Inspired by the premature signs of autumn, some thoughts on traction:

Roadguy spent much of the past year in serious tire denial. Never mind that time he slid through 31st and Hennepin on a red light. Never mind that he got stuck in his alley in moderate snow. Never mind that he was increasingly finding excuses to stay home whenever the roads got even lightly powdered.

Eventually the tires started doing this weird vibrating thing – on totally clear roads in the summer. It was time to stop being a Moron and shell out the big bucks.

So I checked out Angie’s List, and re-signed up for Consumer Reports, and I even e-mailed a friend in England who, I vaguely recalled, worked in the tire industry. I went to two tire stores, overinflated my brain with even more web-based information (tirerack.com, tires.com and other sites with reviews that turned up on Google), ignored the advice from England, and went back to the first store and bought some pricey tires from Holland. The guy behind the counter had been on the staff there for 20 years and used a line that worked on me: These are the tires we put on the cars of our wives and girlfriends. (I couldn’t be certain, but I figured that meant they liked their wives and girlfriends.)

I haven’t tried driving in snow yet, but I’ve decided that, yes, those guys probably do cherish the women in their lives. What an instant difference. A 30-mph curve I sometimes take at 40 was doable at 45 (thus negating some of the safety benefits, alas). It even takes more steering effort to change lanes, because my car is now actually grabbing the road.

So, yeah, please — if your tires suck, go get new ones, before the flakes fly in mere weeks. And get good ones — ones that’ll keep you from sliding across Cedar Lake Parkway and smashing into my car (yes, it happened — there are reasons Roadguy detests Morons). As someone who no longer feels like his car might lose it on every slippery curve, I can tell you the change is worth it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under Good to know. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.