Gotta Love Winter...

Lonnie said:
You can deal with your various insect pests all year round, like cockroaches and termites.
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I had that problem this past summer but $150 made it go away. I’d still rather take cockroaches than cold although it’s going to be a rather cold day here tomorrow.
 
Lonnie said:
And speaking of winter driving and winter tires, do any of you Autopians have some of the new All-Season Winter-Rated "hybrid" tires on your vehicles?
We had a replacement window salesperson at our house endorse his Toyo Celsius tires on his Honda Accord as a great tire to run all year round without having to change over to a dedicated winter-rated tire. I know Goodyear is making one, as does Michelin.
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Before moving permanently from the Northeast to South Carolina this year, I always drove dedicated winter tires. Nokian Hakkapeliitta and Michelin X-Ice were the tires of choice. I always viewed all season tires as "Jack of all trades, Master of none" for winter performance. Both of my cars were RWD, so I opted for true winter tires and they never let me down. We added a Subaru Outback for my son and had we stayed North, the Nokian WR all weather tires were on my radar.

As for the bugs, we have a great pest control service and have never had an issues in 3 years. Either way, I`ll take the warm weather and ocean over the cold and snow of NJ everyday and twice on Sunday!

Islander Beach-1.jpg
 
Lonnie said:
And speaking of winter driving and winter tires, do any of you Autopians have some of the new All-Season Winter-Rated "hybrid" tires on your vehicles?
We had a replacement window salesperson at our house endorse his Toyo Celsius tires on his Honda Accord as a great tire to run all year round without having to change over to a dedicated winter-rated tire. I know Goodyear is making one, as does Michelin.
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Don`t know if they`re "hybrid" but the Cooper Discoverer HT tires we put on the Liberty are absolutely awesome! They have a deep tread pattern so that combined with the Quadra Drive 4wd system the thing is unstoppable apparently. Driving to work in the eye of the storm was a little sketchy. The roads were pretty much unplowed and the two FWD cars infront of me when I was going up the mountain become stuck. I was at a dead stop at the steepest part of going up, but I was able to maneuver around them without even a slip. Going down the mountain threw it in 2nd and it pretty much crawled itself through the fresh powder. Got off the mountain and everything was still almost untouched. It`s electronically locking so a couple turns onto a different road were, uh, interesting. The back roads had a bunch of varying steep hills and I didn`t slip once. Got into Maryland and it started raining which turned everything into a slush of a mess. There was a couple times it wanted to break loose, but stability control kicked in. I`m not normally a fan of those electronic nannies, but I will say I`m impressed. This is the first decent storm for the Jeep and I can say it did better than my expectations. It was a gas hog being locked in 95% of the 30 miles there, but that`s expected.
 
SGM2008 said:
Before moving permanently from the Northeast to South Carolina this year, I always drove dedicated winter tires. Nokian Hakkapeliitta and Michelin X-Ice were the tires of choice. I always viewed all season tires as "Jack of all trades, Master of none" for winter performance. Both of my cars were RWD, so I opted for true winter tires and they never let me down. We added a Subaru Outback for my son and had we stayed North, the Nokian WR all weather tires were on my radar.

As for the bugs, we have a great pest control service and have never had an issues in 3 years. Either way, I`ll take the warm weather and ocean over the cold and snow of NJ everyday and twice on Sunday!
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i don`t like the Michelin X-ice. In my experience if you are backing up in ice or deep snow there`s no traction. Going forward is fine. I haven`t found that in blizzaks, altimax arctics, or nokians. For that reason I`d never buy the X-ice personally.
 
Coleroad said:
i don`t like the Michelin X-ice. In my experience if you are backing up in ice or deep snow there`s no traction. Going forward is fine. I haven`t found that in blizzaks, altimax arctics, or nokians. For that reason I`d never buy the X-ice personally.
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Interesting, I never had that issue with the Michelin tires, but I forgot about the Altimax Artic tires. Limited sizes, but a great winter tire if it`s available in your size.
 
Do any of ya`ll winterize your doors . I used to do it back religiously in the days, gummiphledge. Have not done any in the last couple of years.

Frozen door llatches, uggh. The bane of our existence. Thought we broke one but we got lucky. Going to need to winterize these not so friendly latches...
 
SGM2008 said:
Before moving permanently from the Northeast to South Carolina this year, I always drove dedicated winter tires. Nokian Hakkapeliitta and Michelin X-Ice were the tires of choice. I always viewed all season tires as "Jack of all trades, Master of none" for winter performance. Both of my cars were RWD, so I opted for true winter tires and they never let me down. We added a Subaru Outback for my son and had we stayed North, the Nokian WR all weather tires were on my radar.

As for the bugs, we have a great pest control service and have never had an issues in 3 years. Either way, I`ll take the warm weather and ocean over the cold and snow of NJ everyday and twice on Sunday!
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Thanks for mentioning the Nokian WR`s. I`m 2 sets of wheels/tires all the way, but if I wasn`t I`d strongly consider them in an attempt to be better equipped for winter.

I`ve got friends that run the Altimax Arctics and are big fans of them.

I`ve got the Nokian Nordman 5`s on my avant and have been very happy with them. Maybe not ultimate ice performers (if you`re trying to defy physics), but overall a really good tire. I`ve got 38000 miles on them and still have plenty of tread (I`m mindful of the fact they`re snow tires so I`m not driving like a teenager on them in the dry). One thing I like about the Nordmans versus other snow tires I`ve had is that they actually brake very well on dry/warm pavement. I had some Dunlop Graspic DS3`s on a different car that were TERRIBLE under braking. Actually ended up just tapping an SUV`s receiver hitch in a WTF-Why`s-everyone-stopping-for-nothing situation because the tires were not interested in any kind of modulation.

The lil lady`s Q5 is on Blizzaks for precious cargo`s sake.


I`m lucky to be able to drive other people`s cars for work so I can be reminded what everyone else is going through on the road (read: Not on correct/appropriate/good tires). Drove a 335i (RWD) 6 Speed on all seasons in the snow. Was reminded it`s not a matter of lacking the skill to do it (I got around just fine), I just don`t have the patience to deal with that low of grip. Light turned green? I want to go. NOW.

Also drove my wife`s dad`s Accord on all seasons (grand touring...) - that was downright miserable. Couldn`t stop, couldn`t go, and was constantly worried the car wasn`t going to be able to execute simple inputs. And this is from someone who Loves winter driving because it moves the traction envelope so far down and really makes you drive.
 
Oneheadlite said:
Thanks for mentioning the Nokian WR`s. I`m 2 sets of wheels/tires all the way, but if I wasn`t I`d strongly consider them in an attempt to be better equipped for winter.
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Obviously things are different in MN vs. NJ, but my SO was so afraid of driving in the snow that she had Hakka`s for the winter and WR`s for the summer...I don`t have a good read on the WR`s in the snow (only happened once I think) but the tread life was terrible. I tried a set of the similar Vredestein Quatrac...and I can say that whatever marginal improvment (if any) in the snow over an all-season was certainly offset by the noise and poor tread life. (Disclaimer: these were older versions of both Quatrac and WR, not what is for sale now) Let`s just say I`m not sold on the "snowflake on the mountain" tires as any kind of solution to winter/summer or regular all-season.

Now that the snow tire forum is kaput, we`ll just have to rely on TireRack to prove whether these tires have evolved to the point of usefullness.
 
Setec - Awesome info - Thank you!

I`ll be sticking with dual wheel/tire combos for my wife and me; years from now when my daughter is driving she`ll be enlisted in helping change her car over as well.

I miss the days with my last car where I actually had 3 sets of wheels (15" snow wheels/tires, 17" summer wheels/tires, plus the 16" all seasons the car came with that were still good). Come spring time I`d switch to the "Intermediates" to save wear and tear on the snows, yet be safe to drive on the frigid days or for the intermittent snow storms.

Also got me off the Graspics mentioned above...
 
Glad to hear at least others recognize the importance of good rubber. You got 4 things the size of a dinner plate or less that your life rides on ! Recognize that and respect the rubber that is on ur cars
 
This is this morning with 30mph sustained winds. No sense in even clearing it till the wind slows down
tonight.






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I saw a review about the WRs and they also said they were pretty much no different than all seasons

My view is sure you “can” drive all seasons in many winter moments but a good set of actual winter tires really makes a difference

I too get to drive other peoples vehicles and you do realize how bad some tires are even with good tread

Then you also get the people that ask how was your drive in (on days where apparently it’s bad) and you kinda have to think umm as I missing something cause the winter tires caused no drama at all


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yea it was 1F this morning, but luckily no wind. I wanted to get a hoagie and didn`t want to get the cars out so the only other option was the truck. Was thinking there was no way it was going to start, but somehow it did! As soon as I let out the clutch in neutral it stalled. The heck!? Turns out the transmission oil had thickened enough it was dragging it down that much. I had to literally slip the clutch slowly in neutral. It was almost 30 before I could get it in gear. Note to self, SAE 140 GL4 gear lube is not winter friendly!
 
MattPersman said:
I saw a review about the WRs and they also said they were pretty much no different than all seasons

My view is sure you “can” drive all seasons in many winter moments but a good set of actual winter tires really makes a difference

I too get to drive other peoples vehicles and you do realize how bad some tires are even with good tread

Then you also get the people that ask how was your drive in (on days where apparently it’s bad) and you kinda have to think umm as I missing something cause the winter tires caused no drama at all


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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It`s amazing how many people blame the car and not the tires when they don`t perform well in snow. Bad tires or heavily worn good tires will kill any vehicles ability to handle weather conditions.

In years past, our winters here were pretty mild with temperatures swinging from the low teens to 60`s, but pretty dry with only a very light snow and some rain. I easily got by with all seasons as my winter tires. In fact the warm weather probably would have destroyed winter tires. This year has been much colder with more snow than the last three years combined. I`m starting to re-think my tire choices and may get some winter tires to replace the all seasons on my winter wheel set.

Nizmo said:
Yea it was 1F this morning, but luckily no wind. I wanted to get a hoagie and didn`t want to get the cars out so the only other option was the truck. Was thinking there was no way it was going to start, but somehow it did! As soon as I let out the clutch in neutral it stalled. The heck!? Turns out the transmission oil had thickened enough it was dragging it down that much. I had to literally slip the clutch slowly in neutral. It was almost 30 before I could get it in gear. Note to self, SAE 140 GL4 gear lube is not winter friendly!
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I didn`t know that was still an issue with more modern vehicles. My car with a manual has been fine down to around 0F. A little stiffer than normal, but nothing bad.

I remember as a kid in the 80`s my dad`s car wouldn`t go into gear in those temps (or colder) unless you let it sit and run for about 10 minutes. The gear oil was so stiff, there was no way the lever would move between gears.
 
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