It's all part of a great conspiracy to force us to spend more, either by jacking up the cost of maintaining our older vehicles or being forced to buy new ones, and a way for the .gov to do less and charge us more for it. Either way we pay and pay.
Also, put real winter tires on these cars, not the all season crap, all season, what, spring and summer?? Winter tires used to have a pretty aggressive tread, plus they were a bit narrower to increase the weight of the tires footprint. I remember my Dad buying his snowtires at the Sohio gas station, Atlas tires, they were bias belted, if you had more money you got them in radials. These tires the manufactures are using on compacts ( Chevy Cruze, etc) are larger than what came on my Dads '75 LeSabre ( HR-78-15) or 225-75-15
Right, my XSE has summer tires on it, big...I don't know maybe 245-40 19? I can look at them and tell they would suck in snow. I worry about hitting potholes this time of the year, too. Although the weird thing is with more people driving utes and trucks, we have like a wazillion AWD/4wd stuff on the roads here.
Someone in Europe can correct me, but it’s my understanding that animal urine is a component of the compound used to de-ice aircraft on the continent. Judging from the spares replacements we send over there due to corrosion, it’s a safe bet they’re not using the same stuff we use here. I’m not sure road salt is so bad (it is; just making the point here) - think of the alternative.
I spread many gallons of salt brine and many tons of salt on 80 here in central Pa..Gotta make the roads safe..
And traction control DUMBEST, MOST INTRUSIVE PIECE OF TECHNO GARBAGE Yesterday at work I was taking a car outside, it got stuck in some snow, tried rocking it, NOPE, tried powering thru it, NOPE, everytime, rocking or trying to power thru, the traction control activated, and the car stopped advancing, I WANTED THE TIRES TO SPIN, IT WAS MOVING Oh, that's right, the computer is smarter than me, it knows better, it knows what Im trying to do, and I shouldn't be doing that Oh, and trying to rock the car, forget it, by the time the computer activates the solenoids in the valve body, retards timing, reduces throttle for gear change (thanks drive by wire!) your momentum rocking is nill. Give me an old school trans with a mechanical linkage THAT DOES WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO RIGHT NOW. Ok Im done ranting
Tried to get my 4x4 Tahoe unstuck from a muddy spot last year. I turned off the traction control but I agree about rocking it! It would go -almost- out forward, then stop. It would go -almost-out backwards, then stop. Trying to go back and forth didn’t work because every attempt to slam from D to R or back caused a delay and reduced power, where it just stopped and sat. Had to drag it out with another truck. Patrick
Those of us old enough can remember the tire chain ritual every time it snowed and all the gas stations/dealers installing them. While I'm not "nostalgic" for those times, they did make drivers slower and more careful. Like many things in US, I feel road chemical use has gone beyond reasonable, to just keeping BMW and AWD SUV drivers from having to slow down...
I agree with this (easy for me to say here in sunny SW Florida), but I would have said the same thing when I lived in Massachusetts. You cannot be any sort of an environmentalist and at the same time support the use of salt or any other of these corrosive chemicals on the roads. I have spoke!
We recycle down here In Louisiana. They sand the bridges, but use so much you feel like Rommel trying to drive through the desert. Then when they figure it's safe, out comes the front end loader to scoop up the extra and off they go until the next time. Mostly we use the sun for snow and ice removal!
I just have to second the comment a few posts up. Every car owner should have two sets of tires and one set must be dedicated snow/mud tires. I was told, while living in Germany, that police in Germany will hand out huge fines and tickets if a car was pulled over or in a accident and did not have snow tires on the vehicle during snow conditions. That should be a rule here in the USA as well. I always have two sets if tires for my daily cars that i have owned over the past years.
I agree! I have a 94 Caprice wagon that has no traction control and I never get stuck. Regarding your last post about tires you're right about real snow tires. I had to go to 4 Wheel parts to get actual snow tires. The tread depth is 19/32". I use what NTB calls snow tires on the front. If I'm in really deep snow, I can start out in second gear without spinning my tires.
I have a set of Continental ExtremeWinterContact tires mounted on steelies for the Turbo Sonic during the winter months......they make a BIG difference ! Peace WildBill
