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Comment by SECProto | Hacker News Reader

Does your AWD car with summer tires brake better in icy conditions than your FWD?

> better straight line stopping distance and cornering ability don't actually help you because being able to controllably put power to the ground is still the bottleneck in the "is it reasonable to drive in these conditions" equation

I take this to mean the answer is no. I drive in serious winter conditions, and AWD with winter tires is great, but it doesn't matter how many wheels are applying traction when you slide into a ditch.

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Of course something on harder tires will not brake and turn as well as something on softer tires.

The reduced ability to stop and turn has lead to in my snow driving experience, far, far fewer "that could have easily gone worse" situations than a lack of ability to gracefully put power to the ground.

I don't get why everyone obsesses over stopping and turning and shills snow tires. There's a reason that everyone and their brother buys an AWD vehicle and far fewer people buy snow tires. Everyone(TM) can't be wrong.

What I want you to tell me is why I should prioritize braking and steering if they're not the bottlenecks I encounter when driving in the snow.

> I don't get why everyone obsesses over stopping and turning and shills snow tires.

Most accidents are caused by failure to stop and failure to turn, not failure to accelerate.

> There's a reason that everyone and their brother buys an AWD vehicle and far fewer people buy snow tires.

You clearly live in a very different place than me - very few passenger vehicles are available with AWD (subarus, trucks, some SUVs). But everyone has snow tires.

> What I want you to tell me is why I should prioritize braking and steering if they're not the bottlenecks I encounter when driving in the snow

Great for you? Again, you clearly live in a place with very different conditions than I do. What about the conditions make it so that you can't accelerate, but you can turn or brake just fine?

I live in Minnesota and very few people buy snow tires, and most balk at it. They don't realize the difference it makes.

I regularly drive in conditions in my damned Camaro where the only other vehicles on the road are trucks, with some of them not being on the road anymore.

Interestingly, I'm finding more and more standard vehicles with tires with the M+S designation on the sidewall that makes them legally Snow Tires. I don't expect these have the same performance in the midwest snow as purpose-built snow tires, but they should qualify from a legal sense for chain restrictions and the like.

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