Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 21:47:43 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <j_rodgers@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Re: studded snow tires: 2 or 4?
In-Reply-To: <3F22C2F3.27288.3750D4@localhost>
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I lived for 30 years in Alaska. Never owned a studded tire the whole
time - even when I owned and rove a '68 "Loaf" .........that is until I
bought an '85 Vanagon. The first winter I drove it, right after
freez-up, a little black ice on the road and I spun round and round. I
did not even go to my destination. I turned right around, went straight
to the Goodyear tire dealer, and had a set of studded tires put on for
the winter. No more problems....ever! I just took them off April 15 each
year.
In my book, if you live in country where ice on the roads is the norm in
winter, then your Vanagon needs studded tires period.
IMHO
John Rodgers
88 gL Driver
tom ring wrote:
>I lived for 30 years in one of the heaviest snowfall areas in the US, the
>eastern tip of Lake Ontario, where we got about 300 inches a year snowfall. We
>used snow tires, tractionized tires, and for a while, when they first came out,
>studded tires. They are not worth anything in snow beyond the tread you are
>on. They are great on glare ice. Look at the conditions you will be driving
>in, and buy a good M/S or snow tire accordingly. And skip the studs unless ice
>is a normal occurance.
>
>And then there's CA. Unless you have to deal with the silly CA rules on
>chains, don't bother either. I could have outrun a CA state trooper who used
>chains if I ran bald tires. These people do _not_ know snow.
>
>And I did run "bald" tires during the 30" Halloween blizzard in Minneapolis.
>4WD cars were running off the road, and me on Comp TA R1 Road Race tires on my
>GTI that had 4000 miles on them. :)
>
>So I would advise a good snow tire from a good mfgr. I can't tell you which,
>since I don't bother with them at all. Minneapolis only gets 55 or so inches
>on avg. That's summer tires all year for me.
>
>tom
>
>On 26 Jul 2003 at 14:35, Lee Kouns wrote:
>
>
>
>>Calling all experts at driving in snow & ice!
>>This southern California couple is headed to the mountainous snow
>>country of South Lake Tahoe for the winter. I assume that having studded
>>snow tires will help us drive our Westy more safely and without as much
>>need of chains. One vanagon owner that I talked with, claimed that two
>>studded snowtires (on the rear wheels) would work just as well as
>>studded snowtires on all four wheels. I would really appreciate any
>>additional opinions from other vanagon owners who have experience with
>>either (or both) approaches.
>>Thanks in advance for your experience.
>>Lee Kouns
>>87 Westy
>>88 Westy
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>------
>Tom Ring K0TAR, ex-WA2PHW EN34hx
>85 Wolfsburg Westphalia Albert
>96 Jetta GL The Intimidator
>taring@taring.org
>
>"It is better to go into a turn slow, and come out fast, than to go into a turn fast
>and come out dead." Stirling Moss
>
>
>
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