Winter motoring.... and tyres!

[Guest]

Went out to the Cuore this morning and it was absolutely covered in frost, had to scrape it off using my National Insurance card (only useful purpose it has ever served). Looks like that time has come again, seemingly very early!I hate all the winter motoring stuff, getting ice off windows, making sure everything has antifreeze in it, increasingly complex startup procedures. Although if it gets really icy I can do big slides out of junctions in the Galant, which is a novelty.The only thing is that nowadays my commute takes in a lot of fast country roads which probably won't be gritted much. In view of this, I'm wondering whether it would be worthwhile getting some winter tyres this year. The tyres I've got on now are Yokohama S-Drives which are a soft compound summer tyre. But I've got some stock steels lying about with a mixture of USSR-spec Caramacs and Betrayals, which I could feasibly remove and bosh some proper winter tyres onto.I'm hardly going up Snake Pass every day, but a RWD car with vague steering and summer tyres might not be for the best as the weather gets worse. So, any experience of winter tyres, are they worth it?

[garethj]

my commute takes in a lot of fast country roads which probably won't be gritted much.

You want tyres that don't give too much grip, because when you hit that patch of ice you'll have no grip at all. Best if you're not going too fast when it happens

[seth]

I asked about the benefits on R-R a little while ago. Good answers from a couple of members I have much respect for lead me to think there really is good benefit to be had. I have a spare set of different wheels for the Hillman and have just been lazy/busy and not sorted out tyres yet. Continentals were the preffered make.

[garethj]

I asked about the benefits on R-R a little while ago. Good answers from a couple of members I have much respect for lead me to think there really is good benefit to be had.

Hmmm, I've seen cars hit a patch of ice and it's not pretty no matter what the tyre.If the weather is wet or the roads are slushy then some tyres do make a difference, but on an ungritted road it's a matter of when you slide, not if IMHO

[Volksy]

when I lived in the Alps, I had winter tyres on the front of the Clio-of-doom, Made this little car quite an effective snow slogger, however they are great for grip on soft/hard snow, but I think on black ice they wouldn't offer a great deal of difference to normal road tyres.They do wear out pretty quick, well that or a few jaunts to Geneva on the Autoroute with somewhat wayward front suspension caused them to..

[Guest]

Sounds good Seth, I've heard Continentals are the choice to make too, so there's got to be something in that.

[seth]

Yea, obviously on ice nothing will grip unless you've got studded/spike tyres but you couldn't run them daily... The winter tyres apparently offer much better grip even in the typical damp cold conditions that seem to last from now until about April.

[Richard]

If you like sliding all over the road and getting stuck at damp junctions Hankook is the tyre to go for.

[155V6]

If you like sliding all over the road and getting stuck at damp junctions Hankook is the tyre to go for.

I think Camacs are probably the worst,absolutely no grip in anything but perfectly dry weather.I had some on the front of my Metro GTI,& in the year I had it,they didn't seem to wear at all

[Milford Cubicle]

Winter tyres are great, they give so much security in the snow and ice. But I couldn't really justify them if it wasn't snowy so often as here in the wilds of Scotland - you might be better off with some decent brand all-season tyres

[r.welfare]

I'm pretty sure Stomils are the worst - both for grip and propensity to blowout...Conti winter tyres are v. good. They were one of my clients in my old job, and are continually lobbying Government to adopt a German-style approach to mandating winter tyres from Oct-Mar, and raising the minimum tread depth from 1.6mm to 3mm. Of course, it would help them sell many more tyres I have M&S Nankangs on my estate, but foolishly took my saloon (with it's all-season Bridgestones) out yesterday - because I live in a hilly area (for the South) I had two aborted attempts to get to work because the roads were blocked by people who couldn't crest the summits without sliding backwards...so unless everyone has winter tyres, chaos will still occur. 4th gear wheelspin was not fun though, thanks to slush in the evening that froze solid overnight.

[Baz]

Am I the only one who wishes they wouldn't grit the roads in winter?

 

Aside from the damage that it's done to my beloved cars/bikes over the years, I believe that in putting that crap on the roads, they're promoting complacency in drivers....Everyone EXPECTS the roads to be clear, so they drive at normal speeds whatever the outside temperature....Therefore when ice is encountered for whatever reason, they're usually travelling too fast to be able to deal with it!

 

I wonder have many idiots have tried to sue Local Councils because they've crashed on ice that they believe shouldn't have been there, and that should have been cleared away for them?

 

If we all KNEW that in icy weather, the roads would be slippery, then surely we'd all drive accordingly, and our cars would last longer? It's like someone once said....If we all had a big metal spike poking out the middle of our steering wheels, instead of an airbag, we'd all drive much slower....Same thing!

[r.welfare]

Thing is, Baz, that volcanic ash has the same anti-icing properties as salt - and doesn't speed corrosion - but is much more expensive. Hence why councils still use salt.But I agree, most of the problems are due to complacency/stupidity.

[Milford Cubicle]

Fresh snow is actually quite grippy, and you can go at a decent lick if you're gentle on the pedals and steering. Salt just leads to slushy, icy grimness.

[Owain-328i]

I'l be getting both my rear tyres replaced asap. As 2.8 + rear drive + rear tyres on markers + icy roads = lairy drive to work.

[Dead_E23]

I live on a slight hill that rarely gets gritted because it's narrow. Fresh snow is fine, but after a couple of days the road turns into a big sheet of polished ice and you can hardly walk on it. Any more than the slightest touch on the brakes and you're driving a toboggan! If winter tyres can cope with conditions like that (and worse, given that people drive up mountain roads with them) then they must be fantastic - and have the consistency of bubblegum!