Jump to content

When are you fitting your winter tyres?


Rich
 Share

Recommended Posts

I'm not sure what the weight is, would it be in the handbook? Honda recommend having the front tyres inflated more than the rear though, only by 1psi but it must be for a reason. True, no tyre will be that grippy on ice, I'll probably notice it more now cos I live at the top of the hill and the roads going down are all steep at some point and with twisty bends so you have to be careful!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bit OT... But i have rented a seat leon estate in germany for a few days whilst i see my sister. Idecided to opt for the winter tyres to be fitted for an extra £10.

 

All i can say is wow. The grip levels are amazing, its not snowing but temp is between 0 and 5 degrees all day.i had to do a quick stop yesterday when a little boy kicked his football in tp the road and there was no drama from the tyres at all

Nice they charged you extra since winter tyres are a legal requirement in wintery conditions in Germany , large spot fines if you get stuck without them !

 

http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/winter-tyres/laws-and-legislation

 

Germany:

Recently, Germany added new rules to their Highway Code. According to the law, motorists must have winter tyres (that bear the M+S symbol) if they are driving on snow, black ice or roads covered in frost. 

If you are caught driving in these conidtions withouth the appopriate tyres fitted, you are likely to be fined €40. This amount will be doubled if you are the reason for any delays to traffic. You will also lose one point on your driving license.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Blimey reads like a UK scam...... Still on topic down those tyre pressures a bit. A few years back i got caught out in snow on summer tyres, dropped them to 15psi and made it almost home in 4" of snow up and down the hills.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Shan't be bothering with winters personally.

 

Will be a problem if it snows true enough, but how long until the roads are cleared and things return to normal. A day? Or two? My shifts mean a 3 day week (12hours) so that's half the odds of having to drive in snow/if it snows, right there.

 

Then, if it does snow, with any consequence, those with summer tyres block the roads anyway as happened round here 5 or so years ago. Couple of days and the roads get gritted and we all carry on as before. I might have to dig my way out of our culdesac. But everyone chips in so no biggy there. But let's face it, it hasn't snowed for years in the south of the country.

 

Temps vary too much below and above 7c within a week to be sure of the tight temp range. It was 12c in Berkshire at 8pm last night on the 19th dec. I just don't see either summers or winters being in the right temp range all winter.

 

Added to my opinion, that a good summer will work better than a cheap winter in winter, storage, swapping them over twice a year. Bah, not worth the trouble for me tbh.

 

Although, I have sports contact 3's on the rear, and may have to fit them to the front as well. These are bloody useless if it snows. A winter tyre test backed up my experience one snowy morning on said sc3. A test of 10 winter tyres, with the sc3 as a comparison. Braking test in snow. All winters had stopped when braking from 30mph. Yet the sc3 was still doing 27mph. :o

 

I can vouch for this. On snow, they absolutey will not stop. Ever, almost. After qua drooling my braking distance for a red light on my commute and brake testing to see what I had. I over shot by 40 feet. Luckily, the lights where on a round about, with a road through the middle on my intended route, so I was able to steer round to first exit, meaning the I had further to stop. Drivers need to know things like this begore buying. Excellent summer tyres, imo. But appalling in snow, and presumably mud as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only thing I would say, is winters would keep the mileage and wear off the summer tyres, when you can't really use them. Not so much due to temp. But due to the grit they use in winter. The roads become noticeably more slippy once gritted. Noted as a reference when the temp goes back up to the pre gritted cinditions, yet the grip isn't there.

 

I saw a report they use molasses in the grit to make it stick and hold the salt on the road longer. So the road can be dry, although the grit seems to hold moisture longer, yet the grip level just isn't there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You obviously don't understand them Chris, even above 7 degrees they still stop you :) Below that and they out perform in wet, ice and snow. I've had them for three years now on a FWD car and although I don't do many miles now they still let me get around and get up the hill to my house where many get stuck and then up my drive that is steep too.

 

Personally I wouldn't be without them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Added to my opinion, that a good summer will work better than a cheap winter in winter, storage, swapping them over twice a year. Bah, not worth the trouble for me tbh.

 

I'm not fitting winters either as I just don't do the mileage, but this part just isn't true. Even the best summer tyres will not really work in colder temps as well as a tyre with a compound designed to work in those temperatures.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You obviously don't understand them Chris, even above 7 degrees they still stop you :) Below that and they out perform in wet, ice and snow. I've had them for three years now on a FWD car and although I don't do many miles now they still let me get around and get up the hill to my house where many get stuck and then up my drive that is steep too. Personally I wouldn't be without them.

 

Now then. Let's try to remember the context shall we. I did say that I don't expect temps to drop fully into the winter tyre range. And I don't expect snow and that if it did snow there would be problems.

 

 

There's does seem to be lot of speed reading and picking out snippets out of context on here.

 

Granted if conditions fully suit winters they will be preferable. For about a week round these parts anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So you don't expect the temperature to drop to 7 degrees centigrade or below this winter? I think the Met. Office might disagree.

It's below 7 now. ;) but was 12 mid day.

Not sure what you expect to achieve with that post tbh. It's a bit like somebody standing up and saying you sl wasted your money on winters, because my situation doesn't warrant them.

 

Unless I see consistent snow and conditions that match winters. Not happening. That doesn't mean the odd dip below 7c won't happen.

 

What you need to remember is it's the conditions that will change my mind. Not out of contexts post on a forum.

 

Our winters are milder than ever after all. Yet somehow the need for winters is also higher than ever.

Ok, advances in technology etc. etc but I'm not buying winters for the off chance of snow or bit of cold on three of 7 days in my working week when I live 200 yards from a bus route that will be well gritted the day before.

 

The implication that winters for one, or one group, means einrers for all, is prety rude and narrow minded don't you think?

 

Now if I was in the highlands or out in the boonies then that's another story.

 

Works for you, good stuff. Doesn't mean it must work for everyone. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shan't be bothering with winters personally.

 

<snip>

 

Although, I have sports contact 3's on the rear, and may have to fit them to the front as well. These are bloody useless if it snows. A winter tyre test backed up my experience one snowy morning on said sc3. A test of 10 winter tyres, with the sc3 as a comparison. Braking test in snow. All winters had stopped when braking from 30mph. Yet the sc3 was still doing 27mph. :o

 

I can vouch for this. On snow, they absolutey will not stop. Ever, almost. After qua drooling my braking distance for a red light on my commute and brake testing to see what I had. I over shot by 40 feet. Luckily, the lights where on a round about, with a road through the middle on my intended route, so I was able to steer round to first exit, meaning the I had further to stop. Drivers need to know things like this begore buying. Excellent summer tyres, imo. But appalling in snow, and presumably mud as well.

 

That's a rather shocking experience to relate.

 

I run winters all year, because they are the best tyre for winter use (note that I don't just say "snow"...), and in the summer they perform as well as a summer tyre does. At least on the van. I fit new winters at the end of October or such like, and run them over the winter, then I run them into summer and run them off. If they last til October time then they get ditched in favour of a new set, and if they don't last that long then I put my spare summer wheels and tyres on for the odd few weeks when I need to.

 

So being realistic, you would rather take a chance on summer tyres and hope it doesn't get to a point where you need the extra stopping performance of a winter tyre? I would rather have the stopping power and be confident that I'm doing as much as I can to prevent an accident which would invariably make my day a bad one. But whatever works for you I guess. But since your post above stating how dangerous your summer tyres are, I would perhaps consider other road users a little.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

 

clearly you don't expext the temp to go ABOVE 7c if your fitting winters! 

 

As I said above winter tyres work above 7 degrees so it's not a problem.

 

To a point yes, as do summers below, to a point. An over lap. Where both work on a directly proportionate scale according to temp.

 

But until the temp is firmly planted in the range of one or the other..... Can't really demand anyone uses one or the other, can we. Hence no law on compulsory winters.

 

I must the say the day winters become compulsory in the UK we'll have a site more to worry about than what tyres to fit, imo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Shan't be bothering with winters personally.

<snip>

Although, I have sports contact 3's on the rear, and may have to fit them to the front as well. These are bloody useless if it snows. A winter tyre test backed up my experience one snowy morning on said sc3. A test of 10 winter tyres, with the sc3 as a comparison. Braking test in snow. All winters had stopped when braking from 30mph. Yet the sc3 was still doing 27mph. :o

I can vouch for this. On snow, they absolutey will not stop. Ever, almost. After qua drooling my braking distance for a red light on my commute and brake testing to see what I had. I over shot by 40 feet. Luckily, the lights where on a round about, with a road through the middle on my intended route, so I was able to steer round to first exit, meaning the I had further to stop. Drivers need to know things like this begore buying. Excellent summer tyres, imo. But appalling in snow, and presumably mud as well.

 

 

That's a rather shocking experience to relate.

 

I run winters all year, because they are the best tyre for winter use (note that I don't just say "snow"...), and in the summer they perform as well as a summer tyre does. At least on the van. I fit new winters at the end of October or such like, and run them over the winter, then I run them into summer and run them off. If they last til October time then they get ditched in favour of a new set, and if they don't last that long then I put my spare summer wheels and tyres on for the odd few weeks when I need to.

 

So being realistic, you would rather take a chance on summer tyres and hope it doesn't get to a point where you need the extra stopping performance of a winter tyre? I would rather have the stopping power and be confident that I'm doing as much as I can to prevent an accident which would invariably make my day a bad one. But whatever works for you I guess. But since your post above stating how dangerous your summer tyres are, I would perhaps consider other road users a little.

Oh I do consider other road users a little, by fitting the best summer tyres I can find that best suit the conditions. That of summer.

 

Do you not see a level of hypocracy in your post given you have the wrong tyres fitted for a 90% of the year? Then suggesting someone with the correct tyres for most of the year is inconsiderate. ...?

 

 

You'll note I'm presuming your driving situation is the same as mine, without seeing the other point of view.

 

The reality is though, your obviously more than welcome to fit winters or not, same as I am. Be it winter..... Or summer. And that given I have agro with grip levels on summer tyres in summer, I'm damn sure I'll struggle with winters in summer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The point of this thread was to find out when those who do use winter tyres will be fitting them. We really don't need it turned into a debut for whether we should use them or not, they always end up the same way!

 

I'm going to assume Chris that you've never had any experience with them. I usually find those who haven't will say they don't need them for the few days we do have snow, whereas they're actually winter tyres. You use them on cold, damp/wet, frosty or icey roads and in snow. Yes the ideal temperature for fitting them is 7 degrees or below but this isn't law and they are also fine all year round. I ran them on one car for 2 years and they were very grippy in the dry cos the compound is softer, the only issue if you can call it one was when cornering hard, there is obviously more flex in the sidewall. Being a soft compound they will also wear slightly quicker.

 

They don't cost any extra cos you save the rubber on your summer tyres for 5 months of the year so they last longer. You do not run them for just 10% of the year! There is obviously the initial outlay of buying them to consider, which some might not be able to afford.

 

As for getting stuck with other drivers on the main roads I didn't find that at all, I was able to go down the back roads when the weather was really bad, which everyone avoided. Instead of sitting in traffic for hours it only took another 10 minutes to get home cos I was still driving to the conditions.

 

I've been using winter tyres for 4 years now and will carry on doing so, the difference is night and day compared to summer tyres. I decided to try them after my car got stuck on a hill for a couple of days on compacted snow. I was running 215 wide tyres and my current car has 225 wide but I use a 205 for the winter ones. As someone said we didn't have too many issues years ago cos tyres were skinny then and they gripped better, which is where wider tyres fail.

 

We're all entitled to our opinions but I would at least get some experience and an understanding of how they work before ruling them out completely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was driven in a newly purchased vxr8 back in the summer. Noisy, vibration through the car. Clearly suffering from lack of grip. I asked what's going on, owner said previous owner had left the winters on it and he hadn't had time to change them.

I guess it depends on ones definition of "works" in the summer. Sure they'll keep the rims off the floor and meet a minimum legal tread depth, for a while. But surely we're not saying winters are as good as summers in summer? Are we?

 

And presumably we're allowing for the severity (or lack of) of the winters in the UK especially in the south. Given the floods of the last few years I rekon a good rain tyres is a better choose given the averages. Tbh. But there we are. Each to their own as they say. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bit of a misnomer here though , below 7 degrees summer tyres dont work as well , they dont suddenly cease to offer any grip once the mercury hits 7 degrees

 

The average temperature in my area rarely drops below 7 degrees during the day and I rarely drive at night. I also tend to agree that at say 4 or 5 degrees which is the average lowest temperature in my area my high end sports tyres will outperform a mid range winter tyre , at least in the last 3 years I havent had a moment in any of my cars during the winter and if the road is dry I pretty much drive as per the summer anyhow.

 

Snow is a different story of course but we rarely have significant snowfall around here and if we do everything is closed and the local roads get blocked with trucks not managing the hills so everyone goes to the pub 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...