In article >, Alan
Baker > wrote:

> In article > ,
> Carbon > wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 23 Feb 2011 09:02:34 -0600, Lanny Chambers wrote:
> > > In article > , Carbon
> > > > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Having lived in Alberta and Vancouver, I always thought snow and ice
> > >> was a bit less difficult when it was really cold, say -20C or colder.
> > >
> > > On winter or all-season tires, perhaps. Not on summer tires.
> >
> > All-seasons. The only people I knew who had summer tires had multiple
> > sets of wheels and didn't mind swapping every six months.
>
> I had summer tires on my Miata from 1994 until very recently; at times
> very bald summer tires. My B.F. Goodrich Euro T/As got very bald towards
> the end, but I successfully negotiated occasional drives on snow-covered
> roads even when the temp was truly below freezing.
>
> Granted: it's not something I'd want to do if it was going to be all the
> time...
>
> ...but it wasn't instant loss of all traction; not even close.
>
> But as I've already said, if whatever tires I eventually get don't work
> out that way, then I'll be mounting the old steel wheels with snows next
> winter.
>
> What I'm not going to do is change the fact that I want proper high
> performance tires good in the dry and definitely good in the wet because
> I may need to change tires for 3 months of the year.
>
> :-)

Alan,
Wanted to comment on this thread, but I cannot find spec ratings for
the Euro T/As since it appears to be discontinued, so take this with a
grain (or more) of salt.
Not sure that the Euro was truly a summer tire. Some references to it
that I found said it was an all-season tire. That can be significant.
The high performance tires have a tread compound that will get very
hard at freezing temperatures, and tend to have very few sipes (those
little cuts in the tread area) to let the tread area flex. That said,
you can extend their range by lowering the tire pressure so that the
tread warms up more in the cold. That works for short drives, but will
cause excessive wear on longer drives. The pressure changes do not help
for ice or snow.

I have not driven The Euros or the S.drives, but I am looking to get
the S.drives for my '06.

The last performance tires I had on the '93 were Goodyear Eagle F1
GS-D3s which I loved. Lowering the air pressure kept them drivable down
to freezing, but they were useless in the snow or on ice. That was with
manual trans and limited slip. Not recommended unless you enjoy high
blood pressure and adrenaline anxiety, and I consider myself an
excellent snow and ice driver with a lot of experience in New England
winters.

I purchased the '06 used, and the original tires were nearly gone. Put
Eagle F1 All Season tires on it for a start hoping that they would give
me some performance, and be reasonable for some limited snow and ice.
They were a disappointment. Performance was not bad, but they were no
good in snow, especially without limited slip. Anything that required
even speed maintaining acceleration could result in tail wag if one
tire had a little less traction. Most embarrassing was not being able
to move the car at all (just wheel spin) from its parking place after a
snow storm. The parking place is only a few degrees from flat.

The bigger disappointment with the F1 All Seasons, was that the tread
belts seemed to separate near the end of their life, so they became
noisy and rough. Neither of these seem to be made in Miata sizes
anymore, so they are no longer a comparison point.

The '06 now has some Michelin X-ice on it with a second set of wheels
so it is drivable in the snow we get here in SE PA. A world of
difference, but they sure are not performance tires. Cornering speed
possible is way down, of course part of that is that I went to 195/55
16 from 205/45/17. But I got them so that winter driving was not a
scary proposition.

I look forward to the S.drives in a month or so, and would like to hear
your experience if you go that way.

--
-------
Stephen Toth
white '93 220k mi. with the kids - now deceased
'06 Galaxy Grey GT 6AT