billr@sri-unix (11/09/82)
Even though the debate seems to have died, I thought I'd post
this article, which has excerpts from an editorial in the SAAB
Club newsletter.
"The first myth about snow tires that I would like to explode
is the one that 'good radials are better on ice than snow tires.'
This one is left over from comparisons of radials with old bias-ply
tractor-lugged type snow tires. The best modern radial snows are
made of a rubber compound known as 'hydrophilic,' which means the
rubber has an affinity for water. Since it is the thin layer of
water the tire produces by compressing the ice that makes the ice
slippery, tires with hydrophilic rubber compounds have very good
traction on the ice. So radial snows with hydrophilic rubber
have much better grip on icy surfaces than do regular radial
tires or non-hydrophilic snows."
"The European tire manufacturers were the first to develop
and use hydrophilic compounds, so this rubber is most common in
their tires. It seems the Americans and Japanese snow tires are
by and large non-hydrophilic. An exception to this general rule
of thumb seems to be Michelin, whose tires are not (to my know-
ledge) hydrophilic."
"Vredestein, Kleber, Continental and Gislaved all make hydro-
philic snow tires .... I have heard many good recommendations
for the Swedish-made Gislaved's, but Conti's are probably the
most widely distibuted.
Jeff Delahorne, editor"
He then goes on to say that he tried Semperits (non-hydro) and
Vredessteins (hydro) last year and found the Semperits were hard
rubber (long lasting), good traction in deep snow, noisy and
poor traction on ice. The Vred's were a softer rubber, much
better on ice, quiter and had a good grip in deep snow.
-Bill Randle
Tektronix, Inc.
{dec or ucb}vax!teklabs!tekcrd!billr (uucp)
billr@tektronix (CSnet)
billr.tektronix@udel-relay (ARPA)kos (11/17/82)
#R:tekcrd:-78000:uiucdcs:7700011:000:324 uiucdcs!kos Nov 16 19:02:00 1982 I think the "standard radial tires" everyone was typing about were actually the "four-season" tires that many manufacturers are coming out with. Supposedly, most of these use hydrophilic tread compounds, with a little extra gunk thrown in to increase mileage. Wouldn't these be comparable to the hydrophilic snows on ice?