Winter Tyres ??

AdrianC

pgoncalv wrote: »

I often drive to the ski resorts and if I have almost new summer tyres, I usually do not need to bother putting the chains on.

You might like to check into the legal requirements in those areas. If you were to misjudge the conditions, you would find the book being thrown at you in many ski countries.

Gloomendoom

pgoncalv wrote: »

Agree, the claimed improvement on rain is marginal, with black ice they make no difference, they really are for (deep) snow.

A couple of comments based on first hand practical experience...

Winter tyres do make a difference on black ice. Often the difference between stopping or not stopping and going around a bend without sliding off the road.

Winter tyres are not designed for, nor do they work particularly well, in deep snow. Big, knobbly 4x4 tyres are much better.

londonTiger

turbadiesel wrote: »

Winter 2009/10 the coldest decemeber in history. I had a full set of winter 175/65/14 continental tyres on my car. The snow was incredible here, the streets were like driving on a sandy beach, the snow was so dry as it was so cold. I live in Scotland. It was regularly -15C and people were skiing to work. One guy came into my work and he'd seen -22C on his car thermometer. Those tyres were truly incredible. I never got stuck once. It was such a harsh winter, I used to start the car leave the heaters on full blast to melt ice on inside of the windscreen! (Even buses here were struggling to start as the diesel was waxing up)

Icicles longer than a school ruler on the bumper of my car! I would then have my breakfast whilst the car was deicing, this and lidl screen wash rated to -60C and I survived the winter. I managed to get to work every day and remember trundling past an a4 quattro with summer tyres on who was bogged down in the snow. I used to get funny looks from so many 4x4 owners who would wonder why their bmws and audi q7's were struggling (20inch sport alloys with summer tyres).

Winter tyres are good. They are excellent. However, i do like the new michelin cross climate tyres. An all season tyre is far superior to a summer tyre, and gives you most (not all) of the benefits of a winter tyre. without having to change the tyres.

that's incredible.. so why buy snow tyres when winter tyres will do the job fine... /sarcasm

AdrianC

londonTiger wrote: »

that's incredible.. so why buy snow tyres when winter tyres will do the job fine... /sarcasm

There's no such thing as "snow tyres".

Well, OK, yes - there is. They're very popular in Iceland, and look like this :

You may have seen them on Andri's Isuzu if you're watching the rather excellent Trapped.

pgoncalv

AdrianC wrote: »

You might like to check into the legal requirements in those areas. If you were to misjudge the conditions, you would find the book being thrown at you in many ski countries.

In France, the book says you need to be ready to put the chains on but in most resorts they clear the snow frequently so you do not need them (unless they are fairly worn).
Now I was thinking Austria or Switzerland next year and the winter tyres topic is at the moment making it almost impossible. I live near London...

pgoncalv

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Winter tyres are not designed for, nor do they work particularly well, in deep snow. Big, knobbly 4x4 tyres are much better.

Right, I mean they help when the snow would be enough to coat summer tyres. So they may allow you to carry on driving when it starts snowing and the ploughs have not yet got to it. My experience is limited but I saw some test results, I think from Germany, where the introduction of regulation for winter tyres in icy weather seems to have been faced with serious scrutiny. The report was on breaking distance and on a clear icy patch, there was no difference at all. On a wet road, I think it was 20% shorter. On snow it was less than half.
Perhaps if the ice is cracked you have a difference. Still not enough for me to consider going against the majority of people in the area. The infrastructure is not available in the South to do it.

Now how often do you need knobbly ones (unless you live in Lapland)? :-)

neilmcl

pgoncalv wrote: »

Right, I mean they help when the snow would be enough to coat summer tyres. So they may allow you to carry on driving when it starts snowing and the ploughs have not yet got to it. My experience is limited but I saw some test results, I think from Germany, where the introduction of regulation for winter tyres in icy weather seems to have been faced with serious scrutiny. The report was on breaking distance and on a clear icy patch, there was no difference at all. On a wet road, I think it was 20% shorter. On snow it was less than half.


Now how often do you need knobbly ones (unless you live in Lapland)? :-)

Do you want to provide us with the evidence of that? All tests that I've seen have shown stopping distances and grip on ice considerably better with winter tyres on.

pgoncalv wrote: »

Perhaps if the ice is cracked you have a difference. Still not enough for me to consider going against the majority of people in the area. The infrastructure is not available in the South to do it.

What do you mean by that?

Iceweasel

AdrianC wrote: »

There's no such thing as "snow tyres".

Well, OK, yes - there is. They're very popular in Iceland, and look like this :

You may have seen them on Andri's Isuzu if you're watching the rather excellent Trapped.

None of those vehicles have snow tyres. :rotfl:

AdrianC

And your definition of "snow tyres" would be...?

Iceweasel

AdrianC wrote: »

And your definition of "snow tyres" would be...?

Any of these?

http://www.continental-tyres.co.uk/car/tyres

Certainly not those big off-road M+S things shown in Iceland.

Surely we were talking about road tyres??

Great big knobbly lugs on the side aren't going to help anyone drive to work/school or Tescos in the UK.