Snow Tires - long

[warren.gleich@marcam.com]

Well guys (and any girls out there),
I notice the discussions moving around to snow tires.  I have a lot of real
world
experience with snow and vw's.  I have a 94 Passat GLX (VR6) and my wife
has a 97 Jetta GLX.  We live in Southern NH and I commute 120 miles a day
to
Mass and the wife 60 miles into the Monadnock snow belt.  Just some
credentials,
showing everthing from deep snow to freezing rain.

Some things I have learned in my 35 years...

1.  Buy snows if you are spending any time around snow.  Snows are far
better than
any all season radial, especially Eagle GA's.

2. They allow you to use real performance tires in the summer for max
grins.

3. They allow you to save those expensive performance tires for when they
are
useful.  Softer tires compounds don't do as well in cold winter temps so
you won't
get the most out of performance summer tires in the winter on dry pavement.

4.  Get a second set of steel rims.  They pay for themselves in a couple of
season
changeovers and are easily straightened when you hit the spring thaw pot
holes.  This
also saves expensive alloys from the corrosion of salt.

5. Four snow tires are about equal to many peoples insurance deductable,
and will likely
save you from having to lose you car to the body shop for work from sliding
into a guard
rail.

6.  I order my tires through NTB which price matches and then pay for
lifetime balance.  This
means that I pay nothing to have the tires swapped out, and I get them
balanced oftens which
means the snows last as long as possible.

7.  Go with the narrowest tire recommended.  It will cut through deep snow
better.

8. Do bother with hub caps as I have had them freeze on when I needed to
get a tire off.  A real
pain in the ass.

9.  The new generation tires that work on ice are great.  They really do
work.  They wear a little
faster, but being careful helps a lot.  I prefer the kind that are special
compound all the way though
as opposed to partial like Blizzaks.  I would rather have a tire the at
least grips on ice as opposed
to nothing at all when worn.

10.  Lowered cars suck in snow.  Clearance is paramount for moving through
deep snow.  If you
have a lowered front spoiler, remove it for the winter before a pile of
sluch does it for you.

11. Unless you are around snow constently and drive a short distance, I
would avoid studded tires.
they make a god awful racket, can't go fast and tear up the roads.  I
beleive there are no studded
performance tires out there. Although if I had a dedicated snow car like an
out sychro with four studded
rally tires, boy could I have some fun.

12.  Although they make chains for these cars, I don't think vw recommends
them.  I certainly have
never needed them including driving over the Kangamangus Highway during a
blizzard that had
shut it down. (for those unfamiliar, the Kangamangus Highway could be
called New Hampshires
Donner Pass, without cannibals of course).

13.  Some specific reviews:
Pirrelli 210p's ( non ice tire) -  these were the first tires I put on the
Passat when new.  They are wonderful
handling tires and in fact I left them on after they had worn out as snow
tires and beat them to hell.  Much
better than the stock GA's in the summer.  Be warned expensive.

Bridgestone Blizzaks (ice tire) - My dad had these on his Passat VR6.  They
are not a performance tire and
the size match was not right for the Passat.  That was fine for Dad as he
was not running the cones.  A very soft
tire but they convinced me of the ice feature.  They have the ice compound
only 3/4 of the way through
and then they turn into 3 season radials.  See my earlier comment about 3
season radials.  Especially a
non performance 3 season.  The size difference seemed a non issue for the
speed-o.

Dunlop Graspics (ice Tire) - having worn out the 210p's I was too cheap to
by another set.  They had lasted only
two winters with the kind of driving I was doing.  I wanted an ice tire
after having driven my dad's passat in the ice
belt of up state new york.  These tires were not a performance tire
although they did offer sizes closer to what
was recommended.  They also have the compound all the way through.  Side
walls are softer and I thought
that was going to be a problem.  Well it is a feature, The softer sidewalls
help make the frost heaves and pot
holes seem less vicious.  The wear pretty well looking like I might get
three seasons out of them.  They were
much better in deep snow than the Pirrellis and I have had them up to 100
mph on drive pavement without
a problem.

Pirelli 210p Ice (ice tire) - These are on my wifes Jetta GLX.  These tires
are the balls.  They rock on ice and
handle deep snow well.  They are a performance tire so you can hang it out
a little although doing so with
unknown around a corner ain't too bright.  The seem to be wearing pretty
good but the wife does less mileage.
They are expensice though.  Pretty quite at speed also.  They also come in
the recommended size for
jetta snow tires.

14.  One last warning.  during a particularly bad blizzard, I tried to get
my Passat up my 250 ft driveway.  It is quite
steep and the traction control worked wonderfully but alas the underlying
layers were too slushy to make it.  I
left the car there and dug it out in the morning.  On my way to work,
things were fine till I hit the highway.  The car
started bucked wildly at speed and I had too pull over.  Turned out that
the the traction control had been working
the front brakes in an attempt to maintain traction.  This heated the
calipers up quite a bit.  Well, while trying to move
through the deep snow, I had managed to pack a fair amount of snow behind
the low profile rims.  The heat from
the calipers melted the snow which pooled on the inside of the rim and
refroze throwing the balance of  the wheels
off. I had to remove each wheel and scrape out the ice to continue to work.

Any questions email me directly as I am on digest mode to limit traffic and
don't always read them.

Regards,

Warren

drooling of the new silver Jetta GLX on the VW Vortex site.....