RE: Ringside Seat: winter tyred

[Batfink]

The mentality of what winter tyres are needs to change for them to be accepted. People think winter means snow.

They are simply better for cold weather use - which we seem to have rather a lot of. I'd say they are advantageous for at least 4 months of the year.

[LewisR]

pSyCoSiS said:

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 command as much of a premium!).

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

...but you don't just use them for 2 weeks of the year. Swap at the end of October, swap back end of March.

[zygalski]

LewisR said:

...but you don't just use them for 2 weeks of the year. Swap at the end of October, swap back end of March.

Is it ok to drive them in 15 degrees in the middle of November?

[y2blade]

Podie said:

Roads weren't gritted, and the car just got on with it. I assume the Audi with the Quattro badge that was stuck on, was in fact a FWD tdi S-line.....

EFA.

[g3org3y]

zygalski said:

LewisR said:

...but you don't just use them for 2 weeks of the year. Swap at the end of October, swap back end of March.

Is it ok to drive them in 15 degrees in the middle of November?

Yes.

[Wills2]

g3org3y said:

zygalski said:

LewisR said:

...but you don't just use them for 2 weeks of the year. Swap at the end of October, swap back end of March.

Is it ok to drive them in 15 degrees in the middle of November?

Yes.

With the summers we don't get it's a safe bet you can drive round with them on all year round. (naturally if you've a fast smarty pants car you'd want to change them) but for the majority of standard cars no one would ever know the difference.

[McWigglebum3rd]

zygalski said:

Is it ok to drive them in 15 degrees in the middle of November?

No instant death in a ball of fire

Where as summer tyres can be used safely with no difference to performance down to about 3 kelvin

[f328nvl]

Winter tyres make sense when the weather is predictable. If it isn't, it's just an opportunistic way to try and panic us into buying more stuff. I'm off to fix the millenium bug before checking my dot com shares.

[V8 TEJ]

No winter tyres for me either. 300 miles covered every week come rain/shine or snow

No ABS or T/C either :-)


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[Podie]

y2blade said:

Podie said:

Roads weren't gritted, and the car just got on with it. I assume the Audi with the Quattro badge that was stuck on, was in fact a FWD tdi S-line.....

EFA.

[Bogracer]

I keep a set of winter tyres for my BMW's it's the difference between getting totally stuck to easily a little smugly passing Q7's, RR Sports and the like on low profile summer rubber sitting on hills spinning one wheel, then the other. The right rubber makes a huge difference. You can even go rally mad on the empty roads, drifting around islands, Scandinavian flicks a plenty!

[RDMcG]

My street the other day. Not possible to navigate this without snows

[zygalski]

V8 TEJ said:

No winter tyres for me either. 300 miles covered every week come rain/shine or snow

No ABS or T/C either :-)


image ru

Think of the children!!!!

[g3org3y]

V8 TEJ said:

No winter tyres for me either. 300 miles covered every week come rain/shine or snow

No ABS or T/C either :-)


image ru

So. Much. Win.

[Podie]

V8 TEJ said:

No winter tyres for me either. 300 miles covered every week come rain/shine or snow

No ABS or T/C either :-)


image ru

Firstly - lovely looking example.

What size/profile are those tyres? Been reading recently that the increase of over-wheeled cars and rubber band tyres makes things worse.

Interestingly, my Chimaera (15/16 wheels with 50/55 profile tyres) was far better in the snow than my current Mondeo with 18 wheels on 40 profile tyres.

[Zod]

zygalski said:

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

You are not seriously suggesting that you will change your wheels or tyres this weekend just because the maximum temperature will hit 10 degrees?

[V8 TEJ]

Podie said:

Firstly - lovely looking example.

What size/profile are those tyres? Been reading recently that the increase of over-wheeled cars and rubber band tyres makes things worse.

Interestingly, my Chimaera (15/16 wheels with 50/55 profile tyres) was far better in the snow than my current Mondeo with 18 wheels on 40 profile tyres.

Thanks :-)

Yes I too agree that the big wheels/low profiles that cars have now seem to make winter/snow driving more difficult. My tyres are 195/70/R14! Yes 70 profile tyres! but I love them and will not be changing to 17" BBS style wheels which was the original plan. A pic of the car without snow on it.


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All the potholes/cracked roads that have been caused as a result of the ice also make low profiles (imo) a bad idea. You can find yourself coming round a blind corner only to find a sharp edge of damaged tarmac right inline with your wheel and BANG! not so the case with high profiles which I have gone back to after years of fitting bigger wheels. I think they do help in the snow for sure.

This is also evident in the pic below that my Wife's much more modern car on 225/40/R18 parked alongside, is snowed under while the old shed ploughs on regardless.


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