Time for Winter Tires

[Check Pilot]

This kinda boils down to directional control or how quick the vehicle can stop in a straight line as far as ABS goes. Here in (or on) the Flatlands of the Prairies, we usually need both.

I have to change the tires to full blown Nokians in November when the WX goes for "Naughty Word" on the roads, even though I know that brand is good for all seasons, I prefer to keep them stored for the summer.

That's because my wife drives our car and - although instructed and taught by a couple of professionally conducted courses, she still has a bit to learn about control, not tires. She now knows that ABS is kinda like anti-skid on aeroplanes for but only if she LOOKS where she wants to go to avoid a collision and then points the car that way. The Nokians will take her the way she is looking when the anti-skid on the car lights up under her foot... She knows that the stopping distance straight ahead with the ABS is longer than if it was not "on". The result, because she will no longer "tailgate", is that she lets other drivers into her lane in front of her to get the same stopping distance. All this obviously, tends to slow things down behind her.

She doesn't care because she knows that if she crashes the car, she will get "Naughty Word" from me anyway if she rear ends someone because of some misconceived idea that ABS is some kind of "magic" and then banned from driving again.

She has been advised, and knows, that if there is some chance that she will have to go out in crappy road surface conditions to use her head and not trust either the ABS or the good snow tires to keep her out of trouble. 10 kph under the limit is a start when the roads go for snowy crap for maximum speed.

Before you comment, I drive the same way, but I drive slower that her.

[Canus Chinookus]

I got to put my new winter tires to the test yesterday. I applied the brakes to try to slide using what I knew would have caused my old tires to slide, and no slippage whatsoever. Even accelerating there was no spin. Good stuff. I also read my wife the riot act(since she'll be driving the van more than me) about how she's going to get a feeling of high confidence in these tires and that in no way should she be driving as if the roads are dry. I've heard the same stories over and over about how people with snow tires drive like maniacs... won't be an issue for us and DAMN it's nice to have that extra stopping power(even with the ABS, go fig:rolleyes: ).

[mo32a]

Boestar, unless you have a lot of experience as a race car driver and practice threshold braking on a regular basis, then your chances of outperforming an ABS system are slim to none, especially in a panic situation. Also, the more sophisticated systems include variable brake distribution form side to side to compensate for different surface grip levels. (one side of the vehicle on gravel, the other on pavement). So unless you have 2 brake pedals in your car and use both feet to brake, ther's no way you can replicate this, let alone outperform it.

I concour 100%. 99.9% of drivers will do better hammering the brakes with ABS than trying to brake "properly". Boestar may think he does better but I would bet $10 that he only thinks he does better rather than actual practice.

[Moon The Loon]

...but I would bet $10...

I don't think you'll have much trouble rounding up 10 loonies on this forum