Might want to decide

a half of house from my driveway due to an inch and a half of unplowed snow. Up a slight hill. Neighbor gave me a push. Last year we got snow fall in feet, not inches. I never thought it was worth the investment or hassle for snow tires in DC winters, but too much more of this silly stuff and may have to rethink things. Of course, before leaving from work I did ask my wife if the streets were okay. She said yes. I should have gotten her butt outside and made her push. I was going to leave the car warm and snug in the office garage, but nooooooo.

I think the extremely low temperatures and just enough salt turned them into ice rinks - I almost spun Red Lightnin' out on Connecticut Ave. in Chevy Chase (where the county had done no salting, no plowing, no anything). Thank God for my time on the skid pad! Scared the heck out of the guy behind me! At that point I decided to make my way home and take Metro to work - very, very scary drive. And yet, people were still tailgating. I would have though my car fishtailing all over the place would have given them some sense, but guess not.

Anyway, partly my own fault. Have been too busy at work to go get proper winter tires mounted on my 16s. Calling Radial Tire today.

BTW, DB - where do you live in DC? I live here too. Do you do anything with PCA Potomac? I am their Drive & Dine Chair.

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger

Live in Arlington. Haven't done the drive and dines, been tempted, but always seem to have conflicts. Weekends are difficult with commitments and honey do lists. Also, with a vegitarian wife and me boycotting seafood to to the pillaging of the oceans, it's hard to do the dine part. Thought of doing the drive one of these days. Done two rallies and those have been fun.

Try and come out. We have a lot of spouse-friendly events, and if you have special dietary requests, a lot of time I can get the restaurants to make accommodations. (beyond just salad or mac n' cheese)

1998 986 Turbo-Look Cab
172,000 Miles
Dilithium Crystal Supercharger

I bought a little 4WD just so I could own the Boxster. I lived there for about 64 years (!) and can recall snow drifts over my house, 30" snows, blizzards, etc and yet many years when it didn't snow at all or just a dusting.

DC is just on the edge of the jet stream which makes weather predicting a chancy thing and gives a lot of variety. I'm always amazed how accurate almost to the hour the 3 days ahead forecasts are here in NC compared to the variability I was used to in DC.

Live in Columbia MD outside of DC and had no trouble yesterday with new PA2's on 2006 987S.....performance winter tires and really quite good to my mind. They are still rather new so may have to report back if we have another winter like '09/'10 but so far, quite amazing.....comfortable, corner well, handle snow/slush with ease. Bob

I have winter performance tires on my 2009 Boxster and I had serious issues driving from DC to Virginia in the snow this week. I was surprised because I had no problems last year, despite the massive snow storms. I'm hoping it had something to do with the type of snow and temperature.

Anybody else have any experience with All seasons or other snow tires? I live in Ellicott City, close to Sandbox, and am thinking about some all seasons for the "normal" winters we have around here-not much snow just cold temps. I work from home so I don't have a commute to deal with and I wouldn't drive the Box in the snow anyway. I have a 15 year old, 218k mile third car that is -um, fading, so I thought about a set of wheels and all seasons to be able to drive occasionally in the MD winters.

Ideas?-I would have thought that straight snow tires would just wear too quickly on dry pavement. I used to have all season Pirellis on my old car and they were absolutely fantastic in wet weather and the cold around here. I know the arguement that all seasons are a compromise but I don't drive in snow so...

if these are to really be all 4 seasons tires or just all season changeovers for the winter season only....gonna buy wheels too? What size?

If they are to be winter only, then your driving miles will have them age out before they wear out. Yesterday it was Boxster in 43 degree weather on PS2s. Today at 33 and snow it was the CRV on Hydro Edge all seasons. But I can't see them on a P-car.

And you may be limited by availability now. I know from other forums that some sizes of some brands are "wait till next year" availability.

I live in NJ.

I put snows on the boxster (16" wheels) around Thanksgiving, and remove them around Easter. In many ways they are more fun than regular tires. Since they slide earlier, and have larger slip angles, you can have more fun at safer speeds. I try not to take the car out in much snow, but i regularly get surprised crossing the Watching "mountains" from the office to home with some dusting or light slushy accumulation. I once found myself on a very steep back road, approaching a 4-way intersection. Many FWD vans etc were getting stuck or could not restart at the intersection. I could! Limited slip would be nice, tho.

If you keep them on in relatively moderate weather (not hot) the wear is ok. Maybe they wear faster than regular summers, but as Mike said, they age out faster than they wear out. Mine are now nearly 10 years old (only 5 years with me). Yea, they are getting pretty low. This may be their last season. And yes, i checked for dry rot. They are safe. UV and careful examination to the rescue.

I run All seasons as summer tires on my AWD audi (Pilot Sport a/s - great tires). But i also put M3s on THAT car. The difference is just amazing. The all seasons are really just ok in lower temps and deal with water well. The M3s do great. Note that all seasons are fine for a sedan/wagon - but are NOT great hgih performance tires. Ask our outgoing NNJR president who tried to auto-X on Pilot Sport A/S's. Uh, not so good.

Both the Dunlop M2s and M3s are very stable on the highway. As good as my summers, or my track tires? No. But better than whatever most people have on their normal cars. Mighty good, IMO. For the record i had Michelin Pilot Alpins and they were inferior in every way. Soft. Sloppy. And not terribly good in sno either. What they were designed for was a mystery, except that they rode beautifully. Quiet, soft, but useless.

So, if you plan to see any snow or ice, i would get true siped winter tires.

Grant

[www.tirerack.com]


TR did a winter test with these and they did a good job in the snow. They compare well with other HP all-seasons and are relatively inexpensive. Sizes should not be a problem. I'm going to put these on our E90 when the RF's are done next year.

yeah these are the ones I was thinking about-I had checked out the tire rack video. I'll have to think about it. I also want to get another set of wheels too. I might look for a set of take-offs but they have a pretty nice wheel package for these too at Tire Rack. Good advice thanks.