2009 Infiniti FX50 AWD: Keep an Eye on the Weather

I bet you would not be so careless if you were driving let's say a Subaru Justy 4WD instead of a multi-ton SUV. You feel that because you drive a huge SUV you are invincible and will survive a bad accident. Your (Edmunds'?) insurance will cover any liability or collision damage you may cause. So basically you don't give a damn.

People who drive their SUVs in the snow, no matter what tires they are, tend the act invincible.

I had to drive home Friday during the NY storm and a Range Rover almost pushed me off the road trying to pass me. Then a Dodge Dakota is riding my butt so closely it would not be advisable even if the roads were dry. Next he cuts some guy off and comes in front of me again just in time for his rear end to slide out. It's not the snow I have to worry about it, it's the other drivers.

AWD, 4WD, whatever wheel drive, makes no difference when you're braking or steering! Just because you can move out better means nothing!

Uh oh... you're going to have to be hoping mighty hard to shake off any notion of a snow storm in the rockies. Forecast looks decent for now with just a bit of a rainstorm around northern California. I doubt it will survive over the sierras. And addresing the summer tires issue. I've never heard anything about summer tires being dangerous in low temps... just in snowy or slushy conditions. I've never had trouble in lower temps with my Mazdaspeed 3; which has the OEM Bridgestone Potenza RE050As on it.

You may be just fine, but there's a reason summer tires are called that. They're designed (as bimmerjay pointed out) for temperatures above 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Below that the rubber becomes much too hard to be useful or safe, especially if precipitation is involved.

@ THE POSTS ABOVE

Temperature isnt the main problem as you guys state. The compound definetly will get harder but the problem is all in the groove pattern and the tread depth. I used to have summer tires on my old car and the biggest problem wasnt that they were hard, its that the grooves would fill with snow and the tire becomes the equivalent of slick tires used at drag strips.

Definitely agree... I put my TrailBlazer SS AWD into a guard-rail at 20mph because the Goodyear Eagles had absolutely no traction in 1in of snow. And it caused $3k in damage, not to mention my ego considering it wasn't even 2 months old.

Mucho balls-ito...

MS3lvr92,

I always use summer/winter tires and the way I know when to put on winter rubber is by sliding on cold mornings. If you don't notice your summer tires losing traction in cold weather, there are two explanations. One is that it never gets cold enough where you live. The other is you simply don't drive hard enough.

You're being negligent. At least try not to take anyone else out with you if and when things go wrong.

Negligent? I think stupid and irresponsible is a more accurate description. Don't do it. Period. The reasons are too many to list. Your safety and others are the road are the primary reasons.

Now that's what I call hubris, folks.

I hope your readers are checking out the comments, because this article could give the (unbelievably erroneous) impression that the big danger in running summer tires in snow is "getting stuck."

AWD is not a physics-defeater. You're less likely to oversteer in a turn perhaps, but that's not going to be much consolation when you're understeering right off an embankment.

The Azera comparison is asinine. The Hyundai was probably rolling on all-seasons, which, although dicey in snow, are still an improvement over the FX's Dunlop Sport SPs, which are dedicated "summer tires."

Good luck, and I hope you arrive and return safely, but this was colossally irresponsible, in my humble opinion.

http://www.tirerack.com/videos/index.jsp?video=23

I'm with others, dont go, your being selfish and arrogant, not only putthing at risk the life of your family. (Which if you do such stupid things, oh well a darwin award for you). But more importantly you are putting at risk the lives of people around you.

The Azera is a big, heavy FWD car with very good traction control and stability control....it can go through anything as long as the roads have been reasonably plowed. I made it home no trouble in that nasty storm here in CT a few days ago. This is with the stock all-seasons with over 40K on them. I'd never even think about buying snow tires.

Back on topic, am I the only one that thinks its absolutely crazy that an SUV with AWD wouldn't have all-season tires? I don't care how sporty it is, that is absurd. Its a 4000+lb vehicle, honestly how much of a difference in handlng do those summer tires make in this kind of car? Just crazy if you ask me...

good luck

In fact, those all-season tires are absurd. They're just rubbish, nothing else. They claim to be good performers in all situations but the reality is that these tires are ill-performers in every situation. You get bad dry-summer performance and it is still useless in the snow. I don't get how people mount these tires. Over here even decent SUVs get summer performance tires from the factory, don't need to mention such beasty V8 SUVs. If you live in a place where you get pretty much summer and still decent snow then you should be changing the tires seasonally like many people do. Crappy all-seasons are not the solution.

Get chains. Get Autosocks. You will go nowhere fast in snow on summer tires, AWD or no.

Right now in Oregon the roads are a real challenge. Many are _not_ plowed and have ice on top of snow. Try going faster than 20 mph and even with AWD and winter tires, you _will_ skid if you try to stop normally.

On other hand, if you want to "hoon", a deserted, snowy parking lot will guarantee you heaps of drifting pleasure without frying your tires.

BTW, here folks in their Subaru AWD's with summer tires are slipping all over the place. The Outbacks and Foresters with winter rubber are doing ok.

technology doesn't compensate for driver skill. (or lack thereof)

he said he's used to driving in snow...

Shoulda took the X5...

Good luck Phil, you're going to need it.I hope you remember how dirty winter driving can be.

Wide, no depth and completely the wrong compound. And for those of you who think compound is not the main issue, think again. Grip in the snow is based on the tire's ability to find traction, if you're tire is a ROCK, it's not going to find anything regardless of tread. Like trying to drive with 8 inch wide wagon wheels.

That being said, keep us posted, it's nice to have cars put to the test in something other than a light drizzle on a warm day.

Talk about being scolded 21 times hahahahahahahha

Wide, summer tires=Let us know how much the wheel and suspension repair will be considering you just run into a ditch somewhere and not into another pile of cars.

Not to mention when you put summer tires in the cold snow, it changes their compound for the worse.

I'm going to change gears here and comment on how hideous this SUV is.

Again, its articles like this that make me believe that even I can get a job at Edmunds.
Senior Consumer Advice Editor wanting to drive in Colorado in the winter with summer tires. I could totally be an Advice Editor.

I have to wonder if most of the editor-type jobs at Edmunds are even paid positions. I'd glady drive a GT-R, R8, etc., and generate blog posts and reviews free of charge. Somehow I doubt I'm alone in that.

Stupid, irresponsible, negligent...it's all good. Driving a 4000-5000 pound vehicle with a high center of gravity on very wide summer tires in snow and icy conditions.....there is a reason that is ILLEGAL in many countries.

I'm really amazed at you "car" guys. You are surprised....SURPRISED....when you find out it has summer tires. I can remember off the top of my head which cars/suvs, in which configurations, offer summer tires as the stock option.

Commonsense01 - I'm afraid your post was actually lacking in knowledge:
"Temperature isnt the main problem as you guys state. The compound definetly will get harder but the problem is all in the groove pattern and the tread depth. I used to have summer tires on my old car and the biggest problem wasnt that they were hard, its that the grooves would fill with snow and the tire becomes the equivalent of slick tires used at drag strips."

Ironically, you want your grooves to fill with snow. That's how winter tires operate. They remain soft and compliant and offer lots of "sipes", which are tiny grooves which grab onto snow and hold on. The snow grabbed onto by the tire then acts as a friction agent. The problem with summer tires is that they can't grip any snow, pavement, slush, or ice when it's cold out....AND they don't have a tread pattern conducive to gripping those substances.

Lastly regarding AWD - It is only benefit when you have available traction, and then only in accelerating. It does nothing for braking and very little for turning when there's no traction.

And you are a senior consumer advice editor and your response to summer tires was "It has all wheel drive"....

Seriously, my jaw is on the floor.

Edmunds - If you are going to have staff post blog entries, try to ensure they have some essential automotive knowledge. Otherwise, I have a quart of headlight fluid to sell you.

Joe

My new '09 WRX also has summer tires. Not wild about that, as we do get snow here. In fact, as I'm writing this the temp is in the upper teens.

you're screwed. I'm looking out my window at fourteen inches of snow and it's still coming down. and i'm only at 4500 feet here in pocatello.

I think this SUV deserves the same verdict as the X6: Perfectly Pointless.

You know the saying "I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about the other guy."

Don't be the other guy.

Should make for an entertaining post when you get back though. =)

Keep it safe over the holidays, and let us readers know your final ditch diving score.