Winter vs Summer tyres on X-drive

[andrewwynn]

The principle that makes ice slippery is nearly identical to what makes oily roads slippery.

Driving my Z28 with 255/55/16 fantastic summer tires felt like driving on wet leaves in Chicago.

Driving on sp wintersport 3d is amazing on almost any surface.

I'm sure they get gooey over 70-80F and I take special effort to drive less when it's over 80f out.

That said the grip gets better down below 50 and starts to blow away the competition when it's below 20F. I drive plenty right at freezing and the grip is stunning on frost covered roads.

I parked in a puddle once to come out with the tires Frozen in 3" of ice. Drove right out without spinning the tires.

I'm planning to take a couple before and after videos with wife's 50i when I get the winters on.

My car can't break traction with the SPs on unless it's actually snow or ice. I can launch full throttle on snow and it squirms a bit but it's quite remarkable the level of acceleration.

Anyhow back to laws of physics.

Sipes give you grip when there is a thin film on the road. That film can be water oil or frost on concrete.

I happen to live in a "Goldilocks" latitude where I can take advantage of my unique situation.

I have driven on extremely good summer tires and on really crappy all season tires.

I'm sure I could given enough effort find some decent "all season" tires that would get me though winter but I did get horribly horribly stuck with decent "all season" tires in some very deep snow where I wouldn't have even been concerned with the SP.

(I have gone cross country with 7" of fresh wet snow as another example of SP winter sport capability). Zero chance I wouldn't have been stuck in the back yard had I tried that with all season tires.