RE: Ringside Seat: winter tyred
Discussion
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
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
excel monkey said:
alock said:
Another winter where I've managed just fine on my summer tyre equipped S2000. Commuted everyday from Winchester to Basingstoke without any issues.
Some people have a lifestyle where they feel they need winter tyres. Others don't.
And some people venture further north than Basingstoke!Some people have a lifestyle where they feel they need winter tyres. Others don't.
The only point I was making is that millions of us in the south cope just fine and hence any sort of legislation to mandate winter tyres for the whole of the UK is wrong.
I am a convert, snow, rain or just cold weather they are very useful confidence booster and allow me to have fun in my rear wheel drive car all year round. In the snow and ice they are the difference between moving or not moving.
I love my driving and specifically I love driving rear wheel drive cars, I respect 4 wheel drive just don't enjoy them, I am a Brit living in Denver, winter tyres allow me to have rear wheel drive car and enjoy it all year round. So not only are they great for safety they are fantastic for allowing me to choose rear wheel drive car and also for hooning around in the snow.....
without them I would end up having to drive an Audi A6 quattro or something, perfectly good car just lacking that grin factor.
I love my driving and specifically I love driving rear wheel drive cars, I respect 4 wheel drive just don't enjoy them, I am a Brit living in Denver, winter tyres allow me to have rear wheel drive car and enjoy it all year round. So not only are they great for safety they are fantastic for allowing me to choose rear wheel drive car and also for hooning around in the snow.....
without them I would end up having to drive an Audi A6 quattro or something, perfectly good car just lacking that grin factor.Edited by midtec on Friday 8th February 18:18
P2BS said:
The main vote against winter tyres seems to come from people who have no experience of them, but feel that their regular tyres are fine. From my years in Germany I know what difference winter tyres make, so I still change mine over come November, and put the summers back on in March. I keep 2 sets of wheels, so changeovers take me 30 mins on the drive.
My brother runs his 996 all year, and currently has Dunlop winter tyres on there when he was fed up of being immobile with his summer tyres on (he's somewhere on mainland Europe).
What I will add is that there are bad winter tyres, and good ones. Goodyear Ultragrips are amazing in the snow & cold, my current Toyo SnowProx's are ok... the cheaper you go, the lower your expectations should be.
Indeed... well said Sir. As with everything in life, you get what you pay for. I'm currently running ContiWinterContact tyres on my daily and have been using Winter boots ( in winter) on my other Daily cars since 2003, after spending a few winters driving in Scandinavia. My brother runs his 996 all year, and currently has Dunlop winter tyres on there when he was fed up of being immobile with his summer tyres on (he's somewhere on mainland Europe).
What I will add is that there are bad winter tyres, and good ones. Goodyear Ultragrips are amazing in the snow & cold, my current Toyo SnowProx's are ok... the cheaper you go, the lower your expectations should be.
jamespink 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.
Completely wrong assumption. ANY car will get around fine all winter if you fit winter tyres. If you have a FWD car you can get away with just the fronts (our works vans do every year) if RWD you will need them all round. A 400BHP RWD BMW and traction control on winters is just great fun!Dale said:
"So what?" I hear you cry. On Top Gear last Sunday the presenters said the same thing, effectively. they took the easy road of declaring winter tyres useful for only as long as Britain had snow. About two minutes a year I think they said.
I too cringed when I heard this ignorant f
kwittery. Unfortuantely this is all that many TG-quoting fools will need to carry on as they were, berating Winter tyres (clue: they arent called Snow tyres...).Many are found on PH, unfortunately.
vrsmxtb said:
I don't think a winter tyre law is appropriate for the UK as we do have a milder, island climate than continental Europe.
I do however feel there should be insurance savings incentives for those that choose to use them.
How would that work, when all those uninsured s41t boxes crash into the back of you on their threadbare cross plys?I do however feel there should be insurance savings incentives for those that choose to use them.
Winter tyres - £1200
Snowboard - £400
Tow Rope - £20
Ferrari - £xxk
= priceless
http://youtu.be/dSXgUc_N8Ww
Snowboard - £400
Tow Rope - £20
Ferrari - £xxk
= priceless
http://youtu.be/dSXgUc_N8Ww
After getting stuck in the snow again this year I took the plunge and bought a set of winter wheels and tyres for my M3. The result: A 14 Degree temperature rise within 2 days. Sod's Law!
If anyone is looking for any other weather miracles, I'll be happy to oblige.
I have to agree that traction is greatly improved in sub 7C temperatures but this is largely offset by the reduction in contact patch forced by the smaller cross section.
If anyone is looking for any other weather miracles, I'll be happy to oblige.
I have to agree that traction is greatly improved in sub 7C temperatures but this is largely offset by the reduction in contact patch forced by the smaller cross section.
Edited by CJP80 on Friday 8th February 21:19
Edited by CJP80 on Friday 8th February 21:19
Germans do know how to deal with the snow, this does however include making you responsible for keeping the pavement outside your house clear of snow. We have a pretty long section outside our house, which means lots of swearing at 6am as I shovel it away and then even more swearing at 7pm when I come home and have to do it all again. Oh and you're not allowed to use salt, that would make it too easy......
[quote=Reardy Mister]I just spent a week in the arctic circle (Rovaniemi and North to Levi) driving* on snow and ice covered roads in a bog stock Skoda something-or-other estate.
It had winter tyres with studs (Finland has the same Winter tyre law). We regularly saw 80mph through bends, 100mph on some straights, and cruised on 75mph most of the time.
-20 deg revealed the Skoda's door and window seals to be poor, rear heated screen useless, front windscreen wipers a waste of time, headlights to develop faults and in 1500kms, not nearly length in the seat area of the front seats.
But the winter tyre grip was nothing short of epic, a real eye-opener. To say nothing of the Finn's ability to deal with snow.
* I wasn't actually driving. My Finnish colleague was. I was mostly sat in the passenger seat. Praying.[/quote
I just got back from there last week and although I wasn't subject to those speeds, the Finns like most, cope well with the snow.
But the point is that they have a very "dry" kind of snow - hard to slide on in shoes. You can't even make snowballs out of it. Unlike Britain where you get black ice or genuinely icy conditions which would limit or render snow tyres less effective at best or useless at worst.
It had winter tyres with studs (Finland has the same Winter tyre law). We regularly saw 80mph through bends, 100mph on some straights, and cruised on 75mph most of the time.
-20 deg revealed the Skoda's door and window seals to be poor, rear heated screen useless, front windscreen wipers a waste of time, headlights to develop faults and in 1500kms, not nearly length in the seat area of the front seats.
But the winter tyre grip was nothing short of epic, a real eye-opener. To say nothing of the Finn's ability to deal with snow.
* I wasn't actually driving. My Finnish colleague was. I was mostly sat in the passenger seat. Praying.[/quote
I just got back from there last week and although I wasn't subject to those speeds, the Finns like most, cope well with the snow.
But the point is that they have a very "dry" kind of snow - hard to slide on in shoes. You can't even make snowballs out of it. Unlike Britain where you get black ice or genuinely icy conditions which would limit or render snow tyres less effective at best or useless at worst.
As a first post, I'm not going to be all Silver-Back about driving in the snow.
I bought a Subaru Forester a few months ago with a view to not having a car where the suspension dissolves after 6 months on my crappy drive to work (I've part-ex'd or sold some pretty baggy cars due to the pot-holed horror that is Sussex). I was under no illusions that it would magically transform snow into tarmac with it's 4 wheel drive and that I'd be sailing to work regardless of the conditions.
Come the first half decent covering of snow, I wasn't at all suprised to find that, while 4-wheel drive got the Fozza moving well enough, stopping all that momentum on four patches of rubber was at best, equal to all other cars in those conditions.
When the summer rolls around, I'll be searching out some steelies and some decent Winter tyres to replace the Continentals (which I'm not keen on anyway) when the chilly period comes around again.
As a side note, the best car I've driven in the snow was my old Citroen C1 with it's pram tyres chopping through the slush. Great fun!
I bought a Subaru Forester a few months ago with a view to not having a car where the suspension dissolves after 6 months on my crappy drive to work (I've part-ex'd or sold some pretty baggy cars due to the pot-holed horror that is Sussex). I was under no illusions that it would magically transform snow into tarmac with it's 4 wheel drive and that I'd be sailing to work regardless of the conditions.
Come the first half decent covering of snow, I wasn't at all suprised to find that, while 4-wheel drive got the Fozza moving well enough, stopping all that momentum on four patches of rubber was at best, equal to all other cars in those conditions.
When the summer rolls around, I'll be searching out some steelies and some decent Winter tyres to replace the Continentals (which I'm not keen on anyway) when the chilly period comes around again.
As a side note, the best car I've driven in the snow was my old Citroen C1 with it's pram tyres chopping through the slush. Great fun!
My last set of winters stayed on all year and lasted 45000km,driving on Pyrenean roads which aren't the best.They were on a Pathfinder before that we had a Passat fitted with Eco tyres as it was a bluemotion,they lasted a pathetic 20000km.
I would have no hesitation leaving winters on all year.
I would have no hesitation leaving winters on all year.
Why don't UK spec cars have all season M+S tyres fitted as standard like they do in the USA? It snows in the US, everything carries on largely as normal. It gets super hot too, everything carries on as normal. 99% of cars have all season M+S tyres fitted year round, and people here only know how to drive badly, regardless of the conditions.
Would keep things moving much better and overall more safely throughout the year, and the UK has a climate that is much more in the sweet spot of all season tyres than the US.
Would keep things moving much better and overall more safely throughout the year, and the UK has a climate that is much more in the sweet spot of all season tyres than the US.
Thud_Mcguffin said:
Oh and you're not allowed to use salt, that would make it too easy......
What's the beef with this? I shovel away morning and night, then spread salt every few days. I mean, they thrust it upon you at every garage forecourt and supermarket checkout. I thought "why not?"I got such an apoleptic b
king off the landlord the other night, and nobody's said why. Certainly he didn't!Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff