Originally Posted by CapriRacer
Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by CapriRacer
Originally Posted by Traction
It's the snowball effect. Also take note, that usually a good highway tire will get better snow/ice traction than the knobbiest of AT tires. Maybe trying to claw through 2 feet of snow, a mud tire might work better, but that's about it.
I'm going to disagree with that - and point out that problem of discussing snow/ice traction is defining what we mean. Snow can range from very dry and powdery to wet and sticky - and needless to say that optimizing a tire's traction for either of those conditions would result in something different.
Similarly, "ice" can mean a whole range of things as well. So trying to make blanket statements about what is best is fraught with issues.
Further, what is a "highway tire"? Is that the same as an all season? or are we talking about a tire designed for use on a truck used primarily for the highway where wear is the most important thing (which also means it has very little in the way of sipes and cross grooves - and therefore would perform poorly in snow.)
That said, as a general rule, the weather conditions usually encountered means that tires with lots of edges perform better overall. But there are enough varying conditions where "lots of edges" isn't the ultimate answer - for that particular set of conditions. That is what makes these type of discussions inevitable.
In this case, isn't a "highway" tire something like a Michelin LTX M/S(or Defender LTX)/Conti CrossContact series/General Grabber HTS60 or even a "all-terrain" tire like a Firestone Destination A/T and a "mud" tire(or bro-swamper) would be something like Nitto TerraGrappler or BFG KO2?
I know Goodyear is getting away with the 3PMSF symbol on their new Assurance WeatherReady tire and some non-"winter" tires like General's Grabber ATx as well. And Michelin is selling a reworked version of the LTX M/S2 with a winter compound as the LTX Winter. For a winter tire - is it more tread pattern(more sipes and edges), compound(softer compound or in Bridgestone's case, "multi-cell" technology) or both that dictate how well a tire can get through heavy snow and ice?
I've added back the quote I was responding to - because the question about what is a "highway" tire was directed towards Traction.
Ya see, in over-the-road truck tires, a highway tire doesn't have sipes. It's basically a ribbed tire. So I was wondering what he meant. Was he referencing those? Or was he - as you have pointed out - referencing what I would call an All Season tire.
Put another way, I don't think there are "highway" tires in Passenger and Light Truck tires, with the exception of Michelin's XPS. Tire Rack classifies these as "Highway Rib Summer". Hopefully it is clear that these terms are kind of vague and ill definied.
But to answer your question:
Originally Posted by nthach
……. For a winter tire - is it more tread pattern(more sipes and edges), compound(softer compound or in Bridgestone's case, "multi-cell" technology) or both that dictate how well a tire can get through heavy snow and ice?
I think it is more tread pattern than anything else, but I admit, my experience with winter tires is limited.
I was meaning "highway tire" as in all season SUV/truck tires. Like Cooper called their tires H/T, and A/T. Anyway, H/T (all-season) tires have more sipes for snow traction, but come nowhere close to a good winter tire. A/T, M/T tires I think are only better in dirt, which I always manage to avoid. With snow, you never know what you are going to have to deal with, which is my main concern in the winter, which is Traction.
