Just fit winter tyres to the drive wheels?

[SteA]

I fitted winter tyres to the back of a RWD car and drove it every day last winter, if you find yourself with any concerns about it being dangerous, I would suggest you reappraise your driving skills. You just still drive to the conditions, but have traction when you need it

[blueg33]

SteA said:

I fitted winter tyres to the back of a RWD car and drove it every day last winter, if you find yourself with any concerns about it being dangerous, I would suggest you reappraise your driving skills. You just still drive to the conditions, but have traction when you need it

Surely this means you get to the corner faster but the front tyres won't grip to turn or stop you so you crash faster than you would otherwise have done? Much the same as happens with over confident people in 4x4 cars.

[SteA]

blueg33 said:

SteA said:

I fitted winter tyres to the back of a RWD car and drove it every day last winter, if you find yourself with any concerns about it being dangerous, I would suggest you reappraise your driving skills. You just still drive to the conditions, but have traction when you need it

Surely this means you get to the corner faster but the front tyres won't grip to turn or stop you so you crash faster than you would otherwise have done? Much the same as happens with over confident people in 4x4 cars.

As above, only if you have limited driving skills and dont understand the concept of driving appropriately for the conditions.

[blueg33]

SteA said:

blueg33 said:

SteA said:

I fitted winter tyres to the back of a RWD car and drove it every day last winter, if you find yourself with any concerns about it being dangerous, I would suggest you reappraise your driving skills. You just still drive to the conditions, but have traction when you need it

Surely this means you get to the corner faster but the front tyres won't grip to turn or stop you so you crash faster than you would otherwise have done? Much the same as happens with over confident people in 4x4 cars.

As above, only if you have limited driving skills and dont understand the concept of driving appropriately for the conditions.

But what if you have to do an emergency stop or take sudden avoiding action?

[marcosgt]

I had winter tyres on a FWD car one winter in Germany - I drove as appropriate to the conditions (although the speeds on Autobahns would have many on here believing we'd lost leave of our senses!) and never had any real issues.

Obviously with FWD you get the benefits of traction, grip under braking and steering from the winter tyres, so I'm not sure it would be so good on RWD cars, but I've not tried that.

M.

[SteA]

blueg33 said:

SteA said:

blueg33 said:

SteA said:

I fitted winter tyres to the back of a RWD car and drove it every day last winter, if you find yourself with any concerns about it being dangerous, I would suggest you reappraise your driving skills. You just still drive to the conditions, but have traction when you need it

Surely this means you get to the corner faster but the front tyres won't grip to turn or stop you so you crash faster than you would otherwise have done? Much the same as happens with over confident people in 4x4 cars.

As above, only if you have limited driving skills and dont understand the concept of driving appropriately for the conditions.

But what if you have to do an emergency stop or take sudden avoiding action?

What happens if you arent aware of your surroundings? What happens if you have to do an emergency stop and you havent left yourself enough room? What happens if you dont have the appropriate skills to deal with the situation you find yourself in? You cant think there is a real answer there, thats just a pointless discussion...

Its also a different point isnt it? Even with winter tyres on the rear alone, the car was better in every way and certainly not dangerous as has been suggested. It stopped and maneuvered without issue. If you want to argue that a full set of winter tyres should be compulsory for everyone in the UK then please go ahead.

[blueg33]

SteA said:

blueg33 said:

SteA said:

blueg33 said:

SteA said:

I fitted winter tyres to the back of a RWD car and drove it every day last winter, if you find yourself with any concerns about it being dangerous, I would suggest you reappraise your driving skills. You just still drive to the conditions, but have traction when you need it

Surely this means you get to the corner faster but the front tyres won't grip to turn or stop you so you crash faster than you would otherwise have done? Much the same as happens with over confident people in 4x4 cars.

As above, only if you have limited driving skills and dont understand the concept of driving appropriately for the conditions.

But what if you have to do an emergency stop or take sudden avoiding action?

What happens if you arent aware of your surroundings? What happens if you have to do an emergency stop and you havent left yourself enough room? What happens if you dont have the appropriate skills to deal with the situation you find yourself in? You cant think there is a real answer there, thats just a pointless discussion...

Its also a different point isnt it? Even with winter tyres on the rear alone, the car was better in every way and certainly not dangerous as has been suggested. It stopped and maneuvered without issue. If you want to argue that a full set of winter tyres should be compulsory for everyone in the UK then please go ahead.

I am not arguing that at all. As for the points about being aware of your surroundings, I agree but if you mismatch tyre grip levels you are potentially adding another risk factor.

I am sure that you are an excellent driver and drive to the conditions etc. My worry is that the winter tyres on the driven wheels may allow someone to go faster that they otherwise would because they get fewer warning signs from the car.

The Mitsubishi Warrior that I saw today in the ditch was a neighbour of mine. How did it happen? He was going too fast and thought he would be ok because its a 4x4. Same argument with the tyres, but IMO its exacerbated if the driven wheels have grip and the steering and braking ones do not. (I am aware that rear wheels are braked too)

[caneswell]

rallycross said:

Really?

Do you know this from your own experience on this subject?

Having followed the WRC in Sweden at the beginning of the year I know that winter tyres, on our hire Megane, can provide astonishing grip on essentially sheet ice (happily driving along at 50mph, grip levels similar to a hard-packed gravel road). I've also got experience of my UK BMW with 225 FK452 summer tyres spinning it's wheels aimlessly from idle in 2nd gear, if you think that much variation front to rear is a good idea be my guest! Funnily enough I've not decided to try it myself.

Obviously these are the extremes, if you fit sh!t winter tyres and have narrow summer/all-season's on the other end then the difference will be much less marked. If you only want them to slowly get you out of a pickle then you could spend even less and just fit some snow socks/chains.

Edited by caneswell on Wednesday 22 December 18:04

[anonymous-user]

caneswell said:

rallycross said:

Really?

Do you know this from your own experience on this subject?

Having followed the WRC in Sweden at the beginning of the year I know that winter tyres, on our hire Megane, can provide astonishing grip on essentially sheet ice (happily driving along at 50mph, grip levels similar to a hard-packed gravel road).

Sorry that's just BS.

If we are talking 'sheet ice' anything apart from tracks and studs wont keep you moving. Winter tyres are great on snow/slush/loose.

[caneswell]

yonex said:

caneswell said:

rallycross said:

Really?

Do you know this from your own experience on this subject?

Having followed the WRC in Sweden at the beginning of the year I know that winter tyres, on our hire Megane, can provide astonishing grip on essentially sheet ice (happily driving along at 50mph, grip levels similar to a hard-packed gravel road).

Sorry that's just BS.

If we are talking 'sheet ice' anything apart from tracks and studs wont keep you moving. Winter tyres are great on snow/slush/loose.

Apologies for basing the debate on actual experience

The "sheet ice" in question:

[rallycross]

Nice picture, but your still talking rubbish.

Our family have used winter tyres on the front of our daily drivers for years (Nov - April) with no problems.

[snuffle]

yonex said:

john2443 said:

cars were slower, normal tyres were narrower so winters were the same size as summers and...

Cars were lighter and weren't over-tyred in the first place.

How on earth did we cope in the snow without ABS, TCS, SCS back in the 70's

I still haven't got any of the above

ps AO48s leave a nice pattern in the snow

[anonymous-user]

caneswell said:

Apologies for basing the debate on actual experience

The "sheet ice" in question:

Just to let you lnow what sheet ice looks like.

[anonymous-user]

snuffle said:

I still haven't got any of the above

ps AO48s leave a nice pattern in the snow

Good man!

Last year an owners club I was part of made a big deal about driving in the snow/ice and what bally heroes we all were. So I drove 20 miles sideways (on 48's) just to be there and show solidarity only to find a car park full of fking Range Rovers.

Last meet I attended BTW.

[zakelwe]

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Video-Can-you...


Andy

[Camaro91]

rallycross said:

Munter said:

[

Say you are approaching a T junction where you'll have to give way. No problems you've planned to slow gently to a stop. Then one of the parked cars starts to pull away from the kirb in front of you. If you don't brake hard you'll crash in to them. So you brake hard, the back wheels start to overtake the front and smack into a parked car. You've now hit an "innocent" persons car rather than the guilty party. That's a claim against you, as the guilty party will flock off in to the distance unaffected.

What you are saying sounds quite plausibe, buts its simply not the the case.
Of course I would recommend having four fitted, but if you did just put 2 on it will be fine.

Otherwise how do you explain the fact our family has done 1,000's of miles with this set up over the past 15 years since moving up there without any incidents?

Mabye I am the only person on this thread who actually has experience of driving with them on the front and regular tyres on the rear (usually Bridgestone or Pirelli on the rear). We've been doing it for years (Nov - April) and its been fine, I dont need a link to you tube to tell me otherwise!

And the car is fine in the cold/damp its not turned into some wildly (lift of) overstearing beast! It brakes fine as well.

If you find a snowey road where there is no traffic coming you can have a bit of fun with lift of oversteer but its not dramatic, and we know how it will behave because we chose to have that set up.

And no, I am not writing this from a ditch whilst waiting to be recovered due to having spun wildly off the road!

I had a Polo with winters up front and regular tyres on the back. Seemed to handle fine, but then again I never had to take evasive action - so probably safest to get four all round.

[blueg33]

rallycross said:

Nice picture, but your still talking rubbish.

Our family have used winter tyres on the front of our daily drivers for years (Nov - April) with no problems.

The benefits of having the most grip on the rear of ALL types of car has been done to death on PH. From the evidence and tyre manufacturer research you have been lucky.

Grippiest tyres should always be on the rear, whether you are on dry roads, wet roads, snowy roads, dirt roads etc

[matt9k]

Also wading in with experience, Saab 9-5 ( this one in fact) running on these and a Volvo S80 ( this 'un) running on these (not studded might I add) had no problems whatsoever dealing with conditions such as these...

yonex said:

caneswell said:

...and significantly worse conditions. Winter tyres were fitted front and rear (as req'd by law in Sweden; I think of all the countries where winters are mandatory, only Slovenia allows winters fitted to drive wheels only), but having first-hand, long-term, experience of both studded and friction winters all round I wouldn't risk the safety of myself or others by being a cheapskate and only fitting 2.

The rubber compound(s) in friction winters provide surprisingly high levels of grip on sheet ice, however the laws of momentum still apply and carrying too much speed into a turn will result in them breaking away - less so with studs understandably - but you can still "make progress".

The only problem with fitting winters all round is the tailgating pillocks running on summers that can't stop anywhere near as quickly as you can. Thinking a "CAUTION: Winter Tyres. Keep Back 150ft" sticker might come in useful...

Any more PHers from countries where snow is a way of life care to weigh in?

[catso]

hora said:

Just fit winter tyres to the drive wheels?

Indeed;

[blueg33]

catso said:

hora said:

Just fit winter tyres to the drive wheels?

Indeed;

Edited by blueg33 on Thursday 23 December 21:42