Ed

For those who wanted feedback about the Dunlop SP 5000's in the snow here it is:

The quick answer: SP 5000's perform adequately in the snow.

Long answer:
Finally got a chance to try out the tires in snowy Tahoe weather. Let me first say, Halleluiah! The snow and skiing in Tahoe this past weekend was incredible! Now that I got that out of the way...

For those of you not familiar with the area, Lake Tahoe probably got at least 2.5 feet of snow this past weekend. (Great snow by the way) Sunday we woke up to about 6-8 inches of snow on the roads near the Casino's. South Lake Tahoe is pretty good about plowing roads...and the roads were plowed as we were making our way to Heavenly (knowing this is primarily why I went with M+S rather than dsnows). I was driving carefully knowing the conditions and had no problems.

Quick story for those familiar with the area: I was on Ski Run Blvd. stopped at the light at Pioneer Trail heading up to Heavenly. I was second in line at the light behind this Jeep Cherokee. Light turns green, Jeep releases brakes, applies accelerator, back tires just sit and spin. So he tries again...brakes, accelerate, still spinning. It was obvious that there was ice on the ground. Seeing this made me a little concerned, but I figured I'd give it a try and go around the Jeep. I maneuvered around the standing Jeep as if the pavement were dry as a bone. What a feeling! (Can't figure out why you would get a Jeep in only 2WD). Right after the light the CHP was stopping everybody saying chains or 4WD were only allowed to go up the hill to the parking lot. I get stopped and asked. The lady CHP officer apologizes and asks "is it engaged?" My reply: "Always." Once you go Quattro you don't go back! ;-)

Anyway, drive up the slushy/snowy hill with no problems. Get into the parking lot covered in about 8-10 inches of snow: no problems.

Three points I want to stress:
1. I was driving very carefully knowing that the roads were slick.

2. I have maybe 1500 miles on my tires. Meaning I'm in the "best" treadwear zone. If I had 40K on these tires, who knows how much they would bite.

3. If I put in more snow time than my expected 10-15 days in Tahoe, I'd go with snow tires, hands down.

HTH

Ed
99.5 1.8TQMS

Bob

Thanks for the feedback

jasyn

cool