Author Topic: Performance of snow tires in the wet (Read 2135 times)

accord · « **on:** January 19, 2005, 08:26:58 pm »

I've committed to buying 4 Hankook Icebear W300 winter tires. I ordered them when the snow hit Vancouver, BC last week and only received them today. Now that all the snow is gone and has been replaced with rivers of rain (and lots of it!). I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to change my all seasons to the winter tires.

My question is, do winter tires significantly outperform All Season tires when it comes to rain? If not, I'll store the 4 winter tires in my garage until next year, instead of going to the trouble of changing my tires for the sake of a couple of wet months.

morty · « **Reply #1 on:** January 20, 2005, 01:46:47 am »

Winter isnt over yet. We still have 2 months to go, so still would be a good idea to consider having them installed. We have found the W300 to perform very well in the wet. If the temperatures drop again the winters will out perform the all-seasons in the wet. If the weather stays this warm (13 to 18 depending where you are) then you could just keep the AS tires on. Problems is, who knows?

TireTrends - Get ready for winter!

ambient · « **Reply #2 on:** January 20, 2005, 10:58:04 am »

I have the icebear w300 and right now in calgary we had 10c yesterday and they handled great in the wet on the highway. I would say put them on if you have them! If you get them installed at Walmart its cheap.

brian · « **Reply #3 on:** January 20, 2005, 01:01:14 pm »

I think in general most winter tires will probably work well in the rain because they have a lot of void space and siping, and some of them have directional patterns in them (presumably to sweep away water). Just a guess....

ericthejet · « **Reply #4 on:** January 20, 2005, 01:15:45 pm »

My Michelin Artic Alpins are super in the rain and wet roads. They work better then my summers.

multipath · « **Reply #5 on:** January 20, 2005, 03:48:37 pm »

My Kumho KW-11's, my brother's Nordic IceTrac and my dad's Nordic WinterTrac have no problems in the rain. My wife's Blizzak WS-50s leave something to be desired, though. The majority of winter tires should be fine in the rain, though some aren't all great.

If you can get your winters on your car in very short order on a moment's notice, and if your all seasons are good in the rain, then keep them on the car for now. Otherwise, get those winters on while there's no stampede to do so.

accord · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2005, 02:27:11 am »

Thanks everyone for your comments.

sparky · « **Reply #7 on:** January 21, 2005, 11:48:35 am »

Nordid Ice Traks are great in the rain, and they also seem to slice through slush pretty well, too.

oversteer · « **Reply #8 on:** January 24, 2005, 06:18:42 pm »

Rain in summer isn't the same as rain in winter, in that you have to factor in the cold. The winter tire will stay flexible in the colder temperatures and the sipes do wonders at channeling away the water.

Besides which, if you get caught and the temperature drops enough to make it freezing rain, you are going to kick yourself really hard if you leave those tires in storage.