Chaparral2f Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I'm not trying to be a wise a$$ or dis anyone, but as I watch the news on TV every time it snows in the east there is always a story of a huge pile up. I grew up near lake Erie, so I know how much it can snow, so bad road conditions shouldn't be any surprise to anyone who lives there. Now here's my question. Hasn't anyone ever heard of TIRE CHAINS? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 The issue, I think, is that in recent years we've had especially harsh winters in transitional-regions, such as the lower Midwest and the Mid Atlantic. These areas are too far south, and typically too warm, for an established snow/winter driving culture. There's just enough snow and extreme-weather to cause substantial inconvenience, but not enough to warrant an outright rethinking of the culture towards "winter mode", where everyone wears warm coats, plugs their car in at night using block-heaters, uses dedicated snow-tires and so forth. Also, with the proliferation of large-diameter wheels and low-profile tires, it's more difficult to get true all-season performance. Dry/warm performance is excellent, but traction in the snow suffers. And if you have 18" rims, are you going to change tires from summer to winter - or will you attempt to cut corners, driving "gingerly" in the winter on summer-tires? Just driving around in my Camry (don't knock it - it's a 3.5L V6!), I get frequent tire-spin in the snow... and that's with all-season passenger radials and FWD. I shudder to think what would have happened with my RWD wide-tired cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Tire chains aren't really practical (or likely legal) for any kind of on-road driving. Of course, there's studded tires, but where I am (NJ), studded tires make absolutely no sense, and would likely just destroy our roads unnecessarily. We actually don't get as much snow down here as you might think, especially not in huge amounts, so we don't really get that much time to practice driving in such conditions. Even when it does snow, roads are usually clear within a few days at the most unless it's a particularly large snowfall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony D Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Hahaha, chains are required in CA for road driving when in some winter conditions on I80 and many local roads. It's funny that idiots can't drive. My old boss was in a Chicago 54 Car winter pile-up, third in line. It cemented my suspicions about his cognitive abilities. Apparently my voice relayed my disappointment in his survival of the event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluDestiny Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Yeah going to Tahoe from sac, I was stopped and my tires inspected. I was in my subaru with snow tires so it was no problem for me. And there are definitely some parts around Wyoming above CO that if I was on all season ties, I would wish I had chains, but awd and snow tires got me through with no issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Chains are illegal here in VA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted January 23, 2016 Share Posted January 23, 2016 One thing not mentioned alot in the news, the more southern states it starts out as rain and freezes to ice under the snow, making it alot more slippery. Still my team in Greensboro panics over 2 snowflakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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