Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2014 20:54:06 -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: <52F07F8A.3050609@turbovans.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Scott, as you also replied about getting the latest, most modern rubber in winter tires - so too with studded tires.
The latest studded tires have pretty much the same grip in soft snow and 90% or better of the same grip on dry pavement, but also dig into ice and packed snow in a way that studless tires can't match. Check out videos from Nokian's proving grounds, or talk to some Finns or Swedes - or Canadians who run studded Nokians in the winter. The studded Nokias (previous name) I had 30 years ago were not as good on pavement - but in Nova Scotia, driving on dry pavement in winter was a rare luxury. Hard-packed snow and ice was much more common!
James
Ottawa
> Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 21:50:02 -0800
> From: scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM
> Subject: Re: Syncros. Positractions, Peloquins, and One Wheel Drives
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>
> Depends on what you're driving on.
> Studs don't help in soft snow.
> The stopping distnaces on pavement have to be much higher than a good
> pavement tire has.
> packed snow
> and ice ..sure studs help some.
>
> for people that have not tried really good Studless Winter tires ..
> you really should.
> When I bought Bridgestone Blizzacks a few years a back ..
> after 5 decades of 2WD winter driving ...
> I'll never run anything but those now ...with chains for the really bad
> situations to put on if needed.
>
> Also ...RWD vanagons are very traction-challenged.
> A good 2 to 300 lbs in the rear compartment over the engine sure doesn't
> hurt.
>
> On 2/3/2014 5:46 PM, James wrote:
> > 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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