(-- removed HTML --) On the campus of the University of Notre Dame. (-- removed HTML --)
Think “winter driving school” and you might imagine yourself navigating switchbacks in the Rockies on studded tires or with radials wrapped in chains. Indeed, how else might you learn whether a four-set of Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 tires will you keep you planted as you peer cautiously over the slimmest of all guard rails — the only thing separating you from a craggy precipice and an 8,000-foot vertical drop below?
Well, winter driving school can also be conducted indoors and while the experience is different from outdoor programs, you can learn a lot about tire safety, including just how well winter tires work on icy roads. That’s something I learned
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In all road conditions, winter tires provide shorter braking distance on a variety of winter driving surfaces, ice included. You can thank the science of improved tread pattern design and technologies for the superior grip as well as tread compounds engineered explicitly to handle snow and ice. And unlike snow tires of decades ago, they’re fine to drive on dry surfaces and at highway speeds — just install them on all four wheels to ensure even handling and ride comfort.
(-- removed HTML --) On the Ice (-- removed HTML --)
So, driving on ice is nothing new for me, although now that I’m living in central North Carolina, ice is an uncommon event. Still, when it arrives, I know to stay home — our roads are treated, but not as well as in my native New Jersey, which is firmly in the “get winter tires” belt.
Driving on an ice rink was something new for me and I hadn’t been on a rink of any sort since I was young. Our multiple tests involved driving SUVs on one rink followed by sedans on the other rink. One each of the two pairs of vehicles came with OEM tires (Kumho) — specifically radials — with the other two shod with Michelin winter