Winter tyres

[RossMac]

Hearing this mentioned at work. Sounds like I need to put the TVR away for the winter. What's the law on this? Sensibly, i won;t take it out (if i could get it out of our drive) if the conditions were bad but what about those snow and ice-free days?

I'm also hearing different opinion on 4x4s. Do I need to get a "winter" set for the XC90?

[krap]

I cant really be much help but after driving round the black forest in my focus hire (which has winter tyres) i'd defo recommend them. They saved my skin a few times, along with the EPS

[Carmo99]

A lot of insurance compaies require winter tyres. I have been told that if you have an accident and one party is on "summer" tyres then they are to blame. Sounds a bit strange, but this is Switzerland!

[Camel]

I can't comment on the legal requirements but I live at 1500m in the Swiss alps and have winter tyres on my Range Rover, and yes, they make a big difference.

You wont have a traction problem with normal 4x4 M+S tyres under acceleration but they show their inadequacies under braking an cornering. My neighbour has a Volvo like yours and he fits winter tyres too, it is pretty much the norm.

Here is a link to a test of 4x4 winter tyres and how they rate against a typical 4x4 M+S tyre, 3/4 stars versus 1 star for the latter:

http://www.oeamtc.at/refresh/frameset.php?p=http:/...

[RossMac]

Camel said:

I can't comment on the legal requirements but I live at 1500m in the Swiss alps and have winter tyres on my Range Rover, and yes, they make a big difference.

You wont have a traction problem with normal 4x4 M+S tyres under acceleration but they show their inadequacies under braking an cornering. My neighbour has a Volvo like yours and he fits winter tyres too, it is pretty much the norm.

Here is a link to a test of 4x4 winter tyres and how they rate against a typical 4x4 M+S tyre, 3/4 stars versus 1 star for the latter:

http://www.oeamtc.at/refresh/frameset.php?p=http:/...

cheers Camel. So where do people buy tyres from in CH? Haven't seen any of the discount tyre places or a Kwikfit since i've been here

[brem]

It's not a legal requirement in Switzerland to have winter tyres. But it's in Germany and as well in Austria. Also here if you have a accident on your car in the snow with summer tyres the insurance company could make you responsible and not pay the full damage.

Law says your car has to be prepared for the road you drive, so if it has snow on the street it's legally not right to drive with summer tyres.

So better is to buy a set of winter tyres. In this time you will save your summer tyres :-)

I always buy them online from www.reifendirekt.ch. I think it's the cheapest way.

Sorry it's hard for me to explain in english...

Peter

[RainerM]

...please buy winter-tyres, as people overhere get rather mad if you are stuck on some small hill or worse mountain-road :-((

you can also look at

www.mytyres.co.uk for explanations, then go back to the CH site and order. Send me a message if you need any help

Rainer-CH