JSW & Snow

[Powts]

I'm curious to get some feedback from those of you that live in a snowbelt or play in the mountains....how's the JSW (tdi), in the snow? I'm looking at purchasing my first tdi next month when the 2011's hit the floors here in Vancouver. I do 3, maybe 4 trips/year up to the Okanagan to ski. I drive over the Coquihalla hwy, which for those of you that know, can be hairy at times. When equipped with proper snow tires, how does it perform? Thanks in advance for any feedback. Looks like an awesome El Nino year this year!!

 

[MayorDJQ]

With good snow tires and sensible driving, a JSW should be just fine.

I drove my '09 Jetta sedan through 8" of really wet snow over a very hilly road late last winter. There were a few times when I was creeping along in 1st gear because any touch of the throttle would cause the ASR to kick in. I never got stuck and even passed some idiot in a Corvette that was getting winched out of a ditch. Had I known had bad that one stretch was going to get, I wouldn't have tried it, but it seemed safer to keep pressing forward/uphill than trying to turn around and slip & slide downhill.

 

[chriski]

I'm going to find out. This is my first year with my TDI, and I'm presently debating which snow tires to go with. In particular, if I should stud the front tires or not. I do go up to Whistler quite a bit.....

 

[Samcar222]

We live in upstate new york, and my dad uses blizzaks (bridgestone) on his BMW with great success. This will be the first winter for the JSW, (on the OE 16" bioline all seasons) so I will post how the wagen holds up

 

[PeteVinBoston]

I used Bridestone Blizzaks on steel wheels last winter with great success here in the Boston area. Half the reason was for the handling in the snow (the stock Hankook's on mine barely give any wet traction, let alone snow) and half was that the potholes get so bad, that you will dent an aluminum rim which will run a few hundred $$ anyway. Steel wheels are like $40, so it is much more piece of mind to not worry about damage.

I am sure you get much more snow over in BC than here in Mass!!

Good luck.

 

[mischievousMk6]

IMO, with modern snow tires, theres really no need to use studs unless your going to be on a lot of ice.

My father has Blizzaks (WS-50) on his G35x and he says its night and day in the winter. I just purchased Dunlop WS 3Ds on steelies from Tirerack. Haven't put them on yet, but they seem to get good reviews over on bimmer forums.....

 

[MayorDJQ]

I'm going to find out. This is my first year with my TDI, and I'm presently debating which snow tires to go with. In particular, if I should stud the front tires or not. I do go up to Whistler quite a bit.....

If you're going to stud the tires, you should do all 4, not just the fronts.

 

[SuperJ]

IMO, with modern snow tires, theres really no need to use studs unless your going to be on a lot of ice.

My father has Blizzaks (WS-50) on his G35x and he says its night and day in the winter. I just purchased Dunlop WS 3Ds on steelies from Tirerack. Haven't put them on yet, but they seem to get good reviews over on bimmer forums.....

I used the Wintersport 3D's V rated on my 2006 A5 for 3 winters. They are a great sport winter tire. Good handling, good wear, great in the deep slush at high speed and decent winter grip. I think a non sport type winter tire has ultimately more deep snow performance but the WS3d fit my needs with a lot of high speed dry road commuting in the winter with the occasional winter storm.

 

[izkeepsitreal]

Just picked up my snow set, expensive because of tpms sensnors oh well. Love my TDI.

 

[jluke78]

Lucky for me that when I traded the WRX in for the TDI, my snows are a direct fit for the TDI (225/45/r17)

Getting them on today, should do fine.

 

[axnels2]

OP, my 09 jsw is wonderful in the snow at least on a good set of tires. I take it up skiing to Colorado resorts without issues. You do have to be aware of fairly low clearance so dont go driving it through the snow banks, but on ice, packed snow it does fine. the stability control rarely kicks in for me. I did get a set of Blizzaks ws70 this winter so I expect event better results. I also have a panzer skid plate to protect the belly of the car from ice chunks etc.

 

[RomanL]

so im looking on Tirerack and they have Blizzaks WS60 and WS70, can you tell me whats the biggest difference? $14 diff per tire?? WS60 must be an older version since WS70 doesnt have any reviews yet,
im trying to get these for my '10 GOLF TDI 4dr. on 15's steelies.

can someone please explain to me biggest difference what sizes mean
195/65-15 ???
205/60-15 ??? etc
i have no idea what they mean since they all fit on same size 15 inch wheel?
what would be best for me? thanks

 

[racefan48]

can someone please explain to me biggest difference what sizes mean
195/65-15 ???
205/60-15 ??? etc
i have no idea what they mean since they all fit on same size 15 inch wheel?
what would be best for me? thanks

195/65-15 means that the tread is 195 mm (millimeters) wide and the sidewall is 65% of the tread width (or 126.75 mm) tall, and the tire fits on a 15"rim

205/60-15 means that the tread is 205 mm wide and the side wall is 60% (133.25 mm) tall on a 15" rim.

The second tire has a slightly wider tread and more sidewall.....not a lot of difference

 

[RomanL]

thanks racefan48,
in my head i would think that wider tire would offer better grip since it has more surface coming into contact with snow. but just did some researsh, and it states that for winter narrower tires are better because they can cut deeper/easier into snow or something like that, which makes sence.
i thought aobut 16's but i think ill go with 15's , will probably offer better grip for less money as well
thanks

 

[gt_nky]

so im looking on Tirerack and they have Blizzaks WS60 and WS70, can you tell me whats the biggest difference? $14 diff per tire?? WS60 must be an older version since WS70 doesnt have any reviews yet,
im trying to get these for my '10 GOLF TDI 4dr. on 15's steelies.

can someone please explain to me biggest difference what sizes mean
195/65-15 ???
205/60-15 ??? etc
i have no idea what they mean since they all fit on same size 15 inch wheel?
what would be best for me? thanks

hey my ukrainian brother… I thought you lived in sunny california

I ended up buying a set of general altimax arctic tires on cheap msw alloy wheels from tirerack last week…

$630 shipped to the door… Size 205-65/15… I wanted a slightly taller tire for clearance… but I doubt it will make much of a difference…

[FONT=&quot]I almost ended up going w/ ws-60 (great tire from what I read)… however, people stated that ws-60 wears very quickly & loses cold weather/snow traction/performance after 50% of the thread is gone… ws-70 is suppose to be quieter than ws-60… [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As far as 195 vs 205…. 195 is a slightly thinner and theoratically will give you a better performance in actual snow (as it will be more likely to cut into snow due to a thinner design)… 205 has slightly wider footprint, and thus will give you better traction in a cold dry/wet conditions & possibly slightly better cornering… however, truth be told the difference is so small that most likely you would not be able to tell any diference between the two… so, I’d go for the cheapest option… [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]One more thing to note - 195-65/15 is virtually an identical height to the tires you have on the car now… in fact, your spare tire is also 195-65/15… 205-60/16 will be slightly shorther compared to the tires you have on now… the difference is in height roughly 1%... hope this helps…[/FONT]

 

[mcad64]

Powts,
I have driven the Coq in a Forester with Hakkapeliitta Q's and driven up to Big White and Silver Star from Kelowna in a 06 TDI sedan with Hakkapeliitta NRW's. Both, were steady as a rock. Just get some good snows and you should have no problem. My wife actually says she thinks the VW handles better in the snow than the Subaru.
My two cents and that is about all I am good for!!
Mike

 

[MayorDJQ]

thanks racefan48,
in my head i would think that wider tire would offer better grip since it has more surface coming into contact with snow. but just did some researsh, and it states that for winter narrower tires are better because they can cut deeper/easier into snow or something like that, which makes sence.
i thought aobut 16's but i think ill go with 15's , will probably offer better grip for less money as well
thanks

Traction increases as surface area decreases....to a certain degree.

Think of it like this: let's say the front wheels of your car support 2,000lbs, so each wheel supports 1,000lbs. Say the wide tire has a contact area with the ground of 10 square inches. The pressure on the ground is 1,000lbs/10 = 100psi.

Now let's say the narrow tire has 7 square inches of contact. 1,000/7= 142psi.

Just out of curiosity, how much snow do you get in Souther California?

 

[RomanL]

haha thanks guys, i guess because i've mentioned this before i forgot to do this here.
i'm buying a dedicated set of winter wheels/tires so i can easily put them on for when i drive to CO for 2 1/2 weekd durnig xmaxx/new years, some weekend trips to UT, Mammoth, Big Bear, etc.

 

[n1das]

Lucky for me that when I traded the WRX in for the TDI, my snows are a direct fit for the TDI (225/45/r17)

Getting them on today, should do fine.

LOL, it seems there are a lot of ex-WRX owners on TDIclub who now own TDIs, including myself.

For first-time TDI owners, one thing you'll notice with a TDI is how much more predictable and better behaved the throttle response is compared to your typical gasser which wants to race away at the lightest touch of the pedal. I've found it makes a difference in how it behaves in the snow. The different behavior comes from the fuel-throttled nature of the diesel compared to the air-throttled nature of a gasser.

IIRC, the old TDIFAQ document on TDIclub also mentions this.

 

[SummiTDI]

Back to the OP question

The car handles great in the snow with good winter tires and driving skills. I put on mine Mich. Xice2's and love them.

 

[Paul_L_Fisher]

For snow you want the narrowest tires.

 

[jluke78]

LOL, it seems there are a lot of ex-WRX owners on TDIclub who now own TDIs, including myself.

Haha, I have noticed that! I am loving the Golf, not only is it more comfortable, but it is much more solid, more fun to drive at lower speeds and it has more than doubled my fuel mileage.

My snow tires are on now, and I can't wait for the first snow to get a feel for how she will do.

 

[smosh]

LOL, it seems there are a lot of ex-WRX owners on TDIclub who now own TDIs, including myself.

me too! The TDI is the first car since my Bugeye that fits me like a glove and is as much fun to toss around.

But AWD with good snow tires was FUNFUNFUN.

 

[jaberoo]

I had two sets of Green Diamond's on my previous 02 TDIW during a series of winters and was very happy with them, particularly on ice. Unfortunately, GDs appear to be out of production at present so I've had to go somewhere else for the 2010 JSW. Since I'd been satisfied with the winter performance of Continental ExtremeContacts on my Subaru Legacy GT I went to Tirerack for 205/55R-16 Continental ExtremeWinterContact XLs mounted on steelies with TPM. It was a lot of money ($921 delivered) but I expect them to do the job. Incidentally, the Conti's on the Legacy wore out over the summer. I decided to try Vredestein Quatrac 3s. ($600 mounted). Since we drive a lot and I replace tires while there's still some tread, tires are a major expense, next to fuel.

 

[crashtested]

Ordered a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS70 from Tirerack.com - Should be here on Friday!

 

[RomanL]

im down to 2 tires: all are 195/65-15 will be set on steelies
BridgeStone Blizzak WS60 $70/tire on close out *$(80 normal)
FireStone Winterforce $68/tire
i also looked at
BridgeStone Blizzak WS70, $84/tire, so not sure why its $14/tire more then WS60 and it has no reviews because its new so im guessing its just replacement for WS60?
Continental ExtremeWinterContact $77/tire, i like the look of it as far as thread pattern goes, but out of all 4 here it had lowest ratings?
top 2 are very close as far as rating/reviews etc,
does anyone have any recommendations?
i will be using these for trips only up to CO, UT, Mammoth etc, so it will be alot of dry highway drives before i get to the mountains.

 

[Tomasas]

steelies and General Altimax's came in yesterday from TireRack. I'm all set for the winter. Just need to disable TMPS via wag-com.

 

[archrenov8]

All Season tires in snow

I will be buying a JSW this winter. Living on Long Island, where we don't always have lots of snow, I generally use All Eason tires year round. I was thinking of swapping out the 17" ContiProContacs for Bridgestone Turanza Serenity(Grand Touring All-Season). They got an excellent rating in Tirerack.

I was wondering if anyone else uses Turanza Serenity, either in summer or year round.

 

[Paul_L_Fisher]

I have had Blizzak WS-50, Michelin Arctic Alpin, Nokian WR and Nokian RSi and the best snow tire bar none have been the Nokian RSi. This is a dedicated snow tire. If you want the best all season (technically a snow tire) get the Nokian WR. I had them on my BMW 540i and had them at over 150 MPH. Best speed rated snow tire out there.

 

[740GLE]

Love my WS-60s.

I'd snag another set if I needed a new pair vs spending slightly more for the WS-70s.