Been reading up lately on tires, and I understand that A/S isn't optimal performance-wise (too many trade-offs), so summer tires it is... The question is, is there any point in getting a winter set living in Atlanta? Anybody try running summer tires in the pathetic excuse for a snow storm we had a couple years back? Given our climate it seems like you could run summer tires year-round, but I thought I'd see what peoples' experiences have been before I make an investment.
You can summer tires year round. Just slow down. It's the other idiots on the road that I worry about. Don't know anyone that has a set of winter tires. Remember, AWD doesn't do much for you on ice...if you slide, you slide.
That's pretty much what I figured - as long as summers are good enough for an inch or two of snow/slush, that's good enough for me. Any experiences from 2011 when we actually got a little accumulation?
Yes. We used the two subaru's parked at my house to drive to the liquor store every day. They were fine.
I installed summer tires in June of 2010 when the car was at 33k miles. Currently the car has 72k miles and I believe we have had a couple ice storms and a little bit of accumulation since then and I have NOT taken the tires off at all and have been just fine. Slow down around corners...the car tends to get a little squirrel-ly below 40 degrees. Pretty good mileage for summer tires in my opinion...I probably have another 4-5k left on them.
Every. Single. Day. We also tied ropes the the back of them and got drug around in clothes baskets and trash cans. We were literally the only moving people on the road (there were others...in ditches) and wen to both the liquor store and grocery store on a daily basis. Snomaggedon - holy shit that was an awesome vacation
Nice. When it hit we had the choice between my '02 Honda Civic, which was terrifying in the snow; my wife's '98 Nissan Sentra, which was even worse; and my roommate's 2012 Hyundai Sonata, which was only mildly scary, thanks to traction control. I guess it doesn't help that my driveway is probably a good 25 degree incline toward the road. Looking forward to enjoying "the beauty of all wheel drive" next time we get some snow on the roads... of course, not looking forward to "the idiocy of Atlanta drivers in a blind panic" quite so much.
I have a set of Hankook I-Pike W409's, they do well on fire service roads at 80mph but not much other use other than dodging ATL potholes on your way to the Earl.