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Tires: summer, A/S, winter.
I am a stickler choosing tires to match my use. Lucid Motors is of course limited by vendor offerings. Here in lies my personal issues - right now all three are imperfect choices.
My first concern Safety instead of Range. No choices are bad but I want great. For over forty years I have traded new factory tires for higher performance ( starting in 1979 with a new Turbo Porsche and at Weissach an engineer offering me a Goodyear that they had just tested as better than the factory Michelin).
On a vehicle as expensive as the Gravity each of us has their own formula for balancing safety, cost, and convenience. I cannot therefore offer advice. Just noting where there is room for improvement in my mind.
Warning: I am not writing a Tire Rack Competitive guide to choosing.
First - what are the conditions in which drivers get surprised: wet, snow, ice.
Second - what certification standards actually differentiate tires: 1- snow flake and 2- snow peak.
My problem:
All season tires are basically a compromise on all fronts. And A/S may be suitable for city/suburban cleaned, salted driving but does not mean significant safety for real snow and ice. And often means less good (not poor) performance in wet.
Further for A/S or M&S there is no standard performance test that limits marketing claims. At best the tire treads look different.
On the other hand three peak snowflake symbol is a test that measures traction: on acceleration it is measurably better in snow and the single peak symbol does the same for deceleration ( braking) on ice.
Mid twentieth century, my father changed tires seasonally and warned that the in between periods when his tires did not match conditions were as dangerous as the winter. ( As a multi car family he actually changed tires at different times to match tire to weather - something I no longer do partially justified by the changing winters).
I learned ( last century) that 7 series BMW with factory tires was notoriously poor and dangerous in snow and ice but with Snowflake rated A/S Nokian tires outperformed our Lexus 4WD LX470 with factory A/S unrated tires on our driveway and Chicago snow roads.
Ergo. I want an A/S tire that has a snowflake three peak symbol. Neither Gravity A/S has that. And since the manufacturers of those tires do mark some of their tires, one can infer they are just not as good on snow and/or ice.
So all three Gravity options for me are now a guessing compromise.
Word is there will be Nokian winter tires. ( Nokian is the pioneer of these two standards). But Nokian has the winter tires ( think Canada not California or Chicago) and snowflake A/S. Which will be chosen? And worse still, there are no summer tires that make me comfortable with pothole Chicago endurance. (Chicago Tesla owners seem to have no interest in my 21 inch black like new wheels for the max performance low profile tires that regularly have pothole failure).
My hope is that the Gravity winter tires are actually ‘snowflake’ A/S.
And I sure would love midsize mid profile true summer performance tires.
I am a stickler choosing tires to match my use. Lucid Motors is of course limited by vendor offerings. Here in lies my personal issues - right now all three are imperfect choices.
My first concern Safety instead of Range. No choices are bad but I want great. For over forty years I have traded new factory tires for higher performance ( starting in 1979 with a new Turbo Porsche and at Weissach an engineer offering me a Goodyear that they had just tested as better than the factory Michelin).
On a vehicle as expensive as the Gravity each of us has their own formula for balancing safety, cost, and convenience. I cannot therefore offer advice. Just noting where there is room for improvement in my mind.
Warning: I am not writing a Tire Rack Competitive guide to choosing.
First - what are the conditions in which drivers get surprised: wet, snow, ice.
Second - what certification standards actually differentiate tires: 1- snow flake and 2- snow peak.
My problem:
All season tires are basically a compromise on all fronts. And A/S may be suitable for city/suburban cleaned, salted driving but does not mean significant safety for real snow and ice. And often means less good (not poor) performance in wet.
Further for A/S or M&S there is no standard performance test that limits marketing claims. At best the tire treads look different.
On the other hand three peak snowflake symbol is a test that measures traction: on acceleration it is measurably better in snow and the single peak symbol does the same for deceleration ( braking) on ice.
Mid twentieth century, my father changed tires seasonally and warned that the in between periods when his tires did not match conditions were as dangerous as the winter. ( As a multi car family he actually changed tires at different times to match tire to weather - something I no longer do partially justified by the changing winters).
I learned ( last century) that 7 series BMW with factory tires was notoriously poor and dangerous in snow and ice but with Snowflake rated A/S Nokian tires outperformed our Lexus 4WD LX470 with factory A/S unrated tires on our driveway and Chicago snow roads.
Ergo. I want an A/S tire that has a snowflake three peak symbol. Neither Gravity A/S has that. And since the manufacturers of those tires do mark some of their tires, one can infer they are just not as good on snow and/or ice.
So all three Gravity options for me are now a guessing compromise.
Word is there will be Nokian winter tires. ( Nokian is the pioneer of these two standards). But Nokian has the winter tires ( think Canada not California or Chicago) and snowflake A/S. Which will be chosen? And worse still, there are no summer tires that make me comfortable with pothole Chicago endurance. (Chicago Tesla owners seem to have no interest in my 21 inch black like new wheels for the max performance low profile tires that regularly have pothole failure).
My hope is that the Gravity winter tires are actually ‘snowflake’ A/S.
And I sure would love midsize mid profile true summer performance tires.
