carcounsel.com |HID|

Remember the Easy Spirit commercial with the ladies in heels playing basketball?

We get the same sense of absurdity when we think about the tires that most Americans are on as they head into another winter. Ever notice how the first cars in the ditch are SUVs and AWD cars followed by the occasional FWD car? Here’s why:

Ironically, many light trucks and SUVs come on tires that are ill suited in the snow. Their rubber compounds must be hard to withstand the weight of your average SUV when loaded and not fall to shreds at the first sign of rough pavement. In addition, SUV tires are wide for better traction in sand and mud and to give them that butch look mom’s prefer. Unfortunately this is the opposite of what you want for ice and snow traction; narrower is better. When you combine this with the fact that most SUVs have lots of torque and are rear wheel drive without traction control until 4 wheel drive is engaged, it’s easy to understand why they become so unweildy in the winter and are eager to exit the roadweay backwards.

An increasing number of cars – especially sport sedans- come from the factory on ‘3-season’ tires. Such tires are designed under the assumption that the car will not be driven in the snow or even at temperatures below about 40 degrees F (below that temperature the rubber becomes hard and slippery). In the case of a car that’s available with front wheel drive as standard and all wheel drive as an option, testing shows that the all wheel drive increases the chances that the tail will side out and reduces cornering and braking grip. (Click here for proof).

The so-called ‘all-season’ tires on most cars are not designed to be driven through deep snow or ice (in fact in most cases they’re particularly bad on ice). To be called an all season, a tire simply must exceed a 25:75 ratio of channels:blocks. Arranging these blocks for long wear, hydroplaning resistance or low noise reduces traction in the snow, and using a rubber that last upwards of 30,000 miles severly reduces grip on ice. (Click here for more on the shortcomings of ‘all-seasons’ during the winter season).

Regardless of what you drive, if you encounter snow or ice we suggest a tire with the ‘mountain with snowflake’ symbol signifying the tire has been tested in winter conditions and meets certain minimum standards. (And in fact testing as shown that you’re best chance for avoiding an accident is to drive a rear wheel drive car with traction and stability control and these ‘mountain on snowflake’ tires).

Don’t see yourself changing from summer to winter tires? Don’t sweat it – unless you take your car to the track or regularly drive your cars til the tires cry out for mercy, an H or V rated ‘European winter’ tire will be suitable for use throughout the year. (The BMW CCA’s technical advisor also advocates this). Such tires give up less than 10% in the dry to other tires but gain you about 30% in the winter – a worthwhile tradeoff in our eyes. In fact there has been a recent trend towards so called ‘dual season’ winter tires or ‘performance’ winter tires that offer as more grip in the dry than an all season. We’ve been runnning these year round on a half dozen cars and the drivers can’t tell there’s anything different about the cars until it turns snowy or icy.

So as we see it there are 4 basic categories of tires:

no M&S logo on the tire means it’s unsafe below 40 degrees

a M&S logo means it might be capable in light snow but not on ice

a mountain on snowflake symbol with an H or V rating can be used year round if you encounter heavier snowfall or icy conditions

a mountain on snowflake symbol with a Q or S rating – particularly Multicells such as most Bridgestone Bizzaks or a tire with a name ending in ‘Ice’ – should be used in the winter only; they wear quicky and grip poorly on dry or warm days.

Feel free to contact us for a list of suggested tires based on your specific car, budget, driving style, and road/weather conditions.

NOTE: Just because your car passes safety inspection doesn’t mean its ready for winter. In fact most mechanics don’t suggest replacing tires until they’ve reached the legal minimum – 1/3rd what is required by safety and tire experts. Click here for more information.

There are of course only so many ways to style an SUV, but this image on Top Gear’s website is food for thought…

In a world that is more concerned with appearances than performances, ‘rims’ are growing in size at a dizzying rate, even from the factory.

Take for example the newest Civic: the standard wheel is now a 15, most Civics ride on 16s, 17s are standard on the Si, an 18 optional. Compare this with the Civic of 10 years ago: standard 13s, the largest size available was a 14, performance tuners knew that the car was best on 15s. Same with the BMW 7 series: 15s were standard, now its 18s. (Choose any car, you’ll see the same pattern, even in those rare cases where the size or weight of the car has decreased…)

With so many people thinking bigger is better, it’s difficult to convince people of the truth: bigger wheels are ruining the way today’s cars ride and handle.

It’s basic physics, really – ride and handling are largely a function of wheel weight. The lower the ratio of wheel:body weight (also referred to as unsprung:sprung mass), the better the ride quality. The lower the wheel/unsprung weight, the greater the tire’s adhesion to the road surface. The lower the rotational inertia, the better the acceleration, braking and steering response.

If you’re interested in performance rather than appearance, we suggest doing what we do to our own cars:

1) Get a lighter wheel in the same diameter. Factory wheels are often cast rather than forged for cost reasons, and stylists don’t care about how much a wheel will weigh so long as it looks good. By lowering your wheel weight alone you’ll see dramatic improvments in ride quality, acceleration, braking, and handling. (Steve Dinan takes this approach on his versions of the M3 and M5).

2) if you have a sport package or other option that increased wheel size from the factory, trade your wheels with someone who doesn’t read our site and has the base model car, then wrap them in tires equal or better than those you have now. (Most comparisons between base and sport package cars are not scientific because you’re comparing different suspensions, wheel sizes and tire types.) As with option 1, the lighter wheel and lower rotational inertial will work in your favor, plus the stealth quotient will mean those who challenge you on the street (or toting radar guns) won’t know how fast you’re capable of going.

NOTE: We advise against larger wheels and low profile tires on trucks and SUVs in particular. Not only are the suspension systems ill suited to keeping a low profile tire properly oriented in relation to the road surface, but doing so lengthens braking distances and increases the chance of a rollover due to the already overtaxed brakes and high centers of gravity. (When choosing Original Equipment tires and sizes, engineers choose tires that slide early, keeping the vehice on all fours. Increasing grip makes it more likely the SUV or truck will tip up on two wheels).

Along with large wheels, front wheel drive, small windows, vague steering, seating placed in crumple zones and unidirectional tires we’ve always hoped the SUV was a trend that would someday go the way of the dodo.

While we don’t agree with their choice of contenders, we think this list of rankings from a recent Motor Trend comparison points to a trend in comparison tests performed over the years between wagons and SUVs: wagons are more pleasurable to drive. That this test ranks a wagon based on the dynamically mediocre Volvo S60 ahead of SUVs based on the nimble and connected Legacy and CTS says a lot, as does the fact that the test didn’t include any of the more trucky body on frame designs that litter our roads.

And until the laws of physics come crashing down or Ferrari or Maclaren make an SUV, we’d bet that will continue to be the case…