Fair price for swapping summer for winter tyres?

ventureuk

In summer you take the dog for a walk in a pair of shoes or sandals.

In winter you put on some boots or wellies to stop you slipping on the water, snow or ice.

But most people ignore this analogy when it comes to punting a 2 ton metal box along the road as the mercury falls below zero, the kids are strapped in and your doing 40mph on an unlit country road in January.

reeac

sheslookinhot wrote: »

When did it become fashionable to swap tyres over summer/winter. I can never recall this being deemed necessary in all the decades I've been driving.

Is it just the next thing to make us part with our hard earned ?

Where HAVE you been? This winter tyre thing is a big issue on MSE -- don't question it!

Hintza

reeac wrote: »

.....don't question it!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: .

Trouble is most people still drive like fannys!

reeac

ventureuk wrote: »

But most people ignore this analogy when it comes to punting a 2 ton metal box along the road as the mercury falls below zero, the kids are strapped in and your doing 40mph on an unlit country road in January.

So are they the ones who need winter tyres whilst the rest of us are OK with our summer ones?

[Deleted User]

Never had any problems driving on bog standard summer tyres on steel wheels every winter. I drive to the conditions.

Joe_Horner

sheslookinhot wrote: »

When did it become fashionable to swap tyres over summer/winter. I can never recall this being deemed necessary in all the decades I've been driving.

Is it just the next thing to make us part with our hard earned ?

No, it's the next big thing to excuse us not driving to the conditions, then having someone / something else to blame when it all goes wrong - it wasn't my fault, I hadn't swapped my tyres yet" :mad:

redux

Some may mock if they wish, but it's not a willy measuring competition.

I managed a few years ago to drive in company on ordinary tyres through a few inches of snow on a Belgian motorway which turned out later to have been supposedly officially closed before I started, but it took four and a half hours to do 100 miles, and I arrived at my hotel at 3.15 am, so driving summer tyres for the conditions isn't necessarily that rewarding.

There is a difference in tyre performance, and it's now a legal requirement in an increasing number of countries that winter tyres be used.

Given that council cutbacks might see us driving through a few inches of snow on main roads again I decided to get some so as to be better off here and avoid awkward interviews with German police.

reeac

redux wrote: »

Some may mock if they wish, but it's not a willy measuring competition.

I managed a few years ago to drive on ordinary tyres through a few inches of snow on a Belgian motorway which turned out to have been officially closed, but it took four and a half hours to do 100 miles, so driving for the conditions isn't necessarily rewarding.

There is a difference in tyre performance, and it's now a legal requirement in increasing number of countries that winter tyres be used.

Given that council cutbacks might see us driving through a few inches of snow on main roads again I decided to get some so as to be better off here and avoid awkward interviews with German police.

There's the clue - "German police". Germany, where winter tyres are a legal requirement, has a Continental climate i.e. hotter summers and colder winters than the maritime UK. I'm sure that winter tyres are an advantage in the more Northern and/or more mountainous parts of the UK but I'm not convinced of their necessity on a nation-wide basis.

I'm wondering about starting a campaign for the SUMMER BATTERY - why carry that heavy old high-CCA battery around all summer when you could save fuel by swapping it for a lightweight summer version?

steve-L

Deleted_User wrote: »

Never had any problems driving on bog standard summer tyres on steel wheels every winter. I drive to the conditions.

Have you actually tried winter tyres?

I have been driving for 25 years and NEVER had an accident (whilst moving... someone once ran into me while stationary but I'm not counting that).

Oops, then about 7-8 years ago managed to do a 360 on the motorway but got away with grazing the paint.... the whole thing t-cut'd out....

Ooops again... 3-4 years ago I got clipped from behind by a milk truck

OK.. never had a SERIOUS accident that was my fault!

First, that's as much luck as driving within conditions.
Item 2 I was doing about 20mph on the motorway when the artic in front jackknived, I managed to navigate away and having a LOT of snow experience (lived 3 winters in Norway) got away with a graze.

Item 3, was the big snow 4-5 years ago.... I was stopped at the top of a humpback bridge as I wasn't certain I would stop if I started down and there were cars at the bottom. Whilst waiting (and driving within the conditions) the milk float behind decided to push past and clipped my back wing.... he then proceeded to slide into the cars at the bottom!

Item 2 was nearly a disaster, had I gone UNDER the artic it could have been fatal and certainly a write off. If I had winter tyres I would probably have been able to brake/drive out of it.

While in Norway on winter tyres I have been in countless situations where winter tyres saved the day.

Saying you drive within conditions in winter is a bit like saying you don't need 2mm of tread on summer tyres as you drive within conditions and don't drive when its raining. The only difference is its a legal requirement to have tread in the UK and not winter tyres.

steve-L

reeac wrote: »

There's the clue - "German police". Germany, where winter tyres are a legal requirement, has a Continental climate i.e. hotter summers and colder winters than the maritime UK. I'm sure that winter tyres are an advantage in the more Northern and/or more mountainous parts of the UK but I'm not convinced of their necessity on a nation-wide basis.

Winter tyres brake considerably below 7 degrees. C.... not -7 or -17.

Other than perhaps the Scilly Isles that is most or all the UK at night in winter. (Unless you want to include Gibraltar just to argue?)

And nationwide? Perhaps we should also have different tread requirements for the Eastern side of the UK as it receives less rain?