Winter Tyre Review

[blankczechbook]

higher demand this year across the world we are being told is the reason for short supply of winter tyres.

we did our firms car early, but still struggled to get some vans until last moment.

hard to plead ignorance - winter is kinda predictable, comes yearly.

but the firms i think are caught napping not having produced as many as people want. - look at the uk, winter tyres? no one knew they existed until last year :-D

the uk is surrounded by water and at a high enough latitude - if the gulf stream does fade then winter tyres will be the easiest to fix!

( outside waste pipes and loft header tanks freezing up nicely!

snow tyres on my disco didn't seem so great the other day compared to some MT tyres i had before, but MT tyres are noisy and drink fuel more.

the snow road tyres were NBG for mud playing..  maybe just stick with decent AT tyres with decent tread.

here i drove for miles yesterday in big snow - mondeo with older winter tyres - you can really tell when the tread is gone.. am putting fresh winters on this afternoon.

the old ones i'll maybe put back on in spring to use up the tread - or just bin them - as said before - only a small contact patch with the road - and we rely on that to keep us on the road.. not worth skimping really.

[Matt Seabrook]

Not the best vid

This is  little better

[cast iron]

Went for some 16" Vredestein Snowtrac 3's,

superb snow tyres IMHO

[windy]

All I ever do is let a "lot" of air out of my everyday michelins , never had problems with grip in all the snow and ice ive been through  

You want to put more air in not out.

To get more grip from tyres in winter as a general rule they reckon to increase the pressure between 3 & 5 psi

[Luapno]

Heard on the radio tonight, a man from the AA was saying that some insurance companies are increasing premiums or refusing to insure cars with winter tyres.

Seems mad to me    but nothing surprises me when it comes to insurance companies

[davidgh]

 downside will be the rate they wear on tarmac once the snow goes

Possibly less than you would think. I am using Vredestein Wintrac 4 Extreme (actually, not as extreme as yours, but V-rated) as an all-year tyre on my Touareg. I've driven over 20,000 miles in the year since I fitted them, and they still have over 5mm of tread...................

.................oh, and I drove from Münster to Calais, and then on to Suffolk yesterday  --  and I can confirm that (even with reduced tread) they are still better than most on snow  

[RedditchJay]

Heard on the radio tonight, a man from the AA was saying that some insurance companies are increasing premiums or refusing to insure cars with winter tyres.

Seems mad to me    but nothing surprises me when it comes to insurance companies

Think the problem is WHEN only a front pair are fitted and not all 4.

I have all 4 winter tyres on rims and soke with Direct Line who are fine with it as I have my car insured for business travel.

[davidgh]

Could be that many budget winter tyres are not speed-rated that highly  --  in many cases not nearly as highly as the top speed of modern cars.

[RedditchJay]

may well be,

[Mark (smokey mow)]

I'm picking up a set of Conti Winter Contacts tomorrow, and looking forward to seeing how they compare with the Pilot Primacy's currently on the car.

[RedditchJay]

The wife said its the difference between wearing party shoes and walking boots..........  

[windy]

Heard on the radio tonight, a man from the AA was saying that some insurance companies are increasing premiums or refusing to insure cars with winter tyres.

Seems mad to me    but nothing surprises me when it comes to insurance companies

Think the problem is WHEN only a front pair are fitted and not all 4.

I have all 4 winter tyres on rims and soke with Direct Line who are fine with it as I have my car insured for business travel.

That's not true.

+ its not commonly known that if you have an accident in your car whilst in the Alps, if your car is fitted with summer tyres your insurance company will be paying the bill for everyone, regardless of whether it was your fault or not.

Drove up to Newcastle today, pulled off in the services at Scotch corner. I was the only one to pull into the snowy car park and park up. Others arriving saw my Astra parked on its own in the car park and thought it must be safe to park there.

Went and sat down inside to eat & watched the entertainment unfold as people tried to park nearby.

Sprinter van wheelspinning for about an hour getting nowhere.

VW polo sliding about getting closer to the van. Eventually some people came to the rescue and pushed him about, fell over a few times in the process.

Went back to my car and drove off just like I was on tarmac.

Winter tyres are good, safe, but you can still have some fun if you want.

[davidgh]

+ its not commonly known that if you have an accident in your car whilst in the Alps, if your car is fitted with summer tyres your insurance company will be paying the bill for everyone, regardless of whether it was your fault or not.

Anywhere in Germany (much of it is flat) the driver of a car not equipped with winter tyres involved in an accident in bad weather will be apportioned a share of the blame no matter what.

[pistonbroke]

All I ever do is let a "lot" of air out of my everyday michelins , never had problems with grip in all the snow and ice ive been through  

You want to put more air in not out.

To get more grip from tyres in winter as a general rule they reckon to increase the pressure between 3 & 5 psi

I would have to disagree  not sure who "they" are but will assume "they" mean because of the colder winter temperatures  tyres need more air because they  dont get hot enough .

That may be the case for normal winter roads but not if your driving on  snow or ice , you need the biggest contact patch available , lowering tyre pressure is one way of doing it ,

Check out trials cars , they use such low tyre pressures they have to bolt the tyres to the rim to stop them seperating.

[windy]

Winter tyres grip from movement of the tread blocks so that the "sipes" cut into the snow. To do this you need to restrict the movement of the carcass which means increasing the tyre pressure.

Some summer tyres have "sipes". To get the best grip out of them in the winter you need to increase the pressure

Nothing to do with heat.

We were running snow tyres on the RAC rally last weekend.  Dunlop were telling us to increase pressure by 4-5psi over what we normally run.

Must have been working because Rob was leading the event overall for a good bit of the time.