UPDATE: read my review on these tires here

The other day I reached in my basement to grab an extra spare for a long trip and pulled out one of my Green Diamond Icelander tires from last season. Now we seem to be a long way from winter, and I certainly haven’t grown sick of hot, dry tarmac, but snow driving has been on my mind recently — specifically winter tire selection — as in which rubber innovations should I try for ice racing competition this season.

But I noticed something that hadn’t been apparent when they were removed last spring:

Can you see what it is? The outside of the tread barely has any carbide crystals showing. If you’ll recall in my Green Diamond tire article from last winter, these tires employ a technology which Green Diamond tire licenses from an Icelandic corporation whereby the rubber compound is seeded with silicium carbide granules. There’s an outer layer of normal rubber that needs to be worn away first that takes “driving 1,500 to 2,000 miles on clear, dry roads”, according to Green Diamond. I have easily 2-3 times that on these tires, though admittedly with much pussyfooting so as to save my precious, floppy snow tread. So what’s the culprit? My beater doesn’t have factory adjustable camber, and my pavement-oriented suspension leaves it with some static negative from the small drop in ride height. Apparently it’s enough negative camber that the outside was spared most of the wear in normal driving.

So not that I have undying faith in their novel technology, but these tires certainly didn’t get a fair shake on ice without full contact and exposed carbide granules on the entire tread. Since new tires are indicated for a new racing season (and these will be relegated to daily use), I should be able to manage a direct head-to-head comparison in ice traction.

While the continued summery weather is certainly appreciated, a [small and outvoted] part of me can’t wait for the snow and ice.