Age of vehicles.

[Isaac Zackary]

Originally Posted by JockoT

So 2.8% of all fatal accidents are caused by vehicle defects, of which the bulk are down to defective tyres.

This is one thing I love about my old cars, the tires. Sure, ol' bias plies and such supposedly are terribly compared to modern tires, and yep they sure are in some respects. But I've noticed that on snow and ice the thinner older tires just seem to do much better. Where my Leaf gets stuck with chains on my Beetle bombs through as if it were nothing. Well, at least the Beetle would be much easier to push back out. And the Golf does great with its 155's in the snow too. I threw on a set of chains on the golf and pulled a 4x4 Ford Explorer out of the snowbank once! I offered to pull out a brand new Subaru too but the guy was too embarrassed!

There just seems to be something to those thinner wheels used on older vehicles that just works better with the snow. Or at least it feels that way to me.

[Ecky]

It might just be thinner tires. I pulled an F150 out of a snowbank once with my Insight, and numerous sedans.

[JockoT]

I had a 1974 SAAB 99L which had large, skinny tyres with a substantial profile (I thing they were 85's). In the snow there wasn't a hill it wouldn't climb.
I remember one morning going to work, after a substantial snowfall (for these parts), and the cars ahead were having to get pushed up the slightest hill. I crawled along behind them and never spun a wheel.
A combination of Scandinavian engineering and a high gear with minimum revs. The only time I ever got stuck with that car was when the snow was up past the number plate! But after a quick bit of shovelling....
I even had a go at teaching my wife to drive with that car, once it reached the end of its useful life.

[Frank Lee]

Only two out of my excessive fleet of dozens are less than 20 years old; the oldest is 102 years old and second oldest is 69. In MN anything 20 or more years old can get a collector plate- NO ANNUAL FEE! Soon everything I have will be 20+ but at least one of them is required to have regular, fee-collecting registration. That's understandable.

[JockoT]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

the oldest is 102 years old and second oldest is 69

What are they?

[Frank Lee]

Motorcycle and '48 IH KB-2.

[JockoT]

What's the bike

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary

There just seems to be something to those thinner wheels used on older vehicles that just works better with the snow. Or at least it feels that way to me.

Less contact surface, but it increases the pressure applied to the ground.

[Fingie]

well, i run 75's in my car, and i offroad it despite it being a FWD

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Fingie

well, i run 75's in my car, and i offroad it despite it being a FWD

Sometimes a stock VW Beetle easily outperforms a modern 4WD while off-roading, despite being RWD only.

The weight bias and ground clearance can do miracles when it comes to cross-coutry ability. I used to go mudding in penalty boxes such as the Opel Corsa and the Dacia Logan when I was learning to drive