Winter Tyres II

forgotmyname

If you put the spacesaver on a driving wheel with a winter tyre in snowy conditions expect it to spin a lot and have little grip.

Incentive to get the puncture fixed quickly. Or get a full sized spare.

colino

I wonder if the combination of wrong size and little grip would just get the traction control to shut the drive down completely. Sounds like an experiment for a snowy, boring day.

Herzlos

colino wrote: »

I think people are getting a bit diverted by the insurers view. If the winter tyres are a prescribed fitment, they will not care as long as it's an axle paired fitting. What I do want to hear about though are those that have carefully slung on winter tyres and had a puncture and had to fit their manufacturer supplied, bicycle-width, smooth, spacesaver in the depths of winter.

Now that is a good point. Presumably you could swap it to the non-driven axle (or rear if you're a 4x4) and use it to get you home/to a tyre place in an emergency.

Ultrasonic

Herzlos wrote: »

Now that is a good point. Presumably you could swap it to the non-driven axle (or rear if you're a 4x4) and use it to get you home/to a tyre place in an emergency.

Swapping wheels front to back isn't possible at the side of the road though. Well not unless you carry more than just a single emergency jack anyway.

Iceweasel

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Swapping wheels front to back isn't possible at the side of the road though. Well not unless you carry more than just a single emergency jack anyway.

I have done exactly that in the past when I had a rear wheel puncture, and I wanted to put my spacesaver on the front.

No problem if you think about it. And with one jack too.

GwylimT

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Swapping wheels front to back isn't possible at the side of the road though. Well not unless you carry more than just a single emergency jack anyway.

You don't need more than one jack, you remove a rear wheel and replace it with the spare, you then remove the front wheel and put the removed back wheel in its place.

Iceweasel

GwylimT wrote: »

You don't need more than one jack, you remove a rear wheel and replace it with the spare, you then remove the front wheel and put the removed back wheel in its place.

Give that person a coconut!

Ultrasonic

See what you mean. I was thinking I would always want to replace the flat first. Swapping the rear first would put a bit more weight on the damaged tyre and it's wheel but I'll admit that probably wouldn't be a concern!

vikingaero

Don't see the problem. When I lived in Glasgow plenty of people in Lowland Scotland did this and still do without any ill effects or massive accidents.

The role of the winter tyres (on the front axle of a FWD car) is to get it moving and to stop it on untreated roads. Most of the driving would be at walking pace and completely the opposite to that spouted in the video.

Once on a treated road you can drive faster without oversteer.

Ultrasonic

Even on a treated road you will still be in a position where you have much more grip at the front than the rear, which has to be less safe than having a full set of winter tyres on.

It's like the argument as to why it is better to have tyres with more tread on the rear rather than the front, only with a much bigger grip differential.

Also, with decent winter tyres you can drive safely at speeds much greater than walking pace.