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Hah! Yup! Heard that one before from Californians, Texans, New Yorkers, and Arizonans in my travels. Ignorance can be the death of ya! Thank goodness most of t
by softfalcon 2y ago
Hah! Yup! Heard that one before from Californians, Texans, New Yorkers, and Arizonans in my travels.
Ignorance can be the death of ya! Thank goodness most of them aren’t trying to drive up here!
- eep_social 2y agoCA, TX, AZ yeah, yeah, yeah but hang on.. New Yorkers!? I hope these are the ones who live in NYC without a car.. otherwise that’s completely insane. Upstate NY gets tons of snow. Buffalo famously so.
- ElevenLathe 2y agoI've lived in Michigan most of my life and only people in the remotest places have snow tires. City folk just use the same all-weather radials all year round and maybe keep some chains in the trunk for emergencies.
- olyjohn 2y agoHonestly, tire tech has come a long way even in the last 10 years. Some current 3 peak rated all seasons can outperform some of yesterdays best snow tires.
- softfalcon 2y agoMichigan is similar to parts of Canada. All-seasons that are rated for snow are pretty common here too. Then there is every doofus in a Suburban skidding around like a kid on a 2-ton toboggan rocking summer tires as they tell everyone, "my truck is heavy, it pushes down THROUGH the snow!" Some people refuse to even buy an all-season even when they know it exists.
- buildsjets 2y agoNobody lives upstate, relatively speaking. New York State’s population is 19.5M. 8M live within NYC limits. Another 8m live on Long Island and 2M in the counties just west of NYC. So around 1.5M for all the upstate areas combined compared to 18M in the metro area.
- kemotep 2y agoI think you are double counting Queens and Brooklyn in that estimate of Long Island because between the Metro areas of just Buffalo and Rochester is over 2 million people not counting places like Syracuse and Albany. Yes, New York like most States is full of dozens and dozens of counties with less than 10,000 people but they add up and while the city proper of Buffalo is like 1/10th a single Borough in population, it too has suburbs and exurbs. Even the area around Fort Drum is just over 100k people.
- SoftTalker 2y agoThe average driver today knows shockingly little about their car. It's an appliance. They put gas in it, take it to the dealer for service when the message comes up saying service is due, and that's about it. Checking tire pressures, tread wear, brake wear, oil and other fluid levels, or opening the hood for any reason is not something they ever think about. They make their payments and trade when the warranty expires. It's an appliance.
- dgfitz 2y agoThat's amusing to me. My spouse and I fix all our appliances, cars included.
- s1artibartfast 2y agoThe sentiment resonates with me. I'm the only person under 50 I know that changes their own oil, let alone performs other routine maintenance like air filters and break pads.
- potato3732842 2y ago>yeah but hang on.. New Yorkers! New England too. At best only a minority of people use snow tires here. Which should beg the question if these things are as magical as the internet cheerleaders say they are then why doesn't everyone in these sorts of states have them.
- HeyLaughingBoy 2y agoWinter tires are one of those things that are very poorly marketed for some reason. Magical? No, but very, very good. I drive a RWD car through Minnesota winters and I was completely blown away by the difference the first time I got a set of winter tires. That said, you really only notice the difference if the roads haven't been plowed yet.
- xboxnolifes 2y agoBecause if you believe you can get by without them, why shell out the money? And you generally can get by without them if you live relatively close to an urban area.
- bigstrat2003 2y agoIt would be weird if someone in upstate NY hadn't heard of snow tires, but it's not insane to not use them. I spent most of my life in Wisconsin (obviously a place with lots of snow and ice), and frankly snow tires just aren't necessary in most winter driving scenarios. All seasons will do you just fine 95% of the time, and for the other 5% you should consider chains instead of snow tires anyways. Or of course don't go out, which is the actual best option most of the time. Almost nobody back home has snow tires because they just aren't worth it.
- wbl 2y agoCalifornians? I'd be curious to know what parts of the state they are driving in because I cannot imagine living in CA with a car and not going to the pretty places.
- brewdad 2y agoI'd imagine most Californians are using chains or other traction devices rather than snow tires. Snow tires would be awful in the Bay Area or pretty much any of the state's main cities.
- Maultasche 2y agoAs a Californian living in the central valley, where we never get snow, I had never heard of snow tires until I lived in Germany, where seemingly everyone had them in winter. Nobody around here has them or even sells them. When we go up into the mountains in winter, either the roads are cleared and we can drive on them with normal tires, or it's snowing heavily and we put snow chains on the tires and drive slowly. I've only had to use snow chains a couple times in my life because I generally only go into the mountains when it's not currently snowing, which is most of the time. Climate change has made the climate drier here, the mountains get a lot less snow than they used to. It also helps that real winter with snow storms only lasts about 3 months.
- rchard2scout 2y agoThe reason everyone in Germany has snow tires is because their use is mandatory in winter conditions, punishable by fines and points on your license.
- softfalcon 2y agoIt's the same for Canada if you choose to drive any of the mountain highways passes. The cops will fine you if they catch you without a "mountain-snowflake" graded tire.