That's good to hear.  Any particular recommendations?  I'm guessing my
choices for these specific rims will be fairly limited.

I suspect so, but it drove by fairly quick...and that lettering on the tires
was just way too small for me to read from afar ;-)

- tex

Being an Aero, I seem to recall that he may not be able to fit the
brakes into a 15" rim.  In any case, use the smallest rim diameter you
can and get a narrowest tire patch (as advised) for best snow
performance.  If you want to compromise between best snow performance
and not completely screweing up your dry road performance between
snowstorms, go with something in between.  The key is getting the
winter tires on there...

-Fred W

I heavily support this. Narrower wheels and higher profile gets you
better grip on snowy roads. Higher profile is no point alone, but is
conected with the with of the tires, which makes the difference.
Therefore wintertyres are much softer. The better gip on snow, the
softer on asphalt. When I in the autumn put on the wintertyres (with
narrower rims) I always make a braketest to get an idea of what the
difference is. It's huge!

On my Saab 99, 1983, I use 185/65 R15 tyres on 15" rims.
-I know, it's a very different car to drive.
Fredrik
Norway

Hard to know whether to laugh or cry over the total incompetence of the
people who think that wide summer tyres on 17 in. rims are something to
use when the temperature is under +3C, let alone snow and ice.
Unfortunately these kind of idiots don't just harm themselves. Many bad
accidents, many deaths, until winter tyres became law here (Sweden).

But maybe British drivers are better snow-and-ice drivers on summer
tyres, than their Swedish counterparts?

It is not the car which is at fault. The latest Saab 9-3 is an excellent
winter car (as are so many other cars, including my 2WD Audi A4), on the
condition that proper winter tyres (preferably narrow, high-profile
ones) are fitted to all 4 wheels.

In many places, snowfall and freezing conditions are so infrequent that
they don't merit buying a set of winter roadwheels. But then the car
should be left in the driveway until the snow clears.

And for those who have AWD cars - just because you can accelerate better
with AWD and traction control, doesn't mean that you can stop any better
than a 2WD car.

<climbs off the soap box>

/Robert

Salutations:

Being from Nova Scotia - a relatively small outcropping of north Atlantic  
rock on the Laurentian Abyss on an isthmus to the east of Canada just  
below the Arctic Circle - please let me chip in (off?) some perhaps  
helpful advise here. The port of Halifax, my home town, being where most  
of that World War Two convoy footage of ice covered merchantmen bravely  
heading out to an uncertain future was filmed.

Basically - there are four great tricks to successfully winter driving.  
Correct tires and pressure - lower gears - weight distribution - throttle  
control.

Proper winter tires at the lower end of the recommended pressure range,  
teamed with weight distribution towards the drive wheels (in this case -  
to the front), will allow you to use lower gears and throttle control to  
maintain forward momentum by combining the previous elements to create  
osculating traction.

So - while it is still legal and encouraged here to annually fit tire  
studs - I have found most of my SAAB's over the years have been perfectly  
satisfied with just a mid-grade set of winter shoes - which I retire the  
second spring.

All Seasons are a suckers game and well worth avoiding in my books.

I keep the trunk/boot extra empty and tidy and make sure the rear springs  
and shocks are in good fettle in the fall. I also tend to keep it 3/4  
fuelled rather than topped up - as a full tank tends to put a bit more  
weight in the rear than is desirable in later generation SAAB's.

Now - I happen to have the 5 speed '93 Aero with TCS which, while much  
maligned - does actually really work when working.

The system actually put me in exactly the opposite situation to yours on  
Toyo's during a surprise early season blizzard last November where I  
sailed on up a steep ice covered hill - right on by a Mercedes 4-matic, a  
jetta and a Subaru - all spinning and nudging along on the shoulder trying  
to get to the gravel (which is a good place to find traction next time you  
are caught on your summers without a TCS fettled machine BTW).

A slow, steady application of power - sort of in reverse of ABS, which is  
to say as sort of pumping your throttle ever so gently as you would have  
once pumped your non-ABS brakes on an earlier car - will do a *much*  
better job of keeping you moving than anything else. While you might find  
pavement by heavy spinning - you will only find it for a moment and you  
are very literally sending a potentially fatal shock-wave back through  
your differential and transmission every time you momentarily catch  
pavement.

If you have been caught out unprepared in a snap - get your trusty tire  
gauge out and carefully adjust the air pressure in your front tires to the  
very lower end of the acceptable pressure range. This will achieve two  
important things:

You will heat up your tires slightly more on what dry patches you are  
crossing - which is very important when you hit the slippery bits.

It will allow your tires to more readily release snow and ice from the  
tread as they flex more in rotation. Which will keep you moving over the  
slippery bits.

Remember to top them back up if you aren't replacing them with winters in  
the immediate future and for the love of god - keep the speeds down until  
you can do one or the other. De-rimming is ugly any time of the year.

Finally - buy a 5 pound bag of kitty litter and drop in with the spare.  
It's a lifesaver when needed, doesn't weigh as much as sand for the volume  
and doesn't rust out your floor pan when it gets wet like rock salt. In a  
real pinch - you can also try splashing down your tires and the immediate  
surface in front of them with liquid bleach. But be careful - it will rot  
off whatever you are wearing before you get home if you splash yourself.

I guess that's it - the rest should be self-evident if you've lived long  
enough to get the loan to buy the SAAB.

Cheers and better motoring brothers.

--

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