Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank Lee
In MN they plow and salt the living hell outta the roads by the time the 2nd snowflake hits. I suspect a lot of you MN "experts" don't even live in MN. I haven't run snow tires for over 20 years (and the vast majority of MN drivers don't either) and can't say there's been too many times where they'd have been of any benefit compared to the worn-out crap tires I usually drive on.
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Let's make a comparison to the Winter of '05(?). Rented a Taurus to take the fam up to Minneapolis/St. Paul for the Ice Festival.
The MSP area is an exception to MN driving: lots of transplants from warm climates, who have little wits to drive in snow/ice. The Taurus had newer Continental all-seasons and it took skill and patience to handle the roads (and other drivers)
. (ABS, but no fancy trac/stability-control or anything).
On the way out of town, cars in front of us were sliding out of control and into the median. We counted 16 cars/trucks and 2 tractor trailers in the ditches. Driving under underpasses was the riskiest: re-freezing. You could feel a little yaw but after a few, turning the wheel slightly to offset the weight/alignment imbalance eliminated that feeling.
I've done plenty of Winter driving in MN, ND, SD, WI (all 50 states, actually). Snow tires are good "insurance" if you wish, but all-seasons can do the trick.
RH77
EDIT: Winter driving in Southern Cal is different, after I re-read that last paragraph
