 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
Car Forum / Honda Cars / May 2008Accord & Snowy Hills Questions
Hello, Sure don't have to worry about this for a while, but thought I'd ask while I'm thinking of it. Son has a 2005 Accord, 6 cyl., four door sedan. He has always been complaining about how poorly it climbs most any kind of hill when there is snow on it, even a little. Compares it to his last car, which was a Mercury Sable sedan, and just great in this regard. Uses low(er) gears, but this doesn't seem to help much. Questions: a. Is this inability a function of the car design, or most likely just the original tires that came with the car ? b. If, this winter, he puts on snow tires, or something better than the "all-weather" compromise that is now on, and that they love to sell for every possible condition, can he get away with just the two front tires ? Or, would this cause fish-tailing or other control type problems ? c. Any winter tire recommendations ? The true old fashioned heavy threaded Snow tires ? Or,... ? Thanks, Bob > He has always been complaining about how poorly it climbs most any kind of > hill when there is snow on it, even a little. [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > c. Any winter tire recommendations ? It's the tires. You put snows on ALL FOUR CORNERS. It doesn't do you a bit of good to do just two. The absolute best tires for average people are the Nokian WR. All-season, quite in the summer, plenty of traction, but absolute demon traction in the winter. Amazing things. Designed for winter use, but also as all-seasons. The only step up from Nokian WR would be dedicated snow/winter tires that you swap out during the summer. Nokian WR takes all that pain away of having extra wheels/tires around and where to store them, swapping them out twice a year, etc. On May 5, 11:22 am, "Elmo P. Shagnasty" <el...@nastydesigns.com> wrote: > In article <I6GdnVO1GfWuvoLVnZ2dnUVZ_gSdn...@comcast.com>, > [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > Nokian WR takes all that pain away of having extra wheels/tires around > and where to store them, swapping them out twice a year, etc. Yup, Elmo's right. Accord OEM tries are awful. There are other all season tires that perform much better such as the Nokians. But 4 winter tires are the way to go if you live where it snows a lot. Nokians are the best winter tires but others (www.tirerack.com) may be easier to come by. I used a set of Yokohama Avid TRZ all season touring tires this winter with good results but winters are fairly mild where I live. Putting 2 winters tires onto the front will certainly be entertaining for observers the first time the brakes are applied on a snowy downhill. In article <d74cc603-8b87-4369-bf7b-5a6cf19dbb8a@y21g2000hsf.googlegroups.com>, > Putting 2 winters tires onto the front will certainly be entertaining > for observers the first time the brakes are applied on a snowy > downhill. hehehehe Absolutely. When you change the relative traction of the tires, you change the handling away from what the manufacturer dialed in and put it into unknown territory. Snow tires (better traction) on the front only = oversteer. Snow tires (better traction) on the rear only = understeer. Snow tires (better traction) on all four corners = front to rear relative handling as designed by the manufacturer. >> He has always been complaining about how poorly it climbs most any kind of >> hill when there is snow on it, even a little. [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > You put snows on ALL FOUR CORNERS. It doesn't do you a bit of good to > do just two. Incorrect. Putting two snow tires on just the front will greatly improve traction going uphill. So it does do more than a bit of good to put snow tires on just the front two wheels (or even just the back two wheels). But, as you point out in another post, the car will have some control issues when one tries to stop with snow tires on the front two wheels, especially going downhill. So, the best thing is to put snow tires on all four wheels. Jeff > The absolute best tires for average people are the Nokian WR. > All-season, quite in the summer, plenty of traction, but absolute demon [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Nokian WR takes all that pain away of having extra wheels/tires around > and where to store them, swapping them out twice a year, etc. > > You put snows on ALL FOUR CORNERS. It doesn't do you a bit of good to > > do just two. > > Incorrect. Putting two snow tires on just the front will greatly improve > traction going uphill. So it does do more than a bit of good to put snow > tires on just the front two wheels (or even just the back two wheels). Are you going uphill 100% of the time? >>> You put snows on ALL FOUR CORNERS. It doesn't do you a bit of good to >>> do just two. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Are you going uphill 100% of the time? You said: "It doesn't do you a bit of good to do just two." That incorrect. As I pointed out, having just two front tires will improve traction going uphill, but will also have negative consequences going downhill. Funny how you deleted those comments. Of course, I don't go uphill all the time. But, putting just two tires on will improve the uphill traction, which is doing more than a bit of good. And, putting snow tires on all four corners is best option, as I also pointed out. You don't need to a jerk. Jeff > > Are you going uphill 100% of the time? > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Funny how you deleted those comments. No, I just spoke about real world. In the real world, you don't go uphill 100% of the time. Sure feels like uphill all the time to me! >> > Are you going uphill 100% of the time? >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > In the real world, you don't go uphill 100% of the time. >>> > Are you going uphill 100% of the time? >>> [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Sure feels like uphill all the time to me! I bike a lot and find that uphill and downhill does alternate as one would expect. The wind, however, is always in my face. >> > You put snows on ALL FOUR CORNERS. It doesn't do you a bit of good to >> > do just two. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Are you going uphill 100% of the time? I seem to remember my parents telling me they walked to AND from school, in the snow, uphill both ways...  SignatureNick > Hello, > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > Thanks, > Bob In addition to snow tires, you might tell him to switch off the traction control. My brother-in-law has an Acura TL, and he struggled to get up hills until he turned off the traction control. You need a little wheelspin to keep the momentum going, and every time the TC detects wheelspin, it will start to cut the engine power or apply the brakes. This is somewhat counterproductive when going up a slippery hill! This isn't an issue with my Audi quattro, even with the TC engaged and all-season tires. ;-) Dan D '07 Ody EX Central NJ USA |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2008 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.