Re: studded snow tirew now on my car, but where's the snow and ice?
Date: December 24, 2008 02:25AM
This isn't Colorado or Vermont.
You really don't need studded tires in Virginia. If you have a front-wheel drive car, all you need is a really good set of all-season tires, or if you're not a good driver but insist on driving when it snows, a set of snow tires.
I have a rear-wheel drive car, and all-seasons have only failed me once in 20+ years of driving around here. The only place I've ever needed studded tires was when I rented a house off a dirt road on a side of a mountain outside Aspen for a winter about 12 years ago. And even then, I really only needed them to get up the driveway, everywhere else I could have gotten away with regular all-seasons.
I've never needed them even when driving around Germany in the winter, even in Bavaria on windy mountain roads (of course, they know how to keep their roads drivable in all but the worst snowstorms.)
Oh yeah, you have a mercedes, so you have rear-wheel drive. If you're not used to rear-wheel drive, when we get our first snow storm, drive carefully to the nearest large open parking lot, and practice. Wolftrap Farm park used to be good, but I'm not sure if they have those concrete stops now or not. For extra reassurance, just buy the MB snow chains and keep them in your trunk. It's definitely cheaper than keeping 4 extra tires sitting around and paying to have them swapped on and off every winter.
Oh yeah, you know that switch next to your shifter that says "W" and "S"? Put it in "W" when it snows, and you'll always start out in 2nd gear, which has less torque so you are less likely to lose traction when you start from a standstill.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2008 02:30AM by Bob.