Winter tyres vol 2

[blueg33]

I live in a village where the access lane is often icy and doesn't get gritted. My Evora is my daily driver so winter tyres make sense and I have a set of OEM wheels with lotus spec yoko w-drives, I will fit them when the daily max temp is about 7 degrees as it means temps of 3 degrees or less on my commute. It makes sense for this car.

Mrs blue has an Outback on all season tyres and that is fine in snow but all seasons are not so good when it's icy.

[johnwilliams77]

blueg33 said:

I live in a village where the access lane is often icy and doesn't get gritted. My Evora is my daily driver so winter tyres make sense and I have a set of OEM wheels with lotus spec yoko w-drives, I will fit them when the daily max temp is about 7 degrees as it means temps of 3 degrees or less on my commute. It makes sense for this car.

Mrs blue has an Outback on all season tyres and that is fine in snow but all seasons are not so good when it's icy.

No tyres are

[Barchettaman]

johnwilliams77 said:

Any further feedback on cross climates in snow?

Reckoned to be a game changer according to every German review I have read or watched online. I'm getting a set next time round.

[cptsideways]

johnwilliams77 said:

blueg33 said:

I live in a village where the access lane is often icy and doesn't get gritted. My Evora is my daily driver so winter tyres make sense and I have a set of OEM wheels with lotus spec yoko w-drives, I will fit them when the daily max temp is about 7 degrees as it means temps of 3 degrees or less on my commute. It makes sense for this car.

Mrs blue has an Outback on all season tyres and that is fine in snow but all seasons are not so good when it's icy.

No tyres are

But still night & day between snowies & summers

[Orangecurry]

johnwilliams77 said:

blueg33 said:

I live in a village where the access lane is often icy and doesn't get gritted. My Evora is my daily driver so winter tyres make sense and I have a set of OEM wheels with lotus spec yoko w-drives, I will fit them when the daily max temp is about 7 degrees as it means temps of 3 degrees or less on my commute. It makes sense for this car.

Mrs blue has an Outback on all season tyres and that is fine in snow but all seasons are not so good when it's icy.

No tyres are

On the packed-ice of an Alpine village, my non-studded Goodyear Eagle winters were very good.



And of course Studded tyres are very good in ice.

[loskie]

my basic simplistic view on the laws of physics would question how can low rolling resistance eco tyres be suitable on wet , muddy, slushy roads at all. it just doesnt add up.
being based in sw scotland we do not get harsh winters. 14 years ago i started fitting winters(i drive mainly on rural roads) 20000m per year. found vredestein quatracs which performed better than avon ice touring do in winter. tried snowtracs. now have decided all seasons suit me fine and have just ordered nokian weatherproof to replace my nearly worn kleber krispalp which arent too good in the wet.

apologies for lack of caps bloody dog is sitting on my knee so only have one hand

[marshalla]

tenohfive said:

Take public transport.

Having seen several double-decker buses turn sideways and slither down the hill they were trying to get up, I think I'll pass on that one.

Railways only work in the right sort of snow.

[Davie]

First run in "appropriate" conditions at the weekend there with a run to the Borders... so sub zero degrees, wet roads and some light snow and whilst I can't say how much better the Quatrac 5's are... because I didn't drive the same road, in the same conditions but on different tyres... I would say it's without question so much more planted. Does it mean I can drive faster... no, not necessary but it's reassuring to know that should you hit a bit unexpected slush or a wet section under tyres, the tyres will be somewhat better than a summer equivalent. Full winters would be overkill here (Central Scotland) but for generally wet, cold conditions I'm sticking by the decision to move away from a more summer based tyre.

[johnwilliams77]

Orangecurry said:

On the packed-ice of an Alpine village, my non-studded Goodyear Eagle winters were very good.



And of course Studded tyres are very good in ice.

My misunderstanding. Was under the impression no legal tyres are better in ice. I don't believe studded tyres are run by many in Uk!

[f1nn]

Okay an update from a non winter tyre user.

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Just in the interest of balance...

[Orangecurry]

f1nn said:

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Sure - but did you have to do an emergency stop?

We've all managed without winter tyres for kin years, but they DO make a significant difference when the weather is poor and the temperatures are cold.

In a similar (but very silly) example of showing what you can do on summers, here I went out for some fun on summer P-Zeros (IIRC they were P-Zeros, but they were certainly summers)

I could 'go' and I could 'corner' (in a Scandinavian way) but even with a mixture of cadence braking and ABS, my stopping distances were huge.

[jon-]

Orangecurry said:

f1nn said:

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Sure - but did you have to do an emergency stop?

Just to be pedantic, I'm fairly certain it was dry here at that time, which means the summer tyres would have still been the best bet for the emergency stop!

It's definitely winter tyre switch over week though. Time to bump the infographic:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Reasons-to-Co...

[FiF]

johnwilliams77 said:

Orangecurry said:

On the packed-ice of an Alpine village, my non-studded Goodyear Eagle winters were very good.



And of course Studded tyres are very good in ice.

My misunderstanding. Was under the impression no legal tyres are better in ice. I don't believe studded tyres are run by many in Uk!

Depends what sort of ice. The compacted rutted stuff shown in the photo, i.e. plenty of edges for the tyre to deform around and get grip, then it's not an issue. Very smooth polished ice such as you can get with some called black ice, or that from freezing rain, or even worse smooth ice with a very light dusting of wind blown snow on top, then friction tyres struggle, even with typical consumer style studs you have to be careful. Obviously we're not talking about the narrow porcupines worn by competition cars. The point is that even on polished ice, studless friction tyres are better than summers, but as grip levels are so low, better is relative but measurable.

Secondly what's this ballocks about legal tyres. Common misconception that studs are illegal in UK, not the case. Not advisable except in extreme conditions for the UK, but quite legal.

[Mr E]

f1nn said:

Okay an update from a non winter tyre user.

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Just in the interest of balance...

Sarah did a Bristol airport run this morning at 5am. -2 degrees showing on the display, 245/40ZR18s on the front and 265/35/ZR18s on the back. Conti Contact 5's if we're being specific. Nearly 400 bhp and an auto box.

She didn't die.

Winters going on tomorrow.

[johnwilliams77]

FiF said:

Depends what sort of ice. The compacted rutted stuff shown in the photo, i.e. plenty of edges for the tyre to deform around and get grip, then it's not an issue. Very smooth polished ice such as you can get with some called black ice, or that from freezing rain, or even worse smooth ice with a very light dusting of wind blown snow on top, then friction tyres struggle, even with typical consumer style studs you have to be careful. Obviously we're not talking about the narrow porcupines worn by competition cars. The point is that even on polished ice, studless friction tyres are better than summers, but as grip levels are so low, better is relative but measurable.

Secondly what's this ballocks about legal tyres. Common misconception that studs are illegal in UK, not the case. Not advisable except in extreme conditions for the UK, but quite legal.

fair enough. previously always purchased winter tyres but I have another year of life in my summers and have cycle to work / can work from home so considering risking it for a few months and if we have a heavy snow fall then order some cross climates. (Seem to be michilen cross climates too now)

[nickfrog]

f1nn said:

Okay an update from a non winter tyre user.

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Just in the interest of balance...

When you say the car was perfect, did it have the same amount of traction and lateral grip as a winter tyre equipped identical car ? Or more ? Or less ?

[anonymous-user]

f1nn said:

Okay an update from a non winter tyre user.

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Just in the interest of balance...

Don't bother mate! This should be renamed the 'pro' winter tyres thread. Anybody posting anything that isn't positive about winter tyres gets flamed by the mob. Even posters that have tried them in the past and not been impressed.

[HustleRussell]

nickfrog said:

f1nn said:

Okay an update from a non winter tyre user.

Collecting my car from Luton airport mid stay car park on Sunday morning at 7.15 in -1.0-/-1.5 degrees, The car was perfect on the 225/255 Pirelli Pzeros I run all year round, despite 287bhp/490lb/ft and an autobox.

Just in the interest of balance...

When you say the car was perfect, did it have the same amount of traction and lateral grip as a winter tyre equipped identical car ? Or more ? Or less ?

I would suspect the traction and lateral grip proved to be enough to complete that particular journey without drama.

[blueST]

U

blueST said:

V8A*ndy said:

Ohh FFS that's just great.

I have used them twice before with a swift delivery time.

Sleet this morning the snow is coming.... Shouldn't have left it so late.

I've used them before with no issues, this is the first problem.

The missing wheel and tyre finally arrived exactly one month after I placed the order.

[Convert]

johnwilliams77 said:

Any further feedback on cross climates in snow?

We had a couple of cm of snow early Saturday. Took the daughter to work @ 6:00AM, and no problem at all. Felt very surefooted.