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From: gvcormack@watmum.UUCP (Gordon V. Cormack)
Newsgroups: net.auto.tech
Subject: Re: snow tires
Message-ID: <289@watmum.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 15-Oct-85 12:16:01 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmum.289
Posted: Tue Oct 15 12:16:01 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 16-Oct-85 05:06:35 EDT
References: <314@g.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA> <187@cdstar.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 27

> In snow, narrow tall tires are best. The narrower the tire, the
> more bite they will have into snow, since the weight on each tire
> will be distributed over a smaller contact patch. Tall tires help
> raise your car and give you improved ground clearance.
> 					Jack Saltiel

Not true.  Two tires with the same pressure will have the same
contact area.  The wide tires will have a wide, short contact
patch while the skinny tires will have a longer patch.  Which is
more desirable is a difficult question to answer.

Other than increasing pressure (which I heartily recommend), the
way to get higher contact pressures is to choose a tire with an
open block tread design and heavy belts.  If, for example, only
half of the contact area has tread (the rest is grooves), the pressure
on the parts of the tread contacting the ground is double that of
an untreaded (slick) tire.

I quit using snow tires about 10 years ago.  Instead, I choose a
steel-belted radial with a tread as described above (all-season
radials don't meet my criteria).  Some tires I have had are
  Uniroyal 180, Can. Tire Supreme (european sized), Michelin TRX.
These were all wonderful.  I have never been stuck in snow that was 
shallower than the underbelly of the car.  Even in much deeper snow,
I have done pretty well.  During the 10 years I have lived in
Winnipeg, Montreal, and Waterloo, so I think I have seen as much
snow as most readers are likely to.