Thread: X drive ftw
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      02-04-2013, 10:43 AM   #84
Tsuyoi
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Drives: 2013 F30 328i
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: New York

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Quote:
Originally Posted by bananachipz View Post
Actually, it's science, not nonsense....

People love to polarize the issues... it's not black or white. It's not "they grip or they don't"... It's percentages...

The fact is that in an emergency stop in cold temps, the winter tires will stop at a shorter distance. There's no disputing that, as many independent third-parties have tested and verified that.

Now... If you keep your distance in winter, don't emergency stop, and drive more carefully, will you be ok on Summers? Sure.. why not... the problem is that you don't have control of all the variables, and there may be one time you need to emergency stop. The extra couple feet of stopping distance can mean the difference between a crash or not. The extra bit of grip can mean the difference between DSC being effective and saving you or not.

For me? that extra bit of insurance is worth the small cost of Winter tires. Especially because my son travels with me in the car. Is it fool proof? No, but it gives you that extra margin of safety. Kinda like wearing a seatbelt.
For me, living in the city, having two sets of tires would actually be quite an inconvenience. It's all apartments here (unless you can fork over 40 mil for a house by Central Park), and as such no place to store a second set of tires, and no place to change them out. Dealerships here don't offer any "tire storage options", and getting them changed is $75/hr.

Yes, compared to dedicated winter tires, my current summer ones probably have a longer stopping distance. But compared to your average car on your road, and hell, compared to my last car, I'm pretty sure my current setup has a much shorter stopping distance.

I mean, we'd all be perfectly safe if everyone drove at 10mph all the time, no one ever changed lanes, and no one was allowed to drive in snow/rain/fog or at night. Ultimately, it comes out to a balance of safety vs practicality and convenience, and it just isn't practical or convenient for me to have a second set of tires just for the 3 times it barely snows down here.
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