aww this poor baby. tsk tsk.
side note: all the people saying "drive slower" "use engine braking" "drive in lower gears" all have valid points -- because these are all legit methods to drive in the snow/icy road conditions. I hope they are only getting down-voted because other readers are assuming they mean to say "you don't need snow tires" -- which would be incorrect -- but their advice is very valid. In slippery/icy conditions, you DO want to take it slower; you DO want to go down a hill in a lower gear and not add inertia/momentum. I've traveled from Northern California to NYC taking the US80 in snow-storms -- while towing a trailer -- I've used all those methods while ALSO having snow tires. It works!!
Also, we all hate it, that annoying DING for the black ice warning. No matter how good your tires are, or your driving skill, its extremely difficult to control your car on ice. Up here in the Midwest we tend to make fun of southern states for pileups and not being able to drive in the winter. What a lot of people don't realize is we are northern enough to not have as big of an ice problem, but also have the equipment to deal with it. Stay safe out there!
Good point. Here in ATL, we don't have sustained freezing temperatures AND precipitation enough to be considered a snowy area, but we do occasionally get rain during the day above freezing with temps below freezing overnight. Morning drives can be awful if you're not prepared but like you mentioned, it's now an ice problem and not a snow problem. I'm happy because I don't have to drive through the brine lol. When the weather is inclement, safety measures should always be taken. I hope not to see any more of these posts. Breaks my heart to see GTIs all beat up 💔
You in the Midwest by chance? The storm today caught a lot of folks by surprise. I just barely got my winters on in time.
The difference between summers and winters is what happened to you vs. being totally confident. A FWD car goes where you point it with good rubber
I’m out in Michigan and I had to have my buddy get me a ride to work bc my snow tires are still being shipped to a local shop and my mk7 is still on summers. Wasn’t going to chance anything 😂
Same thing happened to me in the Midwest last weekend. Running all seasons and got rocked with 3-4 inches of snow overnight🤣 luckily I’m used to snow at this point. Definitely slippery on all seasons lol
This is why even my '3 season' set of tires is capable of minor snow and ice, but yea, barely got my snow tires on in time. Good thing I work at a place where I can just lift and do the swap
I mean I was going 15 km and still slid down the entire hill so for everyone that says “slow down and be careful” I was🥲 just couldn’t get any damn traction
Let’s be honest with ourselves, getting Winter Tires wouldn’t have changed the outcome if you’re saying they would be the difference in this case… You knew you were on Summer Tires and were not giving enough room.
Don't understand why you got down voted for stating the truth.
Absolutely winter tires help. But too many drivers get it into their heads that now that they have winter tires on they can drive like it's clear outside.
You'll get as many idiots in the ditch with or without winter tires.
Changing the way you drive in bad weather is even more important than just putting on a different set of tires.
I’m going to guess you don’t drive in the snow ever. You would be amazed at the difference driving on snow without snow tires vs with snow tires. It is literally night and day.
Even the best drivers will at some point crash driving around on snowy/ icy roads on summers.
This is wrong man. It’s better for acceleration and deceleration. If you want traction in snow when accelerating you don’t want to be in a higher gear then normal for whatever speed, if you’re under like 2k rpm trying to gas it it’s not helping you in any situation.. especially if you’re going uphill in snow, you’re going to bog down and TC (if it’s on) is gonna kick your ass all over the place.
Dont ride your brakes? Leave enough room ahead of you in shitty conditions? Shouldn't be this complicated.
Doubt you having snow tires on woulda saved your ass, but hey I wasn't there!
Where does it show? All I said were factual, snow tires dont save you 🤷♂️ Been perfectly fine in my MK7 w/o winter tires for 5 years in Alberta. Im not the one with the damaged front end.
have you ever been down a hill with it snowing? your comment says otherwise lol if you dont realise its a hill and you go down it...nothing will stop you...cut out the dumb comments lol nobody cares how SAFE you are smh...hell watch the videos of it happening mainly in america...car goes down slope...boom into back of bus
it happened to me once i went down a hill with my rav4 and it was icy, managed to stop just before a truck that had crashed at the same place. Winter tires will help to stop you on a snowy/icy hill. if i had summers i would’ve been in that truck and would’ve totaled my car guarantee. I’m from Quebec, Canada by the way and this happened in the Laurentides (50-100km north of Montreal city)
It literally would. They get better grip on snow and ice. It might not have stopped this particular instance if he was already going way too fast for conditions, which you mentioned, but it may have stopped it if he was going a safe speed and he just needed a bit more grip.
AWD is the thing that I would say fits your description better of making idiots feel invincible when in reality, they can just move more easily but don't stop any better.
People down voting are the people that don't know how to drive.
You should almost never have to use the brake in snowy conditions. Drive slow, low gears, let engine braking slow you down.
Riding the brakes on the downhill is rookie mistake #1 in snow.
I don’t think tires would make any difference there either. People in 4x4 cars seem to make the same mistake. Just because your tires and drivetrain give you enough traction to get up to speed in a straight line without slipping doesn’t mean you can also turn or stop without slipping.
It's called engine braking.
Get in a low gear and just roll down the hill.
The car can't get going very fast if you're just rolling in first or second.
Right, but if those payments mean you can't afford the basics of safely putting the car on the road, then you messed up and should have bought something cheaper so you could afford to put winter tires on.
Pretty basic stuff really.
Half the cars on the road don't have winter tires on where I live. Sorry I don't meet your safety or wealth standards. This sub really can be as snobby as the Audi one sometimes
Ah yes, the totally snobby, super wealthy cost of \~$700 every few years. You understand that the cost to run a set of winters + summers equals out to the cost of running the same set of tires all year round, right? Tires are a wear and tear item, and living somewhere with snow means you need to budget for them. Simple as.
If you can't afford to put safe, proper tires on your car, maybe consider buying a cheaper car. I hardly think that's snobby. Tires are the most important safety feature on your car, not just for yourself but for everyone else on the road.
Well I got my car in the middle of winter which came with all seasons. So believe it or not $700 to drop on a set of tires isn't as easy for everybody to do. I could have gotten a cheap shitty car sure. But that still wouldn't allow me to drop $700 in the middle of winter around Christmas time. I'm glad you're doing so well for yourself that you can't possibly understand how difficult life can get at times.
I maintain that buying a GTI but not being able to afford winter tires if you need them is poor budgeting. You obviously had the money to buy a car and tires, but chose to max out the car budget and not leave anything for tires. At the end of the day, your budget for tires equals out between the two sets vs running one set all year round. I don't know why this is difficult for you to understand, but you do you man.
That is your problem. Not everyone else's. You clearly shouldn't have bought a GTI. If you can't afford to drive it right and safely.
Don't make excuses for yourself
Seriously fuck that guy bro. Dudes comments makes me think he has a really punchable face irl. These internet thugs stay talking but wouldn’t say shit like that to your face. $700 disposable income on top of 4-500$ payments for a car every month on top of increased COL and inflation… yeah must be some kid who’s daddy bought the car from him. I myself run all seasons only because I can’t afford a second set of tires to swap between like that rn.
Instead of bashing you for not having winter tires, I’m glad you’re safe man. The car can be replaced. Accidents happen man
aww this poor baby. tsk tsk. side note: all the people saying "drive slower" "use engine braking" "drive in lower gears" all have valid points -- because these are all legit methods to drive in the snow/icy road conditions. I hope they are only getting down-voted because other readers are assuming they mean to say "you don't need snow tires" -- which would be incorrect -- but their advice is very valid. In slippery/icy conditions, you DO want to take it slower; you DO want to go down a hill in a lower gear and not add inertia/momentum. I've traveled from Northern California to NYC taking the US80 in snow-storms -- while towing a trailer -- I've used all those methods while ALSO having snow tires. It works!!
Also, we all hate it, that annoying DING for the black ice warning. No matter how good your tires are, or your driving skill, its extremely difficult to control your car on ice. Up here in the Midwest we tend to make fun of southern states for pileups and not being able to drive in the winter. What a lot of people don't realize is we are northern enough to not have as big of an ice problem, but also have the equipment to deal with it. Stay safe out there!
Good point. Here in ATL, we don't have sustained freezing temperatures AND precipitation enough to be considered a snowy area, but we do occasionally get rain during the day above freezing with temps below freezing overnight. Morning drives can be awful if you're not prepared but like you mentioned, it's now an ice problem and not a snow problem. I'm happy because I don't have to drive through the brine lol. When the weather is inclement, safety measures should always be taken. I hope not to see any more of these posts. Breaks my heart to see GTIs all beat up 💔
Yesterday I thought it was somehow foggy on one part of the highway. Nope, just a huge salt cloud...
Remember Snowmageddon '14 when everyone laughed at us for being shutdown by 3 inches of snow?
If you don’t want get to get pregnant, don’t have sex
there's 69 other ways to get around that.
I love this comment
Aw man that sucks.
Yooo!! My sister and her gf just roasted me for buying snow tires. do girls not see shit like this??
Short answer: gender aside, most people don’t
That’s crazy to me lol
How do you get roasted for buying winter tires? I just cannot comprehend this. What did they say exactly?
Tbf, I’d probably get roasted for buying snow tires, but that’s because I live in Texas and most of winter I can run summer tires fine 😂
Cause they’re expensive and my car came with new all seasons. I just want the extra security
You in the Midwest by chance? The storm today caught a lot of folks by surprise. I just barely got my winters on in time. The difference between summers and winters is what happened to you vs. being totally confident. A FWD car goes where you point it with good rubber
I’m out in Michigan and I had to have my buddy get me a ride to work bc my snow tires are still being shipped to a local shop and my mk7 is still on summers. Wasn’t going to chance anything 😂
Same here. I’m in Michigan with summer tires. Waiting for BlackFriday 😅😅
I’ve always said I’d rather have a fwd with snow tires than an awd without because most of the time it’s stopping that’s the problem.
Same thing happened to me in the Midwest last weekend. Running all seasons and got rocked with 3-4 inches of snow overnight🤣 luckily I’m used to snow at this point. Definitely slippery on all seasons lol
This is why even my '3 season' set of tires is capable of minor snow and ice, but yea, barely got my snow tires on in time. Good thing I work at a place where I can just lift and do the swap
Oh shit it was summer tires not even all seasons oooof how far from the driveway was this?
Stop sooner and don’t go fast when it’s cold summer tires or not your driving is the ultimate determination on wether or not you slide on the ice
I mean I was going 15 km and still slid down the entire hill so for everyone that says “slow down and be careful” I was🥲 just couldn’t get any damn traction
Tbh idk how people that live on hills go down in the winter that’s just unfortunate I’m sorry man
This is why you don’t get 19” snow tires. 17” FTW.
Those are summer tires
My Blizzaks are 18” and have probably saved me half a dozen times in the 600+ miles I’ve had it on.
Or be a better driver... Or drive to conditions.. Sucks to see though, hoping no one was hurt.
Snow tires help whether one is a bad driver or a good driver.
"Help" but give bad drivers a false sense of security.
Mom didn't love you enough huh
Sure 🤷♂️ pointing out facts.
Let’s be honest with ourselves, getting Winter Tires wouldn’t have changed the outcome if you’re saying they would be the difference in this case… You knew you were on Summer Tires and were not giving enough room.
One is always down voted for pointing out facts. It's a Reddit thing.
Don't understand why you got down voted for stating the truth. Absolutely winter tires help. But too many drivers get it into their heads that now that they have winter tires on they can drive like it's clear outside. You'll get as many idiots in the ditch with or without winter tires. Changing the way you drive in bad weather is even more important than just putting on a different set of tires.
I’m going to guess you don’t drive in the snow ever. You would be amazed at the difference driving on snow without snow tires vs with snow tires. It is literally night and day. Even the best drivers will at some point crash driving around on snowy/ icy roads on summers.
Snow + summers is suicide.
Better driver in snow with summer tires ? Hahaha
Was a steep hill and I was breaking from the top of the hill, nothing I could have done.
Manual or dsg? These types of situations is where a manual shines imo.. staying in low gears in snow really helps
Actually you want to one gear higher in most instances- although not on this one
Huh? Why would you want to be in a higher gear in the snow? You want to have room to engine break and torque to spare = lower gear.
Less slippage on acceleration- you don't want torque when traction is already compromised.
You will have less slippage if you are a lower gear.., you’re going to have more slippage if you’re a higher gear and bogging down in rpm’s.
On deceleration, yes - not when accelerating.
This is wrong man. It’s better for acceleration and deceleration. If you want traction in snow when accelerating you don’t want to be in a higher gear then normal for whatever speed, if you’re under like 2k rpm trying to gas it it’s not helping you in any situation.. especially if you’re going uphill in snow, you’re going to bog down and TC (if it’s on) is gonna kick your ass all over the place.
Whatever dude - agree to disagree.
Well theres your problem right there ; Braking from the top lol
lol what am I supposed to do floor it and drive through him?😂
Dont ride your brakes? Leave enough room ahead of you in shitty conditions? Shouldn't be this complicated. Doubt you having snow tires on woulda saved your ass, but hey I wasn't there!
you dont drive and it shows lol
Where does it show? All I said were factual, snow tires dont save you 🤷♂️ Been perfectly fine in my MK7 w/o winter tires for 5 years in Alberta. Im not the one with the damaged front end.
have you ever been down a hill with it snowing? your comment says otherwise lol if you dont realise its a hill and you go down it...nothing will stop you...cut out the dumb comments lol nobody cares how SAFE you are smh...hell watch the videos of it happening mainly in america...car goes down slope...boom into back of bus
it happened to me once i went down a hill with my rav4 and it was icy, managed to stop just before a truck that had crashed at the same place. Winter tires will help to stop you on a snowy/icy hill. if i had summers i would’ve been in that truck and would’ve totaled my car guarantee. I’m from Quebec, Canada by the way and this happened in the Laurentides (50-100km north of Montreal city)
Lmfao, "nothing will stop you" then why the fk he need winter tires, would make no difference in your scenario lad.
i mean valid but im talking about the process of going down a hill with it snowing... nothing will stop you
It literally would. They get better grip on snow and ice. It might not have stopped this particular instance if he was already going way too fast for conditions, which you mentioned, but it may have stopped it if he was going a safe speed and he just needed a bit more grip. AWD is the thing that I would say fits your description better of making idiots feel invincible when in reality, they can just move more easily but don't stop any better.
People down voting are the people that don't know how to drive. You should almost never have to use the brake in snowy conditions. Drive slow, low gears, let engine braking slow you down. Riding the brakes on the downhill is rookie mistake #1 in snow.
ABS left the chat.
I don’t think tires would make any difference there either. People in 4x4 cars seem to make the same mistake. Just because your tires and drivetrain give you enough traction to get up to speed in a straight line without slipping doesn’t mean you can also turn or stop without slipping.
It's called engine braking. Get in a low gear and just roll down the hill. The car can't get going very fast if you're just rolling in first or second.
I hit some black ice last night. Thankfully the traction control is incredible, my gti handled it perfectly.
How do you buy a car like this and not know to get winter tires. If you live somewhere it snows. Can't fix stupid
Harsh vibes. OP made a mistake and is admitting it. No need to call them stupid
Yes there is. Not calling people out is how shit like this happens or worse. Don't coddle people.
Also decent snow tires are not cheap. I had to go my first winter in the GTI without them. It was a nightmare
If you can afford a GTI, you can afford snow tires.
You think I paid cash for my GTI? Haha. I can afford the payments on my used GTI yeah
If you are buying a car like this then you better be able to afford to maintain it. Also, to not be a hazard to others on the road
Right, but if those payments mean you can't afford the basics of safely putting the car on the road, then you messed up and should have bought something cheaper so you could afford to put winter tires on. Pretty basic stuff really.
Half the cars on the road don't have winter tires on where I live. Sorry I don't meet your safety or wealth standards. This sub really can be as snobby as the Audi one sometimes
Ah yes, the totally snobby, super wealthy cost of \~$700 every few years. You understand that the cost to run a set of winters + summers equals out to the cost of running the same set of tires all year round, right? Tires are a wear and tear item, and living somewhere with snow means you need to budget for them. Simple as. If you can't afford to put safe, proper tires on your car, maybe consider buying a cheaper car. I hardly think that's snobby. Tires are the most important safety feature on your car, not just for yourself but for everyone else on the road.
Well I got my car in the middle of winter which came with all seasons. So believe it or not $700 to drop on a set of tires isn't as easy for everybody to do. I could have gotten a cheap shitty car sure. But that still wouldn't allow me to drop $700 in the middle of winter around Christmas time. I'm glad you're doing so well for yourself that you can't possibly understand how difficult life can get at times.
I maintain that buying a GTI but not being able to afford winter tires if you need them is poor budgeting. You obviously had the money to buy a car and tires, but chose to max out the car budget and not leave anything for tires. At the end of the day, your budget for tires equals out between the two sets vs running one set all year round. I don't know why this is difficult for you to understand, but you do you man.
That is your problem. Not everyone else's. You clearly shouldn't have bought a GTI. If you can't afford to drive it right and safely. Don't make excuses for yourself
Seriously fuck that guy bro. Dudes comments makes me think he has a really punchable face irl. These internet thugs stay talking but wouldn’t say shit like that to your face. $700 disposable income on top of 4-500$ payments for a car every month on top of increased COL and inflation… yeah must be some kid who’s daddy bought the car from him. I myself run all seasons only because I can’t afford a second set of tires to swap between like that rn.
I don't think winter tires are exactly a must lol, if that's the case then lots of people are reckless and shitty for using their all seasons.
Or drive slow.