Got a set of Kumho Kw19 snow tires. It's dry pavement, they're brand new and following my dad home I was g etting close [I have a bad tailgating problem, my Michelin Pilots grip like a motherf*cker so it makes me overconfident] and as he braked I braked too and the ABS kicked in! WTF the ABS never kicked in before on the dry! Is that having to do with the tires needing to be broken in?

 

When you 1st get new tires they have sort of an oil or film on them. After a couple hundred miles it should be fine.

When i 1st got my Kumhos i pulled out didn't really give it any gas and the car just started fishtailling.

 

Do a burnout with them. Not enough to really leave a big tire mark but enough to clean the tires. A friend of mine does this everytime he gets new tires on his bike. Told me that the one time he didn't he almost lost it going around a curve on the way home from getting the tires. I don't know if this will work for street tires on a car but it sure beats having to worry about a long break in period.

 

It's a Corolla

 

You can burn em in any car. Except maybe a hybrid.

 

Maybe jack the front end up, put the pedal to the floor while 2 buddies hold cheese graters(using the fine side) to the tires

 

LOL, it's because they are snow tires. your not in the snow

But yes tires can be very slick when new, it's the reason you "scrub" sporbike tires in before you run them. You want to roughen up the tread and get a texture to them.

Even after you get that texture your ABS will kick in with these new tires probably. The tread depth is probably way deeper on these than your old summer tires. This leads to a more unstable tire on hard braking cause the tread block to actually lean and lose traction. Then you are only braking on the corners of the tread blocks, less "footprint" area.

The snow tires I have seen always increase dry braking. You give up dry braking for snow capabilities.


PS I have Yokahoma snow tires on my 2.2 cavalier daily driver I can toast them up like nothing, it's a whoping 90hp---that's the kindof of dry traction you get with snow tires.(you get even less when it rains, so be careful)

For light snow an all season tire is better suited IMO. I plan to go back to an all season tire with some agressive tread next on my daily driver.

 

That quote just made me laugh for 5 minutes. It's so true. Thanks for the laugh man.

 

It's a stick though, that thing better be able to roll over some snow tires even if they are 9 inches wide. Unless they are made from a drag radial compound--but i have yet to meet a snow tire that can't be light up very easily.

 

Thanks for the replies! They are improving now with wear, but I really wish I had my Michelin tires back on, those things are excellent! I'm a Michelin guy for life now.

 

Yea those Pilots are a nice tire. Let us know how they hook in the snow for you.

 

snow tires in vancouver is a bad idea
it snows maybe 5 days a year, and, well, they clear the roads pretty good...

maybe some more aggresive all season tires, but snow tires aren't made for 99% pavement driving...