02-08-2011, 04:13 PM
Hi,
Different conditions require different gear. I've never owned studded tires. I've never had any real trouble getting to where I'm going with just mud & snow tires and, occasionally, chains. Right now, my 18 year old Explorer still has the chains I originally bought for it. Except for the one time I put them on to trim for length, I've never used them.
In Eastern Washington, the temperatures are quite a bit lower than here, but it is relatively dry. This leads to a phenomenon known as black ice. The moisture in the air condenses on the road surface and forms a thin, almost invisible, layer of ice. It is especially treacherous because you can drive on it and not even know you're doing so until you try to break or turn. Studded tires there are a good idea.
Here in Western Washington, we seldom get snow, it's usually just an inch or so, and it usually is gone in a couple of days. The only ice I've seen is on the ski slopes and in drinks. However, they can't seem to put together a state law that permits studded tires east of the mountain and prohibit them west (say, based on the county in which the car is registered). Studded tires here are a bad idea since all they do is tear up the road and increase the particulate matter in the air.
It's all a matter of conditions. The one constant would be better driver training. I suspect that most of the cars you see off the road are there because the car started a little baby skid and the driver hit the breaks. You don't really need to know how to drive to get a license.
--Pete
(02-08-2011, 09:34 AM)eppie Wrote: Or 'cancer tires' as we like to call them. Luckily here they are trying to ban them....up north you need them but in town you just need to drive carefully.
And as you say they are only necesarry when there is real ice on the road......and most of the time it is snow and they don't help much there (at least not compared to normal winter tires).
Different conditions require different gear. I've never owned studded tires. I've never had any real trouble getting to where I'm going with just mud & snow tires and, occasionally, chains. Right now, my 18 year old Explorer still has the chains I originally bought for it. Except for the one time I put them on to trim for length, I've never used them.
In Eastern Washington, the temperatures are quite a bit lower than here, but it is relatively dry. This leads to a phenomenon known as black ice. The moisture in the air condenses on the road surface and forms a thin, almost invisible, layer of ice. It is especially treacherous because you can drive on it and not even know you're doing so until you try to break or turn. Studded tires there are a good idea.
Here in Western Washington, we seldom get snow, it's usually just an inch or so, and it usually is gone in a couple of days. The only ice I've seen is on the ski slopes and in drinks. However, they can't seem to put together a state law that permits studded tires east of the mountain and prohibit them west (say, based on the county in which the car is registered). Studded tires here are a bad idea since all they do is tear up the road and increase the particulate matter in the air.
It's all a matter of conditions. The one constant would be better driver training. I suspect that most of the cars you see off the road are there because the car started a little baby skid and the driver hit the breaks. You don't really need to know how to drive to get a license.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?