Winter Tyres ??

bigjl

gord115 wrote: »

Quote by Turbadiesle; "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)."

A couple of years ago I read a test in a car magazine where 2 Skoda Yetis were tested in the snow.

They were identical except one was a 4x4 with summer tyres and one was front wheel drive with snow tyres.

The 2 wheel drive one was better in the snow

I have driven a Pathfinder with road biased M&S tyres, several Subarus with AWD on normal summer tyres and for a few months I had a Sportrak that I was going to use for off road at Bures Pit in Essex but never got round to it due to work commitments, have driven them all in the cold/damp weather and in summer and winter, snow and dry roads.

I can honestly say that the two cars I fitted Winters to performed best in cold conditions, my Subaru got stuck outside my house after a deep snow and I had to clear the snow to get out, it wasn't parked on a slope it was parked on level road outside the house. That was the only time there was significant snow when I had it and I was stuck.

The same parking space with much worse snow three years later was no problem.

I can see why some people are concerned due to storage issues or simply listening to comments that often come from those that have never used proper Winter tyres, the GoodYear Wrangler HT tyres fitted on my Pathfinder were marked M&S but the tread looked like a summer tyre, very little siping when compared to a Winter tyres I have owned.

That is why the new breed of All Seasons are a great idea.

I was seriously looking at All Season but couldn't justify the extra cost per corner at the time of purchase, the car needed a set of tyres anyway so I thought why not, let's try the new Nexen Winguard Snow G WH2.

Due to the fact the Picanto has almost new Hankooks I have not put Winters on but might do so next year. The car will be around the family for at least another 4years maybe longer so a second set of wheels is a possibility.

The tyre size is a pain, 165/60/14, so choice is limited for Winters. Being a Korean car Iight got for Hankook. Though there is a Kumho, Uniroyal, Vredestein and Nankang choices at sensible prices on Oponeo.

If I buy a set of Kia 13" steel as winter wheels I can go for a 155/70/13 and have Michelin Alpin A3 tyres.

The miles that car is going to do I wouldn't be surprised if those two sets of tyres lasted three or four years.

Richard53

bigjl wrote: »

Let's be perfectly honest when did anybody last encounter black ice?

Early December last year! Riding my pushbike home from work at about 7 am, around -5C. On a hill near me there was a strip of water about 6 ft wide flowing across the road, which had frozen solid. Down I went.


Agree with your point though. For most people, 'black ice' means 'I lost control of my car in the winter, and that seems like a cast-iron excuse'.

AdrianC wrote: »

I'm sure.

There are basically three aspects to winter transport choice...

Traction - getting the power down, and making the car move. Four driven wheels obviously help, but without a locking rear differential, just having one wheel spinning on each end will mean you're going nowhere.

Grip - if you've got moving, then find that you can't stop or change direction, you might wish you hadn't got moving in the first place. Four wheel drive makes no difference here at all in poor conditions.

Ground clearance - this is the one area where an SUV-style vehicle wins out over winter tyres, if there's a build-up of snow between wheeltracks - although the majority of soft-roader style vehicles don't actually have any more ground clearance than a typical car, because they actually share the same underpinnings.

The best car I have driven in winter (Land Rovers excepted) was a little 2CV. Narrow but large-diameter tyres, low weight, low power and plenty of ground clearance. It was pretty much unstoppable if you learned how to conserve momentum.