In the last 5 years or so, the number of people running studded tires has grown. This is a shame, as traction technology has been improving and more and more cars offer AWD.

I mean really, a ridiculous amount of people run studded tires. And people put them on rigs that just plain don’t need them. Subaru Outbacks, for example (of which there are 3.1723 per licenced driver in Bend). Have any of you that have an Outback tried driving it in the slick without studs? They are completely solid. No problems at all, unless you drive too fast for the conditions, in which case, studs will do little to save you.

SUVs. Brand new 4Runners and Honda Pilots and Xterras and such, running studs! This, my friends, is totally unnecessary. I have a 92 Pathfinder, and if you put that thing into 4WD, it holds the road like a tank. You can drive HARD, and unless it’s solid, thick ice on the roads, it performs admirably. You have to flog it to get it to slide. And as for iced over roads in Bend, it just doesn’t happen often enough to necessitate studded tires. Of course, even in the Pathfinder, you have to be more careful on solid ice, but that thing is extremely capable in all winter conditions.

I have a set of studless winter tires on rims for my Protege. The stock tires are 195/50/16, which is quite an uncommon size, and not a size which lends itself to a wide selection of all-season radials. The Toyo Proxes I have on it in the summertime get really bad really quickly when the temp gets cold. I find my winter tires to be better all-around in winter than studs. I hate driving on studded tires.

The winter tires, a set of Bridgestone Blizzak WS-50s in a 195/55/15 configuration, are really excellent tires. They are unfortunately very soft however, and I wonder how many seasons they will last. I know I’ll get a third year out of them, but I would doubt much more.

Studs, since they actually have metal bits protruding, actually *lessen* traction in dry conditions, and even wet conditions where the temp is above freezing. Bend roads are most often wet, not icy, during winter days. At least that’s what I’ve noticed in the last 12 years or so since I’ve been on the road in wintertime.

Anyway, if you are one of those “OH MY GOD IT’S NOVEMBER I HAVE TO GET MY STUDDED TIRES ON RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD OH MY GOD” people, and you drive a Subaru, or really anything with AWD/4WD, try studless winter tires if you really think you must have another set for the winter. You likely will discover you don’t really need them.

Subaru drivers: Try a set of Toyo Z800 Ultras all year long. They are great tires, and coupled with AWD, you’ll have plenty of traction to get around.

SUV people: Open Country A/Ts. These are conservatively styled but incredibly capable.

Everyone: Winter driving is not anything to get completely freaked out about. Just slow down, and make sure you know what your rig will do when you try to stop quickly in the slick weather. Try it somewhere when no other cars are around. Slow down - that’s the most important part.

got rice bitch? got rice?

yeah, so I’m on a car kick. The weather is nice and that brings out all the cool cars that their responsible owners leave in their garages throughout the Central Oregon winter.

I just found this site, a very good version of one of my favorite types of websites: a timeline and history of the Porsche 911.

It’s rife with information, facts, figures, and pictures of one of the all time greats of motoring history. Check it out, if you’re a car geek, you probably dig the 911. And now you can know nearly everything about it.

Honda took the wraps off the new Civic Si concept at the 2005 Chicago Auto Show. Pretty nice looking overall. Especially compared to the mini-minivan looking thing they sell as the Si now. I like the carbon fiber hood look they’re going for by painting it black.

The engine will be VTEC goodness, rated at 200hp with a 8000-rpm redline, hooked to a close-ratio 6-speed manual. Gotta love the VTEC.

Especially cool, they plan to offer 18″ rims, Brembo calipers and cross-drilled rotors, and a helical limited slip differential. The LSD will be a welcome addition, because on a front-driver it solves two big problems: torque steer; the car’s tendency to pull to the side on a hard, high-rpm shift, and in hard cornering, the car’s tendency to lose speed by bogging down on the inside front tire.

I’m not big on the wing, as I am a staunch supporter of the “Wings are for Faeries” school, but a small lip spoiler or something would almost be necessary in it’s place, to reduce the visual size of the large sloping rear end, another Honda/Acura styling cue I am not a big fan of. Think Accord coupe 1998-on and it’s Acura counterpart the CL (1997-on).

Okay, so there are talks of reinstating the national 55MPH speed limit from the “oil shortage” era. Yes, it would save gas, but what the fuck?? For one, we’d be trading money saved from less gasoline consumption for the cost of enforcement. I have no numbers on anything here, I’m shooting from the hip, and I don’t give a fuck. If you want stats and a bibliography, go out and get them.

Better than a national speed limit, IMO, would be to enforce fuel consumption regulations. With the technology we have today, we shouldn’t be building engines that make tons and tons of horsepower. We should be building more fuel efficinet machines. What is the point of having a 300hp Subaru? Sure, it would be fun to drive. But you can’t even USE 300+hp safely on public roads. And you sure as hell don’t need it. My little Protege makes only 130hp and it easily is fast enough to be dangerous. And say we impose the 55mph limit. Why would you need an insane amount of horsepower if you can only legally drive 55? Oh yeah, you wouldn’t.

We haven’t complained about this enough. A 98 Ford Explorer for example gets about 14-15 MPG in town. BOLLOCKS! That is a small SUV, mostly used to haul kids. And Ford sells a shit-ton of them. They ought to be fined for making a rig that can’t get 20MPG. It doesn’t need to be able to tow a house, it needs to be fuel efficient. And Ford can make those gigantic pickups of theirs get about the same mileage. And they are much more powerful. So what the fuck?

Hybrid (gas engine + electric motor) technology is actually doing both for us, making power, and saving gas. The new hybrid Accord will get something like 30MPG in town. While still making more horsepower than the gas-only version. And the gas-only version only gets like 20MPG. SO let’s mandate the shit.

I know, I know, we can;t mandate it, because the politicians are fed by the oil industry. So that could be a while. It’s also exactly why we haven’t worked on efficiency. And why Americans have been convinced they need the biggest, gas sucking-est, earth-murdering SUV they can get their hands on.

This just drives me nuts. We are targeting the wrong parts of the problem. Much like the War on Drugs. Or the War on Terror. Or public school funding. Or…

/rant