Opinion Needed: Winter or All Season Tires??

[d3m0nz3y3]

So i have been split between wether i should get snow tires for the upcomming winter, or get new 18s with all-season tires. The only reason i want to go all-season is so i dont have to go through the hassel of changing between tires/rims back and forth. Is it really a very big difference in how snow tires are compared to all season? Btw i had summer tires last winter and it wasnt pretty (first ever real winter with my A4)
What do you guys do for winters? It snows alot here and the county doesnt always do a good job of cleaning the roads .
Hopefully i can make up my mind after your inputs. Thanks for your time in advance...
Regards,

[Seerlah]

If you are on 16" wheels, I have Dunlop Wintersports used for one season I could sell you for cheap. PM me if interested

/shameless plug

[NyteEscape]

i guess it depends on how much snow you get. if you get an inch or two at a time, i think all season's will be fine. anything more, it may be a good idea to invest in snow tires.

again, with light snow, you can easily manage with all seasons. anything more, you might want to step it up.

[Poopie]

I drive 6 hours in a snow storm on my falken 512's all seasons. 225/40/18. braking was hairy sometimes, but even with snow tires is sucks. They were good enough to pull me up a steep hill at penn state though.

[B5Burn]

It snows alot here and the county doesnt always do a good job of cleaning the roads .

Can you clarify what you mean by "a lot"?

Dedicated winter tires imho. But I am in the Canadian prairies, and when someone says "winter", it's 10 to 30 below zero Celsius with on-ground snow from Nov through to April typical. "All-seasons" SUCK in this kind of winter. In fact - the province one over from us has legislated winter tire use from November 15 to April 15.

I have driven on all-seasons in winter and summer, but I dislike them greatly. ESPECIALLY summer.

B.

[Poopie]

In PA it doesn't snow all the time, and the crew does a good job clearing roads within a day. unless its a huge blizzard. sometimes it flurries and a few inches build up and the all seasons are just fine to get you home. If its a crazy storm, just stay inside cause most likely its gonna be a bad driver that rear ends you.

[onemoremile]

Our West Michigan winters consist of heavy snowfalls interspersed with green grass. We get hit hard a half dozen times a year and can have 4' drifts and 10' of total snowfall in a year.

Our Outback has been on all season tires since 2001 and it hasn't been stuck or spun or any issues whatsoever. The Pirelli 3000 or 4000 that it ran before were better than the Kuhmos it has now. The Avant ran all seasons for one winter and has run several different types and sizes of dedicated winter tires since then. It is a big difference. Probably about the same difference going to summer only tires to all seasons. They really help with sliding sideways and with braking.

Braking is the worst part of winter driving. It is also the biggest reason to learn to rev-match and/or heel toe downshift. I've had the ABS pumping away like a kick drum and dropped a gear and could really feel the car slow down. When in gear the drivetrain connects the four wheels and makes it much harder for any of them to lock up. It keeps them at a relatively equal speed which is what stops the car the quickest.


FWIW, I just picked up my next set of winter wheels a couple days ago. 17x8 TSW Hockenheims in gloss black. Paid 150.

[Seerlah]

This will be my first time with all season tires in the winter (with my Audi). Last year I was on winter tires and I want to test out my new rubbers on the snow. I can not compare the Dunlops to other brands of winter tires, as I have not driven on any others. But the Dunlops in my opinion did the job quite well. I do not remember sliding once. But when there is ice, no tires can save you.

[onemoremile]

That is a good point about the ice. My accident a year ago was on ice that I couldn't stand up on. I was going down hill and her car was trying to make a left turn and halfway across my lane the tires spun and her car stopped moving. My son and I were in a 2 ton bowling ball. I've ice raced, autocrossed, track days, and instructed all three and there was nothing that could have been done.

[Seerlah]

How insurance handle a situation like that, seeing that weather was the factor and not the inability of the driver's experience? And to cure my curiousness to the situation, about how fast did you t-bone her at?

To the OP, sorry for the thread jack.

[NyteEscape]

But when there is ice, no tires can save you.

hmm...bond's aston had steel spikes come out of the tires...those seemed to work well...

[McGovs2.7TB5]

I ran all-seasons last winter and took them up the mountains 30+ times and never had an issue. FWIW tho I'm switching to a dedicated winter tire this year, mostly for piece of mind. Regardless of tire, engine braking is definitely your friend.

[fred2ka4]

If money is not an issue, I would suggest buying snow tires for your stock wheels and then 18's with a good all season or summer tire of your choice, (depending on price and performance needs). That way you can just switch the wheels as needed.

I have been running Toyo Proxes4 for about two years and the reason I chose these were because when I lived in northern California I would go to Lake Tahoe a few times a year so I wanted a decent all season tire that was good in the rain and slight snow. They worked well but never really saw harsh conditions other than average rainfall and some snow a couple times a year. Your weather will dictate which tires you need so do a little research and I'm sure some people who live in area's where it snows will chime in with there preferences.

[onemoremile]

How insurance handle a situation like that, seeing that weather was the factor and not the inability of the driver's experience? And to cure my curiousness to the situation, about how fast did you t-bone her at?

To the OP, sorry for the thread jack.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...light=accident

She got several tickets for general stupidity. I pointed a quarter mile up the hill and told the cop that I slid from there and only lost a couple miles an hour. Showed him the snow tires, said my brakes were perfect, and that I ice raced at Turk Lake for years. She had a hissy fit about me hitting her and the cop asked her why she was stopped straddling the Southbound lanes. Her answer didn't satisfy his curiosity.

[Est1976]

So i have been split between wether i should get snow tires for the upcomming winter, or get new 18s with all-season tires. The only reason i want to go all-season is so i dont have to go through the hassel of changing between tires/rims back and forth. Is it really a very big difference in how snow tires are compared to all season? Btw i had summer tires last winter and it wasnt pretty (first ever real winter with my A4)
What do you guys do for winters? It snows alot here and the county doesnt always do a good job of cleaning the roads .
Hopefully i can make up my mind after your inputs. Thanks for your time in advance...
Regards,

Check out Nokian "All Weather" tires, we have them on my wife's Avant and couldn't be happier, they were excellent in the snow and have a longer treadlife than winters, have kept them on since. A great tire all around!

http://www.kaltire.com/retail/tires/...men=3&type=A/W

[onemoremile]

Nokian and Vredestein are both exceptional brands for bad weather.

[d3m0nz3y3]

Well we got hit by quite a few blizzards last winter and on average we used to get about 6 to 8 inches, with some 1+ft blizzards also. As for the ice comments, i remember the country started to run out of budget (as we got way more snow than expected) and the roads got quite icey. I dont know how i lasted with summer tires through that winter lol
Anyways so i assume, the logical thing to do will be to get snow for my stocks...

Also, McGoves i am assuming those N7000 treated you well through the winter?

[JumboBlack1.8]

I vote winter setup!
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=4036250

[McGovs2.7TB5]

Also, McGoves i am assuming those N7000 treated you well through the winter?

They did. I had zero issues with them. i can remember last Dec. we had a storm that put 10+" on the roads in a couple hours so plows couldn't get to all the streets that quickly and I was able to get thru w/o issue.

[Duenorf]

If you want to get the best out of the car use narrower cross section winter tires and keep the low profiles for the summer.
If you are in a snow belt with moderate temperatures you might get away with All Seasons, but the profile of the 18s will hinder the handling.
If it's B*cold then you NEED the softer winter compound.

When else can you combine safety and BIG fun at the same time?