Quote:
Originally Posted by FRiSson
Okay, I am going way out on the ignorance limb here, but I think it might apply. There is more than one "correct" way to approach the snow and ice issue.
If you run thick tires and a lot of weight then you might want tires with very aggressive tread that break up the snow/ice material and kind of grind away. On the other hand, the idea with skinny tires and light weight is to slice through the muck and grip whatever pavement is available.
So, maybe both systems work, but using a different approach. In the Nordic countries I have observed people driving on roads that are never cleared down to the pavement, merely flattened. People drive all day on them using skinny studded tires. They simply drive in a slow and steady manner - unlike you're typical idiot who feels entitled to drive as normal because they bought a Land Rover or Yukon.
Here in greater Boston, snow clearing approaches an art. So they almost always get you down to a mix of thin mush and pavement within a few hours of the end of a snowfall. In those conditions, the skinny tire system will work best, but in a poorly plowed area, a heavy, bulldozer tire system might work better under a wider variety of conditions, including traversing unplowed stretches.
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Kinda sorta.
You never want to run heavy with thick. What you want to avoid is snow remaining under the tire. Ever slip on compacted snow? Same idea.
When you run a thinner tire, the snow is more apt to push out, rather than down. The opposite holds true for thicker tires. Having a heavier vehicle only adds to that down effect. Once snow is compacted, it's very difficult to get good traction.
You'll notice a lot of snow tires have a more "pixelated" (for lack of a better term) design on the tread pattern with lots of sipens (sp?). The sipens are great for moving water and providing flex in the tread. The block design on the tread adds more grip as snow is compressed, rather than using a smooth channel design like on summer tires, which just glides past snow.
Make sense?