Mang. I hate steep hills. I was going down a steep hill to turn to my friends house, but my car kept going down, I pushed on the brakes and kept it straight till I was at level ground and able to stop the car. Good thing no other cars were around, I was able to turn around and go back uphill and turn into the driveway find going slow. Man that sheet is scary, feeling your brakes pulse and its not stopping, almost like ice on your rotors.

Will a 4x4 Truck handle differently? I mean its kinda steep hill.


- ßaller

 

Don't have experience with snow tires or chains but I've been there before ... I couldn't get out of a driveway, kept sliding back down

I don't think a 4x4 would have handled any differently IF it had crappy tires. You need good tires.

However, if the road was icy, I think that even the best of tires would be useless.

 

Dunlop Winter Sport. check tire rack for pricing and reviews. It's made in 235/45/17 as well.

 

I used to drive a 200 Volvo with 4 studded Nokia Hakkapeliitta 10's. Whenever I was in VT, Subarus and Saabs would blow by like there was no tomorrow. One day when I couldn't take it anymore I discovered the Volvo's capabilities in the snow given the tires...

The next set was the Hakka 1, which was newer, less aggressive, and had "Eco Friendly" studs. They did not work as well as the older Hakka 10's. So, having never tried them, I somehow doubt the "studless" tires would do as well as studded ones. It's just a physics and coefficient of drag thing. I'm sure the treads are computer designed and all, but studs damage and wear out the roads and these Arctic Alpin, Blizzak, etc, they do not. Wonder which grips more?? They claim their studless rubber even grips on ice?

4x4 would handle better, as would any AWD or RWD car. FWD is very heavy up-front = mediocre handling. That is not to say that 4 studless snows wouldn't do better than 4 all-season on a Max.

 

I just got back in the house from driving my 2k2 Maxima SE on icy snow covered roads and what a rush, it handled as if it were on rails. The secret, it's the Nokia Hakka 1 snow tires, I put a set of four 215/55/16 on winter steelies. Today I helped move my daughter to another house in the country, I was driving my full size Chevy Z71 4x4 in four wheel drive and I tell you my Max actually performed better-no ****.
The last few years I was running Yokohoma Guardex snow tires on my older Max, and I thought they were good but these Nokia Hakka 1's have them beat.
Frankie

 

Thanks for all the info. It appears from this thread and with your personal experiences that the Nokia Hakka's Snow Tires are the way to go, I will definitely look for these.

I am still on my 18s (18x7.5) with Toyo Proxes FZ4 All Season. I dont work so that is why I have not changed to my stck 15 inch rims yet, also I dont care about my 18 inch rims, its clearcoat was messed up from grease, the rims will be redone/powdercoated again next Spring.

Regards,
ßaller

 

I have Nokian Hakka1s on both the Maxima and the 240SX. It makes the 240SX driveable in the snow without excessive fishtailing. The Maxima is simply amazing with these tires.

I think most of hte Canadian Maxima owners on the .Org use Nokain Hakka1s.

 

Nonsense! It makes no difference at all where your drive is when going downhill on ice while trying to stop. Weight distribution and center of gravity height make a little difference. 4x4 is the worst handling - nose heavy and high center of gravity. A snowmobile would have trouble in those conditions.

Re snow and ice tires - the Blizzaks are supposedly optimized for ice and slush - I can say they work pretty well - I had a ball dragging out all the manly 4x4's with them on my Protege!

 

Quattro, XC70, Subaru, M class drivers in VT are such full of nonsense then, but I guess whatever gets them to Mt Snow and Killington is what floats their boat. You're right! Maxima is the ultimate ski car esp. since it has a pass-through armrest! 4X4 is the worst!

 

Like I said, downhill on ice it makes no diff. Quattro, Sube etc are awd, don't have the high cg, locked center diff, nose heavy weight dist. of 4x4. In general snow driving awd would be much nicer - especially uphill. The guy's question was about downhill on ice.

 

Read the post - downhill on ice, trying to turn into a driveway.

 

hey, i had the dunlop GRASPIC's. they worked really well in ice and snow. the guy at the tire place where i bought them told me also that narrower tires work best in snow...just my opinion.

 

I have a set of Blizzak WS-15's on 15" steel rims on my SE.
They are the ***** in the snow. The only problem with them is that I run out of ground clearance before I run out of handling performance.
I also have a 4x4, and let me tell you, without the weight in the back, you have to use the 4x4. Spent half this weekend in 4WD.
As someone told me years ago, braking is braking, steering is steeting, it does not matter 2WD or 4WD, you lost control of all 4 wheels, it's all in the tires.

 

Get either Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22 (that's what I run on my 330ci) or Dunlop Winter Sport.