The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[DoubleF]

This stuff was fun to rip around in today. Things got a little wobbly when I ran into a 3-4 inch high pile of snow changing lanes, so I make sure to do lane changes slow, but it's no big deal if driving in a straight line.

Quite a few vehicles sliding backwards down hills though. I hear Calgary Transit replaced tires recently, so hopefully there's less of them clogging up hills.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

This stuff was fun to rip around in today. Things got a little wobbly when I ran into a 3-4 inch high pile of snow changing lanes, so I make sure to do lane changes slow, but it's no big deal if driving in a straight line.

Quite a few vehicles sliding backwards down hills though. I hear Calgary Transit replaced tires recently, so hopefully there's less of them clogging up hills.

They have begun to place all-weather tires on their fleet, but it's gonna take a while. Won't be until 2029 that all buses should have them.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by fotze2

This person in this very new Escalade was going 5 kph today in a 50 because his tires were spinning. Buy an escalade and can't afford winters, or don't drive in this.

Depends which Escalade you were behind. The regular ones are proper 4WD two-speed transfer cases and come on very run-of-the-mill all-season tires, but the new 'IQ/IQL' electrified versions are AWD and probably fitted with some sort of EV-specific low rolling resistance tire that will really suck in winter.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Depends which Escalade you were behind. The regular ones are proper 4WD two-speed transfer cases and come on very run-of-the-mill all-season tires, but the new 'IQ/IQL' electrified versions are AWD and probably fitted with some sort of EV-specific low rolling resistance tire that will really suck in winter.

That's a good number of fancy words just to say useless.

So many useless drivers today. It's almost like they've never seen snow before. Dumbo hordes of rental and fleet cars.

[Johnny Makarov]

Gave a gentle honk to a person in a SUV driving 20km/h in Lakeview today. If you are that scared do not drive!

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by Joborule

They have begun to place all-weather tires on their fleet, but it's gonna take a while. Won't be until 2029 that all buses should have them.

You'd think they would have heard of all-weather tires 10 years ago like the rest of us.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

You'd think they would have heard of all-weather tires 10 years ago like the rest of us.

There were 2 busses stuck in Montgomery this morning. and i didn't even take Home Road. It was the less steep road 2 blocks away.

[Fuzz]

They had looked at winter tires in the past, but they didn't help much or make sense.


https://dailyhive.com/calgary/calgar...res-buses-snow
https://globalnews.ca/news/4550209/c...tire-traction/


I assume it's more recent development that all weather tires have been made for buses.

[TorqueDog]

All-weathers are a way better choice than dedicated winter tires since they'll be perfectly suitable year-round, instead of having to swap tires seasonally.

Originally Posted by chemgear

That's a good number of fancy words just to say useless.

So many useless drivers today. It's almost like they've never seen snow before. Dumbo hordes of rental and fleet cars.

I mean if I just defaulted to saying "probably fitted with some sort of useless tire that will really suck in winter", some people might be mistaken into thinking I'm talking about Goodyears or Firestones. EV LRR tires are their own thing and are especially poor in winter due to the harder and stiffer compound needed.

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Gave a gentle honk to a person in a SUV driving 20km/h in Lakeview today. If you are that scared do not drive!

Strugglers, stay home!

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

All-weathers are a way better choice than dedicated winter tires since they'll be perfectly suitable year-round, instead of having to swap tires seasonally.

I mean if I just defaulted to saying "probably fitted with some sort of useless tire that will really suck in winter", some people might be mistaken into thinking I'm talking about Goodyears or Firestones. EV LRR tires are their own thing and are especially poor in winter due to the harder and stiffer compound needed.

Strugglers, stay home!

I know that all-weather are really popular now as they are suitable for most people but I wonder how suitable they are as a winter tire in more extreme winter weather that we get in a lot of parts of Canada.

A lot of the popular ones like Michelin Cross Climate's talk up performance in wet driving conditions more suitable for Vancouver. I just don't know if a all-weather tire will out perform a dedicated high quality winter tire in -30 with a lot of snow and ice.

I think they are a great compromise and have great benefits, better than al;-seasons for sure, but I don't think they are being sold properly to the general public.

[DoubleF]

All seasons are trash. A week or so into getting my new van, there was a snow storm. My brand new tires weren't doing #### on icy/slushy roads. Brand new all weathers with maybe 100-150kms on them.

I get all weathers for my cars, because I can delay changes, or a sudden dump of snow (early winter or early spring swap) and I'm not part of the white knuckler society. It's a great choice if you only have one set of tires.

But for me, even with all weathers, I get dedicated winters. On days like today, it's nice to drive speed limit and weave around strugglers with impunity.

[Knut]

Guess i better get the winters put on.. definitely noticed the difference today. I was trying to wait as long as possible.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Just remember when you’re driving today that for a lot of people this might be their first experience driving in snow and/or they may not have winter tires for any number of reasons, and that all of those people deserve to be punished.

Not gonna lie, you had me worried there.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I know that all-weather are really popular now as they are suitable for most people but I wonder how suitable they are as a winter tire in more extreme winter weather that we get in a lot of parts of Canada.

A lot of the popular ones like Michelin Cross Climate's talk up performance in wet driving conditions more suitable for Vancouver. I just don't know if an all-weather tire will out perform a dedicated high quality winter tire in -30 with a lot of snow and ice.

I think they are a great compromise and have great benefits, better than al;-seasons for sure, but I don't think they are being sold properly to the general public.

I know: they won’t. But I also haven’t ever seen any marketing that suggests otherwise.

If you’re looking for peak winter performance or plan to run two sets of tires, you get winter tires.

If you’re looking for capable all-weather performance or plan to run one set of tires, you get all weather tires.

In my experience all reputable tire shops and manufacturers will tell you exactly that.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by curves2000

I know that all-weather are really popular now as they are suitable for most people but I wonder how suitable they are as a winter tire in more extreme winter weather that we get in a lot of parts of Canada.

A lot of the popular ones like Michelin Cross Climate's talk up performance in wet driving conditions more suitable for Vancouver. I just don't know if a all-weather tire will out perform a dedicated high quality winter tire in -30 with a lot of snow and ice.

I think they are a great compromise and have great benefits, better than al;-seasons for sure, but I don't think they are being sold properly to the general public.

It won't, but it also isn't typically what we have to deal with. For the vast majority of the time in a place like Calgary, an all-weather tire is likely going to out-perform a winter tire. We usually don't have constantly snow-covered / ice packed streets except perhaps for some residential areas. Steady state of Calgary's roads in the winter are typically cold, dry or perhaps wet pavement. For the instances like today, sure, you're going to have an edge with winter tires over an all-weather for sure.

Once you start throwing in requirements like "I drive out to the mountains" or "I live in a rural area" in the mix, the winter tire starts to look much better for that specific person's use-case. But I think for most of the general public, something like a CrossClimate 3 / 3 Sport is a perfectly reasonable year-round choice.

Most people on the roads are boring motorists who commute and go to the grocery store. They aren't all driving sports cars or making regular trips into avalanche country, so the tires at the extreme end of the performance spectrum aren't really necessary for them, and that's where an all-weather I think makes a ton of sense.

[Acey]

At the same time, the line of thinking that regular commuters don't need winter tires is why it's taking an hour to get anywhere today.

[woob]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I hear Calgary Transit replaced tires recently, so hopefully there's less of them clogging up hills.

Passed one bus stuck on a hill in Silver Springs today (going up) and two more pulled over to the side due to stuck bus.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by woob

Passed one bus stuck on a hill in Silver Springs today (going up) and two more pulled over to the side due to stuck bus.

I think I read or heard something today that said they started changing tires but have another 1000+ sets to put on or something? And now it's a priority for them to finish off. I assume it's partially because of the forecast for the rest of the week?

https://globalnews.ca/news/11522867/...-weather-tires

This says they received 1000 tires which is a quarter of what they need. So I guess they're installing these ones ASAP and then getting another 3000 for the other busses over the next 4 years?

[btimbit]

I don't think they're switching them all right away either, they'll be doing it as the old tires wear out

[fotze2]

The drive in was not bad, the drive out is gonna be a nightmare. I also forgot to chuck a brush/scraper in the car. Goddamit.

Also, has anyone had one of those heated jackets? My jacket is not doing the job already.