Preparing for winter II

mrsr

Mamzie wrote: »

Found the news stories that had me worried again ...

linkie

another

Thanks
Not good news then,i'm dredding it .Theres nothing worse than being cold,the snowey roads were awful last year and thoughts of that again is worrying ,i work nights and trying to get home in the morning in my little smart car was awfull.:eek:

Sylvan

lutzi1 wrote: »

Mamzie wrote: »

Thats what I thought kinda about the tyres, that they would wear out quite fast on normal driving. Am I right in thinking they just have extra thick/wider tread???

Have now consulted my German oracle. One difference between winter tyres and ordinary ones is that they made of different rubber to normal tyres, which keeps the tyres softer and more flexible. Standard tyres get stiff in low temperatures and so have less grip on the road surface. Also it's a fallacy to think that winter tyres are only good in snow - they are already helpful at temperatures below 5 degrees centigrade. The different tread only kicks in when it snows. In Germany they are thinking of making winter tyres compulsory in winter, and anybody who has an accident who is not using winter tyres will be held partly responsible. As far as he is concerned they do not wear out any faster than standard tyres.

As with any tyre, you get what you pay for in terms of quality. He also says that a lot of people who drive 4x4s (guilty) have M+S tyres, which are a sort of half way house between winter and summer tyres. If you do it will say it on the tyre.

The only difference with winter tyres is that you cannot drive faster than 120 miles an hour, (but he has just said with a Teutonic chuckle that that will not affect anybody in this country! :rotfl:).


So there you go - more than you (and I) ever wanted to know about tyres! :T

HTH.
x

The ones that tear up the roads are "snow tyres". They have studs in them. They do wear down pretty quickly. I used them for a couple of years but changed to winter tyres about 20 years ago. They have wider tread as well as being different rubber. [EDIT: and, as Mr. lutzi1 pointed out, they don't wear down any faster than normal tyres. I used to get new ones every October, but I did 40,000 to 50,000 miles per year.]
We changed to "all weather tyres" at some point. I think they're a kind of hybrid, but they work well in wet mud and steep gravelled slopes as well as snow and ice, while still being good on normal roads.

When I had a rear wheel drive car my other winter routine was to carry a big bag of sand in the boot all the time. (I originally had a bag of cement that had got damp and gone hard, but the sand was much better - it could also be used under the wheels every time I had to get out and dig.)

I had an old pair of walking boots (from the mid seventies) - thick, hard leather with big treads and metal studs on the bottom. I could walk anywhere in those - even when heavily pregnant and carrying wriggly children:D.

The main problem with 4WD vehicles is that people think it means they can carry on driving too fast and then they come a cropper.
If you use the low ratio lever you can get through almost anything, but you still have to take it very slowly and avoid braking.

I've seen quite a few men in 4x4s coming a cropper because they've tried to carry on as usual. They used to sail past us, splattering us with snow, doubtless thinking "That silly woman won't get far in that ordinary car" and a couple of miles later we'd chug slowly and steadily past them as they sat in the ditch trying to get a mobile signal *evil:D*

mardatha

I think we passed the same people ! I was talking about snow tyres, dont know winter tyres. I suppose people down south arent familiar with lots of snow any more and so have never learned how to drive in it.

SpaceMonkey

Whats the forcast for this winter? I havent looked yet

shegar

NualaBuala wrote: »

Could anyone tell me how do you work out how much gas central heating costs to run? I know my bills during the very cold snap were horrendous so it'd be good to work it out.

I f you get worried about how much your using ,just get your metre readings and phone them through to your energy co each month and they will tell you what youve used....that way you wont build a huge bill up.....I pay DD all year round and I have quite a lot in the DD kitty at this time of year,:) they have offered to put it back in my account but I say no because its good to be in credit just at the start of winter....:)

I really dont mind how cold it get cos im well sorted, and definately will not be cold , my usual temp when its really cold outside is 23 degrees inside ...:D Ive got a disabled husband who sits mostly allday so he needs a good temp to be comfy in, heating comes before fags or booze to us and we say we will never fear about putting the heating switch on if we want to.....

mardatha

I'm the same Shegar, coal costs us £30 a week but I dont grudge a penny of it and I would cut down my food bill if I had to. It's very miserable being cold!

happyin_devon

glorious weekend weather here in devon,but decidedly chillier in evenings now.
bought brush strips for boys bedroom doors,which hubby fitted this pm,just the film for our bedroom and playroom windows to do now,along with doing draught excluder furry stuff for shoving in gaps in sash windows.

boys have been wearing their pri**rk fleece pjs for last 2nights and r ridiculously happy with them,and have asked me to buy them some more so that they can wear them every night!!!! at £4 a pair its not an unreasonable request:j

heating on for 40mins in evening now,am going to keep it to a reasonable level for now as i know its all to easy to leave it on for hours on end,when its not really required,and as my mum would say,i'll feel the benefit later on in winter when its on for longer!!!!

lilmisskitkat

Evening all

Has anyone seen any cheap kids fleece jumpers in bigger sizes? I'm after age 9-10 for DD, both my local Asda and Tescos dont seem to go beyond age 5-6 in their value fleeces and i dont want to pay too much as its only to wear to bed.

Both mine are terrible for kicking the covers off so they have to have warm night clothes and DS is fine with last years fleecy sleepsuits (i cut the feet out, very MSE lol) but i'm stuck for DD.

Thanks

Kate xxx

La-Cara

bit off topic I know, but since many people on this thread are from Scotland, I thought I'd let you all know that I'm trying to organise an OS meet up in Edinburgh for anyone who's interested

Confuzzled

annie123 wrote: »

http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/


weather report for next week:

Snow in Scotland, and the north of England and just cold for the rest of us!

Stand by your fleeces......are we all prepared?:D

ooh thanks for that! i had a look at each day for my area for the next week... looks like i should really put the heaters on on tuesday night as it's only supposed to get up to 4C in my area on wednesday :eek: i was hoping to hold out til november but it's been really cold today and i think a drop of 5 degrees from todays outside temps is just pushing it a little too far for the sake of 12 days so i think i'll just suck it in and deal with it, least i'll be warm when doing it