Quote:
Originally Posted by glennQNYC
I can think of all kinds of scenarios (like mine) where Summer + UHPAS tires is the best prescription. Are people so unimaginative that they can envision such a situation? smh
Let's remove snow and ice and only talk temperatures...
Let's say someone lives is a part of the world where during the winter months, 25% of time it gets too cold for Summer tires; and 25% of the time it gets too warm for winter tires... and their car will never see snow. You'd still suggest this person put winter tires on? Not me.
Or my father... He drives his 50th anniversary Mustang GT from NJ to Florida every January, then drives back to NJ at the end of February. It might be a little too sketchy to make this trip with his summer rubber; and it's too warm down in Florida to run winter tires.... So he puts UHPAS on in the winter.
I see UHPAS tires as akin to intermediate racing tires... they bridge the gap between summer and winter tires.
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I noticed a big difference living and driving in places where the temperature would occasionally get into the single digits (below 32°F) and where the temperature was constantly colder than 20°F and there was limited sun. In the second experience, the ground simply remains "cold" and the surface doesn't heat like it does in warmer climates. I didn't notice much lack of traction in the first example, until I actually got on icy/snowy surfaces. In the second example, it doesn't take that.
Yeah, every year we hear about people in Alabama and Florida asking about winter tires, because there are two storms a year that completely shut down Atlanta and they have to wait for it to melt anyways, but many people live in higher latitudes or much colder high altitude places where they make sense, especially to maximize winter driving safety. Then when the temp is regularly above 40, summers go back on. There are more things that influence the temp of the tires and traction, like sun heating the surface in the middle of the day, friction, whether your car was stored outside, etc. This means the temp of the tires may not be the air-temp or the temp of the road may be significantly colder than the air temp (we get that here all the time).