTL's car. I hadn't even installed them the previous two years. However this year they have earned their keep. 

[MickinMD ★]

The story of the 1975 April Fools Snowstorm

Back in 1975, a lot of people in Illinois had steel-studded snow tires.

Because they tore up the roads, they had to be off vehicles by April 1st.

So, beginning around 6 am on April 1st, it began to snow in Chicago.  Some other IIT grad students and I had arranged to do some all-night lab experiments together and saw the snow begin with huge flakes right from the beginning.

By 7 am, students and teachers were driving into the parking lots, looking around and seeing no one else, and turning around to drive home.

By noon, we had to use cardboard boxes as shovels to get enough snow off the steps on the front side of the chemistry building so we could open the doors. The door on the back side of the building had a drift halfway up it and couldn't be opened.  By evening 2-3 feet of snow plus drifts covered everything.

On Chicago's roads the vehicles, with regular tires, got bogged down, plows couldn't get through, and the city was blocked in for 3 days!

One grad student and his wife, both from Hawaii, had an on-campus apartment. We slept on their carpeted floor for three nights and they fed us.

The wife, Lenore, had a grandmother who believed in Pele, the goddess of the Mount Kilauea volcano.  She told us stories for three days about her grandmother's predictions of Pele becoming angry and the prophecies coming true.

For example, a road was being built across a "safe" slope of Kilauea and grandma said Pele was angry.  Sure enough, the volcano erupted, lava spilled down the "safe" side only, it covered the new road and then stopped erupting.

[UglyBob]

If you're going to go with wide tires in the snow, then you need a smaller interior diameter wheel and run the tires at a low pressure, kind of like you would for sand (I have much more experience with sand). But I agree that the best choice overall is narrower tires with deep tread. That's what I used to run on my '61 Scout when I played in the snow up in Norther Arizona.

[sheep_herder ★]

Last time I ran studded snow tires was 1970, and it has been all weather tires since 1981. Was in Texas and Arizona during the 1970-1981 period, so I did not worry. Luckily, neither of us are bothered by road noise, so that is a non issue with vehicles or tires.

[jsharr ★]

I think that is the new suv that @Parr8hed got for the missus.  Redneck chic as it were.

[Longjohn ★]

2 hours ago, UglyBob said:

That's what I used to run on my '61 Scout when I played in the snow up in Norther Arizona.

I had a 1965 Scout. I ran studded tires all the way around and it would go anywhere. I couldn’t hear the sound of the tires because of the sound of the Scout rusting out. I gave up real quick on repairing the rust holes to make them look like new. My scout looked more like an armored car by the time I was done with it. 

[UglyBob]

6 minutes ago, Longjohn said:

I had a 1965 Scout. I ran studded tires all the way around and it would go anywhere. I couldn’t hear the sound of the tires because of the sound of the Scout rusting out. I gave up real quick on repairing the rust holes to make them look like new. My scout looked more like an armored car by the time I was done with it. 

Being an Arizona car, mine was solid. Had the 152ci four in it and a Warner overdrive. I think the top speed as about 55mph on a downhill with a tailwind, but the little sucker would climb anything. I never managed to get it stuck.

[Parr8hed]

26 minutes ago, jsharr said:

I think that is the new suv that @Parr8hed got for the missus.  Redneck chic as it were.

I would have, but I would have put bigger taars on it.

[sheep_herder ★]

Speaking of tires, these low volume tires react quite quickly to changes in temperature. Had to top off the tires in the Jetta this morning after the last cold snap.

[Longjohn ★]

I have a Jeep stuck in my yard right now. The hospice social worker came for a visit and when she went to leave she backed up too far. I couldn’t find anything underneath to hook a chain on and my Pilot is no Element. It probably couldn’t pull her out anyway. Tried backing up into the yard to get a run for it and got stuck in the yard. The tow truck is getting a lot of business from my yard this year.

[Longjohn ★]

All jeeps are not created equal.

[Longjohn ★]

The tow truck driver used jay hooks that looked like giant fish hooks and hooked into the control arms at the back of the front tires, one on each side. He said most cars these days that is the only thing you can hook onto. He winched her car up closer to the driveway and then drug her out with his truck. My yard is a mess again.

[Bikeguy]

17 hours ago, Longjohn said:

I have a Jeep stuck in my yard right now. The hospice social worker came for a visit and when she went to leave she backed up too far. I couldn’t find anything underneath to hook a chain on and my Pilot is no Element. It probably couldn’t pull her out anyway. Tried backing up into the yard to get a run for it and got stuck in the yard. The tow truck is getting a lot of business from my yard this year.

There should be 'recovery' hook locations on your Pilot.  The maybe temporary, meaning you get to attach the hook location, probably explained in your owners manual.

Then again...   based on your record...   call the towing guy.   You don't want to get the Pilot stuck too.   

You will need to buy a lot of grass seed soon. 

[Longjohn ★]

1 hour ago, Bikeguy said:

There should be 'recovery' hook locations on your Pilot.  The maybe temporary, meaning you get to attach the hook location, probably explained in your owners manual.

Then again...   based on your record...   call the towing guy.   You don't want to get the Pilot stuck too.   

You will need to buy a lot of grass seed soon. 

I have a hitch on the Pilot, it’s the Jeep that I couldn’t find a place to hook on to.

Quote

You will need to buy a lot of grass seed soon. 

This is in the country, I have wild grasses for my lawn. I fill in the ruts and the grass takes care of itself.

[Ralphie ★]

4 hours ago, Longjohn said:

My yard is a mess again.

Just blame the moles and groundhogs.