Autosocks

James

Got some last year. (Halfords). My house is on a hill as was my then place of work. They enabled me to get in/out of my house and work and along snowy streets.

They take about 5 minutes to put on, and two to take off.

As previously stated they're good for getting you out of a fix in snow.

Ultrasonic

I wonder if there are any insurance implications for Autosocks?

forgotmyname

Shouldnt think so. They are only to get you moving. They will soon wear out.

Similar to fitting a roofrack or box?

But the way insurance is going it wouldnt surprise me if they start asking.

When a company asked me if my car had any factory fitted extra's i knew they were a company i dont want to deal with. Especially then they couldnt tell me what items are standard or extra's.

Richard53

I've just put winter tyres on the Mundaneo. The last set was shot and I needed all four, so I went for a full set of Goodyears. I usually go to the local ATS (used them for years, no complaints) but they didn't have the tyres I wanted so I ordered through Blackcircles.com and got them fitted by the garage they use, which was a small backstreet outfit. I mentioned getting a set of winter rims, but the guy said that his customers just had two sets of tyres. Each spring/autumn you pay them to swap the tyres over, and they store the unused set for free (provided you have bought the tyres there).

Slightly OT, I know, but I was pleased with Blackcircles (good price, fitting at a time that suited me) and it was a pleasure to see the wheels back on and a proper torque wrench used. Not a rattle gun in sight. I'll be using the local guys again, and will give them first shout when I get some summer tyres next spring.

OddballJamie

Ultrasonic wrote: »

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-SKODA-SET-OF-FOUR-4-X-6J-X-16-STEEL-WINTER-WHEELS-8P060102703C-/331000299899?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Trims_Car_Rims_ET&fits=Model%3AOctavia&hash=item4d1127c17b

Although obviously if I could find some of the right size second hand they would be cheaper.

Now I think about it, I missed off poor fuel economy from my list of reasons I haven't bought winter tyres in the past.

My tyre choice would likely be very different if I lived in the Scottish Highlands though!

Fuel economy is a good point, but I wonder if there's much in it during cold or wet weather as a winter tyre should get more grip and cut down on wheel spin.

Would make an interesting study. I didn't really look too much into that as I don't do enough miles to worry and the savings from not wearing my more expensive larger summer tyres would compensate for any loss.

colino

These are a fabulous retailers dream. some capability (they do initially work) but inbuilt obsolescence. If you need them, you really should be thinking about winter boots.

londonTiger

WTFH wrote: »

Why buy a second set of wheels? Just buy the winter tyres, then swap them onto your existing wheels when you need to, and it means you have spent very little in total - when you're wearing down the winter tyres, you're saving the summer ones.

tyre places will charge £10 each wheel to swap tyres over. One winter means you end up paying £80 in just tyre swaps. Average price of a decent tyre is £80.

It's economical to just buy a second set of wheels ( and change them yourself) if you have the space for it. Having said that, ifg you have space fro 4 tyres, you should have space for 4 wheels. So that's a moot point.

WTFH

I have the space for 4 tyres and a friendly mechanic. Normally in the hour that he takes to switch my tyres, I'll do a bit of work on getting his computers running better.
And then after that, I drive home and we go to the pub for a pint.

So there's no need (for me) to buy a second set of wheels that won't be used.
It's one of those cases where getting friendly with people pays off, rather than always trying to squeeze every last penny out of them. (advice which could be used many times on this forum)

OddballJamie

WTFH - I went down the route of separate wheels partly down to the price of the tyres. My summer wheels have 225/45/17 tyres where as my winter wheels are smaller and take 205/55/16 which is a nice common cheap size.

It also helped that I had a mint set of 16" wheels in the garage doing nothing.

agrinnall

My winter wheels are also smaller than the summer ones, which keeps the tyre cost down. And another advantage is that my nice alloys sit in a shed during all the nasty winter weather and salted roads.