RE: Ringside Seat: winter tyred

[Podie]

iamAlegend said:

I think instead of mandatory winters, the minimum tread depth should be brought up, this will help a lot in the wet and snowy conditions.

I have 4 new Yokohama advan sports on my car, barely 1000 miles old. They were comical in the snow, and the car actually slid off (our rather steep) driveway.

We put a set of winter on the missus car (16 inch wheels, so cheaper tyres) and we're both converts.

[Steve Maund]

SWMBO has a Skoda Yeti 4x4, she was at the dealership a month ago, they were doing a deal on a full set of winters with steel rim for £600, 1 day later we had 4 inches of snow, they are like chalk and cheese, got through every road possible, would recommend them for the winter season (or lack off)

Steve

[EGTE]

Matthew Clarke said:

Winter tyres are a life saver and a money saver IMO

I often pick up a full set of 225/40/18's for £200 in the summer months, run these from Nov - March and the cost savings from running a premium sports tyre at £140 a corner is noticeable. They last ages as well because of the extra mils of tread over a summer tyre

From a saftey aspect it slows me down a little in the winter months which is a good thing, too many tw@ts drive around in winter as if its high noon in July. This saves a little mpg as well. And if I do ever need to emergency stop in the wet (and as we know it rains a LOT in the UK) stopping distances are vastly improved, even on leaves and mud etc

No brainer. Shouldnt be considered just a snow and ice tyre

Top post, worth repeating.

[IGL]

I've just stopped using the car for which I had winter tyres, so I've just bought a set of Vredestein Snowtrac 3 tyres for my 1972 MG Midget. As it is really and Autotest car it has a Quaife LSD as well. Absolutely magic in the snow, I even take the back roads into Aberdeen because few other people do and it is more fun and quicker. A couple of weeks ago, I rounded a bend and on the steep uphill section, a Land Rover Discovery was kindly towing a hatcthback up to the top of the hill and in front of me was a Vauxhall people carrier and an Audi 4wd saloon. The driver of the Vauxhall was well and truly stuck, so he ejected his school children passengers and asked the Audi driver for help to give them a push. I got bored and simply pulled past them on the snow, pulled in in front of the Vauxhall, got out with my tow rope and offered to tow him up the hill. If a Disco can, a Midget can! He looked a bit disbelieving but attached the rope anyway. I got my boot down and we surged up the hill with absolutely no problem at all. It looked a bit odd with the complete size mismatch but that is the difference with the tyres.

So save your life and other lives and get some snow tyres on a spare set of rims!

Ian

[Rindergulasch]

Disclaimer: I know I'm supposed to get to know the site and read posts and comments for 14 days before commenting, and I've only just registered, but I've been reading posts, threads and comments on this site for at least 3 years now.

The winter-tyres-in-the-UK debate being a recurring topic, I just wanted to add my opinion.

I may be wrong, but in really wet conditions, my feeling is that I've got more grip and traction on winter tyres. I'm no UK resident, and you're writing here that there's not a lot of snow in southern England or city centres, but isn't the UK famous for having lots of rain?

[Rindergulasch]

Birzzles said:

Interesting to know if BMW are ok on winter tyres. My experience with 2mm of snow in a 520 and with some snow or indeed anything slightly slippy in my 320 means that i wouldnt risk having both cars RWD. I suspect winter tyres would still not give a BMW the traction of a front wheel drive focus? As a result my next car has to be FWD or 4WD to go with my RWD BMW, which has to stay indoors if it is cold out.

In snowy weather, you'd be much better off with a RWD car on snow tyres than with a FWD car on summer tyres.

[Podie]

Rindergulasch said:

Birzzles said:

Interesting to know if BMW are ok on winter tyres. My experience with 2mm of snow in a 520 and with some snow or indeed anything slightly slippy in my 320 means that i wouldnt risk having both cars RWD. I suspect winter tyres would still not give a BMW the traction of a front wheel drive focus? As a result my next car has to be FWD or 4WD to go with my RWD BMW, which has to stay indoors if it is cold out.

In snowy weather, you'd be much better off with a RWD car on snow tyres than with a FWD car on summer tyres.

A set of winters will cost less than changing car - they will transform the BMW, RWD or not.

[Wills2]

Kawasicki said:

Winter tyres have very poor grip on ice.

Compared to summer tyres? Of course the threshold of grip is low compared to dry/wet tarmac but you stand a chance with winters as this vid shows.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWwK7kx7V44

Edited by Wills2 on Sunday 10th February 13:08

[Caractacus]

Wills2 said:

Compared to summer tyres? Of course the threshold of grip is low compared to dry/wet tarmac but you stand a chance with winters as this vid shows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWwK7kx7V44

Edited by Wills2 on Sunday 10th February 13:08

Surely this is a great example of how to conduct a test. Same cars, same driver, same temperature, same 'road' surface, same speeds.

The results were conclusive.

Now, I admit, we don't have dedicated winter tyres as all the vehicles we drive here have either BFG AT's or General Grabber AT's (all land Rovers). But, if we ever have a 'normal' car there will be winters for it when the temps drop. Decent winter tyres make diving in lower (sub 7 deg) temps far safer.

[JREwing]

I don't think I ever have a problem to be honest, despite living in a very rural, relatively cold and snowy part of the country for many years. And I've only ever had two four wheel drive cars, and only one of them with even all-terrain tyres.

[Jorrocks]

I'm a convert, they're excellent in snow but more to the point they warm up properly in UK winter temperatures. (Most manufacturers seem to say 7 degrees C or less).
To the chap with the S2000 I'd say that yes, summers are probably fine, but a set of winters are an order of magnitude better. Try a set, you'll be impressed I'm sure.

[USA64]

Here in New Jersey we get a lot of the wet snow and freezing slush shown in the Tire Rack vid. Back in the 70's I bought a '64 Catalina that came with worn studded tires. I got on to black ice unwittingly because I was distracted by a car ahead that had hit a tree. I was heading right for it, wheels locked, but the studs clawed me to a stop. It only has to work once to be worth it.

[Podie]

Snowing heavily in the Midlands - 2 inches in just over 90 minutes. 5am start.... glad we have winters on one of the cars.

[KM666]

Wouldn't simply fitting narrower wheels help in snowy and wet conditions? Less 'stuff' to displace must aid traction.

[jjones]

mine and the wifes car are wearing winters at the moment, should it be compulsory, not in my opinion.

[Kawasicki]

Wills2 said:

Kawasicki said:

Winter tyres have very poor grip on ice.

Compared to summer tyres? Of course the threshold of grip is low compared to dry/wet tarmac but you stand a chance with winters as this vid shows.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWwK7kx7V44

Edited by Wills2 on Sunday 10th February 13:08

Compared to the grip of winter tyres on snow. My advice to people driving on winter tyres is to take it very easy. The snow performance of a winter tyre might lead the driver into a fall sense of security, leading to issues on ice.

Also, the ice rink test is interesting, thanks for posting the link, but there are many variables that change tyre grip properties even on what looks like smooth ice.

[zygalski]

Forecast says 0-5 degrees for most of the week, then 10 or so at the weekend.
This winter tyre malarky is tough work on your hands!
Still, looking on the bright side, at least I'll only get smashed into & shouldn't do any smashing into anyone else

[Podie]

Roads weren't gritted, and the car just got on with it. I assume the Audi with the Quattro badge that was stuck on the link road was on summer tyres....

£340 well spent.

[Wills2]

Kawasicki said:

Compared to the grip of winter tyres on snow. My advice to people driving on winter tyres is to take it very easy. The snow performance of a winter tyre might lead the driver into a fall sense of security, leading to issues on ice.

Absolutely they are not invincible by any means, I look upon them as offering the ability to drive with care, whilst they do give increased grip in snowy icy conditions that increased grip must be treated for what it is, i.e the threshold may be quite low merely increased from summers.

[pSyCoSiS]

It's worth having winter wheels / tyres as a spare set as long as you can get them cheap enough (buy them in summer when they don't cvommand as much of a premium!).

Otherwise, they can be pretty expensive just to use for a few weeks of the year...