Quote:
Originally Posted by why?
I have no idea how you can be caught by a surprise snow storm.
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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.