Anybody tried Yoko AVS Sports in the Snow??

[joeblow]

I am hoping I do not have to buy snow tires but being in Utah I am not sure....

Dary

[tcar]

Get some Blizzaks....

wait, it says you're in Costa Rica...

[nineball]

costa rica, utah maybe? like paris, texas?

[spuggy]

I drove a couple of seasons on Summer tires (Kumho Ecsta MX's). They weren't all that bad the first winter as long as it wasn't too cold, although they were truly scary in freezing slush, even with great care.

They're not designed for that, y'know.

They got harder or something. Second season wasn't much fun at all when it got frosty. They had lots of tread and still drove great as long as temps were warm.

But they just got worse and worse in the cold and wet, until the third year - when I ripped them off in the fall and fitted Conti WinterContacts instead. By which time the Kumhos had almost no traction.

Drove to work in cold rain the next day with a smile on my face. Getting to be about time to put those back on...

[kach22i]

I drive up to December 1st in Michigan, had Yokohama AVS ES100's on my car for the first six years. One year there was a light dusting of snow on the road, it was scary as all heck just to drive around the block to top off with gas for the winter. I was sliding all around.

A cold light rain on a 50 degree day was not much fun either.

The clunking of the rear tires when cold was a sure sign things were wrong.

I now have Goodyear Eagle GT all seasons, they just make more sense in a state with three good driving seasons (not including winter).

The Yokohama's are summer only. Don't expect to get much over 10,000 miles on them if you drive hard. They stick great on a warm day though.

Originally Posted by tcar

Get some Blizzaks.....

+1

[Oracle]

I had Yokohama Winter tires on my 964 and were useless..
Wide tires+light car+ice&snow=disaster
I couldn't make it out of the street... went back took them off and sold them.

My recommendation is to drive an appliance for winter and your nice car when the conditions are appropriate.

[Emission]

Summer tires are frozen — the compound seriously gets rock hard — on snow and ice. They are useless. You need sipes and cold compounds.

- Mike

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Oracle

Wide tires+light car+ice&snow=disaster.

I once had a 1966 Mustang with really wide rear tires, that's a winter I'll never forget.

71' 911 (Built in 11/70, same B-Day as me!) fully restored
66' Land Rover Series IIA 45K Orig KM
01' Land Rover Defender 110 Turbo Diesel 300 TDi
01' Land Rover Discovery II TD5 Turbo Diesel Kid mover
94' BMW E36 2-Door M52 Alum 2.5 ltr ST Pro Race Car

Drive one of your Land Rovers this winter!

[slow&rusty]

AVS Sports in snow....suicidal!

[Winter]

If you are in Utah, even if you don't plan on driving up into the Wasatch or other mountains, and despite the fact that many in Salt Lake don't buy snow tires because it does stay dry (er) in the valley down there, there will come a day when you will be cursing your decision not to have good winter tires on your car. No, you don't need studded snows. But you do need a snow tire living in the western, mountain states for the winter.

+1 on Kach's suggestion to drive your Land Rover. I drive my 911 in the winter, when it's dry and the day is warm and sunny. I use the Audi for all those days when it's cold, miserable and the snow is falling or on the road. And the 911 stays on the Front Range, where it's much more likely to be dry on the roads than Vail. (this is due to the fact that I want to drive the car year-round if I can, a personal addiction!).

If you don't want to purchase new snows, check out Craig's list. Sometimes you can find a good deal on tires that are very usable. But you have to know exactly what you're looking for.

Good luck and have a great winter!

[g_vaxed]

fwiw, Nokian tires are by far the best tires I have EVER had in adverse weather conditions. You don't even wanna know what I've driven my older 911 in with them....

[darrin]

Originally Posted by g_vaxed

fwiw, Nokian tires are by far the best tires I have EVER had in adverse weather conditions. You don't even wanna know what I've driven my older 911 in with them....

Agreed! Use Nokian WR-G2 tires as my winter tires on my original 16x6 and 16x7 rims of my '86 targa daily driver here in Denver -- they do great on the snow/ice/etc. and aren't at all bad on the dry roads we generally have through the winter.

Only regret is that I bought 225/50-16 rears instead of running 205/55-16 all around (narrower rears would have likely given slightly better traction and I could have rotated front to rear).

These tires have great wear ratings (420) and, unlike blizzaks have the same composition throughout the tire. Only on my second season now, but tread depth looks as-new.

I HIGHLY recommend winter tires for folks in climates like denver

[joeblow]

I have just moved back to the States from Costa Rica and landed in Utah. Unfortunately my Land Rovers stayed behind (no airbags on the Defender). The Defender would have been the ultimate Utah truck...oh well. The wife is getting an Audi A4 Wagon or a BMW 328xi wagon.

My 911 is an RSR bodied long hood with 15"/9 & 11 rims for summer work. I have a set of four 16/7s fuchs that I was planning to run which have new AVS sport 225/50/16 on them now. I think I will go with Blizzaks or similar in 205/60/16 with spacers for the winter. I drive my cars so I will be going skiing (I have a chrome decklid rack with leather straps for the skis and a standard wingless lid) and all over all winter. I look forward to taking some nice winter pics of her this season.

Thanks for the advice guys.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by slow&rusty

AVS Sports in snow....suicidal!

+1 Terrible idea.

[Quicksilver]

A big consideration in the tire choice is if you have limited slip. If your car is driving both back wheels then you can run a much wider rear tire. The effect is somewhat like paddle tires in the sand. But the tire has to have a lot of sideways siping. The AVS Sport is almost the perfect poster child of what you don't want.

To really run in snow you want to run as narrow a front tire as possible to allow the tire to cut down to the solid road surface. You can get away with a little more width in the rear. The tread needs a large percentage of voids to allow the snow/loose muck to clear from the tread blocks. The last detail is you want a lot of edges like the multiple micro sipes on the good winter or all season tires. If anyone still made sawdust tires they really were great but a purpose built winter tire with a compound made just for winter is a major plus.
I would see about a 185 or 195 width for the front and a 195 to 205 for the rear.

End result: A cheap all season that is narrow will do better then a stock width winter tire. Even better is a narrow winter tire.
The best? Lots of serious practice with car control. That always wins in snow and ice. Gentle control to avoid any slippage of tires will put you ahead of anything else.


Here is a fun video from TireRack: All-Season vs. Winter / Snow Tires

[joeblow]

Thanks for the detailed info. I will be shopping this week to see what I can find. I do not have a stagger with my spares so I will have the 7's all around but I think I can still stagger the tires a bit as you recommend.