In Snow - RWD with Snow tires or AWD w stock all seasons?

[Scooby24]

Do you have any experience driving in bad winter conditions?
If you you live live in the North East where it snows a lot you really have to have snow tires no matter what car you drive. Period.

Plenty, and no, you don't. It doesn't matter if we have snow all winter or a couple weeks of it. This last snow storm had 12 inches of snow over ice. Car had zero issues.

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[Mach-e4x]

Plenty, and no, you don't. It doesn't matter if we have snow all winter or a couple weeks of it. This last snow storm had 12 inches of snow over ice. Car had zero issues.

I would never drive in 12 inches of snow in my Mach -e. Our car has less than 6 inches of ground clearance, right? Not good.

 

[harrysiii]

I believe it was Car and Driver that did a nice test on this with an Infiniti G37. The RWD with winter tires was much better than AWD with all seasons.

The best option is AWD with winter tires. Ever since I've gone with dedicated snow tires, I would never go back for any of my vehicles, and most are AWD.

 

[Composer]

Here in Sweden... I would never drive with my family without good snow tires. Its just not worth it. And yeah... I am very biased AWD as well as I think it handles snow and slippery surfaces better IMHO.

 

[Scooby24]

I would never drive in 12 inches of snow in my Mach -e. Our car has less than 6 inches of ground clearance, right? Not good.

12 inches is an accumulation and it never accumulates to 12 inches on the road as people are driving on it and compacting it down the whole time it's snowing, as well as plows running.

This is my 29th car. I've had RWD, FWD, AWD, Summer tires, snow tires, all season tires. 15 years ago I might have agreed with you. There just weren't that many good snow capable all season tires. The best at the time were DWS and these DWS06+ I have are worlds better than that original tire. I'd go so far as to say they are as capable as the Blizzak LM60's I ran on my ZHP.

 

[tuminatr]

I saw this video, it is a pickup truck but I think what he tests could be applied to this discussion. Winter tires add safety through control, but they can not come close to the traction advantage of AWD.


https://www.carthrottle.com/post/wh...-rwd-and-winter-tyres-or-4wd-and-all-seasons/

 

[fixed]

i can't compare to the AWD with all seasons but i can tell you the mach e RIPS with winter tires. probably the best snow car i've ever had. the extra weight makes a huge difference. ford's traction control is unreal as well.

 

[fixed]

according to Tire Rack a it's about $2050 for winter tires and a set of wheels

what? i think i paid like $950 for a set of four winters on wheels. how'd you get double that?

 

[tuminatr]

what? i think i paid like $950 for a set of four winters on wheels. how'd you get double that?

Like I said, Tire Rack.

I bought used OEM select wheels and new TPMS for $650 tires cost an additional $800, install $100. That's $1660 total including tax. Maybe at the beginning of the season, you could have bought a little cheaper but not that much.

 

[tuminatr]

12 inches is an accumulation and it never accumulates to 12 inches on the road as people are driving on it and compacting it down the whole time it's snowing, as well as plows running.

This is my 29th car. I've had RWD, FWD, AWD, Summer tires, snow tires, all season tires. 15 years ago I might have agreed with you. There just weren't that many good snow capable all season tires. The best at the time were DWS and these DWS06+ I have are worlds better than that original tire. I'd go so far as to say they are as capable as the Blizzak LM60's I ran on my ZHP.

Maybe in KC, no way here in MN. However, some of the new all weathers are getting close (CrossClimate, Quatrac, and a few others)

 

[GrGuy]

Either will work, and despite the strong opinions you'll hear on both sides the answer is "it depends". The majority of the controlled tests I've seen and read suggest 2 wheel drive with winter tires will generally outperform AWD with all seasons. However, you can manipulate the test parameters to get different results.

Another thing to consider is that tires vary a lot within a category. Not all winter tires perform the same, nor do all "all seasons." AWD with an all season like Michelin Cross Climate that has 3PMS and M+S ratings will probably beat cheap winter tires on 2 wheel drive. Cheap all season tires will lose the same comparison. Different types of vehicles will respond differently too. If you have a truck with all the weight in front, rear wheel drive with with winter tires will suck, because there's no weight over the drive wheels. Put the same tires on a car with a 50/50 weight distribution and you'll get vastly different results in the same test.

I'll always go with winter tires over all wheel drive based on both lives experience and carefully studying actual scientific comparisons, but the people that disagree aren't wrong either. There's a complex interaction between tire, weight distribution, ESC, traction control, driving style, exact road conditions, use case etc. that makes it hard to pin down an exact answer. That's before you even start considering factors like cost, range, efficiency, how often you get snow, how deep it is, tread life, tire storage and so on.

Basically whichever way you go is fine, just pick what works for you and understand that it's a trade off whichever way you go and the right answer probably comes down to subjective preference.

 

[Andeh]

RWD with winter tyres, every time.

Tyre is key, not the drivetrain.

 

[phidauex]

Regarding cost, remember that the only real additional cost of the winter setup is the 2nd set of wheels, and the installation cost, which is easy to get into the $1k range (or ~2% of the vehicle cost).

After that, since you are swapping them out with your other wheels, both sets of tires will last twice as long - you only have one set on the road at a time. So you are "pre paying" for your tires, but you aren't actually buying more tires. This makes the cost impact a lot lower than it looks in the shopping cart.

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