Snow Tyres for the ASBO

[Nemesis]

The Sage and I went out for a spot of lunch today in the ASBO, It was an erm.....interesting drive to say the least with almost no traction to be found, sooooo after a lovely Lunch I dropped her off at home and said "just going to give it a clear out and put some petrol in it" the real motive being to see if I could get any heat into the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 boots and find some traction..... they were awesome in the wet at Oulton Park and they do work fairly well in the dry..... but dear o dear they aint so good in the cold..... can anyone recommend any snow tryes?

 

Nem........ 

[clansman]

I've been using Vredestein Wintrac Extreme on the last 3 of my cars and they are amazing. First put them on my Mondeo Zetec S with low profile 18" (can't remember tyre size) basically I would have had more traction with the rims! Fitted these and holy smoke......was driving through snow 6" deep and never once go stuck. Since then I have put them on every winter. Current car is a 2.2 TDCI Titanium X Sport estate with bluefin 220 BHP and nearly 500 ft torque. Any good performance tyre is basically useless once temp drops below 7 Deg C 

[pickmaster Andy Lowe]

Ok don't laugh but I went on mytyres and ordered some

Sonny Snowmasters 265-70-17 £48 each and they were great so bought another pair

Over 10k miles and not even half worn

For my xtrail

[Lawrie]

I've had the same problem.  My Yokohamas are a bit old, but at under 65 degrees, its like driving on ice.  Any warmer and they're sticky.

 

Is there anything sticky in the cold?  I think I'll try Nankangs - at least at the price I can't complain, and they have cold in China

[CrisisWolf]

Any good performance tyre is basically useless once temp drops below 7 Deg C 

 

I was trying to think roughly what the temperature was and had around 6-8 deg in my mind so thanks for confirming. Want to go out in the car to break the 888s in tho...

[AdamR]

That will be fine, have driven mine in close to zero temps with no issues even in the wet. You just need to drive to the conditions :-)

[CrisisWolf]

Having just come from 14 year old perished rubber I tend to agree!

New brake system too - should be a fun introductionary drive

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Be very, very careful on brand new R888's in this weather. Unless things have changed, they come with a fine layer of release agent or whatever on them that can make things entertaining enough on warm dry Tarmac! 

 

It it doesn't take long at all to wear it off, but of course it's a bit off a catch 22; you can't press on to wear it away quickly because of the skittishness it can cause. A good length run out should see you sorted.

 

Just take the first trip steadily, build up, feel what grip you have. (It's a mind set thing,ms unconsciously, knowing you've got extra sticky rubber fitted, can have you pushing harder, faster than you might do otherwise).

 

I'd also consider getting the geometry tweaked to suit the new tyres at some point; R888's love camber, and really come alive with the right geo settings.

[CrisisWolf]

Ive heard this - I wouldnt push that hard in this weather anyway. New tyres and new brakes it will be a gentle (for a Westfield) drive! Ive heard you can buy some kind of spray to take this coating off as well.

Ive never been able to find what 'good' geometry is on these cars. Only what is acceptable and wothin tolerance.

[AdamR]

Its a subject for a different thread, but there are some good guidelines available depending on what the car is used for.

[kevip6]

Ive heard this - I wouldnt push that hard in this weather anyway. New tyres and new brakes it will be a gentle (for a Westfield) drive! Ive heard you can buy some kind of spray to take this coating off as well.

Ive never been able to find what 'good' geometry is on these cars. Only what is acceptable and wothin tolerance.

It's not the coating you need to worry about, the R888s have next to no grip on really cold roads. I Used mine last winter when testing the fit of my aeroscreen and even when driving really cautiously the back was coming out on even gentle medium speed corners

Just be careful

[M444TTB]

If R888s are like A048s then definitely dubious in cold and damp conditions. Even taking it easy (trying to keep up with traffic from the lights) I was getting some flare of revs and a wiggle of the back end over drain covers.

[CrisisWolf]

Waiting for plus 7 degree conditions! Shame it was 10 degrees and dry today and I am busy. Would have been okay.

[Sparkymart]

What about T1R's are these any better for cold/wet conditions? Being on 14" rims I'm limited

[dombanks]

i find the t1r ok in the wet but haven't really used them in cold and wet.