snow tires on a car year round in southern california.

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holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
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My 05 TL 6spd with VSA Vehicle Stability Assist had 235/45/17 tires on them. My brother wanted to go snowboarding and put new 225/45/17 snow tires on the drive wheels (front) yes I know 4 is better but he's poor. He went a few times and left it as is.

First the ratio isn't off by much but I'm wondering if it will screw things up, vehicle speed by 5%?, traction control, VSA? And how bad is it to run snow tires in front and regular tires in the back?

Thanks
 
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Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
10,757
3
81
It will handle worse in the warm/hot weather. And the tires will wear out faster. Hw should put his all seasons back for the non-winter months.
 
Fenixgoon

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
32,882
12,158
136
Jumpem said:
It will handle worse in the warm/hot weather. And the tires will wear out faster. Hw should put his all seasons back for the non-winter months.
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this. and put the snow tires on the rear, as others have said. it doesn't take much to change tires.
 
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holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
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81
naw I've never driven in the snow and I don't want them. I came home from vacation and my brother was like I got you 2 new tires. Bad part was he didn't keep the old tires which only had 20k miles. Again I don't drive in snow, I'm in OC socal and don't snowboard. So more snow tires would be even more useless.
 
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Jumpem

Lifer
Sep 21, 2000
10,757
3
81
holden j caufield said:
naw I've never driven in the snow and I don't want them. I came home from vacation and my brother was like I got you 2 new tires. Bad part was he didn't keep the old tires which only had 20k miles. Again I don't drive in snow, I'm in OC socal and don't snowboard. So more snow tires would be even more useless.
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Wow. Your brother would just go get different tires for your car, and the wrong size even.
 
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kornphlake

Golden Member
Dec 30, 2003
1,567
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You'll get ticketed if you drive year round with studded tires. Check with the DMV for the exact date you'll need to have the snow tires removed by, you've probably got 4 months before you'll need to have them replaced. Snow tires are hard on the roads when it's not snowing.
 
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Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,982
10
81
holden j caufield said:
naw I've never driven in the snow and I don't want them. I came home from vacation and my brother was like I got you 2 new tires. Bad part was he didn't keep the old tires which only had 20k miles. Again I don't drive in snow, I'm in OC socal and don't snowboard. So more snow tires would be even more useless.
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Punch your brother for being so stupid.
 
alkalinetaupehat

alkalinetaupehat

Senior member
Mar 3, 2008
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kornphlake said:
You'll get ticketed if you drive year round with studded tires. Check with the DMV for the exact date you'll need to have the snow tires removed by, you've probably got 4 months before you'll need to have them replaced. Snow tires are hard on the roads when it's not snowing.
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Snow tires don't necessarily have studs in them though. In fact, they typically don't have studs at all.
 
PhoKingGuy

PhoKingGuy

Diamond Member
Nov 15, 2007
4,685
0
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You can just get chains...why would he get snow tires? I drove up to big bear with chains on my Jetta, it worked fine....
 
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holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
bridgestone blizzak tires, no studs. Seems so wasteful to go get 4 new tires. Plus my new years resolution was to not spend anything unless needed (saving for a house).
 
Fenixgoon

Fenixgoon

Lifer
Jun 30, 2003
32,882
12,158
136
speedy2 said:
A TL is Front Wheel drive. Why would you put the snow tires on the rear? lol
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despite the front being both the drive and steering wheels for the TL, losing traction in the rear will cause your car to fishtail uncontrollably.
 
Throckmorton

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
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Your brother borrows your car to go snowboarding, and bought snow tires to put on your car's front wheels? Sounds weird to me.
 
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ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
zerocool84 said:
You drive a TL and can't afford proper 4 snow tires???? wow
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I never understand this either. Get a $20,000 vehicle then refuse to buy $800 worth of tires+rims = win :awe:


Oh and driving on winter tires when it's hot out will ruin the tires. My friend bought some winter tires for his car last winter and right now those tires are completely destroyed because he drove on them in summer. He doesn't even drive that much. He probably got less than 15k miles out of those tires.
 
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ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
Fenixgoon said:
despite the front being both the drive and steering wheels for the TL, losing traction in the rear will cause your car to fishtail uncontrollably.
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This is best shown with a video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdtAm7RsTmE&feature=related&t=1m27s

Simple physics. The front tires have grip and they are trying to stop. The back tires have no grip and inertia is pushing them forward. What exactly is holding the back tires in position? Obviously nothing is holding them in place. The car will spin around when trying to stop!
 
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holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
just asking for input, I didn't rotate my tires so the front were worn a lot compared to the rears, the rears look almost newish. That's why he replaced the fronts, no biggie, I'll stop by to get 4 new ones today, anybody recommend some tires for socal. No snow driving for me. Economical long lasting tires, thanks I do some spirited driving my my tires seems to wear out fast in the front, also getting an alignment.
 
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ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
holden j caufield said:
just asking for input, I didn't rotate my tires so the front were worn a lot compared to the rears, the rears look almost newish. That's why he replaced the fronts, no biggie, I'll stop by to get 4 new ones today, anybody recommend some tires for socal. No snow driving for me.
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If you don't drive in the snow, then you could probably just keep the winter tires on until they wear out. Depending on how you drive, that might only take 1 year.

That's probably what I would do. If you replace them right now, the tires will not get any use at all. If you run them until the tread is gone, you get at least a year out of them. That's another year you don't need to buy new front tires ;)
 
J

JCH13

Diamond Member
Sep 14, 2010
4,981
66
91
Your car is probably going to understeer even worse than it did before it had two snow tires on the front. Unless you get into some snow, then it will oversteer. o_O

There was a thread on summer tires recently and I think the consensus was that Yokohama S.Drive tires were great bang for the buck.

Good luck :thumbsup:
 
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holden j caufield

Diamond Member
Dec 30, 1999
6,324
10
81
ShawnD1 said:
If you don't drive in the snow, then you could probably just keep the winter tires on until they wear out. Depending on how you drive, that might only take 1 year.

That's probably what I would do. If you replace them right now, the tires will not get any use at all. If you run them until the tread is gone, you get at least a year out of them. That's another year you don't need to buy new front tires ;)
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I was going to get new ones today but it was raining (for some reason it has rained every week this past month) so I ran my errands drove it for a bit. Very quiet and I actually liked the ride. I think I might do this. Seems very wasteful to toss them aside. I'll drive on them for a bit but so far so good imo (in the rain it seemed to handle better than my Pirelli PZero Nero
 
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