every time i have rolled up to chain control and they see the scoobie they wave me right along. they have never checked anything. the first time i took my car in the snow I had falken 512s on 17" gold rotas and had no issue with being stopped. i ran around in the slush and powder just fine. the next year i had a set of proxes 4s and those did pretty darn good in most all conditions i encountered up in tahoe. i also have a set of studded snow tires sitting at my dads house just south of tahoe just in case. over christmas i went up to tahoe and had high performance summer tires. they did not do great but i still made it around. i went through a chain control at about 3000' then rolled through a secondary chain control somewhere around 6000'. they never looked at me twice and they waved me right through.

 

every time i have slid around a corner in the snow with my scoob it was cause i was played and yes i was accelerating.

and +1 on the being as vulnerable when stopping and down hill turns especially on ice. take it slow and easy on the gas unless you intend to slide.

 

All turning is accelerating.

 

almost true, I gather you are going on Newton's first law and the supposition that a vehicle turning is being laterally accelerated away from its intended course, but by that definition a car that is slowing down is also accelerating (the velocity is changing, any change in velocity is by definition acceleration- it is just got a negative value in relationship to the direction vector)

That "false sense of security" is more a function of a drivers skills and awareness than anything inherent in AWD vs FWD or RWD.

Bottom line is that good snow tires actually do provide considerably better acceleration, turning, and braking on snow and ice than just about any "all season" tires do, and AWD helps take advantage of that fact.

and the unfortunate truth is that California law requires you to "carry chains" even if you will never use them, so I do.

 

Its not almost true, according to the laws of physics it is true. And yes braking is acceleration as well, negative acceleration.

 

My point is not to argue about physics, but rather to point out that when someone talks about a car "accelerating" they are probably talking about increasing velocity along the direction of travel vector- throwing in formal physics definitions and meanings in this context is most likely only going to create confusion.

But thanks anyway Dr. Science

 

Its Mr. Science, at least for now!

 

LAWL aren't you the smart one.

Experience while driving in slippery conditions is the only thing that is going to get you out of a push while turning. Correcting steering angle back to center while controlling throttle inputs to force the AWD to respond is pretty much your only shot. This involves accelerating. If your not putting power to the wheels, the AWD is not functioning. You are simply relying on the traction provided by the tire which if you're sliding is not there.

 

On topic:
Get some cables and carry them. You never know. My Impreza got stock in a parking lot. We were ripping it up one night and I found myself in the far end of the lot which had a sheet of ice under it. There was no way the car was going to move. If there wasn't a crew of us there I would have had to put cables on it. Same night cliff found himself unable to to climb a small incline because it was glazed over. A higher gear and throttle modulation got it to roll but if he was on his own, chain it up and he would have been on his way.

 

i didnt read all otherr post so forgive me if this is repost. but this is what i learned last year

#1 get low clearance chains for the scoob if you get any. and yes get the cable type.
-the reason for this is (i was told) you risk damaging the brake lines and other things you dont normally see on the other side of the tire

the chains i have just hug the top of the tire so they are there but wont damage anything. i believe they are cable chain by SCC

they fit the 215/45/17 and other common subaru tire sizes

#2 ROad COnditions

To not have to install chains you must fall under the category of the condition that exist

R1- must have m+s rated tires or AWD/4WD

R2- must have m+s tires and AWD/4WD

R3- Everyone must have chains no exceptions

i always bring my chains just in case

 

If passing physics 101 makes me smart than I guess so.

Yeah, Ive slid around many a snowy corner and the more you do it, the easier it is. In fact my snow driving experience saved me once on Palomares Canyon.

And I never had a problem in my Impreza. No matter how much snow or ice I could always get traction and never once carried chains in my car.

 

majority of cars that are up in the area IMO are Subarus and Audis

 

i do see a lot of older outbacks and legacys up there. then all the people that come from the out lying areas with their wrxs and stis.

 

no chains only cables and thats with stock clearance but subaru does not rec.

 

**** Happens. Mother Nature can be a *****. Bring chains/cables, just in case, always. If you're stuck, you could die in the cold. Your life, or some differential damage?