Rambling discourse on snow tires + questions

[gota3]

So, this topic is often raised, but seldom answered to my satisfaction.

By way of background, I've owned a lot of cars - rear, front and all-wheel drive (full time and part time, car, truck & SUV). Five of them have been quattro-equipped Audis - I now have a 3.2 A3 quattro, which is my first Haldex-equipped quattro.

Evey one of these cars have had dedicated snow tires during the winter - I live in northern Vermont, where a variety of conditions exist in one day. Rain, slush, snow, ice - you name it. I've owned dedicated snow tires from Gislaved, Nokia, Bridgestone and Michelin.

So, now I'm purchasing a set of non-studded snow tires for the A3. These will also be my first set of 17" snow tires - so I was a bit taken aback by the pricing of H-rated 17" tires (I've never spent $200.00 on a snow tire before).

Question #1: I haven't driven over 90 MPH in years. Why do I need a high load rated, high speed rated tire? Is there a reason why would I want one even at lower speeds?

Question #2: Is anyone else concerned about the difference in traction between the Haldex-equipped Audis and Torsen? As I mentioned, I've owned several Torsen Audis - but none have been equipped with traction or stability control. Should the A3 fare better than my brother's 2000 TT that couldn't get out of its own way on a set of Hakkas?!

Question #3 (and the crux of my posting): Am I foolish to opt for a tire that gets the best rating for "ice & snow conditions" but the worst rating for dry?! My point simply is, I drive more conservatively in the snow & ice anyway - and tend to, bluntly, be more aggressive and speed on dry days... is there a tire that people have owned that they felt comfortable with driving hard in a variety of conditions? I'm just not thrilled with the Tire Rack offerings, as I see little value in buying a tire that is only good for winter for 50% of its tread life.

Please understand that I'm looking for opinions here because of something that happened to me for the first time last winter... I spun out my WRX on a straight-away on black ice and wrecked it. I was driving under the speed limit at the time and was not accelerating or braking hard. All of the sudden I was going backward. It scared the daylights out of me and the thought of it still makes me nervous. I'm sure you all can appreciate why I have now lost all confidence in my past experiences and why I'm having a hard time with this seemingly simple decision.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[cyclingman]

I should say up front I'm no expert on this, and hope that folks who are will also respond. I think the high load rating is because of the weight of the car; I was told to at least match the load rating on the stock tires. No idea why we need such high speed ratings.

I live outside Washington DC, where much of my winter driving is on plowed roads or in rain. I bought Nokian WR tires - officially "all season", but winter service rated & well-reviewed in snow. I also downsized to 16" wheels for winter. (Tire Rack doesn't sell Nokian, and there's actually no dealer within 100 miles of DC, so I had them drop-shipped from a distributor.)

RE: black ice, I don't think any "friction" tires would have helped you, nor quattro & ESP - I think you'd need studs.

[danham]

I have similar requirements (though I live on Cape Cod, I travel to the Adirondacks in January) and similar past experience (last vehicle was an A4 1.8TQ chipped).

To me, it's not a question of buying a tire that gets you out of a 4-foot snow drift and it's not a question of buying a tire that will prevent a spin on black ice (in part because there's no such).

Instead, I tried to focus on the most common and difficult winter driving maneuver -- changing lanes in lousy traction conditions on the highway. The Quattro was extra nice for that, but still needed the right tires.

My A3 is a little less good at it (no Quattro) but still the most important factor is lateral grip in slush/ice/snow. For me, the Dunlop M3 is a decent compromise: acceptable handling in the dry (esp. when it's cold out) but good traction for lane changes in the crud.

Hope this helps.

-dan

[April]

As others point out, unless you run studs, there is no help for black ice.

I think the more aggressive Haldex controller is available now, and that might have some advantages in low traction situations.

[.:R2theT]

on my R32. I drove beautifully through our more heavy snow storms. It also had the Haldex based AWD and functioned wonderfully. It is more FWD biased but is extremely sure-footed once slip is detected. I have not driven Torsen-based vehicles so I cannot speak to that.

[pipplo]

I'll be mostly an (every) weekend warrior and any weekday I can get away with it to the resorts. We get rain but no snow or ice really here in Folsom. So i need something that I'll feel safe driving up there in whatever conditions they ahve, but I want good dry/wet performance too as that will be about 70% of what I do.

[Granite-Granny]

We used to run studded tires on our front wheel drive car and we live at 7300ft on a pretty steep road. We never had problem but witnessed many many cars careering off the road outside our house.

My thoughts on tires are go for the tires that will save you when you need it. That's why I went for studs. You're most likely to lose it on black ice. Studs is the only thing that 'may' stop you.

We've moved house and don't live on such a steep road now so I've been thinking with going with no studs but the jury is still out.

Cross the lanes during overtaking maneouvers when you have studs or not I bet there is not much difference in specific winter tires.

The Hakka 2's are what I'm going with.

As for the cost I'm probably going to drop down to a 16" rim. I think it will be cheaper in the long run.

[n828cl]

Drove a 90q for 11 years before that and never had any trouble with either the Torsen or the Haldex in slippery conditions. The Bridegestone summer tires that came with the TT were decent in the rain but completely useless in snow, of course.

I've been running Nokian WRs for the last several years on the TT; they are very good in snow, and much better than Blizzaks in the dry. As others have pointed out, nothing but studs or staying home will help on real ice.

- Chuck