[MetroMPG.com] List of reasons why your winter mileage is so bad

[Peter7307]

Thanks Jyden and Piwoslaw,
We have very mild Winters by comparison so one tyre is used all year.

Cheers , Pete.

[Ecobalt]

Ecobalt's Reason #14--Winter wheels weigh more

I have winter tires mounted on steel rims. The wheels each weigh five pounds more than my aluminum alloy wheels. Backpackers have an expression: "an ounce on your boots is like another pound on your back". There is an analogy to the rotating wheels. The rotational momentum of the car's wheels has to be achieved by burning gasoline and it is lost when you brake.

In any case, it is always advantageous to take twenty pounds off yof our automobile.

I am not so sure that winter tires have a higher rolling resistance by nature. The evaluation at Green Seal puts several snow tires at the top of the list.

I have a theory that the very supple Bridgestone Blizzak tires have a low rolling resistance because they flex when going over an obstruction or a pebble. Blizzak tires are gas-blown (Bridgestone calls it microcell) as part of the ice traction features. Cyclists select tires with a "supple carcass" that flexes for low rolling resistance. To achieve that, I shop for a high thread count in bicycle tires.

See table 1
http://www.greenseal.org/resources/r...Resistance.pdf

Last November, I bought ExtremeWinterContact™ snow tires. Evaluations told me that those tires had higher rolling resistance than the competitors. I bought them for the price and longevity. The snow and ice traction was superb and the dry road handling was better than the Blizzaks. When I removed those tires and steel wheels and put on the OEM Continental tires and Konig wheels, my fuel economy improved by 3 mpg.

[320touring]

16~ the vast majority of People are unable to control thir vehicles in Snow, so you have to maintain a lower speed to avoid all the wheelspinning idiots.

17~You may lug the engine in slippery conditions for maximum traction (my Scab will pull 5th at 35mph- thats about 1000rpm)

[ShadeTreeMech]

I love thread bumps!

For me, air temperature is a real killer. My transmission won't go to lock up torque convertor unless it gets warm. In warm weather that is about 2 miles, in the winter it can be over 10. And with a normal commute of 9 miles, that makes the transmission keep the engine revs a bit high.

[brucey]

Mine won't even enter 4th gear until it's warmed up for several miles, and then it won't lock up for several more. I miss my bike sometimes for it actually responding to my commands.

[ShadeTreeMech]

I'd alter my transmission to think it was always warm enough to lock up, but for fear of damaging something. Simply finding the correct amount of resistance to simulate a 180* transmission would be simple, but does locking up the TC when it is cold do any harm? I suspect it is an attempt to get the engine warmer faster in part, but it is hard to know without knowing automatics as intricately as I'd like to.

[RobertSmalls]

There's another very important component that doesn't perform as well when it's cold: the driver.

Related to #10, traction batteries (not just PbA) offer much less performance when it's cold. I can hardly regen when mine's below freezing, and I had much less capacity than I was expecting today.

[slowmover]

#16 Lack of an enclosed garage.

Basic for vehicle longevity (true economy) in all seasons/climates. But especially so in winter.

[dcb]

"true" economy?!?

[Ecobalt]

Originally Posted by dcb

"true" economy?!?

Think "big picture", total cost of ownership and conservation of the resources needed to produce an automobile.