FWD low on grip - Solved !

[Red]

My Michelins went on the car in '95 and they're just as good as new. Then again, the car is garaged so there is no UV problem. On the other hand--if there are any cracks in the tires, that's dangerous, change them.

"It might also be nice to have "All weather tires", would be good for trip trough Germany (insurancy companies seem to like winter tires over there)." Interesting. Here in the northeast US, most normal tires are sold as "four season" approved tires so people think they will be good in winter. They are *legal* in winter when "snow" tires are required, but they are not the same as snow tires, not quite.

Mine are all M+S rated, but I didn't know the 4-season tires were until sometime afterwards. I bought them based on a wet-weather traction rating, sight unseen. Funny thing, my Michelin snows are also M+S rated.

The M+S is supposed to mean "mud and snow" meaning good traction in muck, but I can also tell you they are damn near useless on wet grass.<G>

I'm surprised that your insurance company would care what kind of tires were on the car, since snow tires are wrong for the warmer half of the year (they give inferior stopping power on dry and wet roads) and any other tire is inferior in snow. A compromise has to be made.

One easy thing you might check, please don't laugh, is the TIRE PRESSURE. I can tell you that if I change from the factory spec of 27 psi all around, to 32 psi (better mileage) there's a real difference in how the car stops. Try changing your tire pressure on one end or the other, letting two pounds out of the slippery tires and putting an extra pound in the sticky ones. That might balance it out--these cars are popular BECAUSE you can change the steering from oversteer to understeer just by playing with the tire pressure. On a less well balanced car, you might not notice.

(Pound being the US term for about 1/2 kilo.<G&gt