black0hatch

i just got a first gen awd crv and the tires are getting pretty low on life and seeing as how winters coming im wondering for those of you that live in the snow what kind of tires do you usually buy? studded or just some nice all seasons maybe even get them siped? ive never owned or driven an awd suv in the snow so i dont know how its gona handle. the crv will be driven alot too and mostly by the wife. i usually run studs on any fwd car i have but my 4x4 jeep just has all terains.

0Deatschwerks

I don't know what kind of snow you'll be seeing, but a good set of all-seasons do just fine in OK.

6" of snow (that's a lot for here) and never had a problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APSme3kc2bg

LDForget

ive gotnokian hakkapeliitta r's. Best, tire ever. Pretty expensive though.

black0hatch

ya i think im gona go with all seasons. can you really notice the awd over a fwd in the snow?

It Wasn't Me

Is this a serious question?

Yes, you can. Night and day difference between my Civic and the CR-V in winter conditions. (compact snow and ice)

Although I can drive either, it was much easier behind the wheel of the CR-V.

LDForget

the AWD system in the V makes winter driving summer driving. Remember...AWD helps you go..not stop.

black0hatch

ok thanks ya its also got abs its been a while since ive owned a car with abs especially in the snow.

eg92b16

random question is there a way to lock the rear wheels ??

TypeRfit

iTrader: (6)

We put a set of Hankook all seasons on my girls Civic and they were awesome. We were in Denver so the snow was pretty deep at times. Would recommend them to anyone.

0Deatschwerks

Did you watch the video I posted?

That was all throttle. No e-brake.

Snafu-Si

If finances are abundant and you can get both a set for all season and set for snow, do so. If not, I really like the traction of my 205/70/15 BFG PRecepts for all season. The sidewalls are a little too soft, but grip wise they're fantastic for snow for a all season tire. They wear well, I got them back in 2002 when I had 30,000 miles to replace the stock Bridgestone Duellers. I STILL have them on my car now, but I know have 120,000 and its ten years later. I have 7/32's up front, and 6/32's tread in the rear. New I believe they were 11/32's. They have worn marvelously.

They were fantastic in snow when they were brand new, I drove on them through 5 Michigan winters. Pretty predictable, you could tell when they were break lose, they wouldn't snap oversteer in snow unless you were acting like a total idiot.

I've also driven on Pirelli P3000's but they don't make them anymore, I really liked those as well and had great grip for an all season in snow.

Eventually I switched to a full set of snows, some snows tires I've driven on are,

Bridgestone WS-50 - good snow tire, car snow tire, come in CR-V size, very predictable, good all rounder.
Bridgestone DMZ3 = aggressive snow, tread/sidewall flex, essentially a truck/suv snow tire, but maybe for pure maximum snow traction I liked the most. Felt to be the most aggressive snow tire I drove on. tread depth new was like 14/32s
Hankook Ipike - Nice aggressive snow, very tread flexy feeling sidewall flex, studdable if needed.
Dunlop Graspics car snow tire, good predictable grip, good all rounder
Michelin X-Ice - car snow tire, good all around snow tire, doesn't flex too much, good balance for overall performance, grip, handling.
Michelin X-Ice2s = softer rubber, I noticed more predictable grip in very low temps over the original x-ice's. (below 0 degrees)

Type of snow driven on them are usually between 6-12 inches or so. I've never gotten stuck in any of the snow tires I was in. Worst conditions I drove them all in would be 12-20 inches of snow -20 degrees Fahrenheit at worst. I still never got stuck. The CR-V AWD obviously helped. I spent the afternoon driving around pushing other peoples cars that were stuck. It gave me that fuzzy feeling inside helping people.

That and I just found driving around in snow fun. I would wake up at 3am during a blizzard just to drive around during the blizzard. Pure untouched snow, it was fantastic.

Sadly I live in this **** town of Houston now, where people go APE **** over 1 cm of snow. Everyone starts crashing into each other because they, well they can't drive anyway, and the 1 cm of snow amplifies their stupidity so. People here can't even drive in the RAIN, so snow is like Armageddon.

black0hatch

good info there especially about houston ill make sure to never go there! i got another question if you were to use chains on an awd would you put them in the front or rear?

amblamps

I was just going to ask this same question about the necessity of snow tires vs good all seasons on the Element. Thanks for the info

shermanyang

iTrader: (1)

I live in MN and we get snow here every winter...All Season has always worked for me. I don't think you would need any sort of specialized tire for an AWD vehicle. Even my previous cars (94 civic si and 94 integra) had all season tires during the winters here and they were fine, granted they were both equiped with LSDs.

EE2bitsk

if you used chains, you'd put them on the front.

Snafu-Si

so long as you have a high quality set of all seasons with ADEQUATE tread, you should be okay for modest snow driving situations. By adequate I would say at least above 6/32's tread. Preferably more. The average new street tire that is all season is about 11/32's.

But the best all season, still CAN'T come close to a dedicated snow tire in the snow. Snow tires aren't just specialized snow tread patterns or deeper tread depths. The rubber compound is also much more softer. Their rubber is designed to stay flexible for when it gets REALLY cold and also for ICE. Snow tires handle significantly better in ice, and stay flexible. You can use your fingers and "fan" the tread blocks on snow tires and flip them like pages in a book. All seasons don't stay flexible as it gets colder and get harder.

There are also snow tires that have special compounds like microscopic holes and such onto the tread like the Blizzacks.

In sacrifice there are tradeoffs for pure snow tires, such as treadsquirm, wobblyness, tire road noise, low speed rating. But seriously for a SUV I don't think the idea was to pull massive G-loads during winter.

There are always sport oriented snow tires, like the Dunlop Wintersport M3's, Blizzack LM-22's, W300 Icebears, which are snow tires that are low profile for sports cars, sports sedans and such. Some of these sport oriented snow tires have good handling for a snow tire for a sports car, and have speed ratings so you can still go 100+++++mph.

I've driven on the M3's, W300's, and the LM-22's in the snow. They are pretty sporty for snow tires and a good compromise for winter grip and performance. Generally these tires are used on cars with low profile like BMW's, and other sport sedans and sport cars.

In the end you can PROBABLY get by on a NICE set of all seasons in the winter and modest snow. But after driving 10 years of Michigan winters on all seasons, I never really had too much problems. But when I DID go to snows, I never drove another winter on all seasons ever again. Once I realized how much MORE capable snow tires were, I couldn't give that up.

The increase in grip, braking, handling, ice traction, FAR exceeded any ALL Season I had driven on. The increase in CONFIDENCE, and PREDICTABILITY that snow tires gave me really kept me sold on going back to them every winter.

It was also nice that my employer at the time provided me free snow tires for my CR-V every winter for all those years which gave me the opportunity to try so many kinds of snow tires. ^_^

There are also all seasons out there, that qualify and meet the industry standards for "Severe snow service". All season tires that have that little "snow flake in the mountain" symbol. All snow tires have that label, but there are all seasons that aren't technically "snow tires" that have that rating. These "all seasons" are some of the most aggressive tires for snow that aren't technically snow tires.





The tires that come to mind are
Goodyear FORTERA Tripletreads (normally found on SUV's and or trucks)
Wrangler Silent Armors
Some Nokian I can't remember WGsomething27whatever
BFG All Terrain KO's
General Grabber AT2's

TAKE IN MIND these tires have the tread that is aggressive enough for snow and DECENT snow grip, however they lack the softness that REAL snow tires have. In fact, these tires have pretty hard rubber compounds. Therefore, they kind of suck on ICE. And by "kind of" I mean they really suck on ice. :p

Having a snowflake on your tire doesn't mean everything sometimes. If Bridgestone, Michelin have it on their tires, it means something. But that's not entirely true for everyone else.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

black0hatch

well i ended up getting some studded tires but only because it was too good a deal to pass up. i paid 240 for all four only used one snow season and they came mounted on factory crv steelies. ill probably end up pulling the studs and use them all year.