Winter Tyres

[Zak33]

27 years driving and I've never used winter tyres. Just drive to the conditions.

which is impossible in some conditions.

Snow
225/45 Conti SPort Contacts
Hills

impossible

you've got to experience it to see the utter fail when, with 200 miles to do, with snow falling thick and fast, the sheer scale of impossibility of making progress on summer tyres in the wilds when yoiu're hours from home

if you're in a 10 year old 1.2 small hatch, on 175's you'll be ok

if you're in a lare family saloon with 245's its impossible

[Zak33]

I stuck a pair of cross climate Michelin's on the wife's mini and compared to the energy savers it had on they were the same predictable tyre in the hot weather, now the cooler weather is here (below 7) they are just as good. Wet is good and we will get to try the snow driving in the next couple of months for a guess so I will report back when I have had a play.

great tyres

[Zak33]

We have GY Vector Four Seasons on the fiesta, but not had any occasion to try them on snow but they were however absolutely fine in summer temperatures.

and also great tyres

[Dashers]

27 years driving and I've never used winter tyres. Just drive to the conditions.

You could argue the same with running slicks or bald tyres. Go carefully enough and you will probably not kill somebody.

In the south of England, if you drive on treated roads, I don't think winters are necessary providing you don't drive when it gets bad - which is rare.

[Spreadie]

You could argue the same with running slicks or bald tyres. Go carefully enough and you will probably not kill somebody.

Don't conflate experience and competence with wilful negligence - Drive to the conditions does not mean chance your arm. I've seen more than a few clueless 4x4 drivers spinning up the wheels and polishing the snow covered road to glass as I have driven past them in a Passat. Talk about "all the gear and no idea"!

In the south of England, if you drive on treated roads, I don't think winters are necessary providing you don't drive when it gets bad - which is rare.

Exactly - it's been around ten years since I've experienced conditions I would consider truly treacherous, and even then I managed my 60 mile commute without incident, it just took longer - although this wasn't in the south - half the journey was across the Derbyshire Dales.

[Dashers]

Don't conflate experience and competence with wilful negligence - Drive to the conditions does not mean chance your arm. I've seen more than a few clueless 4x4 drivers spinning up the wheels and polishing the snow covered road to glass as I have driven past them in a Passat. Talk about "all the gear and no idea"!

Indeed, I've seen RWD cars go past stuck 4WD, but that's usually because they're running winter tyres

My car is AWD and that helps a lot in bad weather in getting going and keeping you straight, but it does absolutely nothing to aid you in stopping. The fundamental issue is you can only get traction as long as your tyres grip.

The other advantage of winter tyres not being popular is that people stick to main roads when it snows. My shortest commutes have been during heavy snow as I've been able to potter around in unclassified lanes whilst everybody else is queuing on the main road.

[Zak33]

I've seen more than a few clueless 4x4 drivers spinning up the wheels and polishing the snow covered road to glass as I have driven past them in a Passat.

ahh but the 4x4 drivers are driving on summer high perfomance tyres too... utterly useless in snow

I shall give you an example of fact:
in most modern small "soft roaders" with a 4x4 badge on the boot, you need both front tyres to spin before power is passed to the rear. In a straight line that's very easy, as both tend to let go nearly the same moment. But if you're trying to pull away with the wheel turned and possibly uphill too, the front diff lets the inside tyre spin up, the utterly useless traction control cuts the power rather than putting a brake on the spinning wheel and the rear axle gets zero torque. Ive experimented with them. You can launch them out of gravel car parks like a Group B rally car .. full power and off the clutch like you've stolen it... they launc..IF the wheel is straight.

Do the same with the wheel turned.. and it's a total mess of flashing lights and no movement.

====

Also, better 4x4 cars .. lets take a good case of Merc or similar, still come from the factory with awesome 155mph XL rated motorway munchers. Awesome at 90 in heavy rain.. mammoth long channels the length of the tyre... utterly useless in snow. They understeer on any turn really badly...and slide under braking.. the car will slide down hill.. all the brakes on...

there's no way snow tyres do that. And it's not driver error.. it's the tyres in snow.

I part exchanged an old 2wd Audi with a V6 once in December ... and it has REALLY cheap tyres on. BUT .. the tyres has cross hatching, prolly to make them look good and were designed by a 6 year old somewhere in China. Awful... MOT pass but awful

but good in snow under low power. Simply because of the blocks on the tyre design

[Zak33]

I've driven ...possibly more cars than nearly anyone I think. And in all sorts of conditions.

But once in snow I sat like a plum on a hill that was.....oooh..... 1in at least 50 ..nearly flat.

And I could NOT get my Saab 9-3 to climb that "hill"

the fiesta dude whipped past swearing at me.. fair play.

then the Panda... good girl.. off you go

BMW 3 series begind me was slithering around left to right grinding his alloys on the hidden kerb stones!

I'd nearly smoked my clutch out and was finally trying to use 3rd to attempt it.. when I remembered I had the 200 bhp chip on. Bonnet up... disconnect.... 2nd gear.. and off we went. The over fuel and boost was literally the issue. And I was using soooo gentle inputs .. but only with it gone did I move

If that was a default power output with high boost turbo as standard, i'd still be there 5 years later

[hb904460]

Having just completed a 3000 mile trip around Europe on a set of new Michelin Crossclimate + all season tyres, i thought i would share my observations.
Just driving home from the fitting station the first thing that struck me was the noise reduction from my previous F1 assy 3 and dunlop fast response.
Tyres inflated to 35 PSI provide a slightly improved ride, potholes are less intrusive and my children were not sick once!
Braking in both wet and dry was as good as previous tyres. Torrential rain around Brussels was not a problem and road temps above 50c in Poland didn't affect them. Had some hairy moments with mental drivers changing lanes and then braking heavily on the German autobahns but i never felt the tyres needed more grip.
Overall a good purchase as we plan to do the same trip at Christmas but a little on the pricey side at £110+ a tyre.

[Jowsey]

Having just completed a 3000 mile trip around Europe on a set of new Michelin Crossclimate + all season tyres, i thought i would share my observations.
Just driving home from the fitting station the first thing that struck me was the noise reduction from my previous F1 assy 3 and dunlop fast response.
Tyres inflated to 35 PSI provide a slightly improved ride, potholes are less intrusive and my children were not sick once!
Braking in both wet and dry was as good as previous tyres. Torrential rain around Brussels was not a problem and road temps above 50c in Poland didn't affect them. Had some hairy moments with mental drivers changing lanes and then braking heavily on the German autobahns but i never felt the tyres needed more grip.
Overall a good purchase as we plan to do the same trip at Christmas but a little on the pricey side at £110+ a tyre.

Had a full set of cross climates since we got our current car and I have nothing to compare them to but I will say that £110 a tyre isn't awful. In the log book of the Volvo there was some invoices for work on it. Standard stuff like services and the odd bit of repair work. In it was an £800 invoice for 4 tyres, fitted, balanced and tracked at a Volvo 'dealership'.

Unbelievable.

[jimborae]

So who is now not regretting their purchase of some winter tyres?? I for one am not but am seriously considering investing on a better set for next winter.

[Zak33]

I have two sets on the go

I have some ultra cheap Superia Ecoblue 4S on my shagged out old Polo and they ROCK in snow and ice (all Season not just winter)

Very very capable, as anyone who sees my insta account will know.

not so good on damp roads-- very average, but so is the car.... good in the dry... and good in heavy rain...

And on the newer and a lot lovelier Subaru Forester I have put some Goodride SW608 ( which were CHEAP in the middle of summer when I got them)
That car does a daily road commute of between 50 and 100 miles and goes off road weekends and had to deal with the snow too.

Now this is gonna be hard to swallow, but they replaced Yokohama Geolanders, and ... I cant tell the difference. They were 40% of the price and so far... I cant tell the difference

Which is good as the geolanders were great too.

So.. I am, as ever, loving all season and winter tyres.

[kalniel]

My current A3 is awful in snow! At least my last one had a heavy diesel block and narrower tyres, but current one is too lightweight (1.4l engine) and has too fat tyres (225) so it just crushes the top layer of snow a bit rather than digging in. Economy engine mode, TSC in sport, and pulling away in second is needed and you can forget slopes without a smooth run up.

Of course, I'm on summer tyres (I was planning on going all-season until a puncture necessitated a quick change). All I can say is conti sport contact 5 have no longitudinal grip, but are at least relatively stable laterally, while the Michelin PS4s are slightly better longitudinally thanks to deep lateral tread gaps on the sides - though as soon as you do get through the snow to the surface they do suddenly grip quite well.

[GoNz0]

I was amazed I got anywhere in my nearly 2 tonne boat of a 535d with the primacy 3 run flats it came with, it even made it up my drive without the educated run up in reverse normally needed in the snow.

[hb904460]

Michelin CC+ have been superb in this weather. No issues at all, going uphill or down on fresh and compacted snow up to 20cm deep. Passed many a 4x4 and rear wheeled drive not going anywhere.
Best encounter was the BMW driver unable to get up a very very slight incline. Summer tyres, RWD and a heavy right foot were his problems. He got out and told me to move along way back as he was going to have to reverse. I just said i would drive past him, he was in shock and concerned i would scratch his car. His face was priceless as i just rolled past with no effort or drama.

[peterb]

Michelin CC+ have been superb in this weather. No issues at all, going uphill or down on fresh and compacted snow up to 20cm deep. Passed many a 4x4 and rear wheeled drive not going anywhere.
Best encounter was the BMW driver unable to get up a very very slight incline. Summer tyres, RWD and a heavy right foot were his problems. He got out and told me to move along way back as he was going to have to reverse. I just said i would drive past him, he was in shock and concerned i would scratch his car. His face was priceless as i just rolled past with no effort or drama.

Sounds typical for a BMW. I looked at winter tyres, but given that snow falls like the recent one are the exception, I cant really justify another set of tyres and rims. I just decide to stay in or walk!