Winter tyres vol 2

[ChocolateFrog]

Sheepshanks said:

ChocolateFrog said:

I've got a SS EV through work.

Why 'normal' cars don't come as standard on all season tyres in this country is beyond me.

Felt very sketchy driving home at 0030 this morning and there's no way I'm putting winters tyres on the lease out of my own pocket.

I guess they mess the figures for efficiency and braking up ever so slightly.

Got a new EV on the way and I'm resigned to immediately replacing the tyres with CrossClimates - they're on offer at Coscto right now so I'm hoping I can order them without having the car.

We looked at nearly new Volvo XC40's and they had All Seasons - but weirdly the new XE40 is on summers.

I think if it was a regular lease I'd be tempted to do the same but as tyres are rolled into the cost of the SS scheme I'm loathe to do it.

The OHs car which we own has CC2 on. Ideal conditions for them this week.

[Konan]

mikeswagon said:

NE Scotland here, getting my winters swapped back on tomorrow

Spare a thought for what we're going through in the East of England.

[RichardM5]

Konan said:

Spare a thought for what we're going through in the East of England.

Better put a safety sign out, just in case someone slips and hurts themselves on it.

[blearyeyedboy]

Konan said:

Spare a thought for what we're going through in the East of England.

And there in a nutshell is why I'm happy with the compromise of the CC for the East of England.

When I needed to get out in Somerset snow in a previous career path, I had full winter tyres on.

[irc]

Today was winter tyres day just north of Glasgow. Main roads a mix of slush and areas of packed snow. Numerous cars abandoned on the pavements as they couldn't get into the side streets. With fwd and Goodyear Vectors no drama.

[Downward]

Storm Bert now and temps of about 14 or 15. Gonna delay putting the winters in a week or so

[blueST]

I had a good run up the M62/M1/A1 from Lancs to North Yorkshire today through snow, monsoon rain, snow again and slush. The Cross Climate 2s were superb on all surface. I'm especially pleased with the very wet motorway performance. I think they've had some criticism for that in reviews, but they felt rock solid to me cutting through the many not so little rivers crossing the carriageway. The have got 15k miles on them too, so not brand new.

[colin79666]

Reminded again today that while winter tyres on my own car are great, unfortunately most people don't bother.

Sat waiting at the top of a local hill as cars took it one at a time to make the descent and very nearly got hit up the back by a van. Fortunately I'd given myself quite a gap to the car in front and was keeping an eye on my mirror so I was able to quickly dart forward and round them to escape.

I can't understand why with the climate we have that all weather/season tyres aren't standard fit on regular cars and vans.

No bother today getting about with Continental T870s on the Swift Sport.

Edited by colin79666 on Saturday 23 November 16:45

[bolidemichael]

I’d’ve loved to have put all seasons on our fleet of panel vans but it would’ve been a very expensive affair, a waste of new summer OEM tyres and an expensive way to keep replacing the frequent punctures and kerb damage to sidewalls necessitating replacement.

[21st Century Man]

colin79666 said:

I can't understand why with the climate we have that all weather/season tyres aren't standard fit on regular cars and vans.

They'd only be on the car for the first few years anyway, after that it'd be "Whatever's cheapest".

[E-bmw]

21st Century Man said:

colin79666 said:

I can't understand why with the climate we have that all weather/season tyres aren't standard fit on regular cars and vans.

They'd only be on the car for the first few years anyway, after that it'd be "Whatever's cheapest".

Yes, but the tyre chimp said they were actually made by Michelin/Continental, so they must be good.........

[Davie]

Finally saw some snow in the lower lying parts of Central Scotland on Saturday so ventured out to find a suitable sledging location. Recently changed to the Quatrac 6's and they coped well with a layer of wet, slushy stuff and seemed good on harder packed snow right up until the point I did a U turn in a empty forest car park and beached it in about 8" of snow.

30 mins of digging it out with my little boys sledge and using a 3ft breaker bar to hack away the snow that that front end was sitting hard on... and then it reversed out whilst removing part of the front bumper trims in the process. My 7yr old, who'd been happily sledging and lobbing snowballs whilst also getting involved digging, deemed this to have been brilliant fun.

So yes, very impressed with the tyres but having run an XC70 AWD on Quatracs last winter, this time I should probably factor in front wheel drive and a vastly reduced ground clearance and lower my expectations accordingly!

[ST565NP]

bolidemichael said:

I’d’ve loved to have put all seasons on our fleet of panel vans but it would’ve been a very expensive affair, a waste of new summer OEM tyres and an expensive way to keep replacing the frequent punctures and kerb damage to sidewalls necessitating replacement.

If these vans are all the same, i.e. have the same size tyres, maybe try it on one van, and use the tyres from that one to replace summers on other vans? And slowly change them all? Just a thought...

[Speed addicted]

Davie said:

Finally saw some snow in the lower lying parts of Central Scotland on Saturday so ventured out to find a suitable sledging location. Recently changed to the Quatrac 6's and they coped well with a layer of wet, slushy stuff and seemed good on harder packed snow right up until the point I did a U turn in a empty forest car park and beached it in about 8" of snow.

30 mins of digging it out with my little boys sledge and using a 3ft breaker bar to hack away the snow that that front end was sitting hard on... and then it reversed out whilst removing part of the front bumper trims in the process. My 7yr old, who'd been happily sledging and lobbing snowballs whilst also getting involved digging, deemed this to have been brilliant fun.

So yes, very impressed with the tyres but having run an XC70 AWD on Quatracs last winter, this time I should probably factor in front wheel drive and a vastly reduced ground clearance and lower my expectations accordingly!

I had pretty much convinced myself that I could go back to having a car rather than the slow and fairly thirsty pickup, even though I live up a single track road in Aberdeenshire.
Then last week I needed to take a different route back from dropping my son at nursery. There was drifting snow on the road that was deep enough to be hitting the bottom of the truck, so more than 200mm.
The old L200 just trundled through it with no issues at all.

There’s a lot to be said for 4wd, chunky tyres and some height! The Michelin latitude tyres are coping even though they’re down to 4-5mm after about 35k miles.

[irc]

bolidemichael said:

I’d’ve loved to have put all seasons on our fleet of panel vans but it would’ve been a very expensive affair, a waste of new summer OEM tyres

When I bought my Skoda all season tyres were a £150 (for four) option. I am surprised more makers don't offer this. But then the average UK driver would not know what all seasons are.

[Davie]

Speed addicted said:

There’s a lot to be said for 4wd, chunky tyres and some height! .

That's an interesting point as previously I've run a couple of XC70's and whilst not "proper" by any means, certainly a bit more capable than your average 2wd car. When I sold my last one, I really struggled to see beyond AWD / 4x4 despite people saying "Oh, you'll never need it" or "Just put good tyres on, it'll be fine" and whilst I never bought into that, the replacement is also FWD and it's fine. Until it's not

My wife drove it to a farm park couple of weeks back and parking was on a slight slope, wet, muddy and so she duly pointed it straight at it and despite the all season tyres, failure to proceed happened rather quickly. She was completely confused by this and even asked what was happening. What's happening is it's sat here, spinning on wheel pathetically whilst we go nowhere. Which is exactly what the other car did on Saturday having been pointed at some slightly deeper snow.

In both situations the XC70 wouldn't have even broken a sweat - which is why I find myself on the classifieds "browsing... just looking... honest"

[Speed addicted]

Davie said:

In both situations the XC70 wouldn't have even broken a sweat - which is why I find myself on the classifieds "browsing... just looking... honest"

I’d only look at 4wd simply due to where we live, I’d convinced myself that a 5 series with Xdrive and all seasons would do but it just wouldn’t get through drifts or be able to clamber up verges to get round people that can’t work passing places.

My problem is that when I think about my car needs I keep ending back at the pickup I have! As a serial car changer this is causing me issues.

I think once you’ve got used to having vehicles that can just go wherever you point them it’s difficult to get back to something less capable.

[MustangGT]

I believe in thinking out of the box. For a local run around a Panda 4x4 is great here in Cumbria. For longer distances it is not pleasant enough so I now have a Ssangyong Tivoli 4wd. Fiesta-sized hatchback, diesel manual, 50mpg, sat-nav, front/rear sensors, rear camera, cruise control, heated leather seats. Mine is 6 years old with less than 60k on the clock for less than £7.5k.

[Smint]

Speed addicted said:

I’d only look at 4wd simply due to where we live, I’d convinced myself that a 5 series with Xdrive and all seasons would do but it just wouldn’t get through drifts or be able to clamber up verges to get round people that can’t work passing places.

My problem is that when I think about my car needs I keep ending back at the pickup I have! As a serial car changer this is causing me issues.

I think once you’ve got used to having vehicles that can just go wherever you point them it’s difficult to get back to something less capable.

That last sentence is the absolute truth, i start work between 3 and 4am most mornings, not starting or getting there without any issues is non negotiable.

[Patrick Bateman]

irc said:

When I bought my Skoda all season tyres were a £150 (for four) option. I am surprised more makers don't offer this. But then the average UK driver would not know what all seasons are.

This is a good point and they need more promotion with the general public.

The argument against winters which you see cropping up in any facebook/twitter etc. feed when we're hit with these conditions is always the massive additional outlay for '2 days of snow'.

Which, to some degree, is fair for a lot of people I think. If you can sell them the idea of all seasons next time they need new tyres then we'd be on to something.