Topic: If you don't have winter tires....

[wing]

And live in a snowy / cold area.

You are officially an idiot.

Today i drove on All seasons (around the block) for the first time in years and WOW I forgot how bad they are!!!

[Shnak]

Aren't you, by your own definition, an idiot? 

[1TSX]

If this was posted on Facebook, I would have "Liked this".

I saw a nice RS4 around school, with 19inch summers on.   There was also a Veilside RX-7 rolling around on summers too.

[tortoise]

A co-worker just bought a brand new Rav4.  At the advice of her husband she's opted to use the stock all seasons for the winter because "they should be good enough for the first season".

Le sigh.

[carcrazy]

Aren't you, by your own definition, an idiot? 

I guess Wing's excuse would be that he drives whatever the manufacturers give him to drive.

[safristi]

You youngsters always goin' after the "new" FAD.........................hell when men were MEN...we rode around on canvas showin tyres just to get the DRIFTIN' SCENE HAPPENING.......................trouble is there are now as many WINTER types as SUMMER types of tyres.....and the wrong one for your areas winter type weather....mild and slushy...cold and snowy   and all the in betweens means many PICK/ARE SOLD the wrong type and are dissapointed.................they needed an ICE tyre and were sold a cold thick chunky snow tyre etc etc..................

  the DRIVER is 80% of WINTER DRIVING the tyres the REST.....and Winters give U a 10% edge..(minus a 8% I'm invincible i'm on WINTERS attitude).............my Ranger with Nordic Winters and weight in the back is way tougher to handle in winter (yup RWD front heavy.) than my Millenia on Top Michelin Pilot Exaltos............................front heavy,low..and driven by a PRO

[bridgecity]

Was behind a Range Rover Sport yesterday with the stock performance tires.  The lady was absolutley crawling around the corners.  She must have spent every last cent on her SUV.

[wing]

I drove it around the block to take photos.  Then I promptly parked it and took the vehicle that has winters an 2010 Rav4

[Shnak]

I drove it around the block to take photos.  Then I promptly parked it and took the vehicle that has winters an 2010 Rav4

So you were an idiot for 2 minutes...?   

[safristi]

..?   small VILLAGE    ?

[ovr50]

I drove it around the block to take photos.  Then I promptly parked it and took the vehicle that has winters an 2010 Rav4

So you were an idiot for 2 minutes...?   

I suspect James would rather be an idiot for 2 minutes than full-time like some on here.......................

[Shnak]

Well, I might be an idiot (but realy, who isn't? ), but not because of winter tires... I've had mine on both our vehicles for close to a month now. As soon as the temp gets to 0º during the night, it's time to switch the tires IMO. Lots of black ice early in the morning. I'd rather put my winters on a bit early even if it puts more wear on them than risk getting caught by black ice / early snow.

[safristi]

OVR...tell us how many years U rode the tarmac on NON WINTERS...In Alberta and Snowy parts of BC........and yet HERE U are..........

[si]

A good read from the Canadian city least likely to have a white Christmas.

http://www.timescolonist.com/entertainment/Knox+column+never+snows+Victoria+except+when+does+every+year/2341779/story.html


It never snows in Victoria, except when it does, every year
 
 
BY JACK KNOX, TIMES COLONISTDECEMBER 15, 2009 8:10 AMBE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT
 
 
Two o'clock yesterday afternoon. I approach the editor, clear my throat: "After much soul-searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional newspapering. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person."

"Pardon?" she says.

"Like Tiger Woods, I am leaving work to save my family. I apologize for my indiscretions."

"You?"

I nodded my head vigorously. "Got 'em stacked up like cordwood. One affair she might have forgiven. Two, three, four, I'm still good. But once you hit double digits, some women get testy. I better go."

"So what you're saying," says the boss, "is you're going home early to beat the snow."

Well, yes, now that you mention it, it would be nice to get off the roads before the flakes start falling faster than Tiger's reputation.

This is how Victorians react to even the slightest threat of snow: Bolt for home in time for Oprah/the early game on TSN. Just a hint of white in the sky, and the entire city goes to voicemail. By 4 p.m. the Malahat looks like France in 1940, the highway choked with ox carts and refugees fleeing the advancing horror. The Q dumps classic rock, just plays the theme music to Exodus, over and over.

Thankfully, it never snows in Victoria, except when it does, every single winter, much to the amusement of the rest of the country. The rest of Canada enjoys a West Coast snowfall the way the Brits enjoy watching Princess Anne fall off a horse.

Jennifer Crosby, who left CHEK television for Global Edmonton last January, hears all about Victoria's winter wimpiness from her new colleagues. "I have to remind them that I grew up in real winter," says Jenn, who was raised a farm girl in northern B.C.

Real winter is what the real Canada is experiencing this week. It was minus 47 in Edmonton Sunday night, minus 59 with the wind chill. That's like saying Shaquille O'Neal stands 7'3" with his boots on. It's impressive enough without the boots, or the wind.

"It's only minus 26 right now," Crosby said over the phone yesterday afternoon, sounding like a Monty Python knight ("It's just a flesh wound"). Seems the frigid weather has given Edmontonians a plucky sense of adventure. "When you get out and about when it's this cold ... you're kind of laughing in the face of it." (Let's pause to compare this to the response in Victoria, where doctors prescribe 20 mg of Prozac for every inch of snow/degree below zero.)

Crosby, who anchors Global Edmonton's News Hour Final, admits she misses Victoria, which is nice to hear, because we miss her, too, sparkling gal that she is. She still thinks like an Islander, too, feels guilty about giving her car 15 minutes to warm up in the morning; in Victoria, anything over 15 seconds earns you the type of glares normally associated with smoking in church or handing out beer on Halloween. "Time to buy some carbon credits," she says.

Crosby has not yet driven away with the block heater plugged in, though separating it from the frozen extension cord did turn into a knees-braced-against-the-car, pulling-with-both-hands Wrestlemania event one day last week. The windows of her home are iced shut and frosted over. "It feels like I'm living in a snow cave." It's even cold at work; she keeps a scarf in the newsroom.

Albertans just take it in stride. "I'm hearing from more people on the Coast about our weather than I'm hearing from people here."

Besides, they say it's a dry cold, the Albertan equivalent of "at least you don't have to shovel it." Crosby walked a block for a coffee yesterday, didn't find it that bad.

At least, not as bad as doing a stand-up in Oak Bay when it was minus six. That was as chilled as she can remember being, ever. Of course, no one dresses for cold weather in Victoria, where it never snows, except when it does, every single winter.

[DKaz]

You youngsters always goin' after the "new" FAD.........................hell when men were MEN...we rode around on canvas showin tyres just to get the DRIFTIN' SCENE HAPPENING.......................trouble is there are now as many WINTER types as SUMMER types of tyres.....and the wrong one for your areas winter type weather....mild and slushy...cold and snowy   and all the in betweens means many PICK/ARE SOLD the wrong type and are dissapointed.................they needed an ICE tyre and were sold a cold thick chunky snow tyre etc etc..................

  the DRIVER is 80% of WINTER DRIVING the tyres the REST.....and Winters give U a 10% edge..(minus a 8% I'm invincible i'm on WINTERS attitude).............my Ranger with Nordic Winters and weight in the back is way tougher to handle in winter (yup RWD front heavy.) than my Millenia on Top Michelin Pilot Exaltos............................front heavy,low..and driven by a PRO

That's the most comprehensible thing I've read from you so far. lol.

[blur911]

You youngsters always goin' after the "new" FAD.........................hell when men were MEN...we rode around on canvas showin tyres just to get the DRIFTIN' SCENE HAPPENING.......................trouble is there are now as many WINTER types as SUMMER types of tyres.....and the wrong one for your areas winter type weather....mild and slushy...cold and snowy   and all the in betweens means many PICK/ARE SOLD the wrong type and are dissapointed.................they needed an ICE tyre and were sold a cold thick chunky snow tyre etc etc..................

  the DRIVER is 80% of WINTER DRIVING the tyres the REST.....and Winters give U a 10% edge..(minus a 8% I'm invincible i'm on WINTERS attitude).............my Ranger with Nordic Winters and weight in the back is way tougher to handle in winter (yup RWD front heavy.) than my Millenia on Top Michelin Pilot Exaltos............................front heavy,low..and driven by a PRO

That's the most comprehensible thing I've read from you so far. lol.

And oddly it reminded me of being 17 and driving an MG Midget all winter on Michelin XZX tires, they had extra ice traction from the steel belts sticking through and weren't that bad.

[ktm525]

You have to expand your criteria of what makes an idiot Wing. I have had many cars on all-seasons in winter, in Calgary. I have even driven them into the front ranges to go skiing on a nice stable day (the horror). I think you should modify your statement to: Anyone who drives in winter conditions on all-seasons is an idiot.

In Calgary we can have nice stretches of weather in the middle of winter (10 degrees Celcius and dry roads.). During these times sometimes you will see the second or third car make a short appearence. During these "summer breaks" even top down convertables make an appearence. When the nasty stuff hits I revert back to the Dakota on winters and the convertables dissapear....

[huota]

A co-worker just bought a brand new Rav4.  At the advice of her husband she's opted to use the stock all seasons for the winter because "they should be good enough for the first season".

Le sigh.

That's too funny 

I am currently considering a switch from "high-performance" GY Ultra Grip Performance to a set of "proper" winters (potentially studded).

[ovr50]

You have to expand your criteria of what makes an idiot Wing. I have had many cars on all-seasons in winter, in Calgary. I have even driven them into the front ranges to go skiing on a nice stable day (the horror). I think you should modify your statement to: Anyone who drives in winter conditions on all-seasons is an idiot.

In Calgary we can have nice stretches of weather in the middle of winter (10 degrees Celcius and dry roads.). During these times sometimes you will see the second or third car make a short appearence. During these "summer breaks" even top down convertables make an appearence. When the nasty stuff hits I revert back to the Dakota on winters and the convertables dissapear....

Good point, ktm.

And Shnak, you assumed I was referring to you, I wasn't....but if the shoe fits......

[Angry Chicken]

A co-worker just bought a brand new Rav4.  At the advice of her husband she's opted to use the stock all seasons for the winter because "they should be good enough for the first season".

Le sigh.

Mea culpa.  I suggested something similar to my wife when she bought her 2007 Santa Fe AWD two years ago.  I had just purchased winter tires for my own Mazda 3 GT Sport and didn't want to plunk down another $1000 + for her vehicle.  This also makes me a hypocrite, since I'm a loud supporter of winter tires in general and my wife thinks I'm infatuated with little black donuts of rubber.  What's the male equivalent of -slap ...because that's what happened to me?  Needless to say, we've been trundling around on Nokian winter tires during the two winters we've experienced since that episode.