Winter tyres vol 2

[HustleRussell]

untakenname said:

Surely its best to have the best tyres on the driven wheels?
I've currently got federal rsr 595 tyres on the front of my car with 2mm of tread and rainsports on the back with 7mm, went for a prebooked service a couple of days back in a rural location and it was very hairy, car understeered everywhere and kept on following the camber of the road and the only way to bring it back in line was to repeatedly break traction by spinning up the rear wheels.
Nearly got stranded so I'm not driving in the snow till I get better tyres on it.
Still pleased I put the best tyres on the back though as there was no way I would have got up the hills.
Dashcam here if anyones interested (some nsfw language)
https://youtu.be/jNTchKRiyCk

Obviously you should've stayed at home

Anyway if you'd had the better tyres on the front you might not have got far enough to crash into that bush which IMO would've been a good thing.

[Speed addicted]

Podie said:

Anyone tried the Cross Climate tyres?

Yup, had them in the Subaru for a while before a borked knee meant automatic cars only.
Very decent, probably as good as winters were a few years ago, but obviously not as good as the best winters available now.

My dad has them on his Peugeot eatate and has been fine trundling about in the current conditions, in NE Scotland where it's all gone a bit mental just now.

They're really good for something that also works just fine in summer. I think they're amongst the best all season tyres.

[8bit]

Podie said:

Anyone tried the Cross Climate tyres?

Not the Michelin ones specifically but I had a set of Vredestein all-season tyres fitted to the wife's M class just before Christmas and with the weather we've had this week I'm glad I did - they're excellent, granted it's a heavy AWD car but you really have to try quite hard to make it break traction on snow and ice. Grip very well on wet weather, resist aquaplaning well and perfectly fine on dry tarmac too. It's the Vredestein Quatrac 5 ones we have.

[untakenname]

HustleRussell said:

Obviously you should've stayed at home

Anyway if you'd had the better tyres on the front you might not have got far enough to crash into that bush which IMO would've been a good thing.

I'd taken the day off work plus there wasn't even any snow on the roads locally to me when I set off, thought it was just the media hyping up the lightest dusting of snow and by the time the snow was settled and deep I was already too far to turn back.
Edit: plus I had no mot (was going to a prebooked service then mot) so if I turned back then I'd be breaking the law.

Edited by untakenname on Friday 2nd March 16:05

[tenohfive]

8bit said:

Podie said:

Anyone tried the Cross Climate tyres?

Not the Michelin ones specifically but I had a set of Vredestein all-season tyres fitted to the wife's M class just before Christmas and with the weather we've had this week I'm glad I did - they're excellent, granted it's a heavy AWD car but you really have to try quite hard to make it break traction on snow and ice. Grip very well on wet weather, resist aquaplaning well and perfectly fine on dry tarmac too. It's the Vredestein Quatrac 5 ones we have.

I put Quatrac 5's on SWMBO's shopping cart. Coped brilliantly with the last load of snow we had (which actually amounted to more laying snow on the roads where we are.) I'd have gone for CrossClimates but they didn't do them in her size. And I've no regrets - being light, small, and quite torque-y the car was unstoppable. (Well, apart from where I got over exuberant and took it into drifts that caused it to ground out.)

I do however have CrossClimates on my car- a heavy, auto (albeit FWD) estate. I can't say how good they are because quite frankly I haven't found their limit yet. I've done hill starts on compacted snow forwards and in reverse, poodled around on that horrible frozen slush, put my foot down and braked heavily on snow covered roads..no dramas. Smashing through drifts covering half the road - with one side on semi-exposed tarmac - no issue. Driving sensibly it always gripped, always stuck to the bends (including at somewhat uncomfortable speeds for a big, heavy family car) and it was only with deliberately aggressive throttle inputs on bends that it'd twitch a bit - where I was trying to break grip.

So, no complaints so far. But because conditions haven't been terrible and because they're replacing the budget tyres the car came with, I've not got the best frame of reference.

I'll say this - I'm happy with CrossClimates, but I'd strongly consider the Gen 2 Vector4Seasons. I had the first gen on a previous car and they were brilliant in snow - they did get properly tested and never failed me. V4S2 and CC's were the ones I was choosing from - I went with CC's as they were easier to get, and I was buying last week with this weeks weather in mind.

[SlimJim16v]

RSR595s are track day tyres, so what did you expect.

[Podie]

tenohfive said:

8bit said:

Podie said:

Anyone tried the Cross Climate tyres?

Not the Michelin ones specifically but I had a set of Vredestein all-season tyres fitted to the wife's M class just before Christmas and with the weather we've had this week I'm glad I did - they're excellent, granted it's a heavy AWD car but you really have to try quite hard to make it break traction on snow and ice. Grip very well on wet weather, resist aquaplaning well and perfectly fine on dry tarmac too. It's the Vredestein Quatrac 5 ones we have.

I put Quatrac 5's on SWMBO's shopping cart. Coped brilliantly with the last load of snow we had (which actually amounted to more laying snow on the roads where we are.) I'd have gone for CrossClimates but they didn't do them in her size. And I've no regrets - being light, small, and quite torque-y the car was unstoppable. (Well, apart from where I got over exuberant and took it into drifts that caused it to ground out.)

I do however have CrossClimates on my car- a heavy, auto (albeit FWD) estate. I can't say how good they are because quite frankly I haven't found their limit yet. I've done hill starts on compacted snow forwards and in reverse, poodled around on that horrible frozen slush, put my foot down and braked heavily on snow covered roads..no dramas. Smashing through drifts covering half the road - with one side on semi-exposed tarmac - no issue. Driving sensibly it always gripped, always stuck to the bends (including at somewhat uncomfortable speeds for a big, heavy family car) and it was only with deliberately aggressive throttle inputs on bends that it'd twitch a bit - where I was trying to break grip.

So, no complaints so far. But because conditions haven't been terrible and because they're replacing the budget tyres the car came with, I've not got the best frame of reference.

I'll say this - I'm happy with CrossClimates, but I'd strongly consider the Gen 2 Vector4Seasons. I had the first gen on a previous car and they were brilliant in snow - they did get properly tested and never failed me. V4S2 and CC's were the ones I was choosing from - I went with CC's as they were easier to get, and I was buying last week with this weeks weather in mind.

I expected them to be so eth No of a compromise, but sounds like they’re actually pretty good.

[DamienB]

Podie said:

Anyone tried the Cross Climate tyres?

Second winter on them. Pretty pleased now I've finally had the chance to try them in some properly challenging conditions.

I got home from work yesterday via snow covered backroads without a moment's issue, up and down hills, hard packed snow, fresh snow, they didn't care. Problem is sooner or later you reach a point where everybody else has to go through and then you're queuing with all the people incapable of getting up that hill or out of that junction.

Feeling invincible today, I lost the back end briefly on a downhill curve on a hard packed bit of snow and ice, but just let the car sort itself out and happily had the room to do so. I'd been playing in the works car park earlier to see how/when it would lose grip and what was the best way to recover, and glad I did!

Braking performance is noticeably better than most of the other cars round me, by which to say mine is scarily bad on snow, and theirs is non-existent.

[Zod]

in the last few days, I've driven X5 on winter tyres, courtesy X5 on summer tyres, old Polo on whatever is on it and V12 Vantage on winter tyres.

The only car I didn't enjoy was the X5 on summer tyres, because its braking distances were utterly awful. I reckon they were at least doubled.

[Evanivitch]

DamienB said:

Second winter on them. Pretty pleased now I've finally had the chance to try them in some properly challenging conditions.

Good to hear. Struggling to justify the near 50% premium for the cross climates but they do continue to get race reviews.

[anonymous-user]

DamienB said:

Podie said:

Anyone tried the Cross Climate tyres?

Second winter on them. Pretty pleased now I've finally had the chance to try them in some properly challenging conditions.

I got home from work yesterday via snow covered backroads without a moment's issue, up and down hills, hard packed snow, fresh snow, they didn't care. Problem is sooner or later you reach a point where everybody else has to go through and then you're queuing with all the people incapable of getting up that hill or out of that junction.

Feeling invincible today, I lost the back end briefly on a downhill curve on a hard packed bit of snow and ice, but just let the car sort itself out and happily had the room to do so. I'd been playing in the works car park earlier to see how/when it would lose grip and what was the best way to recover, and glad I did!

Braking performance is noticeably better than most of the other cars round me, by which to say mine is scarily bad on snow, and theirs is non-existent.

Quite amusing that winter tyres seem to have lulled you into a false sense of security & nearly stacked it, when those on ‘normal’ tyres drove to the conditions & didnt

[tenohfive]

Jimboka said:

Quite amusing that winter tyres seem to have lulled you into a false sense of security & nearly stacked it, when those on ‘normal’ tyres drove to the conditions & didnt

I think you're making some big assumptions there. Chiefly, that those on summer a) drove to the conditions and b) didn't stack it there.
I've both seen the aftermath of and heard accounts of plenty on summers who did stack it in the snow.

[Watchman]

After running Nokians on my Legacy for years, I'm pleased to discover they make some in a size suitable for the (frankly) daft wheels on my GL, so I have ordered a set. It's too late for this winter but I'll have them for next now.

The Continental Cross Contacts that are the standard fitment on the GL with the 21" wheels are not intended for winter use but the combination of the 4WD, the sheer weight of the car, and my being very sensible (for a change) has meant I've not got stuck anywhere. In fact, despite being held up in four separate places by people who were totally unequipped for the snow (and yet decided they would venture out anyway), and my 18 mile drive home taking 1 hour 40 mins instead of the usual 25 mins, the car and its tyres proved remarkably steady.

Granted, I was overtaken by people with confidence enough to use the outside lanes of the dual carriageways, but they were probably on winter tyres. I remember the Legacy being invincible in these conditions. The GL does not inspire the confidence to drive quickly, so I don't. I hope a set of winters will bring the trust back to my drive that I used to enjoy.

[qska]

untakenname said:

Surely its best to have the best tyres on the driven wheels?
I've currently got federal rsr 595 tyres on the front of my car with 2mm of tread and rainsports on the back with 7mm, went for a prebooked service a couple of days back in a rural location and it was very hairy, car understeered everywhere and kept on following the camber of the road and the only way to bring it back in line was to repeatedly break traction by spinning up the rear wheels.
Nearly got stranded so I'm not driving in the snow till I get better tyres on it.
Still pleased I put the best tyres on the back though as there was no way I would have got up the hills.
Dashcam here if anyones interested (some nsfw language)
https://youtu.be/jNTchKRiyCk

That was proper dangerous driving in that clip.

The MOT was a poor excuse, there's always another day.

I hope we don't live close by.

[Speed addicted]

qska said:

untakenname said:

Surely its best to have the best tyres on the driven wheels?
I've currently got federal rsr 595 tyres on the front of my car with 2mm of tread and rainsports on the back with 7mm, went for a prebooked service a couple of days back in a rural location and it was very hairy, car understeered everywhere and kept on following the camber of the road and the only way to bring it back in line was to repeatedly break traction by spinning up the rear wheels.
Nearly got stranded so I'm not driving in the snow till I get better tyres on it.
Still pleased I put the best tyres on the back though as there was no way I would have got up the hills.
Dashcam here if anyones interested (some nsfw language)
https://youtu.be/jNTchKRiyCk

That was proper dangerous driving in that clip.

The MOT was a poor excuse, there's always another day.

I hope we don't live close by.

That's a dusting of snow, the roads look to be in pretty good condition and are not white with hard packed snow. You were simply driving too fast and too aggressively for the conditions and traction available.
It's still snowing here in Aberdeen, there are drifts about 4ft deep in places and the main roads (dual carriageways) have been in worse condition than anything in the clip. There have been road closures, and accidents but for the most part life goes on as normal.

[Countdown]

untakenname said:

Surely its best to have the best tyres on the driven wheels?
I've currently got federal rsr 595 tyres on the front of my car with 2mm of tread and rainsports on the back with 7mm, went for a prebooked service a couple of days back in a rural location and it was very hairy, car understeered everywhere and kept on following the camber of the road and the only way to bring it back in line was to repeatedly break traction by spinning up the rear wheels.
Nearly got stranded so I'm not driving in the snow till I get better tyres on it.
Still pleased I put the best tyres on the back though as there was no way I would have got up the hills.
Dashcam here if anyones interested (some nsfw language)
https://youtu.be/jNTchKRiyCk

You had a whole 2mm of tread on the front wheels and (driving the way you did in those conditions ) the car understeered everywhere?

Very perplexing.

[slipstream 1985]

Countdown said:

untakenname said:

Surely its best to have the best tyres on the driven wheels?
I've currently got federal rsr 595 tyres on the front of my car with 2mm of tread and rainsports on the back with 7mm, went for a prebooked service a couple of days back in a rural location and it was very hairy, car understeered everywhere and kept on following the camber of the road and the only way to bring it back in line was to repeatedly break traction by spinning up the rear wheels.
Nearly got stranded so I'm not driving in the snow till I get better tyres on it.
Still pleased I put the best tyres on the back though as there was no way I would have got up the hills.
Dashcam here if anyones interested (some nsfw language)
https://youtu.be/jNTchKRiyCk

You had a whole 2mm of tread on the front wheels and (driving the way you did in those conditions ) the car understeered everywhere?

Very perplexing.

Wow if that is the standard of driving from someone I would have assumed to at least be average to above average as you clearly have a passion for cars no wonder you southerners have so many issues when about 1 inch of snow falls.

[HustleRussell]

slipstream 1985 said:

Wow if that is the standard of driving from someone I would have assumed to at least be average to above average...

A fair assumption one would think, however your average driver doesn’t buy an RX7, put trackday tyres on the front, allow the MOT to lapse and then make an unnecessary journey in the snow to a closed garage and then come out with bullst like the below afterwards complaining about understeer as if he’s god’s gift to drifting

untakenname said:

Surely its best to have the best tyres on the driven wheels?

car understeered everywhere and kept on following the camber of the road and the only way to bring it back in line was to repeatedly break traction by spinning up the rear wheels.

The average motorist probably would’ve had the MOT done before it lapsed, or at least phoned ahead to check that the garage was open given the inclement weather. They certainly wouldn’t have worn out semi-slicks on the front. The average driver doesn’t want to slide about and end up in a bush so if they had to drive in the snow they probably would’ve driven more carefully. There’s not much positive we can say about this guy’s video, being an established member I’m a bit confused as to why he’d post the footage up

[Captain Smerc]

[DamienB]

Jimboka said:

Quite amusing that winter tyres seem to have lulled you into a false sense of security & nearly stacked it, when those on ‘normal’ tyres drove to the conditions & didnt

I'm pretty sure the guy who had a streetsign growing out of his engine bay on that corner the next day was on normal tyres

And 'stacked it' - if I had, I'm sure the 15mph impact with the kerb would have been truly horrifying.