Since when did AWD become a mitigating factor in how fast the vehicle can stop?

People seem to think that you get winter tires for only traction when you are driving around. Traction is for both GOING and STOPPING. All season tires have a rubber compound that allows for general all year round driving, meaning the tires won't turn into hockey pucks in Windsor when the coldest it gets is maybe -20??

Go up to Ottawa, hell Belleville sees its fair share of -40 wind chills.

Your "All Season" tires aren't going to do sh!t when you are driving around on basically a block of frozen rubber. Your tire will not grip the road as well when it's frozen.

Bring on the winter tires. Why do you think people run old shitty winters on their FWD's for "slicks"???? Because when they're hot, they are gummy, and designed for cold weather. They don't freeze as easily.

AWD or not, when you hit the brakes, your tires still need to grab onto the road to slow you down. Your all seasons will have a hard time doing that.

Winter tires are designed to grip snow and ice and throw it away. All seasons are designed to grip wet pavement, with some slight design built into the rubber to grip moderate snow and ice. Trust me, after a season driving with all season's in the snow in a FWD then slapping a new set of winters on it, what a difference!

You will grip the road better in turns, straight lines or braking. PERIOD.


Moral of the story: Put some winter's on. There's a reason Quebec makes them mandatory. You'll be pissed when someone rear ends you because they thought their "All Seasons" were just fine in a blizzard. Hell, my Subie Outback had All Season's on it last year and in Ottawa I was scared to try and stop. That's a heavy car.



NB: Winter tires do not make your car invincible on the road on snow. We wrote off our GLI last year, with a set of winters on it when we hit black ice and put it into a pole even when driving cautiously. You will notice a difference.

This post is not directed at anyone in particular, just providing everyone with some perspective.