Winter tyres?

mrbadexample

Seems like I've provoked a lively debate.

:think: Ok then, how about one on the front and one on the back? :rotfl:

Thanks all for the input. Predictably, none in stock where I went today, but he'll try to get some. I'm trying to source a set of steel rims so I can have 4 and just change the wheels over when I want. I plan on keeping the car until it dies, so should be a reasonably sensible investment.

nanker

Mikey

I think I was safer with summer tyres as opposed to 2 winter tyres as I couldn't leave my drive to start the journey! 20 years ago, I lived in the French Alps, money was tight and I thought I would get by with 2 winter tyres. Big mistake - I spun out on a bend and nearly hit a snow plough that was coming the other way. I was only travelling at about 30 kph. I really can't recommend anything less than 4 winter tyres in weather like this.

andy8442

mrbadexample wrote: »

Seems like I've provoked a lively debate.

:think: Ok then, how about one on the front and one on the back? :rotfl:

Thanks all for the input. Predictably, none in stock where I went today, but he'll try to get some. I'm trying to source a set of steel rims so I can have 4 and just change the wheels over when I want. I plan on keeping the car until it dies, so should be a reasonably sensible investment.

One on the front,one on the back? Hmm,what do the "experts" suggest for a Reliant Robin?

nanker

andy8442 wrote: »

One on the front,one on the back? Hmm,what do the "experts" suggest for a Reliant Robin?

Scrap it !

mikey72

andy8442 wrote: »

One on the front,one on the back? Hmm,what do the "experts" suggest for a Reliant Robin?

Funniest thing I ever saw was a Reliant Robin trying to follow the two ruts you get after a snowy side road has frozen. (I had a part time job, delivering milk one winter, over Christmas, many many years ago)
There was this sad faced middle aged man, driving towards me, well crabbing sideways really, with his front tyre stuck in one rut, then every so often, as he had to steer towards the centre to keep going forwards, he'd hop over the ice in the centre, switch to the other side, have to turn the other way, and it would happen again.
Front bobbing up and down, twitching left to right, right to left, he slowly made his way past!

the_devil_made_me_do_it

sunshinetours wrote: »

Size will be the key and whether you are getting new wheels or just swapping existing tyres. Any reputable brand winter tyre will assist your traction in these sort of conditons.
The only issue on tests of some of the cheaper Asian imprts is how they perform in wet or dry conditions (which lets face it for most of us is the predominant condition Dec to March)

There must be some MX5 forums online as they are pretty much cult type cars these days so maybe google for that and see what other owners are fitting

PS reversing in a RWD car can be tricky in these conditions even with winter tyres. The only time I got semi stuck this morning was trying to reverse in a snow filled car park - going forwards was fine

For me stopping and steering and how "planted" the car feels is the biggest change (5 series BMW for reference)

Have seen some Avon Ice Touring tyres which are the same size as what is already on the car. Just need to find some cheap steel rims.

For the time being tho' I've purchased a set of these:
http://www.roaduserdirect.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1724

I'm hoping they at least help get my car on the drive.

Gloomendoom

wuckfit wrote: »

No, 2 are far worse than none. with two on the front you will swap ends under braking on ice. because the rears will lose grip much quicker. four summer tyres will slide, but at least you'll still be pointing the right way.
It's simple laws of physics.

So driving with chains only fitted to one end of the car is worse than having none fitted at all?

From bitter experience, I can confirm that it is quite possible to slide in any direction.... backwards, forwards, sideways, and even round and round in circles, on four summer tyres.

Snow chains are only for gaining traction, not braking.

This doesn't make sense. If that were true, chains wouldn't grip in reverse.

Having driven with chains I can tell you that, in the correct conditions, they improve grip in all directions, particularly the diamond pattern type.

VincentVega

I bought a set of Continental WinterContact TS830s (to give them their full name) from mytyres, and a set of ultra-stylish (not) steel wheels and wheel trims from a Volkswagen dealer (for a Golf GTD). Whilst I get better grip and shorter braking distances, my car looks really, really uncool. However, after waiting eight months for the car and spending a large amount of money on it, I think it's well worth the expense. I don't have to worry about keeping the wheels clean, and after two years driving a Mini Cooper on run-flat tyres (which was a total handful in adverse weather conditions - no grip at all, and I could hear and feel it losing traction from time to time) it's nice to have a car that feels fairly assured in the sort of conditions we've been having recently.

The tyres took about a week to arrive from Germany and I got them fitted at a local tyre place for a grand total of £48 (mounting tyres on wheels, taking existing ones off, fitting news ones and balancing). It would have been £40 if I'd paid by cash, but by that point I had no choice, as my car wasn't likely to be going anywhere quickly.

As for two vs. four, how can anyone think that having different amounts of grip at each end or side of the car is a remotely good idea? When conditions are bad, surely you want as much grip as possible, and for the grip to be evenly spread between both ends and both sides of the car? And surely the handling would be a nightmare? You'd never know how the car was going to react! You may as well stick with summer tyres or fix a massive lump of wood under the rear of the car so your back tyres don't touch the ground.

On a related matter, no matter how the conditions are, you still get halfwits tailgating. (What happens if I'm forced to stop suddenly? After all, my car does have winter tyres, so braking distances should be shorter. For me. But not you.)

skiddlydiddly

Unless you replace all 4 tyres at the same time and never ever get any wheelspin, then your tyres are always going to have different levels of grip at each end.

I'm with Mikey on this.For the majority of the time you will be better have some traction at one end than none at both.If you drive carefully and to the conditions then those winter tyres on the front are going to be much better than summer ones as you aren't going fast enough to need to brake heavily(I've barely had to brake so far, just using gears to control speed) and the abs on the front might actually do something other than being an annoying pulse under you right foot that does nothing.
There might be certain situations where having 4 summers would be better but for many people they won't be able to put themselves in that situation anyway as they cannot get onto their roads in the 1st place on summer tyres.

wuckfit

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

Unless you replace all 4 tyres at the same time and never ever get any wheelspin, then your tyres are always going to have different levels of grip at each end.

I'm with Mikey on this.For the majority of the time you will be better have some traction at one end than none at both.If you drive carefully and to the conditions then those winter tyres on the front are going to be much better than summer ones as you aren't going fast enough to need to brake heavily(I've barely had to brake so far, just using gears to control speed) and the abs on the front might actually do something other than being an annoying pulse under you right foot that does nothing.
There might be certain situations where having 4 summers would be better but for many people they won't be able to put themselves in that situation anyway as they cannot get onto their roads in the 1st place on summer tyres.

No. You're wrong. 2 winter tyres is far more dangerous than 4.
As I've explained several times now, you WILL swap ends under braking on ice. I've seen what happens, and another poster has confirmed it happened to them. Yet some people refuse to accept the laws of physics and think it's ok to recommend it. It's not, it's downright irresponsible. 4 summer tyres means that both ends are balanced and will slide evenly. It's not ideal, or particularly safe, but generally, the car's behaviour will be predictable. 2 winters mean that one end will have far more grip than the other. even at 20 mph you're going to spin with no input from the steering wheel. it REALLY is that simple.

if you don't believe me, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cBSWEhimdA