Snow Tyres And Chains

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Ok, the snow is really getting to me, and the ice infact. Village has 4 exits, 3 of which have steep hills, 1 of which you encouter 3-4 smaller up and down hills before you get to the main road. We dont get gritters, we dont get snow plough thingies. I cant stick around inside couped up for much longer, I need to get out of here! (The luxury of having a 4x4 in the country is becoming apparnt!)

 

Snow Tyres, are they actually all they are cracked up to be? Would it really be worth investing in a set on some spare steelies for the week or so a year that its gonna be hard to access/exit the village? Who has experienced these tyres?

 

Snow Chains, my understanding was they are illegal for use on the road in the UK, as have other people I've spoken to, now is this true? Once again worth investing in, good for getting out of those sticky situations?

 

Other than that, wiltshire county council need to get their ass in to gear!

 

 

Ed.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

LOL, The country just need's to sort it's self out, How many places in Europe get snow all over the winter and they carry on as normal, We seem to be the only one's who come to a halt, No doubt a laughing stock abroad, I know in Germany when I was working there it snowed early in the yr but within a couple of hours all the back roads where passable as all the local farmer's had snow plough's on there tractor's etc, Plus from Late Oct/Early Nov you must switch to Winter Tyres by Law which make a huge differance

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

But this is wiltshire Miles... 'The land of inbreeds'. We have s*it loads of farms, yet the only tractor I seen was being driven down the road by some 12 year old lad with a sledge being towed behind it!

 

Realisticly Salisbury and District seems to have been cut off from the rest of england, surrounding villages never get gritters/ploughs and salisbury got very little with the main roads closed thanks to the local constabulary.

 

According to Phil, snow chains are not the way forward for small amounts of snow and I should be looking for a set of different tyres.

 

P.S. Rant over.

Edited February 9, 2009 by EdCherry

[brian j 32]

On the daily driver (306) I had been running Bridgestone RE720s all year round until a couple of years ago when it snowed. I literally couldn't get the car off the drive in about 1.5" of snow. It was a joke. (Before you ask I know how to drive in the snow OK, not to Scandinavian rally driver standards, but smooth and gentle)

 

I now run the Bridgestones from Mid-March to late November and Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3 (All round winter tyres) in the winter. According to the articles on the web if the temperature is 7 degrees or less winter tyres are better due to the softer compound. They are great in the wet OK in the ice, wear well and grip fine on dry roads (although if you leave them on too late in the year you can overheat them in spirited driving) but in the snow they have been a revelation. I have not got stuck, or even been near to getting stuck once in the last week and I've driven over 500miles. Even when the front subframe is collecting the snow off the road due to the low ride height they still grip fine.

 

Having tried them, I wouldn't be without. It doesn't turn the 306 into a good snow car (Too stiff, too low, too few driven wheels) but it transforms it from being lethal to perfectly acceptable.

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

^ i was just about to note the same thing - "winter tyres" are not simply "snow tyres" but "cold weather" tyres too.

 

as noted, below 7'C summer tyres simply don't function as intended anymore.

 

just as winter tyres squeel and wear like mad in warm weather.

[Cameron 16]

If you do get snow chains, don't get them from Halfords. I bought a set last year and they broke after driving less than 10 metres! If you can, try and mail order some from the continent.

 

I think getting a set of snow tyres would be a good idea.

[Moz_Goodwood 0]

buy a escort van mine seems to be better than most 4x4's on the road

 

light vehicle + heavy diesel engine over the front wheels + fwd = pretty bloody brilliant

 

the vivaro and the missus saxo are p!ss poor in the snow / ice

[Nathan 0]

I've done a fair bit of driving in Sweden (following the WRC around) and our hire cars had studded snow tyres fitted (the studs are the same level as the rubber), the grip off these was unreal. You could effectively drive as normal on roads covered in comapcted snow and they were also great for hooning round the forests at night, well at least they were until we hit a branch on a track and put a hole through the sump.....

[chris1986 1]

just not worthit in this country, i think people shoud invest in learning to drive in the snow. where i live we don't get gritters or snow ploughs for 4 miles or so. my 205 has always got lots of tread on and where no one ese can get in there cars my 205 will just plough on. my dad parked his 06 corsa up at the church as it was too bad to drive really and the next day it woudn't shift so we towed it out with the 205 gti for the laugh and it did it no bother, we had the choice of 2 atv' or 2 tractors to use but it was no problem for my car.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Well if your skill is so amazing at driving, wanna be my chafuer? Might be ok in your part of the world, but not here.

[meggy6620 0]

Yep the whole contery needs winter tyres, unfortunatly studs are illegale coz it rips up the roads apparently! but you can get them without studs which are realy good in british wether E.G. rain.

 

all you need is a second set of cheep steelies with snow/winter tyres and the usual summer tyres on the origanals and your on a winner.

 

Its what canada/ sweedan and many others cold parts do so why cant we?

 

Hope my little rant helps lol

[miamistu 1]

LOL, The country just need's to sort it's self out, How many places in Europe get snow all over the winter and they carry on as normal,

 

I think that's half the point - they get it regularly so they are used to it and thus prepared.

[grandos 16]

As everyone else has said snow tyres are the way forward and make such a difference when driving in poor weather conditions, similar difference to slicks and wets on the track really when comparing usage in the snow.

[meggy6620 0]

lol its simple realy pick the right tyres for the right effing job lol

 

summer tyres = nice dry and alittle damp

 

winter/snow = peeeing down or snow

 

Just need to tell the power that be and less people would die

 

ee ek is good noing there is pepole that think the same lol

 

sorry rant over lol

[Redtop 14 2 Cars]

My dad used to have 2 d-turbo/xs 205 wheels for the front of the 205/309's and later 306's that he had. They had rally gravel tyres on them and he used to put them on the front of the car he was driving if it was snowing bad. They were a good job but haven't been needed in well over 10 years. We haven't even had any major snow in our area in this past week or so it just melts as quick as it falls.

[Cameron 16]

It's all very well saying things like people need to learn to drive in the snow, but I can say that's only half the problem. I think I can drive in the snow pretty well but it didn't stop me getting stuck on Friday night. I have brand new tyres but they're dragging around a lardy mondeo estate. Despite my best efforts I had to stop on a hill to pass two other cars that had stopped as there was traffic coming the other way. You try getting a couple of tons of front wheel drive estate moving again on a steep gradient, it isn't going to happen no matter how "bad ass" your "skillz" are.

You'll probably find that the frenchies cope so well because they all have snow tyres. But then they can confidently expect snow for several weeks or months of the year.

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Apparntly Paris hasn't been coping to well either in this weather!

 

Gonna look into some winter tyres, as well as checking the suspension/steering + sorting out the PAS pump as it was a dodgy drive to college today.

[Grim.Badger 15]

Can't be fecked getting snow tyres; it snows so little here in Grimsby that they don't even bother gritting most of the winter. I went out a couple of nights ago and the roads were litterally covered in ice, it was like an ice rink, and I still managed to keep the car under control with Goodyear F1s with only about 2mm grip left; admittedly I had to be careful but that goes without saying really, I would have been stuffed on a hill though but this is Lincolnshire, there are a few hills but theres no reason to go on them.

If I did buy winter tyres the rubber would degrade before I had even wore 1mm off them

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

I was chatting about this the other day. Definately modern day traction control systems can be a pain in the proverbial when you need to get some momentum going, but I wondered if all these modern tyres are mainly to blame. The trend is for wider and lower profile. On top of this we've got these energy saving tyres which, by my simple physics understanding, means if they're low rolling resistance they're probably lower grip. Hence useless in the snow.

 

Bottom line - some part-used knobblies off a rally car will probably make a world of difference, but who is going to pay for a set of 4 rims and tyres for the 2 days a year that you need them ?

[richsmells 2]

I think everyone should just drive these:

 

Edited February 11, 2009 by richsmells

[Cameron 16]

Yeah Fiat Panda 4x4!

[DanteICE 72]

Here's a tip i learnt while in Sweden, if the temperature is less than 2 Degree celcius then you can drive perfectly normally on snow with proper tyres, but on snow higher 2 degrees celcius the pressure of the car causes the snow to melt underneath and you get water on snow in other words very slippy surface.

 

I think the problem near me is ICE rather than snow, so snow tyres will be a little useless but good gaps should spread the water out from under the tyres which is always good!

 

Geoff

[snillet 1]

Even if you got yourself a set of snowtires to use the few days a year you might need them, they age quite rapidly, and after about 5years their ability to grip with ANYTHING but the pattern is very bad indeed.

 

And there are tons of skill and milage-training in how to drive in really poor winterconditions.

But as said above, reasonably new studded snowtires makes it quite forgiving to drive in the snow, even studless snowtires makes a HUGE difference even on ICE compared to summer ones.

 

And yes..... what´s here called "snowmud", which is what you get at most times in the south of Sweden when it´s between -5 and +10 degrees C, that is the REAL pain to drive in.

[SPGTi 2]

New winter tyres are great when it's cold and wet. Did no-one watch the WRC in Ireland where the tyre of choice for the very wet condition was the "winter tyres". Even Seb Loeb was surprised at how good it was in the cold and wet conditions.

 

Steve

[mbroers 0]

I live in Western Europe now, but I used to live in Scotland, so I know conditions here and there. Even though conditions tend to be more wintry here especially in mountainous regions, I exeperienced sub-zero conditions in Scotland regularly. I swear by "winter tyres" and drive them from November to March. The level of grip they generate once you get below 5°C is beyond anything summer tyres can offer. They're also far superior in wet conditions. Plus I like the switch from the relatively skinny winter tyres on 14" to my 15" summer ones once temperatures rise again. It's like experiencing to different cars. The balance in the winter is more delicate. The summer tyres are all grip and heavier steering.

Try Goodyear Ultragrip. They're the business.