Tyre change tactics

Gloomendoom

laidbackgjr wrote: »

Why - all seasons are a compromise - not as good as a summer tyre on warm / dry roads and not as good as a winter tyre on cold / wet roads, i.e. you are always on the wrong tyre with an all season tyre.

Would you even notice? Apart from when you don't slither to a halt trying to drive on a light sprinkling of snow.

All tyres are a compromise.

System

Iceweasel wrote: »

That's fine - but the suggestion was that they be the default tyre in the UK - which I take to mean that the poster wanted them fitted to ALL vehicles in the UK.

Not an issue. In much of the rest of the EU it is mandatory to have winter tyres fitted for certain months of the year and you can get some serious fines if you don't. If other countries can mandate not one but two tyre types then I'm sure we could mandate one in the UK.

reeac

I don't rotate tyres ... mainly because you then get earlier warning of any misalignment.

onomatopoeia99

Tarambor wrote: »

Not an issue. In much of the rest of the EU it is mandatory to have winter tyres fitted for certain months of the year and you can get some serious fines if you don't. If other countries can mandate not one but two tyre types then I'm sure we could mandate one in the UK.

Much of the rest of the EU gets a continental climate, the UK doesn't as our weather comes off the Atlantic so it's much more moderate. Mandating the use of winter tyres because we get a day or two with snow on the roads every five years or so is unnecessary.

I know they are better in the cold as well, but you drive to the conditions and the limits of your vehicle. I buy the manufacturer recommended tyre for my car (Michelin Pilot Sport, getting on for £200/corner at the rear nowadays) and have never put it into a position of needing the ABS or sliding all over the road due to cold or wet. Hopeless in the snow though, as a light car with very wide low profile tyres, so I don't even attempt to use it because that would be silly .

If I lived in Inverness rather than Bristol, I'd take a different approach.

House_Martin

DoaM wrote: »

FWIW I'm in the "best tyres on the driving axle" camp. So front for FWD and rear for RWD.

Me too, I ve had a big blow out of a front tyre in the outside lane at 70 mph,.it was a real struggle to control steering and get over to the hard shoulder safely in busy traffic.
a big rear tyre blow out is a relatively calm affair to control the steering in comparison.
I`m in the best tyres on the front camp, at least for front wheel drive cars. I have never had a rear wheel drive car what has had a big blow out of a tyre to compare the two .

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

Iceweasel wrote: »

That's fine - but the suggestion was that they be the default tyre in the UK - which I take to mean that the poster wanted them fitted to ALL vehicles in the UK.

In principle, yes, but default is not the same as compulsory.

The reality is, when you consider you drive a lot in early mornings and late evenings, an awful lot of the time you are driving at temperatures that are at or below the design temperatures for summer tyres (7c or above). There aren't enough bad days to justify running winter tyres for the majority of the population. They also are as good or better in the wet, and in the dry, the reality is that the braking performance is still very good, and that extra theoretical braking distance on a hot summer's day is very unlikely to be used. The only people making use of the extra grip of a summer tyre in summer really shouldn't be driving like that on UK roads.

The vast majority of the population don't even think about tyre choice, they don't realise that the standard British tyre is sub-optimal for most of the year.

So, I think all season tyres are a safer choice for the unthinking driver. Those who take an interest are free to make their own judgements, and what I'd like to see is more manufacturers promoting the most suitable tyres for the UK market.

Put it this way, for the next few months,what tyres are most likely to be on the car behind you?

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

House_Martin wrote: »

Me too, I ve had a big blow out of a front tyre in the outside lane at 70 mph,.it was a real struggle to control steering and get over to the hard shoulder safely in busy traffic.
a big rear tyre blow out is a relatively calm affair to control the steering in comparison.
I`m in the best tyres on the front camp, at least for front wheel drive cars. I have never had a rear wheel drive car what has had a big blow out of a tyre to compare the two .

I had a full blow out on the rear tyre - hub cap frisbeed by a lorry into the sidewall of the tyre - 1" slice. Unexciting on a 70mph dual carriageway, was able to make a controlled stop, tyre remained on the rim, no body parts ripped off! I also ripped a hole in a sidewall in an ill-judged exit from someone's drive who had left a stone to stop people cutting the corner (invisible of course). There all that happened was the van wouldn't go very well - possibly confused traction control interfering or simply no drive due to the diff spinning out, no loss of control at low speed.

Gloomendoom

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Much of the rest of the EU gets a continental climate, the UK doesn't as our weather comes off the Atlantic so it's much more moderate. Mandating the use of winter tyres because we get a day or two with snow on the roads every five years or so is unnecessary.

I don't think the poster was suggesting that winter tyres become mandatory.

Iceweasel

IanMSpencer wrote: »

In principle, yes, but default is not the same as compulsory.

The reality is, when you consider you drive a lot in early mornings and late evenings, an awful lot of the time you are driving at temperatures that are at or below the design temperatures for summer tyres (7c or above). There aren't enough bad days to justify running winter tyres for the majority of the population. They also are as good or better in the wet, and in the dry, the reality is that the braking performance is still very good, and that extra theoretical braking distance on a hot summer's day is very unlikely to be used. The only people making use of the extra grip of a summer tyre in summer really shouldn't be driving like that on UK roads.

The vast majority of the population don't even think about tyre choice, they don't realise that the standard British tyre is sub-optimal for most of the year.

So, I think all season tyres are a safer choice for the unthinking driver. Those who take an interest are free to make their own judgements, and what I'd like to see is more manufacturers promoting the most suitable tyres for the UK market.

Put it this way, for the next few months,what tyres are most likely to be on the car behind you?

This I agree with 100% -

a safer choice for the majority - many of whom haven't a clue about different tyre suitability.

all season tyres are a safer choice for the unthinking driver.

I don't include anyone reading this forum in the group 'unthinking'.

Gloomendoom

IanMSpencer wrote: »

So, I think all season tyres are a safer choice for the unthinking driver. Those who take an interest are free to make their own judgements, and what I'd like to see is more manufacturers promoting the most suitable tyres for the UK market.

I agree. I have been using them since 2010 and haven't found them lacking in any way.

I used to swap my wife's previous car from summer to winter tyres every year and it was a pain. When the summers wore out, I switched them for all seasons and never bothered (or needed) to fit the winters after that.