Role Of Car's Weight VS Choice of Tires on Snow Performance

My last car was a 2005 Chevy Malibu 3.5L V6. Curb Weight: 3174 (Consumerguide.com), F/R%: 59/41. Tire: Performance-All-Season Yokohama Avid H4S

My current ride is a 2008 Kia Optima 2.4L 4. Curb Weight: 3142, F/R%:

61/39. Tire: Grand-Touring-All-Season Kumho Solus KH16

The Malibu(32lbs heavier) cut through up to 4 inches of unplowed snow like it wasn't there. The Optima folded up like an umbrella with only 1 inch unplowed on the streets. Spinning in low-low gear, tracking sideways, holding up traffic, you name it!

Opinions?

-ChrisCoaster

Reply to
ChrisCoaster
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Those tires are not going to be acceptable for heavy winter driving.

What tires did it have on it?

I'm not surprised.

Buy snow tires and use them.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Well the first item is that the V6 produced much more torque lower down the rpm band than the Kia. That translates into less drive line shock to the tires. Less shock means it's harder to break the tires loose.

The next is likely related to the way the tires are cut and the overall tread pattern. A lot of small sipes cut close together to give the tire more edges will work much better on snow than a tire with large open voids and little siping.

Tire width and profile are next. A narrower tire that can cut through the snow and get to harder surfaces will do better than a wide tire that floats on top.

The last may be the road surface maintainance and clearing issue. If they used more salt before and the weather was the correct temperature so it can work properly and this year they cut back on the salt or it warmed up so the snow was damp and packed the treads more that will also cause problems.

Reply to
Steve W.

___________________________ Re-read the section about my Malibu in my original post and you will find out what tires it had. ;)

You, like I, have "American's disease" as my Asian wife calls it: We never see what's right in front of us nor do we close what we open or put back what we take out!

peas!

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

You didn't mention transmission types - is the Kia a stick? What was the 'Bu like the first winter you got it? Maybe you need to "relearn" how to drive this car - in the winter, I'll be driving either a FWD/automatic Beretta, a stickshift RWD pickup, or an AWD Subaru and I have to remind myself that they handle snow and ice completely different. (the Subaru is the best by far.)

Ray

Reply to
ray

__________________________ Both the Malibu and Optima were automatic. Bu = 4spd, Op = 5spd.

Malibu got through 2 winters on FS Affinity LH30s. It got through last winter on Yok AVID H series 4S.

TFT rep did explain the tread differences between my Optima's present Kumhos and the H4S - the H4s had full evacuation from the outer grooves to the sides of the tire, the Kumho's laterals(toward the sides of the tires, narrowed to almost nothing going in from the edge of the tire to the first groove in. Moral: Snow/ice/applesauce/ whatever had nowhere to go!

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

__________________________ Both the Malibu and Optima were automatic. Bu = 4spd, Op = 5spd.

Malibu got through 2 winters on FS Affinity LH30s. It got through last winter on Yok AVID H series 4S.

TFT rep did explain the tread differences between my Optima's present Kumho Solus KH16s and the H4S - the H4s had full evacuation from the outer grooves to the sides of the tire, the Kumho's laterals(toward the sides of the tires, narrowed to almost nothing going in from the edge of the tire to the first groove in. Moral: Snow/ice/applesauce/ whatever had nowhere to go on the Kumho Solus KH16s!

And that's too bad, because these Kumhos are the QUIETEST TIRE I have ever ridden on - in my cars or anyone elses. Yes, SO QUIET I HAVE TO TYPE IN CAPS!!!! ;)

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

Neither one of these tires are going to perfom acceptably well on snow. The Kumhos will be worse, but really, spend the money for snow tires and you will be amazed.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

______________ I can't see your 10:16AM(latest) reply Scott. I can see that you replied, but can't read it at the bottom of this thread. DAMN GoogleGroups!!

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

It was basically another suggestion to get real snow tires. Let me also suggest getting off of Google Groups and using a real newsreader. Ask your ISP if they offer Usenet news service directly through NNTP. It is much faster and you get your choice of various interfaces, most of which are far better than Google's.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

An old ''Trick'' is to put two or three sand bags full of sand in the car trunks for extra weight and traction in the snow. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

How amazed? Serious question..... will it be a night and day diff?

Also..... what brand/model snow tires would you get?

And will the help on ice covered with water?

Reply to
me

___________________ Good questions!

The only time I had snows was on my first car as a teen, a 71 Chevelle, and then retreads on my two subsequent 81 Buick Centurys. All my cars since then have worn decent all season tires and I never had trouble until with this KIA. But the concensus here seems to be that the Kumhos are for anything BUT snow, so off they will come as soon as I can scrape two pennies together to buy the best Performance- All-seasons I can get on the car.

BTW Scott D: The Avid H4s were fine on the Malibu during the first and final winter season I drove with them on that car. When I say they handled up to 4 inches of unplowed snow like it wasn't there, I MEANT: They handled up to 4 inches of snow like it wasn't there. I'm not the Bush Admin - I'm not in the business of making things up and twisting facts around for whatever gain it might net - what you read is what you get with me, SD.

-CC

Reply to
ChrisCoaster

Possibly. My 944 went from "borderline undriveable" (in light snow) to "mountain goat" with snow tires. Summer tires are Yokohama AVS ES100. Of course this is not directly comparable to your situation as my regular tires aren't even M+S rated (not that that really means anything, there's some "all season" tires out there that are pretty much s**te in snow.)

I personally have only used the ones I currently have which are Dunlop Winter Sport M3s, but I've heard that Nokian makes a darn fine snow tire as well.

Possibly, but don't expect miracles. Even the best tires can only do so much; water over smooth ice is about the worst possible surface to try to drive on. Rubber compound and tread pattern might help your tires bite a little better, but even so, you're still trying to drive on wet ice...

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

You just brought back a memory... once upon a time I had an '84 GTI and got caught in an early ice/snow storm in Cleveland with my summer tires on - Yokohama A509s. I actually had winter tires for the car (some old school snow tire type things that I got from a junkyard,) just hadn't swapped them on. Incredibly, the A509s were quite competent in the snow, despite being theoretically a "summer only" tire and having a tread pattern definitely biased towards putting lots of rubber on the road:

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I'm just glad I didn't go with my other choice, which would have been the old A008s... you remember those, the ones that didn't have any tread at all on the outer 2" or so of the tire. I have my suspicions that those would not have performed as well.

On the downside, those A509s wore incredibly fast, I think I only got about 30K miles out of them. I guess grip comes at a price... fortunately it seems that mfgrs. in the years since have managed to be able to get reasonable handling out of tires while still having decent wear.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

I think i would go with big wide tires with deep lugs. Maybe get tires a bit larger than the size recommended on the door if you think there is enough room in the wheel well. "Snow" tires are softer rubber than "all season" and that helps also.

Reply to
hubcit

no, no, no, no... go NARROWER than stock if possible. Wide tires are good for mud and sand; snow, not so much. You don't want to float on top of snow so much as to bite down into it.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

Yes, it will be a night and day difference.

If it were me I would pony up the money for the Hakkapellita. You're only using them for a few months a year and you can keep them in storage on a spare set of rims for the rest of the year, so they'll last a long time.

But even the cheapest set of snow tires will be a night and day difference over the best set of all-weather tires.

Depends on the tire, but for the most part yes.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

In my many years of winter driving I have never had an all season tire that performed as good as a winter tire. I have always had winter tires mounted on wheels and change them when the first snow falls and pull them off in early April. Most of the winters have lasted me 5 winters. The best winter tires I ever had were BF Goodrich Slalom. Excellent traction on snow and ice, even water on ice they held on. They were noisy on dry pavement but the bare pavement and winter don't often happen around here. Chris

Reply to
golden oldie

If you, like me, live where the temp often hovers around the freezing point you really should get studded snow tires. This winter there has already been several mornings with black ice on the road. Last time it happened I looked out the window and it was raining, no problem I thought as I drove out of the garage. In the first turn I almost smacked the opposite side curb. It was slicker than if a Zamboni machine had been there, despite my studded snow tires, so I can only imagine how someone with summer tires would have faired in that situation...

Ulf

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Reply to
Ulf

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