You assumed wrong. I have to take issue with that.

 

 

Someone started a thread on that tire a few weeks ago. They look really interesting, have almost summer tire handling in the summer but also have better winter/cold/snow rating then all season tires. I am looking forward to them coming to the States and some tests. I will definitely get them if they are reasonably priced and do what they are advertised to do as that would be a answer to the question most people especially with RWD cars have who have to drive in some snow every year and don't want to buy and put snow tires on.

 

I think they get the snowflake or 3 snowflakes indicating they are better in the snow/cold then regular all seasons.

 

I don't know about snow or ice but ABS certainly shortens stopping distance in dry/wet streets in a emergency stop compared to non ABS.

My Accord was totaled because some guy cut me off at the last second when switching lanes and braked hard, I slammed the brakes on and the tires locked up and slid into him on a wet rode, I had no ABS in that car. I had a very similar incident in my GS430 where a guy pulled out from a parking space right in front of me when I was doing about 30mph-40 mph down a tight street, I slammed the brakes on and in my mind knew I was going to hit him by the distance/sliding from previous experiences with non ABS but I did not lock up/slide and did not hit him, car stopped right away. I was so relieved.

 

 

I guess it also has the side benefit, with a great example just given by UDel, of mitigating panic-stop mistakes. I mean, in theory in my racing sim game time I have found some cars can brake later without ABS, but if I mess up the braking, well... let's hope I wasn't overdriving the car to begin with. In the real world, most drivers aren't going to be prepared to do a panic stop without ABS. (Not to mention I'm sure many modern cars were designed with the assumption of ABS being enabled.)

Something something AWD...

 

AWD/4WD helps when the going gets tough. But it doesnt help you stop any better. Therefore, a good set of tires is more important than how many drive wheels.

 

 

Blizzak's fast wear is known fact.

 

Which is a big problem. They may be better tires than traditional snow tires like Winterforce when they are both new, but in 5k miles the Blizzaks are pretty much worn down into an all season tire.

 

IMO, at the end of the day it comes down to a few things and they often get lost in a 10 page thread like this because you have a wide variety of posters who live in widely different regions expressing opinions according to local conditions.

Most discussions like this focus on tech or tires while ignoring driver skills. In European countries like Finland, Denmark or Germany it can be near impossible for people to go and get drivers licenses if they are incompetent. That's why we in NA rely on tech and driver nannies to help us. All the while inexperienced and incompetent drivers pick up bad driving habits by observing their fellow motorists once they're let loose on public roads. It's all about standards.

In Finland you have go through 18 hours of real practical training including skid control on an icy driving course. In Denmark you have to demonstrate several skills including: figure 8s on an icy course and even reverse slaloms to demonstrate mastery of your control of the car.

In the UK one of the most basic manuevers is to drive backwards around a corner. In Germany you have to learn high speed driving and the failure rate there is around 28%. At this point drive train wizardy has compensated for a lot of really bad winter drivers.

 

Of course those countries have more emphasis on winter driving than we do. Look at their far-north locations....and climate. They also have long hours of darkness in the winter..particularly in northern Finland, where the sun may be below the horizon for months at a time. That means a lot of night driving.....with headlights.

That probably wouldn't work today. The way many of today's vehicles are designed (high deck-lids, wedge-styling, thick rear pillars, etc...) you can't even SEE out the back unless the back up camera is working.

Fine.....except that, as traffic-volume grows, more and more sections of the Autobahns now have posted limits. The sections with unlimited speeds get fewer and fewer each year.

Exactly. But it has also allowed a lot of older people to keep driving longer, and remain independent and out of nursing homes. Self-driving cars, in the future, will probably allow even more of that.....though I will rue the day when I can no longer drive myself, whenever that is.

 

I have a set, really like them. But I don't think are quite as good as a comparable Michelin. They were cheaper so I decided to give the Pirelli's a try, would I buy them again? Probably not I'd wait for a sale on the Michelin's.

On ABS, there are times when it greatly increases stopping distance. Lock the brakes turn the wheels and you can build up a "dam" of sorts which will slow you down. Would I take a car without ABS? Nah, especially Toyota and Lexus their implementation is excellent.

 

So we shouldn't subscribe to higher standards. Is it harmful to a driver, especially a younger driver to learn these skills, or should we descend down to the lowest common denominator?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...d-brutal-cold/

The UK "reverse around a corner" has been scrapped jus this past December but requires a more practical parking test. Source