2WD Plus Winter Tyres Easily Beats 4WD In The Snow

The general mainstream assumption that four-wheel drive means you can handle ice and snow couldn’t be more wrong, and here’s proof
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Are you a big fan of four-wheel drive as an alternative to winter tyres? Prepare yourself for a dose of crushing disappointment.

Chances are you know someone who is under the assumption their 4x4 is a magical winter-beating unicorn that doesn’t need winter tyres. Unfortunately, that’s rather inaccurate. Tyre Reviews has released a new video showing the wild difference between a typical 4x4 on typical summer tyres and a two-wheel drive car on winter rubber.

2WD Plus Winter Tyres Easily Beats 4WD In The Snow

Two BMW X1s get tested at Goodyear’s facility in northern Finland. The front-wheel drive one is fitted with Goodyear UltraGrip Performance winter tyres while the four-wheel drive car uses the excellent Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3. You can probably see where this is going.

For a start, summer tyres don’t stop a car very well on snow. We all like stopping before we hit stuff, right? As for traction on snow and ice, forget climbing any hills on those summer tyres. As the video shows, all four wheels simply spin away uselessly.

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We’d offer some mitigation, in that most road surfaces are at least partly cleared of snow, even if they’re not gritted fully. Most roads should therefore have a tiny bit more purchase than the Finnish snow, but still. The points Tyre Reviews makes are spot-on.

Take 10 minutes to watch this, not just because Jonathan Benson’s biceps are always impressive, but mainly because it’s important food for thought – and a fascinating way for car geeks to gain some context without having to crash our own cars…

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Comments

Anonymous

Ok, this wasn’t hard to predict. But what about a test showing 4WD all-season against 2WD All-season. In the UK thats probably a better real world comparison.
Few people actually buy season dependent tyres purely because they dont have space to store a set of wheels. i know i certainly dont.
But when looking at a new car i will consider a 4WD over a 2WD and i’d be intrigued to see what the actual difference is.

11/21/2018 - 15:56 |
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Anonymous

4x4 couldn’t go anywhere because it had frickin Summer tyres. This test is idiotic.

11/22/2018 - 15:12 |
0 | 0
Seb20V

Funny because with my old Coupe Quattro I have no traction problems with summer tires hahah :D

11/22/2018 - 22:59 |
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Ian Price

Does anyone actually put snow tires on though

11/24/2018 - 05:10 |
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Myrmeko (#CTSquad)

Who would even use summer tyres during winter?
That’s actually illegal, you can get fined for that.

11/24/2018 - 07:39 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Oh for gods sake, if you live in an area that doesn’t snow often, just get a good set of snow chains!

11/24/2018 - 17:59 |
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Anonymous

How would All season tires compare?

11/25/2018 - 02:29 |
0 | 0