Summer tyres for winter?

Shielder

mgdavid - I can only speak from experience, but being able to drive up the Slochd (A9) in ice and snow, passing stranded cars and HGVs on the way, in a front wheel drive car fitted with winter tyres convinced me that winter tyres are the way to go.

If you look at the numerous youtube videos on winter tyres, you'll see that they are better in the cold and wet than summer tyres too.

force_ten

kaya wrote: »

i have driven nearly every day for the last 30 years in the uk, never used or brought different tyres for winter or summer use, spend your money on some sort of advanced driving course and learn some new driving techniques if you can't manage a little bit of snow for a few weeks every year, itll be a one of cost and pay dividends (or you could put some more money in the coffers of a corporation)

please can you tell me what advanced driving course or driving technique allows you to maintain grip in snow ?

there isn't one, when your summer tyres loose grip in the snow there is no advance driving technique in the world that is going to help you

I have also been driving forty years and have never been stuck in the snow, i have crashed in the snow as the car had zero grip, again no driving technique or advance driving input would have helped when the car has zero grip and is out of control and the weight of the car is dragging it down the road

again it is personal choice and my choice is to make my car as safe as i possibly can during the winter months

I choose to waste my money on winter tyres many choose to waste theirs on fags and beer but that is how the world is made up it would be a very boring place if we were all the same

force_ten

mgdavid wrote: »

I am not here to trade insults with you, but you clearly do not understand how to exploit grip in difficult circumstances.

no I clearly dont understand, how do you get up a snow covered hill when your tyres have zero grip ?

JB9302

I am putting my Dunlop SP Winter Sports on at the end of this month and will keep them on till end March , found them to be very effective in cold wet conditions as well as maintaining grip in snow .
I have done additional driver training and several off road courses over the years and find the switch to Winter tyres when the temperatures drop improves the cars roadholding and helps us maintain grip when we get the icy/snowy conditions on the hills around where we live .
Initial extra cost in buying a spare set of wheels from the bay and then the tyres but since they are swopped over replacement tyre purchases are much further away .

Melchizadek

ideally winters for winter and summers for summer...normal tyres as has been said start to underperform from 7 or 9 C can't remember which and police say that (my brother is atraffic cop) accidents start to increase at about 3 deg C..and below..so my opinion is that if you have the cash and want to change then do so....but for 20 years (just south of Glasgow) I've done without winters ...no issues ...saying that if I had some sitting in my garage I'd probably put them on once things go below ..say 10C whilst driving and off again once above that

Swampy3k

Melchizadek wrote: »

ideally winters for winter and summers for summer...normal tyres as has been said start to underperform from 7 or 9 C can't remember which and police say that (my brother is atraffic cop) accidents start to increase at about 3 deg C..and below..so my opinion is that if you have the cash and want to change then do so....but for 20 years (just south of Glasgow) I've done without winters ...no issues ...saying that if I had some sitting in my garage I'd probably put them on once things go below ..say 10C whilst driving and off again once above that

Just south of Glasgow and you'd put winter tyres on when it goes below 10C...

that'll be 364 days a year then

and this is coming from East of Glasgow!.

Joe_Horner

Unfortunately, not available on iPlayer, but if they ever repeat it it's well worth watching...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bwhkg

OddballJamie

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Unfortunately, not available on iPlayer, but if they ever repeat it it's well worth watching...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bwhkg

Maybe that's why I bought some boots last winter rather than flip flops.

Damn you marketing guys!

darkmatter101

Well, if I look at it from a cost/benefit point of view, to see if its worth me investing in winter tyres, lets consider the following:

• I only do one return trip, around 80 miles away up north a week. So in total I’m doing around 160 miles/week which are mostly motorway/A roads. Rest of the time its just city driving, where I don’t think winter tyres are needed.
• Buying 225/40r/18 winter tyres are quite expensive. I have visited my local VAG scrappy and found a set of 4 16 inch OEM Audi alloys with all worn out tyres, size 205/55r/16 for only £50. I think the smaller tyres would provide better comfort and more traction in the snow? And purchasing 205 winter tyres would be cheaper. I remember someone on this forum suggesting an excellent winter tyre (may have been all season) it was quad something?
• Considering the above, and the fact that winter temperatures in UK would likely fall below 7 degrees Celsius around 30 days a year (?), would it really be worth me spending £50 for the smaller alloys plus another £200 or so on winter tyres? I may be better off just spending the money on all-season tyres that has good grip in winter for my existing 18 inch alloys.

OddballJamie

But then you'd be replacing perfectly good premium summer tyres.

Buy the spare alloys and smaller tyres, 205/55/16 are dirt cheap as they are one of the most popular tyre sizes.

Then sell them for at least half what you paid when you take delivery of your next car.