Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2014 00:04:50 -0600
Reply-To: JRodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: JRodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.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; format=flowed
Running the right tire for the conditions is like running the right wax
on your cross country skiis. In Alaska a tire with a "stickiness" or
"tackiness" to the rubber on the road was highly desirable. Cross
country skiers use either a sticky wax or a hard wax and in some cases
some of both - depending on the ski conditions. The hard wax makes you
glide so easy - but it's the pits when trying to wishbone up a hill -
makes you want to slide backward - but with a bit o the sticky and a bit
of the hard stuff - you get the right combo and can go-go-go. Tires are
the same. Sticky in cold climes - very hard in the deep south where the
roads rarely ever see anything except rain. And harder still in the West!
John
On 2/3/2014 11:50 PM, SDF ( Scott Daniel Foss ) wrote:
> 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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