Tiaribbon

But our dad's weren't driving sports cars with near-enough slicks on them.

Good tyres will count for a lot! Have a car with almost smooth tyres and you WILL need traction-control.

iaink

Im sure the Honda Oddessy that span off behind me (well between me and the car behind )on the 401 at 110kmh a few weeks ago had traction control. Didnt seem to help him and his family much. Fortunately the roll cage and airbags did and they all walked away after it rolled a few times and ended up 100ft off the highway.

I'd just pulled in from the passing lane after telling the OH that it was too bloody slippy (could feel the AWD moving the power around) and anyone trying to pass was out of their mind.

Give me AWD any day of the week. Traction control, apart from helping to get away at the lights in an auto, just makes you feel safer than you really are.

ABS isnt much help in the snow either..actually takes longer to stop, but Id rather have it for the help it provides the rest of the time

MikeUK

Well I have a strong belief in using proper winter tyres…when I first moved to Canada I bought myself a nice little Celica.. fast and nippy and handled like a dream…until the snow came.. then I had an unimaginable nightmare It had normal all season tyres.. but having lost traction at several junctions and pushed it out of numerous snow banks.. I came dam close to selling it.. It was when my father-in-law took a look at the tyres and stated quite clearly ..�with something as light as that you’re going to need snow tyres� I trolled of to Canadian Tire.. slowly I might add.. we had a full set of Michelin artic alpines fitted.. the best I could afford…
Well from that point on the only thing that got in my way was the depth of snow.. I could even get the feeling I had control on ice with these tyres fitted.. I could drive in some of the worst conditions without too much worry.. yes it still slid .. but the key point is it found traction a lot quicker and I also had control on ice slides.. something regular tyres didn’t provide…

So until you put on good winter tyres all the rest of the gadgets are really useless.

Glaswegian

I'm not convinced all weather are any good either ... our van has self-healing tires & alloys ... I guess to replace the damn things with decent winter tires (which we need for 8 months here) I would need to buy a spare set of steel rims too.

I took a look at the NHTSA crash tests ... the Kia Sedona has 5 stars pretty much all round, it's also $10K less than the Ford Freestar ... it doesn't have traction control, but isn't that what your right foot is actually for

MikeUK

You don't need to buy new rims as the winter tyres have re-enforced rims to facilitate repeated re-mounting of the tyre..

However for ease of change over you can’t beat having them ready on spare rims just in case the bad weather turns up early, (or in the case of Alberta in the period normally known as summer)
Also the winter tyres might have re-enforced rims.. But I’ve no idea about the regular tyres?

I kept my winter tyres on the steel rims, and the summer tyres on the fancy alloys.. saved on kerb impacts and salt damage too….

Glaswegian

Let mew guess ... wannabe F1 driver behind the wheel ... sneaking through gaps in traffic no one in a sane mind would take ... heavy foot on the pedal??

Toontje

ABS certainly is an necessity in winter conditions. Although it will take you longer to come to a complete stop, it will prevent skidding and sliding......

The key to drive safely in winter consists basically of two things: good winter tyres and a careful driver......

Glaswegian

Both of which are rare in Calgary ... there is no enforced vehicle testing in Alberta until you're selling something more than 10 years old

There's a lot of cars out there with F1 quality slick tires ... who needs treads anyway?

SimonG

If you have to have them I would like switches to turn them off, my pontiac ha the traction control switch. I find you lose the feel of the car and ABS is no good in snow. At least in snow you can lock the wheels and let the snow build up in front of the tyres. Same with gravel.

It's all about personal preference.

sysclp

Guns kill more people, ploughs and chains cause more monetary damage to roads. Given the sorry state of road repair here in general and the always tight budgets, I can see why they don't want to let people use chains or studs to add to the problem.

pchapman

First: studded tires are legal everywhere except Ontario. They make the biggest difference on glare ice at the expense of dry traction (and noise).

It's worth getting a set of cheapo steel wheels and leaving the winter tires mounted on them (salt and potholes will wreck your fancy alloys, anyway). Also, this way you can mount smaller wheels with narrower tires, which are *better* in snow.

My car doesn't have traction control, and it would sometimes be useful because the front wheels tend to break loose in snow when the turbo hits. On a FWD car, once the wheels are spinning you have no steering.

dawnwynne

I know this is not about tires...but it just reminded me to remind all of you that when driving in the winter...especially if not in the city limits...please make sure you carry at least a church candle, matches, blankets and shovel in the boot of your cars. I have been stranded on the highway for a few hours in a snowstorm and I can tell you that a candle throws off a lot of heat!!

Grah

Most of Canada???? don't you mean most cities.

Glaswegian

Well, that's where most Canadians live

What happens out in the boonies doesn't affect me too much.

iaink

If you dont count the food on your plate and the gas and oil in your car