[richardew]

I left Franklin VA about 0800. Franklin is in southern Virginia, about 10 miles north of NC and about 15 miles east of I95. It was overcast as I headed off towards I95. Once on I95 the overcast turned to rain. Soon the rain became sleet/freezing rain. The road was O’K, just wet. As I traveled north of Petersburg the sleet became snow. The road was icy in spots and now beginning to be snow covered. Traffic was moving in the 40mph range. There were a few dicey moments when I lost traction and slid a bit laterally in my lane. I would gently come off of the throttle and regained traction without any drama. Once north of Richmond the road was snow covered. There were cars littered in the median and on the shoulder, often at bizarre angles or turned around facing the wrong direction. Most of them revealed significant damage. I said to myself, all season tires no doubt. I soon hit a convoy of snow plows in all of the lanes and traffic moving at 20-30mph so I got off of the highway and proceeded north on US1. Traffic was light. The road was unplowed and had a few inches of snow. The Sottozeros shined. I never lost traction and was able to steer and brake. I stopped for breakfast at my usual spot in Ashland, and then continued north on US1. My navigation aids (BMW GPS & Google Maps) all showed yellow in I95 so I continued on US1. Traffic was light and moving around 50 mph. Once I95 showed up without a yellow line (slow traffic) I got back on the interstate. It was now snow covered in both lanes but traffic was moving at a decent clip. I couldn’t go a mile or two without seeing the scattered remains of cars along both sides of the road. Ah, those all season tires. Once I got around Washington and into southern Maryland, the road was again just wet and the rest of the trip uneventful. Some may argue that there are better winter tires than the Sottozeros, but they passed the test , at least as far as I am concerned. When I bought them back in 2011, I had two choices from Tirerack: Sottozerro or Sottozerro run flats. I’ll be getting a new set of winter tires in the fall. I don’t know what will be available but I’m sure that they will vastly outperform any all season tire. For me, the point of driving with winter tires is to get through what I did yesterday. Whether or not they can get me anywhere in a foot of snow is not as important, although these have passed the 8” test (although that time all of the women in the neighborhood insisted that there was just 3” of snow present).

[02420X3]

My '11 35i with Sottozero RFTs has had a similar look this winter, and has performed equally well. Your run was much longer than my daily commute. Nicely done.

[LeeAC]

Very nice. I live in NOVA and also noticed several cars skidding today on the ice. Perfect traction on my X3, very pleased. Unfortunately the car is now super dirty even though I got a car wash on Friday enough of this snow....

[ianfp]

This is great and I love the photos too!

[Gouda]

Great the tires worked well, we had a similar experience with our Michelins and our X3 has looked like that most of the winter, it didn't stay clean long. But remember that a very high percentage of those cars in ditches, etc. we're driven by idiots that cannot figure out you have to slow down and be carefull in winter irregardless of what tire you have.

[cadman50]

Here's my X3 after sitting for a few days while Titan passed. after shoveling to get in I was able to pull out. Got Hakapollita R2's on. They passed my test. Very smooth riding on the highway at speed and great snow grip. Picture is from the top of a mountain in UT.