Greg Slater
12-28-1998, 08:33 AM
Yes, I know wheel/tire posts are supposed to go in the wheels/tires forum, but the readership count is much lower there, and I think this message needs to get out to the masses, so I'll post it both places.<p>A couple of weeks ago I decided to get a set of studded Hakka 1s for my 1.8TQM, not really sure that it was worth the cash, especially since I've been doing plenty of driving in the ice and snow on my stock Eagle LSes here in the Oregon mountains recently without any problems. But a little "incident" on Saturday made me quickly forget the $430 bucks it cost for the serious snow tires.<p>I was driving on Hwy. 35 around Mt. Hood to go snowshoeing, roads were pretty icy but sanded, with chains required (for non-4WD vehicles). I was the third in a group of 5 cars, traveling uphill toward Bennett Pass and Mt. Hood Meadows, doing maybe 35 MPH at the time. Right before the pass there's a long left-hand uphill sweeper, and about halfway into the curve I see a red Grand Am coming down the hill toward us, going WAY, WAY, WAY too fast for the current conditions (probably around 55-60 MPH). I remember thinking "there's just no way that guy can be going that fast and make that corner", and then sure enough, I see the back end of his car start to come around. And then it starts coming around more. And more. And the little distance/rate/time calculator in my head soon determined that car #3 in our group (that's me) was going to be the point of impact. So, I did everything in my power to drive my car as close to the right side snowbank as possible, and can remember feeling my car go through the slush where the plows had deposited messy snow, and then driving through the soft, windblown snow piled up right next to the snowbank (definitely within a few inches of the snowbank), and all the while looking at the face of the panicked-looking high school aged driver coming at me. He and his buddies were bracing for an impact, but somehow I managed to miss him, but it couldn't have been by more than perhaps six inches. He proceeded to hit the snowbank immediately behind my car, and then bounce off, spinning rapidly, in front of the car that was following me. He must have done 3 or 4 complete 360s before coming to a stop. I was tempted to turn around and chew him out or pummel him for being such an idiot, but I managed to restrain myself. I just wish my brother the cop had been with me so he could have cited him there on the spot for reckless driving.<p>Anyhow, the moral of this story is that regardless of the great abilities of my quattro A4 to go in the snow, the increased ability to maneuver my car rapidly and precisely due to having serious studded snow tires made that $430 investment suddenly seem oh-so-small. Something to think about for all of you fencesitters who can't decide whether or not it's necessary to get good snow tires for your A4.