Can the FRS survive the snowmageddon?
 

Yes it can!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8BY95d2QiM"]Can the Scion FRS survive the snowmageddon? - YouTube[/ame]

Glad you answered my only question about 4 minutes into the video, because I was gonna say there's no way you're getting along that way on those stock summer tires. Thanks for sharing.

Honestly, even if it'd kinda ruin some of the handling the car has, you'd think they'd send it out from the factory with at least all-seasons when getting delivered to the regions known for having the kind of weather winter brings to the world. It'd at least be marginally better than getting caught in extreme cold or in snowy weather on the summer tires.

all season tires are useless. Real summer tires and a set of real winter tires is 1000 times better in every way. However the 86 can ship with all seasons.

Yeah...I've driven every car I've owned up until now with some form of all-season tire on them, to include a Porsche, so no, they're not useless if you don't drive like there isn't snow on the ground. They can't be as useless as summer tires in the same situation. They obviously won't do what snow tires will (and no one should expect them to), but they won't harden into rocks in the winter like summer tires either, which is the more dangerous situation as far as I'm concerned. Seeing as the dealer isn't going to throw in a set of winter tires with your purchase out of the goodness of their hearts, all-seasons would at least provide the compromise they're designed to be so you're not totally SOL when you get caught by surprise by snow like I did a few years ago in a rear wheel drive car. I wasn't flying down the snow covered roads, but I was able to drive home without having to do it at a crawl.

Looks like a good place for this...good video.


[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKBdOE2z4O4"]RWD in a Snowstorm - Are we Crazy? - FR-S Long Term #3 - Everyday Driver - YouTube[/ame]

They are a bad compromise in every situation. If it is above 60 summer tires will always be better. If it is below winter tires will always be better. It is one thing if you drive an econobox, but on a sports car there is no excuse. You can get a cheap set of wheels and good snow tires for about $800 from tire rack. It takes 20 minutes to swap them.

I have no idea how you can be caught by a surprise snow storm. That makes no sense. If it is october to march it might snow. In some areas those months stretch much further. Once it gets below 50 the snow tires go on, and they stay on until spring.

Winter tires will always have better grip in the snow and ice. I can tell you this from personal experience. I had massively obvious better grip and control of my car in the snow over the cars that had awd and all season tires. And when I say I am usually the slowest car on the road I am not joking.

If your area sees cold weather of any kind winter tires are just wonderful.

But whatever, to each their own. It is more about not settling for no seasons in the summer rather than proper summer tires.

All-seasons are definitely useless... Chicago only has a chance to see temperatures above or below 60 degrees every week, 8 months out of the year.

I'll get to what I quoted in a moment, but I really don't understand why you seem to think I'm trying to say All-seasons are as good as snow tires. You can even see in what I wrote that I acknowledge snow tires are ideal for winter, and no one should expect All-seasons to be as good. Yes, they're a compromise, and if you're looking to get the most out of your car in certain conditions, they will not do that for you, be it warm and dry or a snow storm. I never said they're the most amazing thing on the planet, just that they're not useless compared to the summer tires the car comes with.

Ok, so how'd I get caught by surprise by snow? Easy. Nice day, clear and sunny, wanted to take the Porsche out, but didn't bother to look at the forecast. Drove onto campus, parked the car, stayed there a good chunk of the day. Came out at night to a bunch of snow and slush on the ground. Fully acknowledged lack of attention on my part, because even in April we can still get snow, but nothing about the day led me to believe it would snow, and I don't live in temperamental Colorado where you get all 4 seasons in a day all the time. Had I checked the weather forecast out, maybe I'd have driven the other car or made sure I left earlier before the snow came. But if I'd had summer tires on the car I'd have probably been getting it towed home or leaving it in the campus garage overnight and getting a ride home. All-seasons and my ability to drive carefully in crappy conditions got me home without incident. Snow tires would have done the same even better, but that is not a car where I'm going to buy a cheap set of wheels on tire rack just to get snow tires on it, and not just because it's a Porsche. There's a little more to it that I'd go into detail about if you care to know, but I'll assume you don't unless you say otherwise. At some point I'll get a few sets of OEM wheels meant for the car to put different tires on, one of which will still have All-seasons on it. Since at that time, going on about 5 years ago or so, winter tire buying and swapping wasn't feasible for me, I -- wait for it -- compromised and bought the highest performance All-seasons I could get for the car just in case the car ever got caught in snow. I used to have no garage for it, so if I ever had to move it in the driveway during the winter, that wasn't going to happen on summer tires, and to put snow tires on it just for it to sit for most of the winter seems rather silly. When most people think of Michelin Pilot Sports, they understandably think of the summer tires, but they make an All-season that is basically just shy of being a summer tire, and that's what I put on the car. I'd say it worked out as planned in that situation. I'm not going to just recklessly head out into the snow thinking I'm invincible on those tires, I know better than that. At least if we get a couple inches of snow while I'm out driving the car, I know the car isn't disabled on "useless" All-seasons. If I intended to drive the car regularly during the winter, snow tires would be equipped for the season.

Montana Driving
 

I enjoyed the nice video Roddy put up for us.
Since I live in Montana and wanted to use my FRS all winter, I did the research and ordered Blizzak tires, which I see is what the red car in the video has.
I was instantly dismayed by how they ruined my sweet little fun car on dry pavement.
Then it snowed, and here in Kalispell the snow becomes ice and people drive stupid. Even AWD cars and SUVs with their All Season tires (which I know are junk) are sliding around and crashing into each other and overturning in the ditch. They catch on fire and explode just like on TV and there's big red spots in the snow where bodies landed. It's just awful.
Meanwhile my car is just like in that video. It gets around GREAT and is a blast to drive. I turn off all the traction control and drive it like a man. I am a stock car racer, you know...
Of course on hard pack snow and ice you can break it loose and drift. But in traffic, being careful and nice, it is on rails, I have to wait for cars to get out of my way and have no trouble stopping or changing lanes or anything.
Blizzak tires. They are supposedly the second best you can get, cost me $560 for 4. The best are Heppa-something and they cost a whole bunch more than that.

"Hakkapeliitta" :thumbsup:

"Can you spell that, sir?" :iono:

My excuse is no driveway, garage, or even space to store a spare set of tires :| Living in Manhattan sucks sometimes.

And I've been caught by surprise before, same way the city got caught by surprise, it wasnt predicted in the forecast at all. I still had the stock summers on, and since this car is a weekend toy for me, I figured I'd just leave it parked when the weather gets bad. That one day, the forecast was completely clear, I drove to go eat dinner with friends and by the time I got out there was 3 inches on the ground. None of the roads were salted either because the city didnt expect the storm. Kinda sucked, kept losing traction, got stuck at one point on a hill but eventually inched my way up the hill.

Right now, I'm on Continental DWS, have not tried them in snow yet. NYC gets pretty cold but the roads are normally well plowed and again I can just avoid driving entirely if there's a blizzard. All seasons are alright if you know what compromises they come with and how to adjust your driving depending on the situation.

This is a perfect example of why all-season tires are not useless. They don't fit my needs, and far too many people rely on them when real snow tires would be more appropriate but all-seasons definitely have their place.

GEEEEEEZ. Four inches of snow constitutes "snowmaggedon"? That is a normal winter day around here. ANY car can be driven in the snow with the proper care and the right tires. These are just cars and I am floored that so many think they have committed some special feat by driving in a couple of inches of snow.

No idea what the temperatures were in that video but the snow is not an issue for AS tires. The cold is. IF you live someplace where it never drops much below freezing than AS can handle the small amounts of snow just fine. Get them too cold and you may as well have summer slicks on. In REAL winter AS tires are indeed useless.

That is a mild day of early autumn around here... except we have roads with steep hills and sharp curves.

I'm in my 5th Norwegian winter with a GT86 and I've had no problems. Never expected any.