Snow/winter tires & driving (long, sorry)

[scirocco at powerlink.net (John C. Worden)]

Many tire shops won't even install a pair of snows on the front end of a 
FWD car(or at least it's that way around here) because it's a safety 
issue.  Years
ago I had studs on the front end of an '85 Scirocco(back when this could be 
done) and I loved the way it pulled, but hated the looseness of the rear end.
As far as the Escort, maybe there was something wrong with it?  I've driven 
quite a few vehicles with studded snows and never had the problem.  My wife 
has
them for her Neon R/T and the only problem, to her anyway, is that they are 
noisy.  As for me, a Dakota 4x4 with four studded snows will go through 
anything
and no bad weather has yet to stop it.

John



At 11:11 PM 10/19/03 -0700, Dan Smith wrote:


>Rats, I was thinking that the studs in the front would help the car turn, 
>start from a stopped position and generally hold the road better while 
>non-studded in the back would keep the car from getting sketchy when it's 
>dry. My only experience with studs was with my dad's old 4dr ford escort. 
>It had 4 all around and while I could drift and slide around like a mofo 
>when the road was dry, I don't really want that ability for my rocc. As 
>for cheap stuff, the tires were Goodyear, just last years model that they 
>had changed slightly, thus at a closeout price. I've lived in NY all my 
>life until recently and actually enjoy driving in the snow, so personally 
>I think blizzacks and the top of the line stuff is just plain overkill. To 
>me, why pay $100+ per tire when a tire costing $40 does the job as well as 
>you need it to? Plus, I don't like the whole idea of silicia on the tires. 
>I don't put sticky Nittos on my car in the summer, why put the equivilant 
>on in the winter. To whoever started this
>  post, the best thing I think to do is to go to www.tirerack.com, search 
> what tires they have, read all the reviews/ratings/etc and go from there. 
> Last I noticed though, their site is kind of a PITA to get searches to 
> find what you want them to find.
>
>Dan
>
>With FWD cars you should have the same tires all the way around. It's not
>like the old RWD cars where you can throw some studs in back for traction
>and take off.
>
>Furthermore, I have learned my lesson buying cheapo stuff, even tires. I
>would stick with a name brand that will be able to stand up to any
>warranty/guarantee that comes with the tire. It's sort of like using a
>cheapo oil filter or cheapo disty cap, just not much of a piece of mind with
>that stuff. I have had some cheapo tires do some strange things to me,
>things that the more expensive tires that I run now have never done (like go
>flat regularly, have bulges in the sidewalls, etc.).
>
>HTH!
>
>Dave
>
>Dave
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dan"
>To:
>Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2003 6:27 PM
>Subject: Re: Snow/winter tires & driving (long, sorry)
>
>
> > On Sun, Oct 19, 2003 at 08:53:19AM -0700, Dan Smith wrote:
> > > I had true snows on my 16v last year, some closeout special that was at
> > >the tire store. They worked well and the car handled quite comfortably
> > >and predictably. It rarely slid, most of the times it did I was helping
> > >it, but when it did it was pretty easy to maintain. This year I think I'm
> > >going to try studs on the front and regular tires on the back.
> >
> > Very bad idea, man. Good traction in front and poor traction in rear
> > means you'll have a real hard time keeping that car straight while
> > braking.
> >
> > Dan
> >
> > --
> > Barbie says, Take quaaludes in gin and go to a disco right away!
> > But Ken says, WOO-WOO!! No credit at "Mr. Liquor"!!
> >
> > -- Zippy the Pinhead
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Scirocco-l mailing list
> > Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Scirocco-l mailing list
>Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Scirocco-l mailing list
>Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Do you Yahoo!?
>The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
>_______________________________________________
>Scirocco-l mailing list
>Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l