We had a little storm last night, so I put my studded snow tires on and cruised around a little this morning.

It snowed quite a bit and we had about 4-5 inches last night, but I think it warmed up, melted, then more cold air came in and froze everything. There is now about an inch of solid ice beneath about 2 inches of snow.

As far as our weather goes, this isn't much snow, but the ice makes it a little tricky. The car does great with studded snow tires and VLSD. You can really tell the difference in the wheelspin.


There is no bare pavement in this pic -- it's all ice and snow. Here is the reason I have studded tires:




Grabbed a couple of quick shots at a local church. They plowed the lot, but the ice is still there:

 

Now remember to disable the rear brakes because they are totally unnecessary. And to stop the fastest, do a bunch of 360s.

 

Last year my old third gen did pretty good in snow and ice without studded tires.

 

Just took the Max for one last spin while the roads are briefly de-iced. With some time and money she'll be better than ever in the spring. While the Nissan is at bay, the Jeep and Ski-Doo will play!

 

 

Love those wheels. Real retro.

 

hawtness

 

Hahaha! Thats a very good one.

Anyway, nice shots Cliff. So do studded tires help better then just your usual winter tires?

 

Yes, studded tires do MUCH better on ice than even winter-only tires.. but in regular snow, they're a wash. on pavement, it's better to run non-studded tires, as the studded will wear quickly and possibly damage some surfaces. use only in heavy snow or ice.

 

Sorry but when you say they're a wash, is that a good thing or bad?

 

Folks from south Texas probably don't need to comment on snow tires I am sure it is about 70 or so in Houston right now.

j/k Matt.

Actually, what I have are Cooper WeatherMaster S/T (snow tires). They are blocky (pretty loud on the highway) and are made of a softer rubber that is designed to throw out snow, so the treads don't get clogged up. Many snow tires are "pinned for studs" which means you can use them with or without studs.

The studs are hardened steel and they don't wear very fast -- the rubber wears faster. When the rubber wears down, some of the studs are ejected from the tires, though. For a couple of years they mandated aluminum studs and those were a waste. They lasted about 3-4k miles at best.

The studs don't really come into play for "powder" snow, but almost every road in "regular" snow like Matt said turns to "packed snow" where the roadway is much like ice. This is where the studs really work well. For winter driving, these tires are superior. They are snow tires, with the added traction of metal digging into the packed snow or ice.

We DO have a lot of highway damage from people running studded tires. They have to resurface most of the major highways every couple of years. The upside is we don't use salt on the roads, so there is no damage to vegetation or vehicles due to rust and corrosion.

Here is a pic of my tire close up:



They have snow in them because I backed up really slowly to move the car. When you are driving in snow, it does keep the treads clear of snow. The studs are staggered on the inside and outside edges (none in the center).

 

Wow...I never knew these existed and thought I could create them lol ...well I guess I was wrong

 

Yep the Northwest got some snow. Only a little bit where I am but the rain melted it all before long. But my truck has pretty good tires on it. No more Maxima....*sigh*

 

I think I'll steal the Durango when it snows here




I'm scurred of everyone that lives near me + snow/ice

 

You're close.
It's low 60s here right now, but got down to 40 this morning. supposed to be the same tom.

it's still a far cry from when I lived in Indiana.... it would snow in mid Oct and not thaw until mid Feb...

so yes, I've seen my fair share of snow and ice. I lived in it for a couple of years in Indiana, and even when I lived in OK we would get several good snows each year.. usually I'd just park the Max and take the wife's altima (stock size all-seasons do MUCH better than 245 wide max perf summer tires!!)

 

My problem is I live on a good sized hill, and everyone here has SUV's so they are automatically prepared to take on anything. I'd rather drive the Maxima than the Jimmy in the snow. Not sure how the Corolla will do (probably not so hot with the current tires). The Durango does great with the BFG's on .

 

me too minus the ski-doo what kind of jeep you got? my dad has a 2001 cherokee sport, my brother has a white 94 YJ wrangler and im driving a red 93 cherokee sport.



the black jeep is too new to have a pic.

if it snows here i get to work from home yay!

 

i like the nice rims you have there...what are they 4th gen steelies?????? if i were you id go to the local junk yard and get a pair of stock SE rims...itll still look halfway decent....IMO those steelies make your car look bad just my .02

 

You can't run studs here. It's actually outlawed unless you're a postal or agricultural vehicle

Chris- don't you have a BBK on your car?

 

No, my wife won't let me spend that kind of money all at once. She is still pretty mad about the JDM engine thing.

I want to go BBK, but being able to keep my snow tires and also run 15s or 16s for drag racing are nice pluses.

BTW, our postal vehicles have studded tires and they still need to be chained up when it snows a lot. Light vehicle + RWD = teh suck. Two years ago we had about 2 feet of snow and I got one stuck in the middle of a road making a left turn. The back tires just couldn't get any traction. Some people helped me push it out.

 

our post office here appears to have gotten a bunch of jeep liberties. either that or jeep now has the postal garages parking lot

 

It says what it is in my sig, but for some reason it didn't show, hmm. 89 cherokee pioneer with 4.0L and 5-speed. Driving a stick again is making me want to swap the Max tranny right now! All in good time. What year is yours? Also, I have a login at the jeeps unlimited forum with the same name. You should check it out!

 

Hmm, I didn't know they could use those for city delivery. Are they all covered with red and blue stripes and big blue eagle logos? Maybe you could get a picture for me if they are RHD and driven by guys in blue uniforms.

From what I last heard, they have the RHD LLV (old box looking based on S10 Chevy) RHD FFV (new box looking based on Ford Explorer) LHD Windstar vans (walking routes only), LHD Caravans (walking routes only).

Rural carriers can drive whatever they want. The regular ones usually buy RHD vehicles. The ones I have seen are: Jeep Liberty, Wrangler, Saturn or Subaru wagon. They stopped making Subarus RHD for the US several years back, so I think Jeep and Saturn are the only ones left. One lady at work has a Jeep Wrangler RHD. Kind of freaky.

 

nope, they aren't painted. that's why I said it may just be a jeep dealer using the lot.
haven't stopped to look if they're RHD either

 

Yeah good tires are a must.

 

im gonna be running my 240 with bags of sand in the hatch and snow tires. hopefully wont be that badd...

 

You guys would all die laughing at how people here drive if there is so much as a flake on the roads. Southnerns are funny.

 

ha, here its just as bad. The skys turn a slight shade of dark grey people freak out and forget how to drive. (not like they could any way) when it snows its even worse. Even rain people are freaking out.

~Alex

 

In Ohio??? It snows there often, average from 20-30in per year!! (really look it up) All of that and they still can't drive in it???

 

Yes in ohio. we had a maybe quarter inch last week on wednesday and people were driving 40 on the highway cuz there were flurries, first snow and people get scurred. as far as your ohio snowfall it really depends where at, cleveland gets way more than columbus or cincinnati would because of the lake effect. clevelanders, in general, are probably better at driving in it, just cuz.

 

You should see them here in Nashville, Tn. Last year they predicted snow for the next day and the city closed down all the schools, the stores sold out of bread and milk, the whole nine yards.

These people crack me up.

 

LOL I thought making French Toast was a NC bad weather tradition!!! What the hell else are you going to do with M,B,+eggs???

 

10chars

 

I live in the north of sweden and here you must have snow tires from december. Here´s a pic of the type of tires we use on the rally car (nissan sunny gti-r). We use Pirelli wrc tires wich have more studs then the ones on the picture.
Theese are of course not street legal. The grip is amazing, better than the grip on gravel-events in most cases.