I wish I had waited, my car is a manual shift, and as an 2007, did not come with any type of traction control. The wheel hop in the mild climate of rain is bad enough, but this year, with the snow and ice, the car is completely devoid of traction. I don't know how good of a driver that I really am, but I would put my experience, my EVOC certification, a few weeks at Bob Bondurant, up against most. I try to start out in second gear, which will sometimes work. I hate the tires, and beginning to rethink my HHR as a winter car...

 

I felt the same way about my HHR until I got decent all season tires on it. I have lived and driven in the midwest and upper midwest for more then 30 years and the HHR was one of the worst cars I had ever driven in snow and ice until I put some good all season tires on it. Now as others have described I feel like I get good traction and most drives are uneventful.

 

Yes a good all season tire is all you need.

I have the tripletreds on for winter and nary an issue. I just put a set on the wife's Terrain and what a difference it made.

We are nearing 70" of snow right now so far this year and we have another 5-8 coming Sunday and 3-5 on Monday. This has been a tough winter this year for snow and cold.