RWD - on which axle do winter tyres go?

[M'coli]

If you can't stop then slow down.

 

Try telling that to the clowns who race up to junctions believing that their ABS, traction control and whatever will still generate grip on a road surface that they wouldn't run along ("where μ tends to 0").

[forddeliveryboy]

Bangernomics, properly executed, often means running the same sort of car as the previous so you've a set of spares for free readily available. Being an unfashionable, older car probably means you can pick up a set of winter wheels one summer for peanuts if you keep your eyes open.

 

Driving a car in snow on summer tyres is a bit like disconnecting the front brakes on a dry road - even if you drove at 25mph like this, it'd still be dangerous and frowned on. Yet somehow going out in snow on shiny Firestones with 3mm tread and blocking a road is perfectly ok, because you don't get fined or points.

 

Which goes to show The Law is basically a load of well-educated rich people meting out what is a disguised form of mob rule.

[sierraman]

I look after them but it's not a money throwing exercise. Fitted some Eicher pads on the back of mine recently, cheap pads but entirely appropriate on a £400 car. Chances are they'll see the car out so it's safe. I don't go looking for problems though, as example I wouldn't start trying to make it fault free, the electric seats don't work, I could put another seat in for £30 or so. Would it be worth it? I'd doubt it.

[dollywobbler]

If you can't stop then slow down.

 

Seriously?! You try doing that on a steep hill in snow. I once did. Cadence braking did not work. To stop, you need grip. You don't realise how good winter tyres are until you really need them.

[Joey spud]

My vw t5 work van has winters on it all year round (so does the british gas fleet)

 

Were excellent yesterday when up in the Surrey hills in snow and are also good when trying to tow on slippy surfaces.

 

On standard tyres i could spin up on a loose dog turd or damp leaves in the gutter.

[oldcars]

Buy a k11 Micra.

I had one in 2010 when we had MEGASNOW. It had a mixture of top quailty* tyres and i never got stuck once. Miss that wee car.

[oldcars]

They were great, as you say i was getting past all sorts on hills when they were getting stuck. Used to reverse into my drive in the evening, then in the morning for work clear the snow off the car, start and pull off in second and i was out of the estate no bother. Roads were not cleared in our bit as it was new at the time. 

[dieselnutjob]

Seriously?! You try doing that on a steep hill in snow. I once did. Cadence braking did not work. To stop, you need grip. You don't realise how good winter tyres are until you really need them.

 

Yes.  You should always drive within the capabilities that you have, which includes both your skill and the equipment that you have.  If you don't have the grip to safely drive down the steep hill, then don't drive down the steep hill.

 

The OPs question whether it would do any harm to put two winters that he has on the rear.

 

The answer is that it won't harm.  It won't help as much as four, but that isn't what he asked.  And he will still have more grip than 95% of other road users.

[5speedracer]

Doesn't matter as someone will invariably get stuck blocking the road and making a mockery of your £800 winters on the A4 quattro.

 

Sent from my X17 using Tapatalk

[djimbob]

My tyre specialist always recommends fwd you put the winter tyres on the front, no need for rears, and rwd need all four boots changing for best effect.

 

 

Personally have fitted many winter tyres to mine and family motors, and when the snow and ice arrives, can mean the difference between a steady commute, and abandoned vehicle with lost work opportunities - we live on a hill in inner city Leeds, amazing how a few hundred yards can fuck up your entire day, especially if you aren't on the gritter route!

 

Of course for many other inner city/town dwellers this might all seem a complete waste of money, but when you've got experience of all scenarios in different cars and tyre options, then it soon becomes obvious why countries like the Germans make it compulsory to change over to winters come the snowy season

[Tamworthbay]

How do you find the Crossclimates? I am considering getting a set for my car, since its tyres are old and I want to replace them anyway. Are there any downsides? Clearly, they are not going to be quite as effective in the worst winter conditions but significantly better than summer tyres - but is there a downside in the summer?

 

They look quite impressive here:

 

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Is-there-a-true-all-season-tyre-We-find-out.htm

Very very impressed with them. In normal situations they are just like summer tyres but come into their own on days like today. Where I work is down a hill with a sharp right at the bottom into the car park. I followed a Q7 this morning that tiptoed down and still had the ABS stutter going on as he started to turn in. I just drove down as normal and it felt fine, no sign of the ABS or traction control light coming on. I think they were £5 more than a pure summer tyre so it was a no brainer really. I have recommended them to a few people and don't anyone who isn't impressed with them so far.

 

No downside I have found in summer at all, not even road noise. I guess they may not be quite as good as full on winter tyres but they have the snowflake marking and if you nose around the tests they do very well. Life wise I have put 7000 miles on and they have lost very title depth so I would expect to get around 20,000 miles out of them with a change at 2mm as I always do.

[chaseracer]

20 years ago I had never heard of anyone having a set of winter tyres down here in the south now it seems we all should have them. If you drive sensibly to the conditions then it doesn't really matter what tyres you have. The problem with winter tyres is the same as the 4x4 one. The driver thinks just because he has wonderful tyres or 4x4 he can go faster than anyone else.

 

You seem to presume that those who hold a different opinion to yours on the subject of winter tyres are either gullible, incapable of individual thought or simply downright stupid and inconsiderate.

 

I do hope I'm mistaken.

[M'coli]

20 years ago tyres still possessed enough sipes to make them work in snowy conditions:  take the classic MXV tread pattern, for example.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Very very impressed with them. In normal situations they are just like summer tyres but come into their own on days like today. Where I work is down a hill with a sharp right at the bottom into the car park. I followed a Q7 this morning that tiptoed down and still had the ABS stutter going on as he started to turn in. I just drove down as normal and it felt fine, no sign of the ABS or traction control light coming on. I think they were £5 more than a pure summer tyre so it was a no brainer really. I have recommended them to a few people and don't anyone who isn't impressed with them so far.

 

No downside I have found in summer at all, not even road noise. I guess they may not be quite as good as full on winter tyres but they have the snowflake marking and if you nose around the tests they do very well. Life wise I have put 7000 miles on and they have lost very title depth so I would expect to get around 20,000 miles out of them with a change at 2mm as I always do.

 

 

Thanks for that - it's really useful to have a genuine opinion from someone who actually has a set on their car!

[chaseracer]

The 3mm Michelin Energys which came off the front of the Blingo will be replaced with CrossClimates when the winter's over.  The 7mm Barums holding the rear bumper off the deck can stay for a while longer... 

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

20 years ago tyres still possessed enough sipes to make them work in snowy conditions:  take the classic MXV tread pattern, for example.

 

 

I think there may be some truth in that - my XJ6 has the old fashioned Pirelli P4000 tyres on it which have a similar tread pattern to that. The P4000s are definitely better in snow than the modern Continentals fitted to a BMW I also sometimes drive - the damn thing can hardly pull off in snow, never mind doing anything else. Of course in the summer, they're miles more capable than the old Pirellis.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

I seem to think Breadvan72 fitted a set of Crossclimates to his E34 BMW 5 series and was impressed with them.

[drum]

I'm a convert to winter tyres. The winter before last, I managed to pick up four almost new Goodyear ultragrips for £40, advertised on the Co-op notice board.

 

I put winter tyres on the wife's diesel golf a couple of months ago when it needed new tyres. It's better in the snow than my 4x4 Santa Fe on summer rubber. Good to know that if the good lady has a bump this winter, it won't be because I skimped on decent tyres.

 

Only today, I put two new winters on the back of my transit. It's absolutely pants and won't move on anything remotely slippy. No gradient required to stick that thing. It was noticeably much better on the way back from the local tyre man than on the way there. A few slabs in the back will help.

 

Only annoying thing was realising how much I could have saved by using tyre leader, but I need it this weekend. Poor planning etc.

 

I'm swithering over whether to stump up for winters for the Hyundai. It's really not good on the half worn 235 kumhos, but I'm baulking at the £300 or so.

 

Hopefully the snow will piss off.

[Lacquer Peel]

20 years ago tyres still possessed enough sipes to make them work in snowy conditions:  take the classic MXV tread pattern, for example.

 

Not only that but the tyres were a lot skinnier and the cars a lot lighter. I bet an Aygo or something like that is good in the snow, but a larger hatchback on wide low profile tyres? Nah.

[forddeliveryboy]

Phwoarrr!

[Station]

Thanks* for the replies everyone.

 

More Confused,

Wirral.

[dollywobbler]

Yes.  You should always drive within the capabilities that you have, which includes both your skill and the equipment that you have.  If you don't have the grip to safely drive down the steep hill, then don't drive down the steep hill.

 

Oh aye. That was really handy advice at the time. It was about 11pm and we were in the Brecon Beacons, many miles from civilisation and, sadly, our home. Should have just parked up for the night and frozen to death?

 

Sadly, this was a time before I'd even discovered winter tyres. The BX had proved surprisingly capable in the snow, even on summer tyres. Until the temperature plummeted well below freezing. Then I discovered that summer tyres behave like plastic.

 

Personally, while it's nice that winter tyres can get you going, it's even nicer when they can stop you. I'd therefore struggle to know which end I'd want the winter tyres on if I had a RWD car. I think I'd just stump up for another pair in all honesty. Even on FWD, not having winters on the rear can allow dangerous oversteer - I believe Mat The Cat knows someone who discovered this.

[Lacquer Peel]

I discovered the dangerous over steer in my mum's Honda Accord fitted with winter tyres on the front only. It didn't happen again. If you drive at a steady pace and don't stab the brakes, steer and accelerate gently it's fine. The extra grip on the driven wheels is helpful to get you going but not dangerous unless you're a fud.

[gordonbennet]

Its the one size fits all of modern ''rules'' that pisses me off, with sanctimonious bloody jobsworth experts telling us what we may and may not fit or OMGCRASH.

 

Years ago long before winter tyres were ever heard of in Britain, ironically when we used to get winters, some who needed to keep moving would buy a couple of Town & County heavily tracked tread tyres and put them on the back (cos all proper cars were, and still are RWD).

They didn't suddenly become uncontrollable things, maybe because people soon learned how to drive cos this was in the days when the person behind the wheel controlled the car not umpteen computers and yaw (WTF is that when its at home) sensors.

Sensible people also chucked a couple of slabs in the boot to help even the weight odds a bit.

 

What happened to people learning to feel whats happening at the wheels, they seem totally oblivious now.

[Lacquer Peel]

Rose-tinted spectacles drivel. No one is telling you that you have to do anything, only that it's a good idea to use winter or all season tyres if you value safety and security in wintry road conditions.

 

Again, old cars had tall and narrow tyres and were much easier to drive in the snow, the vast majority of modern cars have wide low-profile tyres that are rubbish in the snow.

[wuvvum]

That's because modern cars (or at least the ones I've driven) give you absolutely no clue about what's happening at the wheels.  Until one of said wheels hits a pothole and your spine comes through the top of your skull, that is.

[wuvvum]

I do recall my 1-litre AX being absolutely brilliant in the snow, even on budget "summer" tyres.  There's a lot to be said for low weight and 145/70s.

[gordonbennet]

Drivel yerself, the original question was about fitting two winter tyres, according to experts the world will end if you only fit two whichever end that might be, but those who bought two Town & Countries in years gone by didn't suddenly spin off into the ditch, they made a judgment about what they needed and drove accordingly.

Course if someone hasn't got a bloody clue then all 4 winters would make sense, but as with many things one size does not fit all.

 

Its the same one size fits all mantra of new tyres MUST be fitted to the front, which is eminently sensible if you have FWD but bloody daft if you have RWD.

 

I ran winter tyres for years on the Merc, wonderful things in the cold and snow, obviously, but not as good wet grip as the normal summer set on the average winters day.

[gordonbennet]

I do recall my 1-litre AX being absolutely brilliant in the snow, even on budget "summer" tyres.  There's a lot to be said for low weight and 145/70s.

A bloke up the hill from me who had a 106 was the only car to get out of our hill early mornings in snow (well yes i got out too but on winter tyres, my old Merc would never have got up on the summer jobbies)), he used to reverse straight up the hill no bother thereby proving RWD winnar , others in similar small FWD's cars would sit and spin at the bottom polishing the snow down to black ice.

[HillmanImp]

20 years ago I had never heard of anyone having a set of winter tyres down here in the south now it seems we all should have them. 

 

Problem is cars have now become a wanking fantasy of a 14yr old with lowered suspensions, wide wheels, rally spec lights and so on. This means that the car is not designed to be good at its job, useable in all conditions and useful in everyday life. Its style over substance. 

 

Wide wheels are shit in snow. Back in 'Nam all cars had nice skinny wheels as standard so you didn't need winter tyres as they could cut through the snow better. My GT6 had skinny wheels and romped through the snow despite being RWD like all these BMWs everyone say are shite in the snow 'because all RWDs are rubbish'. Yes, a FWD with the engine weight on the front will be better than a RWD with the same wheels with no weight, but the main thing is less surface area IMO.