farmers almanac says it's supposed to be a mean winter...

^

its called Global Warming

actually it's " Climate Change "

from my experience: RWD + good winter tires = FUN !!!

i have driven my Mustang GT and my old RX8 without any problems with the Blizzaks i had on them.

honestly FWD, RWD, AWD are all fine as long as you have good winters.

From the same place you get the 12 month weather forecast

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/...a756f5dceb.jpg

And where do you get the 12 month weather forecast? Most sites don't have more than two weeks..

Don't be an asshat when it's not warranted.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3094/...a756f5dceb.jpg

get your snow tires EARLY. this is the 2nd year of the manditory snow tires in montreal (or was it all of quebec) in winter. last year there was a shortage and thus price went up.

got mine early, great price and even capitalized on it by getting an additional 50 bucks off! :D

im pretty sure the stock list of whats available will come out very soon from the sponsors. their suppliers usually send out the list around this time.

Where do you live?
What kind of roads do you drive on to get to work?

If you're on a flat sidestreet, you're fine. Tons of hills on your route? find a flat road.
Live on the big streets? Do you drive deep enough into sidestreets? If no, you're fine.
Tons of hills, and you live deep inside a neighbourhood? Start saving.
Is your car lowered? Watch out for getting high centered.

If there's shittons of snow like last year, I would get a SUV or something that sits pretty high. I saw tons of cars get high centered on sidestreets.

Snow tires + stock car, you'll be fine. RWD FWD or AWD. Just drive accordingly.

With that said, I'm getting a 1g DSM for winter.
Stock, not leaking or smelly, with winters. Should be fun :)

2 winters ago i tried to drive my stang in the snow on crappy P Zero Nero all seasons

1st i got stuck trying to go downhill in 2 inches of snow ,then i managed to get stuck in the middle of my cul de sac where it sat there blocking traffic for the better part of a week and a half :haha:

From experience, which one is more important (for safety), the drivetrain or the tires, for winter driving in Vancouver (Richmond and Vancouver)? Or do you need a combination of both?

In addition, comparing drivetrain, is AWD better than other drivetrain in snow? (same sets of tires)

I never really found an answer to that, because often times, people would just throw out "a RWD with snow tires will out handle any other drive train with all season"

That just tells me that snow tires are really useful and important, but that doesn't tell me whether which one would do better in snow given the same parameters.

edit:
Any recommendations as to where I should get a set of snowtires? Websites would be good too. Thanks.

awd gets you moving but doesn't necessarily make the car handle better or stop sooner. A set of snow tires helps get you moving, makes the car handle better and helps you stop sooner. I was running shitty snow tires on a rwd vehicle last year and I was fine.

The OP was insinuating that his car purchase depended upon an unreasonably long-term weather forecast of '[will there be] more snow this winter??"

My response was purely sarcastic. Sorry for being an asshat.

anyone removing their rims soon?

:haha:

i honestly dont touch them until around nov/dec time, ull know when its time to put the winters on when its cold enough to have frost on the ground.

Regular all-season rubber compounds get hard and lose their grip below about 7 degrees. You'll find winter/snow tires beneficial well before it gets to frost.

meee toooooo.

on a FWD vehicle, would you put the newer snow tires on the rear or on the front? I don't think there was a definitive answer in the thread that covered this topic.

Just have them ready by November. There's no reason to burn off really good snow tires when the roads are dry. It's actually painful to see guys that left their snow tires on right through spring and summer.

If it hasn't already been mentioned (in this thread), spend the extra money and buy winter rims. Even if you spend $400 on winter rims + $100 mount and balance, it's a one-time expense. Otherwise you're spending $200/year to swap tires. If you're only running your winter tires in inclimate weather, they should last around 5 years - that's $1000 you'll never see again. Plus you have to go to the shop to get it done, waste a bunch of time and there's wear and tear on your rims from re and re.

hahahahahaha you want to tell me the winning numbers for the next lotto too????

I'd say front for traction and braking.

There used to be a misconception (still is for some) that fwd only needed snow tires on the front. True for traction but braking and handling/control are greatly increased with snowies on the rear.

How much is it to mount snow tires vs. mounting winter rims? I know Canadian tire is like $20 per tire to change tires.

Mounting regular tires on rims is around $100/set.

Swapping wheels = 15-30 minutes on your driveway, depending on tools.

its been said that even on a FWD car, the newest and best rubber should go on the rears as it is easier to control understeer than it is oversteer for most folks.

Why go cheap? It's your car for crying out loud.... get 4 snow tires and stop fucking around.