Only had my 08 for a couple months, curious how these are in the snow???

 

depends on the tires and how deep the snow gets. first year I had mine, I took out a no parking sign blew a tire, and cracked the front bumper. I got some decent snow tires and slowed down, no problems after that! I just had to figure out my HHR was not the same as my Land Rover.

 

Except when compared to 4WD/AWD models, HHR is as good as any other car in the Winter, better with the the Stabilitrac option. SS is a little worse due to the low aero front bumper.

When someone complains that their car is “bad in the snow,” it’s usually the tires. They make a huge difference.

Want to change to Winter tires each year? Get them with this symbol. Most good Winter tires have it. Want to avoid the change and use “all season” tires? Get them with this symbol. (Most don’t have it.) Tire Rack lets you filter for this feature.

This is a Euro perspective but they’re sold in North America too.

 

I’ve run A/S labelled tires , not bad but the ice can cause problems, I now install winter snow tires , much better grip

 

depending on where the vehicle is mainly used:
mud and slush, or urban conditions when the road is cleared - studless (Velcro) is optimal;
country road is cleared - studless (Velcro) is still relevant;
city or country road covered with packed snow or ice - studded tires are required.
Here you need to understand that the lamellas do not like warm ice - it is covered with a film of water and the lamella cannot properly suck, while at the same time the lamella sticks very well to cold ice. Tire studs, on the contrary, work well on warm ice - they easily pierce it, while it is more difficult for a standard stud to bite through cold hard ice.
Modern tires are designed in such a way that the studded tread has many sipes at the same time. That is, it both sticks and digs studs into the ice for directional stability.
I used to I preferred non-studded tires with a large number of sipes (Velcro) - I live in a big city and the roads in winter are usually cleared to the asphalt. But in recent years I have been buying modern studded tires and get Velcro with studs = two in one.

 

Aren’t studded tires illegal in some US states ?

 

Not an expert, going from memory… Studded tires are illegal in…most? …places here. They cause road damage, including ruts that cause hydroplaning in the rain. Sometimes allowed seasonally.

 

Here's a really short summary of Comsumer Report's recent opinion:



Never heard of Hakkapelliitta. Will never be able to spell it.

 

Yeah I've got Continental contact touring, theyre an all season and almost new, so I should be good (michigan).

 

Studs banned in the USA? Another American ban that seems strange to me.
Our traffic police can fine you if they see you driving in winter without studs. Of course, studs spoil the asphalt, but the asphalt is easy to repair, an injured or killed pedestrian is an irretrievable loss.

Regarding the opinion of Consumer Report magazine.
It so happened that I used Michelin studless tires and Nokian Hakkapeliitta studless tires. These tires were sold a lot here. Michelin, Nokian, Continental have factories in Russia (Michelin, by the way, has already fled, its factory was taken over by Russian tire manufacturers).
So Nokian Hakkapeliitta is a very good manufacturer. We have a cold country and huge dead spaces, if you want to survive - carefully prepare your car for the winter road, if something happens, help may not come. Nokian Hakkapeliitta series, whether studded or not, has been the champion of Russia for many years according to all surveys. Now Finland is your ally, Nokian will probably be more widely represented on the US market. Buy these tires with confidence, the quality is excellent.