pacenote

Its pretty economical if it prevents you from crashing the car..

SRSport

It depends on how much driving you do. I am fortunate enough to not need a car too often as I have everything on my door step so I can walk or if I need a car I could get a taxi and let them worry about the snow. I wonder how many taxi rides you could get out of the cost of 4 new tyres, including milage (depreciation), wear from from starting it up from cold etc ?

SRSport

Do you work for the government?

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

The fact you seem to be overlooking is a set of winter tyres WILL last you 4 winters at least, and while you have them fitted to your car you are not wearing out your precious summer tyres so they will last longer aswell.

SRSport

Good point.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

Indeed. If you are going to own a car for a period of 3 sets of tyres then winter tyres are not an extra expense

pacenote

Done at least 4 winters on my conti's..

prob replace them for winter 2011

alistair

Apart from the extra set of wheels to keep them on

SRSport

Why wouldnt you just keep the wheel and swap the tyres over? Wouldnt be that much to get someone to do.

mickywrx

iTrader: (29)

I've got 3 sets of wheels.

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

LOL, so have I, now that I gave a set away

Leslie

Having had a lot of experience of driving on snow and ice in this country and others I would say that if you drive on normal tyres in such a way that you are likely to crash then you are a prat and deserve what you get!

Les

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Well that narrows it down to about 15 million retarded drivers on the UK roads councillor Les

pacenote

Perhaps I should have said : its pretty economical having winter tyres fitted if they help you avoid some other 'prats' accident..

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

Another thing you have to take into consideration is that you maybe able to stop and avoid an accident but the pillock behind you can't, so thinking about it, it is probably not a good idea for you to have winter tyres afterall.

pacenote

better get the 'normal' tyres back on then

SRSport

Brilliant then you can claim on their insurance and not yours plus £5000 for all those sleepless nights so then another £5000 from the resulting stress, £2000 for whiplash, £500 for a chipped nail and Im sure you could get something for your hair being moved out of place as well.

Leslie

Is that the number of drivers on normal tyres who have had an accident in the snow this winter COB. If not can you explain what you mean.

Les

Leslie

Yes I agree with that well enough.

Do winter tyres help on packed or loose snow? I know they have a different rubber composition which behaves better under very cold conditions since the rubber remains softer, but do they also have a different tread design.

Les

Markus

I am somewhat considering winter tyres for our new car, however, we've not had them on our previous car and managed ok without them. Thankfully Ontario does not (yet) mandate the use of winter tyres, however Quebec does. Between December 15 to March 15 it is mandatory for vehicles to be equipped with tyres specifically designed for winter driving. It seems there is a $200 - $300 fine per incident if you're caught without winter tyres on.
If you're out of province and visiting the law does not apply to you.

It's not a bad idea, but there does tend to be a bit of a rush to purchase winter tyres up there, and of course I'm sure there is a bit of a mark up going on too

pacenote

I have found the grip in all conditions to be greatly improved. Although the size/profile is the same as summer tyres the tread design is different in that it is abit more 'blocky' to give bite into snow and also to clear water in slushy conditions. Each tread block also has small cuts in them to help with this as well, although I suspect this may be to improve traction on ice.

Leslie

Ok thanks for the explanation. Well I do agree that they must be significantly more confidence inspiring to drive on. Trouble is of course the added expense of an extra set of wheels and tyres. I gather that they are too soft to be much good in summer conditions and I imagine they would wear quickly too.

I suppose eventually it will become law that we fit them in winter as in some other countries.

Les

[-(o)-]

iTrader: (1)

Winter tyres are, for want of a better description, softer. For a tyre to generate grip the rubber needs to move around at a molecular level. Summer tyres are harder and this movement starts to struggle below 10 degrees. Its the same reason a racing slick works at 100 degrees +. A winter tyres rubber will keep moving around in this way, plus it'll have a more aggressive tread. If you run a winter tyre in summer your tyre is likely to wear badly and won't have the same grip levels as a summer tyre (due to movement of the tread blocks).

Saying that I don't run winter tyres as I don't trust other road users and can leave the car at home for the few days us southerners are effected.

chocolate_o_brian

iTrader: (22)

Yes certainly. All the millions of generally crap drivers. You know the type, the ones in Chelsea tractors, the ones that run tyres down to the canvas material, the ones who drive mpvs right up your ****, the retards who drive at 45 in a 60 and then 45 in a 30. These are the 15 million (numbers estimation) retards who will still try driving in summer conditions leaving little gap between vehicles using normal road tyres in the snow.

Hope that clears it all up for you.

SRSport

Aimed more at Moley but can you buy insurance days from someone else before the renewal date and benefit from that 1year NCB?

My insurance runs out on the 5th of January but to avoid the VAT hike I wanted to book at the end of December but not sure whether I could use the previous years no claims.

pacenote

Yes, there is the expense of course, but I sourced a second hand set of alloys to put the tyres on and while they are on the car I'm not wearing out my summer tyres, also I've done 4 winters on them todate

Leslie

Yes I understand what you meant now COB. I agree with what you say of course and it gives me the heeby jeebies to see some of the antics they get up to.

Nearly got hit by a woman yesterday who arrived at a snowy sideturning and could not stop just as I went past. I reckon there might have been 3 inches clearance with my emergency avoidance act! She did say sorry, about 20 times, but it was a lucky miss!

Les

kbsub

Fact is winter tyres help you stop quicker, Four wheel drive doesn't , I'd rather be in a 2 wheel drive with winter tyres than 4 wheel drive and all seasons.
Entering our fourth winter here in Canada and the need for winter tyres became all too obvious after the first few months of the first winter !

The wife as Goodyear Nordics on her Jeep Liberty and four wheel drive, so kind of belt an braces approach . I just swap the wheels over in April and keep them in the garage .
There is tonnes of evidence supporting the use of winter tyres out there and anyone who thinks their driving skills are good enough not to need them is a fool .

boomer

Interesting article about winter tyres here.

Blooming obvious when you think about it!!

mb

SRSport

This has got me wondering. What would be more suitable for snow and ice conditions. Winter tyres that are more suited to sub 7 degrees temperatures with around 3mm tread or new summer tyres with a fraction over 6mm tread?