4WD on summer tyres vs 2WD on winter tyres.

Richard53

Herzlos wrote: »

Get a set of winter tyres and just pay about £20-40 to get them swapped back to the summers later?

Provided that you have bought both sets of tyres there, my local independent will store your winter tyres over summer and swap them over when you need them, all for nothing.

Iceweasel

This is Joe:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-46280134

Don't be like Joe - get Winter tyres!

NBLondon

Ah - the annual debate.... Well - I'm in the "never needed to change" brigade after 30+ years of car ownership. But I've never had summer tyres or low-profile rubber either - all-seasons and taking extra care have done me so far. That does include some winters in Yorkshire and the Peak District - and even since I went south - rural Kent and the Beast from the East = Black Ice.

I agree with those who say that you also need to be aware of those who can't drive in poor conditions and keep yourself out of the way of their accidents waiting to happen. Which does include some owners of BMW X5 and X3, Porsche Cayenne/Macan, Evoques and so on who think that the 4x4 badge is magic...

Gloomendoom

Herzlos wrote: »

Get a set of winter tyres and just pay about £20-40 to get them swapped back to the summers later?

We did that with her previous car. I bought a second set of factory alloys. To be honest it was a right pain, not just swapping them over but storing them too. We also got caught out with some late snow a week after I'd swapped back to normal tyres. I ended swapping to all-seasons. This car also has TPMS which makes a second set of wheels expensive.

neilmcl

Gloomendoom wrote: »

We did that with her previous car. I bought a second set of factory alloys. To be honest it was a right pain, not just swapping them over but storing them too. We also got caught out with some late snow a week after I'd swapped back to normal tyres. I ended swapping to all-seasons. This car also has TPMS which makes a second set of wheels expensive.

I don't get the added expense argument. As a BMW owner I've always kept a spare set of alloys and winter tyres on hand in my garage, sometimes I fit them other times I haven't bothered. I've had to change the wheels every now and then due to a change in car but I've never lost out financially, I've always got back pretty much what I paid for them. Changing them over was pretty painless and inexpensive too, only £10 by my local independent with also the added bonus of being able to give them a thorough good clean once off the car.

I was always in the camp that if it only snows a few days/weeks a year then I could get by without them but then I got caught out badly one November morning when my road to work hadn't been gritted and there was an overnight freeze, I really struggled just to keep the car on the road, even in a straight line, the following week I had my first winter tyres and never looked back.

fatrab

Fitted winter tyres for the first time 4 years ago and never looked back. Up until that point I'd always believed that they weren't necessary in the UK.


But a few winters working up in the north of Scotland and having winter tyres on my Awd car (Subaru), you very quickly realise the added benefit.


We're about to fit winters to my wife's Mokka auto front wheel drive, as we use it most of the time, but I am swithering whether or not to fit winters to my own car this year as I'm not up north any more and not covering the 500 miles+ every week that I have been in previous years. I only use the car to travel to and from work, 17 miles, 3 days per week.


Personally I'm thinking a set of Uniroyal Rainsports would be a better investment this year as the Subaru needs tyres soon anyway.

Gloomendoom

neilmcl wrote: »

I don't get the added expense argument. As a BMW owner I've always kept a spare set of alloys and winter tyres on hand in my garage, sometimes I fit them other times I haven't bothered. I've had to change the wheels every now and then due to a change in car but I've never lost out financially, I've always got back pretty much what I paid for them. Changing them over was pretty painless and inexpensive too, only £10 by my local independent with also the added bonus of being able to give them a thorough good clean once off the car.

Yup, I managed to flog the set off the old car easily. However, TPMS sensors aren't cheap and only a deaf person could drive the car without them. Bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong...

It will be all-seasons or nothing.

System

NBLondon wrote: »

Ah - the annual debate.... Well - I'm in the "never needed to change" brigade after 30+ years of car ownership. But I've never had summer tyres or low-profile rubber either - all-seasons and taking extra care have done me so far.

Put some summer tyres on this winter when its got a bit snowy, slushy and icy. I think you'll be shocked at the difference. You'll find plenty of situations where the extra care you normally take is nowhere near enough on summer tyres.

motorguy

I think if weather conditions in your part of the country warrant winter tyres then they're genuinely a god send.

It doesnt where i live, but i'd have no qualms keeping a set of winter rims and tyres avail if it did.

System

Which part of the country doesn't warrant winter tyres? They provide benefit below 7C, Surrey was covered in snow today.