Winter tyres vol 2

[jon-]

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

[Squishey]

Still got mine on but mainly due to not getting round to having my other wheels refurbed yet. I'll be going back to summer wheels/tyres in the next couple of weeks.

I saw 2.5 centigrade and a sprinkling of frost in low lying areas of Kent this morning.

[RicksAlfas]

Still got mine on.
It's below 3 degrees every morning and I've scraped the windows clear a few times recently. I've also got in the back of my mind that last year's big snow was end of March so I'll keep them on a couple of weeks longer.

[smiffy180]

I'll be leaving mine on, only do about 4k miles a year

[chrisw666]

The ones for SWMBO's car are still in the garage with the labels on, was going to get them fitted before xmas, then left it as her car wasn't being used for a few weeks and its got warmer since.

[tenohfive]

RicksAlfas said:

Still got mine on.
It's below 3 degrees every morning and I've scraped the windows clear a few times recently. I've also got in the back of my mind that last year's big snow was end of March so I'll keep them on a couple of weeks longer.

Me too. I've only got one set of wheels for this car which have the winters on and I've not even started looking for a new set to stick summers on - toying with running winters year round. Will probably decide beginning of April and aim to have them on by the end of the month if I do decide to switch.

[FurtiveFreddy]

I'll be leaving mine on all year. Perfect for the snow we're going to get in August

[page3]

jon- said:

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

Every day forecast to be below 7deg here in bucks.

[RizzoTheRat]

jon- said:

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

It's been 3 or 4 degrees and I've had to scrape the ice off my car every morning so far this week in Hampshire. Up to about 8 or 9 degrees on the way home though. They've still not filled in many of the potholes so I'm sticking with my winter shot 16" steelies rather than 18" alloys for now

smn159 said:

Yep mine too. Had an 'interesting' time removing the o/s/r wheel which was stuck fast to the hub - under up using a ratchet strap and the Land Rover to shock it free!

Need to file out the centres a bit for next year as the powder coating has made them fit a bit too snugly!

I wiped a bit of ACF50 round the central boss last year and they came off with no trouble at all the next time, unlike the previous year when I had to put the car on an axle stand so I could beat the crap out of one of the rear wheels.

[anonymous-user]

page3 said:

jon- said:

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

Every day forecast to be below 7deg here in bucks.

Which Bucks is that? It's mid teens here in the South during the day.

[ATM]

St John Smythe said:

page3 said:

jon- said:

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

Every day forecast to be below 7deg here in bucks.

Which Bucks is that? It's mid teens here in the South during the day.

Near Southampton yesterday it was -2c at 6am.

[Dog Star]

jon- said:

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

I'm hanging on as long as reasonably possible; mid-April or so.

My car goes back end of May and if I time things right the summers that are going back on will be ok and I won't need to replace the rears. (I'm having the same model again so my winters will still be good for me next year).

ETA - I'd actually like to keep the winters on - they much nicer comfortwise, and although they can get a bit "mushy" I still prefer them.

[marshalla]

Mine didn't work very well yesterday morning.



Fortunately, the damage was limited to a couple of lenses a bit of loose trim becoming looser.

[smn159]

page3 said:

jon- said:

Anyone still got winters on? It must be switch over point now, nothing below 5c on the 5 day forecast for north Herts.

Every day forecast to be below 7deg here in bucks.

What looked to be a bad accident on the A413 heading south out of Aylesbury on Tuesday morning, with the road being closed for a few hours. Conditions were pretty bad and extremely slippery, probably for the first time this year (and the week after my winters came off). I ended up working from home as the sourrounding roads were fairly well gridlocked.

Temps into the teens during the day though...

[andyps]

marshalla said:

Mine didn't work very well yesterday morning.



Fortunately, the damage was limited to a couple of lenses a bit of loose trim becoming looser.

Sorry to see that but glad you and they car are OK.

[RicksAlfas]

marshalla said:

Mine didn't work very well yesterday morning.



Fortunately, the damage was limited to a couple of lenses a bit of loose trim becoming looser.

Ouch. Sorry to see that. Presumably that reflector post just popped straight back up, batcave style?

[mad4amanda]

Foppo said:

I'm surprised in 2014 drivers have to mess about with tyres swapping summer and winter.

Not surprised the majority of people don't bother.My cousin in the Netherlands uses all season tyres I believe a German tyre supposed to be the best.Isn't that the way to go?

Funny you should say that ; after 4 years use including 2 complete years my Toyo Snowproxes were down to 2.5 mm and felt really bad so I decided to try some all seasons with snowflake symbol. I went for std sized vredstein Quartrac which happen to be Dutch. Certainly compared to worn out winters they are brilliant in wet cold conditions, will wait and see how they do in the rest of the weathers.
I went for these because they are a compromise tyre for a compromise car , its the family run about an old Mercedes C class 220 cdi estate with an Auto box. It doesn't get caned to the limit I just wanted a tyre that would safely get us about in all conditions.
Will report back how they are in the summer and snow and Ice in time.

[RammyMP]

marshalla said:

Mine didn't work very well yesterday morning.



Fortunately, the damage was limited to a couple of lenses a bit of loose trim becoming looser.

Was the temperature above 7 degrees, because apparently winter tyres only grip below that temperature?

[Bill]

Glad you and the car are ok. How did it happen?

[marshalla]

Bill said:

Glad you and the car are ok. How did it happen?

To answer a few questions, according to the locals - *everyone* goes into that ditch.

I was pottering along (25-30 mph, honest!) but had to take avoiding action because of a big wagon with two wheels over the white line coming the other way. Front wheels locked, lost grip and steering ability...I suspect a bit of late morning frost coupled with absence of driver talent. Temperature must have been about 6.99999 degrees C

The bollards are just curved bits of plastic so they fold and pop up. I had a "moment" when I saw it approaching...

I think the mud helped to scrub off a lot of speed so the impact wasn't bad - it felt more like a parking shunt than anything else.

Luckily, it landed with the ARB mount on a tree stump in the bottom of the ditch and the diff carrier on the concrete culvert.

Now, the good bit - it happened here (zoom out and go up and left a bit for the irony)

Seems to drive OK though - got to Surrey last night and am heading home today without any obvious mechanical problems, and I have spares for everything that's damaged in my big box of things I'll never need.

The "nice" thing, if there was one, was the sheer number of people who stopped to check that I was OK and offer assistance. Humanity ain't all bad.