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Snow Tyres


Mungler
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Had some Bridgestone A001's fitted to the front of my golf today. They're all weather tyres so should see me through winter pretty well. So far, they seem to have magical sticking powers in the wet. They don't seem to aquaplane much through big puddles. When the cooler weather eases off, ill do a front to back swap with the standard tyres on the back. I figured that I only need the M+S tyres on the driving wheels because the rear wheels don't do much in terms of gripping the surface.

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You must be really special if you can defy physics.

I'll second that - in the highlands and never have any issues?

 

I'll take a guess you are already using winter tyres without being aware of it then. To give you some benefit of the doubt, I have to say that it may be the case that you are not having to travel on roads that dorks have turned into ice skates with rear wheel driven cars wearing summer tyres.

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It all depends on your style of driving, and how much driving you plan to do if the weather turns bad...?

 

You can have the chunkiest tyres on the market fitted to your 4 x 4, but once the snow arrives and you get stuck in a queue behind loads of beemers and mercs with their low profile slicks, like everybody else, you're going nowhere.

 

 

Cat.

Thats about right. It all depends on how much snow is encountered. The traffic just gets to any hill and thats it, cars abandoned and stuck at all angles.no progress at all and everyone just sits in their car with the engine running to keep warm. Forward planning. wellies and warm coat in car. or better still stay at home in the warm.

Quote From op.

I was thinking about getting an extra set of alloys off ebay for the wife's motor and then getting snow tyres put on the rims for a 'swap out' over the winter period.

Edited by fortune
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I wonder about this - if driving on unpacked snow, it surely has to be depth of the tread and the width of the gaps which give makro texture and grip, The harder the tyre the better i would have thought since deformation of the tread under load is less and resistance from the snow is a maximum? When on ice, you are never going to get more grip because it has no texture and no tyre can engage with the surface.

Slush, it seems logical that mud tyres would help, unless its underlain by ice.

I just cant see the difference in this sort of analysis, never used them, so dont know but it seems illogical that snow tyres or winter tyres would work. The only tyres which I could see working in all winter conditions are good treads with retractable studs !

It is probably cheaper to lower the pressure in your tyres to increase grip area rather than pay £1000 for a set of winter tyres. I really would like a convincing answer to this but havent seen it yet - although Sako has the experience and that counts for a lot.

As for the german experience, maybe they need to increase tyre sales - I dont think their winter accident record is much to write home about.

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I wonder about this - if driving on unpacked snow, it surely has to be depth of the tread and the width of the gaps which give makro texture and grip, The harder the tyre the better i would have thought since deformation of the tread under load is less and resistance from the snow is a maximum? When on ice, you are never going to get more grip because it has no texture and no tyre can engage with the surface.

Slush, it seems logical that mud tyres would help, unless its underlain by ice.

I just cant see the difference in this sort of analysis, never used them, so dont know but it seems illogical that snow tyres or winter tyres would work. The only tyres which I could see working in all winter conditions are good treads with retractable studs !

It is probably cheaper to lower the pressure in your tyres to increase grip area rather than pay £1000 for a set of winter tyres. I really would like a convincing answer to this but havent seen it yet - although Sako has the experience and that counts for a lot.

As for the german experience, maybe they need to increase tyre sales - I dont think their winter accident record is much to write home about.

You are known for talking sense so let me just say you have it wrong my 'ansome.

 

I'm a cabbie and use them. The difference is totally outstanding and they work big time on packed snow even, I often pass a stream of cars trying get up hills ruined by muppets with rear wheel drive fat tyres on in my Galaxy. A copper dint like the fact that I passed him and a bunch who were going nowhere once and tried but failed to come after me - oh how me and my passengers laughed at that. :lol:

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If they last as long as normal tyres why aren't all cars shod this way from new ?

 

cost and fact they wear quicker and loose grip once over the temperature threshold of around 6-7 degrees afaik, i would say its only rear wheel drive with run flats i found they work for, most cars with front wheel drive and extra weight in front seem to work fine for me without winter tyres

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Living on top of a hill I would not have a car without winter tyres. My commute includes a 2 mile twisty downhill run. I'm not fussed if I can't get to work it's getting home that I'm interested in. We leave the tyres on all year and I cannot say that I've noticed excessive wear, noise or poor fuel economy.

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You are known for talking sense so let me just say you have it wrong my 'ansome.

 

I'm a cabbie and use them. The difference is totally outstanding and they work big time on packed snow even, I often pass a stream of cars trying get up hills ruined by muppets with rear wheel drive fat tyres on in my Galaxy. A copper dint like the fact that I passed him and a bunch who were going nowhere once and tried but failed to come after me - oh how me and my passengers laughed at that. :lol:

That is a rare compliment and I thank you - Happy to take your experience - but in Iceland when on snow they lower their tyre pressures - maybe they use winter tyres ?

Abyway I get 45K out of a set of Hancook tyres and I am thinking a lot less for winter tyres. Still, if you have the cash like the OP its a no brainer - do the test yourself and sell them on as perfection if you dont like 'em.

P.S. Its a good rule to accommodate the police not infuriate them but I think I would have enjoyed that too !

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Contrary to popular belief, fresh snow that hasn't been compacted/polished up by traffic affords excellent grip. For 20 odd years I owned L/rovers and ran them all year round on mud patterns. My last vehicle, a Defender 110 c/s wagon was shod with Goodyear Wranglers and was very, very capable on fresh snow but next to useless on the heavily compacted stuff!

 

I do agree that a competent driving style can only enhance a vehicle/tyre combo's performance in any weather conditions, but if traction is not achievable then the driver is powerless to change that fact.

 

As an aside why are 'normal' drivers, driving 'normal' car/tyre combo's referred to as 'muppets'?

 

Regards Remmyman

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Contrary to popular belief, fresh snow that hasn't been compacted/polished up by traffic affords excellent grip. For 20 odd years I owned L/rovers and ran them all year round on mud patterns. My last vehicle, a Defender 110 c/s wagon was shod with Goodyear Wranglers and was very, very capable on fresh snow but next to useless on the heavily compacted stuff!

 

I do agree that a competent driving style can only enhance a vehicle/tyre combo's performance in any weather conditions, but if traction is not achievable then the driver is powerless to change that fact.

 

As an aside why are 'normal' drivers, driving 'normal' car/tyre combo's referred to as 'muppets'?

 

Regards Remmyman

 

 

You selected parts of that out of context mister.

 

I was referring to rear wheel drive users as muppets for trying to get up hills with fat summer tyres on and ruining the snow covered road for other people who are not muppets.

 

Those mostly BMW and Merc mature drivers ought to know their car is not suited to driving up inclines with fat posing tyres on rear drive wheels.

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I`ve fitted winter tyres for many years,had Vredestein,Lassa,Avon & Kleber,all of which have performed amazingly in

bad conditions.

They do make a huge difference imho,if you can get about on ordinary tyres,you`ll breeze it on winter ones.

As an earlier post said ,narrower tyres are much better,unfortunately big tyres are are `must have` fashion/ego massaging fitment nowadays .

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Fitted winter tyres for a couple of years now and they do exactly what is says on the tin !! This year i have a Tiguan Escape ( so 4x4 ) so snow wont be a problem at all.

If you can afford to get a set its well worth the money, they normally last 2-3 seasons, if your not driving like a wally..

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