http://jalopnik.com/heres-irrefutabl...hle-1671708207

Also remember, all cars are equal (4 Wheel Brakes) coming down-hill; much more tricky and hazardous than going uphill. The car with Winter tires has a huge advantage going down-hill.

 

Four wheels slipping is no better than two wheels slipping. Winter tires are a no brainer, even when there is no snow. It amazes me that people still don't get this.

That being said, it doesn't take much to flummox a RWD car even when on winter tires. I nearly didn't make it out this morning in the Jag - my laneway has a slight incline and we had a few cm of wet snow on top of freezing rain. Almost at a standstill near the crest with the DSC light blinking furiously. My wife's X1 didn't even notice it. Maybe an Aston would have fared better...

 

I had more faith in my C63 with winters on it than I do with my Grand Cherokee with all-seasons.

Pulling away from a standstill is the only area where the GC feels better....everything else....nope, the C63 on proper winters handles it better.

Now in Toronto, we don't generally get enough persistent snow that dedicated snows are worthwhile for a heavy SUV (my Range Rover plowed through winters on all season Michelins without any drama whatsoever). So I was surprised when the Grand Cherokee felt that much worse on Pirelli all-seasons.

Thus far I haven't bothered with winter tires on my 2010 Vantage (6-spd), mostly because they haven't been readily available (or readily found around here, anyway). But I am actually contemplating getting rid of everything, and picking up a V8 Vantage S (7-speed manumatic) or 911 Turbo (with PDK) as a daily driver, year-round.

Just one car to maintain, and one car to run....no shuffling of cars in the driveway every morning because you want to take the SUV, or a coupe, or the wife wants to take a particular car, etc.

So I guess the question is for Dick then....how well do you like your Vantage in the winter? Does it serve daily duty (barring extreme weather..) in the winter, or just as an occasional drive?




Patrick

 

I had an '05 Subaru WRX STi that was really built up. On M&S tires it would still be a rocket and could handle snow just fine.

After I sold my STi, and before I got my 4Runner to replace it, my Aston was my only car for about 3 months. I had no problem at all driving it daily. That said, the worst weather it saw was very heavy rain storms but no ice or snow.

For me, I wouldn't want to drive my Aston in the snow because of the inherent risks involved, plus having to deal with the extra wear and tear from things like road salt.

 

Exactly!

 

"So I guess the question is for Dick then....how well do you like your Vantage in the winter? Does it serve daily duty (barring extreme weather..) in the winter, or just as an occasional drive?" Here at Lake Tahoe, we are once again (4-years in a row) low on snow, so I haven't been able to test extensively. I drove to Reno, NV yesterday over an 8,900 foot elevation pass. Roads were dry, but temps were 25-degrees F, which would have created problems with my HighPerformance Summer tires. Blizzaks worked well in the cold. I'll post again when I get to test the tires in Snow.

 

Putting winter tires on my spare rims and live in NE US and plan on driving year round when i can, avoiding snow as much as possible, but sure to be caught in the stuff occasionally. Will provide reports and wear and tear.

 

First time out in the snow. I went up a 1/4-mile 7% grade with snowfall as in the picture with only a minor amount of rear-wheel slippage. Click on the picture and then click on it again--it will straighten up. (Sorry I don't know how to edit it for "right-side-up" the first click.

 

Looks more like a 1000% grade/90-degree slope to me...

 

Sorry, I didn't notice that it was "sideways" before I posted.

 

I'm perfectly fine throwing my car around on a race track, but driving it in the snow like that is beyond my comfort level. You, sir, are a brave man.

 

Five year ago this coming April...managed to get around the Grand Canyon without a problem on the OEM Bridgestones .
Wasn't exactly wintertime, either...

 

That Jalopnik video is a little bit unrealistic in that I can't imagine there are too many SUV/Crossover users who swap the OEM all season tires for high performance summers tires. And an even smaller subset of those who would drive them in the snow on aforementioned summer tires. I suspect 99.9% of these vehicles are on all seasons and they will do better than the one in the video.

That said, I completely agree with the notion that winter tires are very beneficial, and while I don't drive my Vantage in the snow, I do drive another 400HP RWD manual transmission car (M3) - it gets Blizzak LM60s and does just fine in anything less than 10-12" of light or 6-8" of heavy snow.

 

You've missed the entire point of the video. It's to show the difference in high-performance summer tires and winter tires in ice/snow.

They put the winter tires on the worst type of winter car (RWD sports car) and put the summer tires on the best type of winter car (AWD car with one of the best AWD systems on the road). The whole point is to show that no matter how good you think your car is in the snow, the tires matter the most.

 

I get the point just fine, thank you. I even made the same exact point in my comment.

If they wanted the worst possible tire on the best car, they should have mounted a set of Hoosiers or even straight slicks - which would have been an even more exaggerated example. I think they could have made a similar point with the suv on all seasons (it would have fared better but still worse than the m3 with snows) that would have been more realistic.