Review on Continental Contact Winter Reflex Black by Darin Marshall

I'm too lazy to keep changing tires, don't drive in deep snow, but wanted to leave something for the winter. But it's no substitute for a studded tire - I've slipped everywhere on firm but soft snow and haven't felt much of a traction advantage with any fixed-profile tire (like the Schwalbe Marathon). Meanwhile, perhaps due to the soft compound, it's slow as hell on dry tarmac. Also, can any tire physicist answer this question for me: As can be seen in one of the product photos, the very thin "sipes" in the tread seem to require an unusually large number of ventilation openings (those rubber hairs) by injection. -To form. There are actually 12 rows on the tread, so in real life it looks like an angry porcupine. I have to assume that these flexible cylindrical pieces of rubber will flex in all directions when they hit the road. How many super-thin ribs in the tread that supposedly provide traction on ice actually hit the ground in the contact patch? It looks like you're basically running breather ducts, which in turn are cylinders that seem to decrease rather than increase thrust. I got a good deal at the Revain Warehouse, so I'm only looking on the positive side - going slow should make me feel really fast when I put the spring tires back on. But if you really need safety on snowy/icy roads, I think cleats are a must.