Winter Tires vs A/T Tires

dirtyRU

dirtyRU

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This is something i've been curious about for some time. Being in TX, i hear very little about winter tires & have no use for them. But after looking at some of them & reading from other people about them, many of them have pretty agressive treading & look similar to an All-Terrain.
Take this tire below for example. It's a Dunlop SJ6. After reading several reviews, it does well off road & in many of the same aspects an a/t tires does. I guess what i'm getting at is there a problem with running winter tires all year if they perform just as well? One thing i can't find about this is tread-wear warranties. Are they a softer tire, therefore wearing down quicker in all weather conditions? Some of you guy's up north with experience to this might be able to shed some light for me.

Dunlopsj6.jpg
 
I know nothing about winter tyres either for much the same reason as you. I don't even know if they are even sold in Australia.
 
I had a set very similar to the ones in the pic on an Impreza I fixed up, I bought the mags & tyres from a Japanese importer, they gripped like poo to a blanket and the young guy who bought it off me lived on a farm down south, he reckoned they were brilliant on the dirt but that was only a week after he bought it, from what I read when I bought them they wear very quickly in warm weather and change compound from very soft to harder once they are worn about 70%.

We get no snow either, pretty similar to what you'd be driving in I'd say.
 
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I did the snow tire for off road tire on my old GL they worked great in the dirt but are soft and wore out very quickly. If you want to do a second set of wheels and use them only when heading off road, not a bad idea. But...I'd say the Yoko AT/S's would be a better investment.
 
Have you thought about getting some 2nd hand rally tyres? hard as nails and usually cheap, that's if the sport is semi popular there, I'll be getting a set for mine soon. though the biggest you'll find are only 205/65/15.
 
I would looovvve to get my hands on some even used Rally tires, that's a good idea i haven't thought about . I'll have to do some looking around on that.
I figured the winter tires would be pretty soft for them to grip the way they do on ice, so that's probably why they don't list/have any treadwear warranty info.

This is a really good video to show you just how much of a difference they make on the snow. One of the cars is a Subaru, but they leave the all-seasons on it.. I think they do that though simply because everyone knows how good they are... But you are only as good as the shoes you wear!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8ZBaiB0bs&feature=channel_video_title"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8ZBaiB0bs&feature=channel_video_title[/ame]
 
Interesting. Looking at the Subaru made me realise just how good looking that tractor was.
 
dirtyRU said:
But you are only as good as the shoes you wear!
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Well said, dirtyRU! Wherever you are driving, if you have 4x zero traction, you still have zero traction, i.e. AWD does nothing for you.

If you live in a place where there is a lot of snow, winter tires are undoubtedly a very good investment. However, it's critical that you swap out your winter tires for summer tires once the snow melts. Otherwise their life will be very short. In other words: Yes, winter tires have very soft rubber and will not last very long in year-round use.

Personally, I'm intrigued by the reverse question: Can you use A/T tires as winter tires. The answer, from what I gather, is NO. A/T tires are too hard and the rubber compounds they use are not grippy enough for snow and ice. So if you have to drive in wintery conditions, make sure to get snow/winter tires, even if you have A/T tires that serve yo well during the summer.
 
Ah, you make a good point Escher! I've heard certain A/T's do fairly well in the snow, but when it comes to ice, like you said, they suck. Then again, if you have snow, you'll probably be running into ice, so best just have them both.

On another note, how have you been? Getting ready to be stateside yet?!
 
Hey there, dirtyRU! My family always had winter tires when I was growing up in Switzerland. But for my own cars (always US, no worries about snow in West Africa, obviously), I've never had the chance to own snow tires, mostly because of lacking storage. So this is all based on other people's experiences.

I personally think the question about using A/T tires in winter depends on the quantity and type of snow your region is likely to see. In the US Mid-Atlantic region (i.e. Washington, DC) there probably just isn't enough snow to warrant snow tires. However, if you go further North to New England, snow tires should be a no-brainer (assuming you have the money and can store them in the summer). Same thing would go further West, e.g. in the Appalachian Mountains or Rockies.

Official return to the US is not until summer 2012. However, I'm actually in the States right now dealing with some health issues and preparing for our family's return. Should be back in Senegal in 2-3 weeks though. Really miss the kids, beach, and off-roading... On the upside, I look forward to getting back into a Subaru from the Land Cruiser and X-trail soon.

PS: Went to a friend's house for dinner tonight, and spotted a lifted Legacy/Liberty wagon. License plate read "LFTD RU." Will have to bring a camera next time, and leave the guy a note about ORS.com!
 
That's good to hear Escher, i hope your health issues get sorted out quickly & things back to normal!

Here's another video i found to be most impressive! What a better place to compare all the tires than in an ice hockey rink!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s&feature=relmfu"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s&feature=relmfu[/ame]
 
The ice rink video really shows where winter tires make a big difference because they contain more natural rubber and silicates to make them work at low temperatures. They also have lots of little cuts (sips?) in the blocks of the tread to make them grip ice. Also they are very soft. At work we have a Durometer for measuring rubber hardness. So because I was really bored yesterday dinnertime I headed off into the car park to measure my tires. I've just fitted my winter wheels and tires so I thought I'd do a comparison.
One of my work mates has a bobtailed Discovery with AT tires on, these measured 68 shore. Road cars with normal tires measured between 72 and 78 depending on the brand, and my snow tires measured 60, so they a quite abit softer.
I think winter tires would grip rock very well but they do tend to tear because of their softness and they would certainly shed mud as they have a very open tread pattern, but again they will wear quickly.
 

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Another thing you could measure is any changes in the readings as tyres age- as opposed to wear but then that would also be interesting.
 
Nachaluva said:
TopGear has done car soccer, I cant wait for car ice-hockey hehehe :lildevil:
Click to expand...
Now that would be something else :lol: I can only imagine how that would turn out :raspberry: :lol: :raspberry:

But getting back to the vid, it's just goes to show, what a difference it makes, in having the right tyre, for the right conditions when driving :iconwink:

Regards
Mr Turbo
 
Definitely. Bathurst 1992 was a perfect example. Slick tyres and wet race tracks don't mix- and AWD is no use either.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z19UGblgVog"]Bathurst 1992: The Wet Finish - YouTube[/ame]

mr turbo said:
Now that would be something else :lol: I can only imagine how that would turn out :raspberry: :lol: :raspberry:

But getting back to the vid, it's just goes to show, what a difference it makes, in having the right tyre, for the right conditions when driving :iconwink:

Regards
Mr Turbo
Click to expand...
 
Nachaluva said:
TopGear has done car soccer, I cant wait for car ice-hockey hehehe :lildevil:
Click to expand...

It's not quite a 'game' of ice hockey, but if you scroll to the 4min. mark...

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwAasSkZ7pA"]Renault Twingo road test - Top Gear - BBC - YouTube[/ame]

Actually, a very good, very serious, road test of the Renault Twingo. The full 8mins. is worth watching.:iconwink::lol:
 
hilarious! :rotfl:

133 miles per hour on an ice hockey rink! Wouldnt have believed it if i hadnt seen it lol :lol:

I liked the loop in the tunnel too hehe :biggrin:


But somehow i feel we've gone off topic...oops :redface:
 
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