Whenever I read this thread I always am thinking from an AWD perspective.
Are 3PMSF tires just as beneficial or maybe even more beneficial for a FWD vehicle?
I understand that FWD will still need chains at times. However what about the times where there is snow and ice and there is no chain control?
Yea man, where the rubber meets the road is where the rubber on the road.
Better tires are still extremely important to help FWD vehicles in snow/ice.
Everything is a relative scale of vehicle control; it's not binary thinking just to get around caltrans's chain controls or relying on caltrans to tell you when it is safe/not safe; you reach a level where you are doing these things for yourself, and making this about safely driving and not wrecking; versus just about getting pass checks.
If you have FWD, good tires won't get you past chain control, but it will greatly help in general or in the marginal conditions in town or if it just starts snowing and it's up to you to decide whether to throw chains.
Once , I was in town already in SLT, and got through before the storms or controls; , and it was just starting to snow, in a honda FWD with 3yo halfworn OEM allseason tires;
I was only 3blocks from Lakeside inn and being in for the night, but couldn't stop as I desired and drifted through a redlight into the intersection. So it is definitely not good to feel yourself sliding around with no grip. Later that season, now with the old tires ditched, and with new continental DWS tires; in similar conditions, no such issues and much more in control.
On that same note, chains aren't all equal too, so getting good chains are going to have different performance and more than just to get pass caltrans too.
Especially, if you are travelling to kirkwood it's a little more cowboy, it's partially left to you to make the right decisions versus doing things just because caltrans is nannying you.