Re: Snow/dirt/fun/skinny tires (LONG)

[Scott Williams <sfwilliams@home.com>]

Chris Chemidlin wrote:

> But again, I'm looking for
> a balance between the SNOW tire and the OFF ROAD tire.

There really isn't such an animal as far as commercially available stuff is
concerned. It is either going to be one or the other. Considering that you've
only got one or two dirt road rallies to do per year, though, I'd just pick a
good snow tire and be done with it. Besides, what is an "off road" tire, anyway?
I got stuck in the sand three times at last year's Pine Barrens Express because
I brought dirt and gravel tires. Those suckers just sunk right through the loose
stuff. This year I'm probably going to just use some all seasons.

As for winter tires, the Nokian Hakkapeliittas have always been superb in the
fluffy white stuff while the Bridgestone Blizzaks have excelled on ice. However,
as was noted previously, the Blizzaks turn into inept all seasons after a couple
of winters. It just so happens that a few new Nokian models have been hatched
recently that offer ice performance close to a newish Blizzak and still retain
much of their aptitude for handling snow.

mixed snow and ice? Go with Hakkapeliitta 1's.
Hakka 10's are more common but the Hakkapeliitta 1's have a slightly
stiffer sidewall, they are FANTASTIC on ice are real good on light crunchy
snow and real nice in the rain, they do however loose out just a bit to
the 10's in the deep stuff... But as an over all winter tire the are
wonderful...

Click here: http://www. snowtyres.com

A definite compromise that you're going to have to make regards your choice of
tire size. In deep snow you want the skinniest tire that you can practically
fit. On ice, however, you want something slightly wider, gravel/dirt should be
wider still, and lightly slushy or wet pavement the widest. So, where does that
leave you?:

deepest snow: 145/80/13 on 13x4.5"
bad NJ snow/ice/slush: 155/80/13 on 13x5"
light NJ winter weather: 165/70/13 or 165/70/14

I'm going with 155/80/13 Hakka 1s on 13x5' Mk1 Scirocco. Since the wheelbase
will be rather skinny I plan to install some 7mm wheel spacers that I've found
for pretty cheap. Will these require converting to studs? Lastly, since I'll be
taking them on rally stages, I'll probably run them with tubes inside.
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
SCCA ProRally driver
Hotrod Rabbit GTi


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