So today I came out of a store only to notice I have some cords showing on my driver side front tire. Mind you this is on the R32. annoyingly enough awd does have its drawbacks. Looking for a Great Winter tire that has no issues in snow. 225x40x18 is the tire profile. Currently I have the Continental Extreme contact dws on all four corners. Any suggestions from you guys running awd on your other cars? Never needed a passenger winter tire before so I am slightly in the dark. Pictures and recommendations please

 

I'm a big fan of Toyo Proxes 4's.

They can handle light snow and are rated as an 'ultra-high performance all season' tire.

I have them on the S2000 and my TSX wagon.

 

What is it that you don't like about your Continental DWSs? What problem are you trying to solve? Or do you just want to try something different?

Dean

 

Well I really have no basis for comparison. never had an awd other than a Jeep but I had off road tires on it. I purchased the Vw with the intent on going up to the mountain alot this winter. I want something aggressive enough to get me around up there. Summer is almost over and I am sure the rain will be back soon so dry performance is not very important right now. I love hitting back roads though so I still need that grip. Maybe I want too much from one single set of tires? AS for the problem, well I either have a bent wheel or I have some camber issue. because the tire is only worn on the inside edge driver and passenger sides. Simple alignment should fix the issue

 

My daily driver is an '03 Golf GTI, and my S2000 currently has Continental DWSs on it. The DWSs are really pretty good, but I yearn for something stickier in the summertime. But in the snow, I'll park the S2 and take the VW.

My suggestion (after you get your R32 realigned), especially if you really intend to spend much time on the mountain in the winter, is to get another set of wheels and some dedicated snow tires. I've got two sets for my GTI, one with studs and one without, and when I was skiing (back before I destroyed my leg and shoulder and a perfectly good motorcycle) I put the studded tires on Thanksgiving weekend and took them off when I was done skiing in the spring. They aren't as fun as a dry tire when there's no snow to deal with, but they're okay. And in the snow there's just nothing that'll compare. I never thought twice about them in the snow, and I only have 2 wheel drive.

Watch Craigslist and eBay for a set of 16" wheels off a standard VW Golf. You shouldn't have to pay very much, and may even find a set with snow tires already mounted. I'm not ready to give up my studded tires, but I could probably be persuaded to give up the non-studded set I have. The wheels are OEM VW alloys, and I'd even let you try 'em befor you buy 'em if you'd like. Food for thought...

Dean

 

Siping your AS tires would help with grip. I used to drive around in a FWD using siped tires and never had any real problems unless it was really sloppy wet snow on a steep incline. Heck, I drove around one winter with tires that were down to the wear bars on FWD and didnt have any dramatic issues. Driving siped AS tires on an AWD should be pretty undramatic.


Realistically, if you're going to be swapping rims between winter/summer anyway, either get some dedicated snow tires like Dean suggests (I personally like studless snow tires like Blizzaks, Observes, etc) or get some less-performance based AS tires for winter. anything listed as Ultra High Performance AS is not going to have as good of traction as a more traction oriented tire (traction, not grip).

I say to use the studless because you can still drive on them at speed on the highway (they are typically speed-rated Q = 99mph) and while they wear fast on dry pavement and have soft sidewalls, they are usable. Studded tires bother me for dry-road driving because 1) the studs reduce your rubber contact patch and greatly reduce stopping ability, and 2) driving on dry roads often shears the studs off or wears them down REALLY fast and you are left with a studless snow tire anyway.

The Portland issue is that you have no snow in town (normally) until you get up into the mountains so you're driving 10-20-30-40 miles before hitting snow each way. So even with a snow tire, you're wearing it down unnecessarily (they are soft rubber so they wear quickly when not on snow).

From your resident winter/snow S driver.

 

Well Dean I would love to run some 16's but unfortunately My Brakes are huge. I would venture to say that with calipers I would be close to 16" I am leaning towards running 2 sets. I want some Winter specific tires. Blizzaks may be in the future. As for a summer tire I really loved the Nexen N3000 that I ran on the S2000. They had a ton of grip and wore great. I just need to find a decent looking winter wheel.

BTW I suppose I should mention that a few days later I sucked up a large rock into the rear of the dust shield and it annihilated my brake pads. Upgrading into some EBC Kevlar pads. Its insane how thick the pads are. I would venture to say 3/4 maybe even 1 inch thick. Never seen pads this thick on any car.