Help! Hubby giving me a hard time!

Welcome to Stumptown! The fact is that when there really significant snow here (which we certainly didn't get this winter though the forecast is for snow Monday over 500'), the city really shuts down. Schools are closed, the local newspeople braodcast all day about our "winter weather event," and no one drives unless they absolutely HAVE to. Out in your area, there are certainly more icy mornings than here in the city, but I second the vote for snow tires for winter. NOT studded tires, which wear down the roads and cost $millions in road damage and repaving each year--our winter is not severe enough for that unless you live up in the mountains.

 

A good set of All Seasons will do just fine. There are numerous threads about what many people recommend. I think the OEM ones did fine until I had quite a bit of wear, expect them to be pretty much junk for bad weather after about 20 - 25,000 miles.

 

Tell him to man-up and quit making lame excuses.

 

got back tonight to finally pick up my car, and wow, I have to really recommend ron tonkin toyota in portland once again. The staff there was the best i've dealt with and the sales manager gave us a great price. $1400 below MSRP, actually.

'sirak tefari' was our salesperson, and 'josh' was his manager. both excellent. their customer service guy, 'rony,' was great and taught me how to use EVERYTHING in the car before we left.

i was pretty impressed. i let them know i'd spread the word.


anyway, good luck.

 

I don't think you'll have any problem driving around here. Welcome to all the Portland area people. Check out the local HSD club. Next meeting is tomorrow. Saturday April 19, 2008. Stop by if you can, details at the web site.

 

Well, there is a lot of conflicting data on the "damage" caused by the use of studded tires. For example, based on "scientific" testing in Ontario, that Province completely banned studded tires in the early 1970's.

Around 6 years ago, an accident investigator went back to investigate those roads "damaged" by studded tires. Turned out it was normal road traffic causing the damage, not the studded tires. As a result of that investigation, and lawsuits from injured drivers who were forbidden from using studded tires, the MTO (Ministry of Transportation Ontario) relented

The MTO currently allows Euro spec studded tires in the NW region - Sault area and NW Ontario), and is considering allowing studded tires province wide again

The Scandinavians also care about road damage. If you run 1970's technology (Rock hard winter tires and hard studs) you will cause more road damage. The Swedish Road Transport Research Centre - VTI (http://www.vti.se) - carefully examined the issue and instead recommended a redesigned winter tire, with redesigned "soft" studs.

The result is a winter tire with even *better* ice traction, with minimal impact on road surface. The Nokian factory studded tire I linked is made in Finland, and uses the Scandinavian "soft" stud

On the issue of air quality, it has also been brought up that studded tires create a lot more PM10 due to the studs "grinding" up the road surface. This is one reason Japan banned studded tires

Again, VTI investigated this claim. Not only did they design a special indoor test rig to simulate a paved road surface, they also tested studless winter tires and common road traction and deicing methods. That's good scientific method, you don't just test your obvious hypothesis but also look at various Null ones.

As it turned out, the studless tire actually "created" more PM10 if the road surface was covered with sand, which is a common winter traction aid on roads. The reason PM10's dramatically increase in urban areas in winter - at least in Sweden - is due to sand being spread on roads. Cars operated over these roads grind up the sand, releasing a cloud of dust. I see plenty of that here on dry winter days

I don't think anybody is suggesting a ban on road sanding operations. Salting generally loses effectiveness below -10 F. Heavy salting seriously damages roads, especially the rebar in bridges. The runoff in Spring also introduces a lot of salt into waterways.

One caution is that any area that has had a paper mill. Up until the mid 1970's it was common to use mercury to produce chlorine, to bleach pulp. A lot of mercury ended up in downstream waterways, and the fresh blast of salt every spring tends to release more mercury from the silt

I think it's reasonable to have a seasonal ban on studded tires. Around here, studded tires are only allowed from Oct 31-April 30.

 

Nice points, jayman. But with all due respect... Portland is not Manitoba. This is temperate, snow-flurries-make-the-headlines country. Unless you live in the mountains (which are not in the immediate Portland metro area) or drive through the passes regularly in the winter, neither studs nor snow tires are needed here-- I mistyped in my original post and intended to say "all-season" tires and not snow tires. Just anything besides the OEM's.

 

Oh, that changes the conclusion

Nokian makes an "all season" tire that is also stamped with the Snowflake for moderate winter use. This tire is safe and secure in summer, rainy driving too

Nokian Tires

Hope this helps

 

I knew he would come around, I've never met a Marine Wife that couldn't control her big bad husband.