Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 20:46:36 -0500
Reply-To: James <jk_eaton@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: James <jk_eaton@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Syncros. Positractions, Peloquins, and One Wheel Drives
In-Reply-To: <001301cf20af$72af7220$580e5660$@com>
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I love studs. I had them on front-drive (Rabbit) and rear-drive ('76 Toyota Corolla) cars in Nova Scotia for a decade. But they're illegal here in Ontario.
James
> Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 01:13:29 -0600
> From: ki4tlf@GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Syncros. Positractions, Peloquins, and One Wheel Drives
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>
> Tires and driving style are the majority of it. If it would work and I
> could get away with it, I'd run the studs like the Ice Racers do.
>
> GregM
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> JRodgers
> Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 12:44 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Syncros. Positractions, Peloquins, and One Wheel Drives
>
> Saw this in Alaska every fall at first snowfalls. All the Chechakos
> (newcommers)with their fancy 4WD rigs had to learn the hard way.,
>
> John
>
> On 2/2/2014 10:31 PM, James wrote:
> > To add one more note to this, was out and about in yesterday's snowstorm
> in our front-wheel-drive Toyota Matrix, equipped with Michelin X-Ice 3 tires
> all around. It was greasy and slippery, being just below freezing with 5
> cm/two inches of fresh snow and more coming down. Going along one
> principal, six-lane street at about 40 km/h (25 mph), saw a 4WD Kia Sportage
> spinning and sliding all over the place on a moderate grade. When we both
> stopped - he out of an inability to go forward, me so I wouldn't have him
> slide into me - noted that he had old, cheap all-season tires. He wasn't in
> a mood to take advice, so I carryied on upgrade with my two wheels pulling,
> leaving behind his 4WD to slide gently backwards down the slope...
> >
> > James in snowy Ottawa.
> >
> >> Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 00:02:16 -0500
> >> From: jk_eaton@HOTMAIL.COM
> >> Subject: Re: Syncros. Positractions, Peloquins, and One Wheel Drives
> >> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> >>
> >> Syncros and limited slip differentials really help in the snow and ice,
> but most critical are the tires. True summer tires are rarely used up here
> in the 'Great White North' (unless you have a full-zoot set of high
> performance tires on a sports car), but the year I was posted in Atlanta I
> remember being surprised how uncommon even 'all-season' radials were - a lot
> of cheap summer tires on sale. And the thing about cheap, long-life summer
> tires is that the rubber gets hard, hard, hard when it gets cold - and hard
> rubber doesn't have any traction on ice.
> >>
> >> Softer rubber, with the right tire sipe pattern, can have surprisingly
> good traction on ice. I haven't driven our Westy in the snow and ice, but I
> have driven a lot of front-drive and rear-drive cars and trucks in snow and
> ice. A decent, careful driver in a 2WD car with good 'ice and snow' winter
> tires can get through on most icy, snowy roads. 4WD helps, but if the 4WD
> has been crippled by not having winter tires, they are no better than 2WD
> (and worse, if the driver is overconfident because of 4WD). My favourites
> of the really good ice and snow tires are Nokians, Continentals
> WinterContact, and Michelin's X-ice series. Studded tires are illegal here
> in Ontario, but those three tires all will stop on ice for me.
> >>
> >> My sympathies to all of you living through the ice and snow in Alabama,
> Georgia, etc. While my Canadian neighbours snigger at your plight, I just
> remember that most of them would wilt in the 100F with humidity that you
> folks live in every summer.
> >>
> >
> >> James
> >> Ottawa, ON
> >> '91 Multivan Westfalia (Weekender)
> >>
> >
> >
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