Kumho ASX in snow

[RedRaptor]

Just wanted to give a short review on the performance of my Kumho ASX all season tires in snow. As you guys know today, there was about 1-2cm of accumulation snow in the GTA. I left work late and took the opportunity to test these tires in thin snow by taking a spin around the parking lot.

As I didn\'t get the chance to test the OEM Goodyear RSAs in snow last year, I wanted to see how the ASX would do.

My tires are 225/40/18 mounted on 18\" x 8\" RX8 rims. All I can say is the ASX are horrible in snow. I was slipping and sliding going from 20km/h to a stop with hard braking. I didn\'t even try to do 30km/h to a hard stop since I was scared that I would smash my car into the concrete barriers. The ABS kicked in like crazy and I really did not have control of my car even at such a slow speed.

On turns going 15km/h the car would lose control as the backend lost traction very easily and causing the car to completely miss the turn and go straight.

I would not recommend anyone running these tires through the winter as there was literally no grip in the thin snow. Granted I was running a wide rim that probably didn\'t help.

After running my little test, I\'ve realized how important winter tires are and how much control and grip my Kumho KW17s offered me last winter.

There was another SMART car with winter tires (steelies) running around the parking lot as well...the driver was probably laughing at me slipping and sliding while he was gliding through the snow with complete control.:hoho

Red.

[billyfo]

Rob, hope you don\'t mind I do hack this topic, but I don\'t want to start another topic w/ similar thing.

I still have my Yoko ES100 though will change to winter tires tomorrow or Sunday. I was off work about 4pm, snowing but nothing on the ground, I drove quite slow but still managed to stay on speed limit. Tires still have grip on this low temp. and somewhat slippy road, only when I brake on \"could be ice\" when passing bridge, ABS did it job and maintain control. I think cause of no accumulation on ground, they still managed to go through this situation.

of course, as Rob said, winter tires are cheap investment when you drive at the winter time.

[///M]

I tried the RSAs in the snow today. :D Now I know how bad they really are - I can\'t imagine using them when the real snow arrives.

Installed my winters this evening and wow...what a huge difference.

[wtom]

Originally posted by autoexe


I tried the RSAs in the snow today. :D Now I know how bad they really are - I can\'t imagine using them when the real snow arrives.

+1 ... I never felt so scared in my life driving with the RS-A\'s on.


Installed my winters this evening and wow...what a huge difference.

-1 ... I mean minus 1 as in I procrastinated yet again in putting my snow tires on. Saturday 19th will be the big day!

Thanks for the review, RR, very good read and just another word of encouragement to those who have the funds but feel it\'s not necessary to swap out the all-season tires and purchase dedicated winter tires. The week of November 21st has been forecasted to snow quite a number of days!

[bubba1983]

Originally posted by autoexe


I tried the RSAs in the snow today. :D Now I know how bad they really are - I can\'t imagine using them when the real snow arrives.

Installed my winters this evening and wow...what a huge difference.
x2....yesterday morning was the first time my rsa\'s have ever seen snow since i got the car last year....certainly quite the different driving experience

[FLIPDADY]

The RSA\'s are really not safe I hit some black ice last night and it took me about 5 to 6 feet to come to a complete stop.http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y226/AJBOY_99/mad.gif

The KW19\'s are definately going on today.

[Zaku_4]

lol

had my k104\'s with the snow here running around for shops to put on my winters (very very alzy me).

i skid through 2 intersections but that could of been due to bad judgement.

eventually i went home, after wasting alot of time, and put them on myself.

man, this stuff takes to much energy

[jdanielsg]

I am using Nokian All Weathers on 16\" stock alloys Seem to be working quite well, sometimes if you start too fast at the lights... instead of spinning crazy like a normal all weathers would.. it grips much faster

[nifty6]

Some of the handling problems with the M3 in snow might have something to do with the weight disributation from the front and back of the car. Because the engine is mounted further to the front of the car 62% of the weight of the car is in the front half and 38% in the rear. 50% - 50% weight ratio is ideal. So the front of the car with all that much weight and so far forward wants to go where you don\'t. I think corner control with this car on dry roads with the stock tires is not all that great, maybe a front sway bar would help?

[MajesticBlueNTO]

Originally posted by nifty6


Some of the handling problems with the M3 in snow might have something to do with the weight disributation from the front and back of the car. Because the engine is mounted further to the front of the car 62% of the weight of the car is in the front half and 38% in the rear. 50% - 50% weight ratio is ideal. So the front of the car with all that much weight and so far forward wants to go where you don\'t. I think corner control with this car on dry roads with the stock tires is not all that great, maybe a front sway bar would help?

a thicker front sway bar will only accentuate the front bias you perceive.

fact is, all cars, regardless of weight distribution, comes from the factory with a tendency to understeer (front plows forward). a thicker rear sway bar will cause the back end to step out if you\'re not careful.

the Mazda3, stock, handles phenomenally well for a FWD car. yes the stock tires are crap, but buy some better tires and your perception of this handling deficiency will change.