Winter road manners...

[Reinen]

Most of that is correct, but I think it's at least ten percent better, and although it's an acceleration test in the US, those tires were tested for braking as well. The US doesn't test braking, but to meet the 3PMSF designation in other countries it has to include braking...so although we don't test for braking, if it has the 3PMSF, it meets a standard for braking.

It's not the same as a tire with 130 - 150 traction rating, but it's certainly better than a tire with less than.

Of course it's at least 10% better. The point is that AT tires just make the requirements while winter tires greatly exceed it. The stopping distance of the best AT tire in snow & ice is about double that of the best winter tires. Its not even close, yet they both carry the same rating as if they're comparable.

The fact that people even discuss these tires in the same conversation shows how bad and misleading the 3PMSF rating is.

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[Reinen]

I’m also in Utah, do you travel on your winter tires at all? With us living a few hours away from warmer climates such as Moab, Saint George, and Las Vegas I worry that if I put on winter tires I would need to exchange them for standard AT’s multiple times per winter.

Of course! When not in LCC, BCC, Parleys, PC, or the Wasatch & Uinta backcountry, im heading up north to the Tetons, Sawtooths, or Spanish Peaks. The worse the winter weather is the more likely I am to be driving in it.

There is no time for southern UT when winter is afoot! That's what late spring and fall is for (and my summer tires).

Most people I know pick up a set of take-off wheels on the cheap (or use their own), put winter tires on them and swap them out as need be. It helps with the transition between 1st winter, 2nd fall, 2nd winter, and what elevation you plan to be at in spring. I can swap them out in about 15 min if I'm quick about it. But i do try to plan my trips so there's only one winter/summer transition and hope the weather is equally decisive.

 

[Shibadog]

Back when I lived in the land of frozen tundra (Michigan) the better tire shops had “siping machines”. For a few buck a set they’d heavily sipe your tires-which made a huge improvement on our old 4wd Suburban. Dunno if this is still an option or not.

 

[Heimkehr]

People I know have experienced rapid wear on their Blizzaks (for example) even in the winter, when we had relatively little ice or snow, and the roads remained pretty dry throughout the season. I know one man who wore out a set of Blizzaks in one season!

That's really the only demerit that I've seen assigned to the Blizzaks. It makes sense, relative to the universal praise that tire receives for its performance as a studless winter tire. Something has to give it that capability. In this instance, a notably soft rubber compound.

I'd have considered them for my own requirements, but for the recurring replacement expense not penciling out.

 

[Zandcwhite]

You prefer to drift everywhere in the winter? You have 4wd, use it in the snow and ice. Maybe you still hate the stability control, maybe you don't, but why not give yourself the best chance of having traction so that the traction control is less prone to interfering to begin with?

 

[Chugiakguy]

You prefer to drift everywhere in the winter? You have 4wd, use it in the snow and ice. Maybe you still hate the stability control, maybe you don't, but why not give yourself the best chance of having traction so that the traction control is less prone to interfering to begin with?

Z, if you were responding to me, I have absolutely no qualms about using 4WD when it is snowy or slippery! In the pickup that I'd been driving for 26 years prior to getting the Jeep a couple of months ago, I used 4WD routinely in the winter, at least in my driveway and on the surface streets before hitting the highway (where I only very rarely ever needed to use it --- but I have, when the roads even there were bad).

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