I just bought some AT tires for my Suburban (it had highway tires) and they are surprisingly quiet, don't really notice the difference during 70+ mph highway driving.
Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
The thing is for the vast majority of people, it just doesn't make sense. The larger the tread pattern gets, the better off you are in anything soft (deep unplowed snow, mud, etc.) but you very quickly become inferior at anything that is a hard-pack poor traction (specifically wet roads and plowed hard-pack ice as we typically see on roads in the winter season). These types of tires are great for off-road enthusiasts that drive on soft surfaces but really not that great at anything else. Unless you're actually frequently getting off into soft-surface off-road scenarios, the best tire around here is an all-season street tire or ideally a winter tire with a very soft rubber compound.
Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
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Learning mountaineering: 10% technical knowledge, 90% learning how to eat
The thing is for the vast majority of people, it just doesn't make sense. The larger the tread pattern gets, the better off you are in anything soft (deep unplowed snow, mud, etc.) but you very quickly become inferior at anything that is a hard-pack poor traction (specifically wet roads and plowed hard-pack ice as we typically see on roads in the winter season). These types of tires are great for off-road enthusiasts that drive on soft surfaces but really not that great at anything else. Unless you're actually frequently getting off into soft-surface off-road scenarios, the best tire around here is an all-season street tire or ideally a winter tire with a very soft rubber compound.
The other issue with AT tires on passenger cars is the sidewall size and width. AT tires on a Truck or Jeep are typically 70 series and have much wider threads so the ride and handing really are not too much of an issue. Most passengers cars are running 55-60 series and narrower tires so the knobby AT threads will have larger impact on ride comfort.
The softer rubber compounds on winter tires aren't much of an advantage in our typical 25° F to 32° F pass temperatures, they really only start to have an advantage below 20° F. These are typically only 30K tires at best, so it a pretty expensive option. If you are skiing every weekend, then sure. But for a few pass trips the all season is a much better option with much better thread life.
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
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“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
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