the reason i ask is because it generally snows maybe once or twice a year in the DC area, and that snow generally melts on the roads within 12-24 hours. could i get away with driving like a granny on the OEM tires through the winter here? The tires have full tread, only 2,000 miles.

i have never lost control of a car without making an abrupt change in my own driver input, except on black ice or like 6 inches of snow in upstate NY, but it seems like some kiddies here lose control of their car on what appears to be just wet pavement. maybe i'm overgeneralizing, but i can't imagine the rear of the car just spinning out going the speed limit on a gradual merging ramp or something with just rain on the ground.

 

You have VSA.

 

You won't spin out. You'll just spin in place.

As many will say, it's not just the snow... it's that OEMs turn into hockey pucks when cold.

That said, I hope you don't have to climb any hills.

But check out the for sale sections. I just picked up a used set of Blizzaks on 16 inch wheels for $600 shipped. That's about the cost of an insurance deductible.

 

so if the traction is 9/10 in the summer, what is it in the winter? like a 4/10? i'm just asking because i honestly don't push my car that hard around corners even now when it's 70 and sunny out.

it's probably 40 degrees from december to february, and even then, i would bet it hits 50 in december and probably by the end of feb as well, so i'd be buying winter tires to use for maybe 60 or 70 days. buy them, swap them, then swap again within 2 months. and yes, it snows like 5-6" all winter, and usually just 2 days.

i was thinking that maybe i'll just drive REALLY fast for the next few weeks, wear out the tread on my OEMs, and buy some all-season tires like those pirelli pzero neros, which would probably hold up better in colder, but still relatively dry conditions.

p.s. i don't track my car.

 

That's probably a reasonable estimate. I'd probably go with a 3/10-4/10 rating.

The problem is not how you push it, but that your braking distance can almost double. And if you slide into the rear bumper of the SUV in front of you... it's going to hurt on your insurance bill.

 

As CKit said, the real issue is the car comes with ultra high performance SUMMER tires that become rock hard and lose much of their grip under +-40 degrees.
If you get blizzaks or some other good winter tire (or even all seasons), with VSA, you'lll be fine
I'm prbably going with P Zero-nero when mine need replaced.

you can call Jim at Tire Rack for some suggestions--he's a sponsor of the Tire Forum on here and very knowledgable about tire options for our cars

 

Coming from experience, here in CT, I did drive my old s2k through the winter with oem tires. I would say not the best idea in the world to do. On wet days with the snow melted i think its fine but still have to be very careful. I had two occasions when there were still snow on the ground and some ice patches. I couldn't make it up a hill and my car would slide down itself. I had to let my car roll back down the hill and turn around. Then at a stop sign, not even on a hill I was dead stuck and couldn't move forward. I held up all the traffic behind me and I had to reverse back to the end of the line on the other side of traffic, luckily no one turned into the road. I ended up attempting it again but didnt come to a complete stop and got through it. I would never want to be put in that situation again, holding up traffic behind me in a sports car. This is my experience during winter weather with oem tires.

 

No, it spins out when drivers are driving too aggressively for the conditions, not having the tires for said conditions, being stupid, or trying to show off (being stupid) regardless if you have vsa or not.

 

I've never had the back kick out in the wet, but if it's cold out you can snap the rear end out very easily with the OEM tires. I just switched to new tires this summer and it hasn't been cold enough for me to see if it's any different.

 

I waded one up that had crappt kuhmo tires... keep tires fresh. youll be fine

side note: i was driving like an ass at the time