Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 21:50:02 -0800
Reply-To: "SDF ( Scott Daniel Foss )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "SDF ( Scott Daniel Foss )" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Organization: Cosmic Reminders
Subject: Re: Syncros. Positractions, Peloquins, and One Wheel Drives
In-Reply-To: <BLU177-W4305577D3C2D590FA9EDF3E0AA0@phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
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)
>>>>
>>>
>
|