On 11/27/2010 05:56 PM, Walt wrote:
On 11/27/2010 3:05 PM, Ted Waldron wrote:

Dick wrote:

New Acura MDX, and I need to buy snows...any recommendations??

I am partial to Bridgestone Blizzaks.

+1 on the Blizzaks. They're as good as the Hakkepallitas and last
longer. I'm on my 4th season of my current Blizzaks, driving about 550
miles round trip each weekend to ski.

Whatever you do, don't let anyone talk you into "all season" tires that
are "almost as good as snowtires". Get dedicated snows.

While I believe this is true, and it's more true for
a "regular" car (2 wheel drive) than for either an
"all wheel drive (full time 4 wheel drive)" or selectable
4 wheel drive.

My current vehicle is a 4 wheel drive (selectable)
Toyota Tacoma. I run all weather tires for 2 years
and replace them still with a bit of tread left.

I also did this with my previous vehicle which was
a Subaru Forester (all wheel drive).

Having said that, Blizzaks are second only to fully
studded Hakkepallitas and are better than the Haks
without studs.

Then, on ice the more rubber on the ground the better.
If you don't have Blizzaks or studded Haks, then
all-weather tires will perform better than any run
of the mill "snow" tire.

Look at the tread of a snow tire, or more properly an
"mud and snow" tire (read the sidewall). These big
grippers are made to dig into a loose material and
gain traction. The only way these are going to perform
on ice is to have studs.

If you have 4 wheel drive or AWD you will probably
have good enough traction to get you out of any kind
of trouble you can get into short of biffing completely
off the road.

Conclusion:
If you have need of tires which perform BOTH in loose
snow and/or mud AND on ice or a polished snow surface
get the Blizzaks or the Haks but with studs for the
Haks. Actually any good snow tire with studs will do
for this.

If your main driving is highway with some ice or polished
snow AND you have 4WD or AWD, then probably the all
weather tires will do quite well. The do here in Vermont.

My truck is rear wheel drive when 4WD is not engaged,
is fairly light in the ass when not loaded. When going
up East Mountain Road at Killington, a fairly steep
and windy road up the east side, I can feel the truck
loose traction on ice and feel the back end begin to
try to be the front end. When this happens, I click
the 4WD switch and the thing straightens out and goes
up the hill very nicely.

Braking.
There isn't a tire in the world that will improve your
braking on ice except a studded tire. This includes
Blizzaks so don't ever expect your vehicle the be able
to stop well on an icy surface. Go slow downhill and
only as fast as you need to to maintain traction going
uphill. If the center of the road is icy, have at least
2 wheels in the softer snow/slush/granular junk on the
right hand side of the road, especially going down.

Snowbanks are your friends.

//Walt