Should we be using winter tyres in the UK?

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Originally Posted by schmenke

The province of Quebec has a way:

http://www.mtq.gouv.qc.ca/portal/pag...on_pneus_hiver

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bloody french :p

So Winter conditions are officially declared to be those existing between Dec 15th and March 15th, regardless of weather?

As of 2014 (so no time soon :p ) in Quebec and I think 2012 or so in Europe, the definition of Winter tyre will be the Snowflake symbol. To get the symbol, the tire must be x% better in Snow Traction than an outdated 14" SRTT reference tire. It's a start, but doesn't give the whole picture. The snow traction test (a tire spin-up on a specially made pickup) used over the puddle has little to do with the traction you or I would experience driving in Winter. Here an ABS-braking test is seen as more relevant.
The SRTT may be an outdated all-season pattern, but guess what, a lot of what is considered a Winter tyre could struggle to get a Snowflake!

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Originally Posted by donKey jote

..So Winter conditions are officially declared to be those existing between Dec 15th and March 15th, regardless of weather?
...

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Donks, on this side of the pond it's a sure bet that winter driving conditions will be encountered between those dates :p :

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Originally Posted by schmenke

Mrs. Schmenke's 4WD SUV is equipped with all-season tires. Even in our snow-clogged streets she never has problems getting around.

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maybe it's because she also knows how to drive :p

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Originally Posted by donKey jote

maybe it's because she also knows how to drive :p

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:wave: :p :

Not that I'm Mrs Schmenke - I dream of such honour :)

Having spent much of yesterday digging out other people, then driving myself out on not only the same road but two foot of snow off road, I can say it's 90% the right tyres on a vehicle in 4 wheel drive and 10% at most natural ability. My elderly Range Rover has goodish mud tyres on all year round and has so far been perfect on and off road every day. We've had up to 24 inches of snow and I'm happily ploughing through that down my private lane to the stables each day then spending all afternoon watching cars and lorries get stuck on the A road outside!

If anyone wants to moan about UK roads not being cleared I have one message for them ..... if you get stuck it is totally your own fault! ANY car can be dug out if you carry a shovel, gloves and some old carpet. If you've got crappy tyres on you should carry basic things to get yourself out, plain and simple. Frankly from what I've seen most of the UK's loudest moaners about the state of the roads are the ones who expect hourly snow ploughs and their own private council man spreading grit before them. Pathetic!

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Originally Posted by Hazell B

If anyone wants to moan about UK roads not being cleared I have one message for them ..... if you get stuck it is totally your own fault! ANY car can be dug out if you carry a shovel, gloves and some old carpet. If you've got crappy tyres on you should carry basic things to get yourself out, plain and simple. Frankly from what I've seen most of the UK's loudest moaners about the state of the roads are the ones who expect hourly snow ploughs and their own private council man spreading grit before them. Pathetic!

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:up: This.

i was in Edinburgh on Saturday/Sunday when about 8 inches came down overnight, and had to travel back south to Stoke and then on to Stansted to come back to Sweden. I had hired a car, and by luck ended up with a Seat Altea Freetrack, which is a slightly jacked up estate with Audi haldex 4wd system. It was running on moderately used Bridgestone Contisport 3's, definately not winter tyres. Coming out of edinburgh its is quite a long hill and there were several cars getting stuck, plus a double decker bus. everytime i came to a jam i pulled into a side road and ran parallel to the main road for a few blocks and then back in. There was 8+ inches of untouched snow on untreated roads and the car never faltered. 4wd was enough and the tyres coped fine. That said 4wd will only help so much, and for braking and turning winter tyres are incredibly helpful, 4wd only helps the traction, you still need to be going the appropriate speed and have some clue what you are doing.

However i do think that all cars should require winter tyres, inclduing the 4wd's, as especially a 2wd on worn normal tyres is useless unless going in a straight line on a flat road, but also the standard and ability of most drivers on the slippery stuff causes a lot of the problems. Either there is an inch of snow in a field nearby and idiots start driving at 20mph, or people try to drive normally and leave no extra space for stopping distances or slowing for corners. The combination of the 2 creates gridlock. most of the pictures i've seen seem to be of the UK motorways and main roads with less than a couple of inches of snow, or even just wet and slush, but completely gridlocked cos someone a few miles away is being a moron.

however unless mandated only a few will take up winter tyres as people don't realise that they are on the whole better in all conditions once the temp gets down to about 5 degrees celcius, not just for snow and ice.

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Originally Posted by Robinho

however unless mandated only a few will take up winter tyres as people don't realise that they are on the whole better in all conditions once the temp gets down to about 5 degrees celcius, not just for snow and ice.

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There's the cost, but mostly just the hassle not only of getting them fitted but swapping them over etc. Tyres mostly work just on putting new ones on and getting rid of the old ones, keeping some and putting them back on again just isn't something there is infrastructure for.

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Originally Posted by Mark

There's the cost, but mostly just the hassle not only of getting them fitted but swapping them over etc. Tyres mostly work just on putting new ones on and getting rid of the old ones, keeping some and putting them back on again just isn't something there is infrastructure for.

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the hassle of changing them IMO is the least of the problem. If you live in house, you are bound to have room for four tyres. I store my tyres in my parents shed, along with my dad's, sister's and brother's tyres. The actual switch takes about 30 minutes and requires a parking space, preferrably tarmac, and a basic floor jack cost 20 eur-200 Eur. If you use alloy wheels, it's best to use a torque wrench so you don't over tighten the wheel nuts.

Added bonus is that you get a good view how your brakes and shocks are doing.

Good luck with that in the UK. You can't even tell people to clear off all their glass (and not just peer out of a gap in the windscreen) without them getting the hump. Morons, most of 'em!

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Originally Posted by Hazell B

:wave: :p :

Not that I'm Mrs Schmenke - I dream of such honour :)

Having spent much of yesterday digging out other people, then driving myself out on not only the same road but two foot of snow off road, I can say it's 90% the right tyres on a vehicle in 4 wheel drive and 10% at most natural ability. My elderly Range Rover has goodish mud tyres on all year round and has so far been perfect on and off road every day. We've had up to 24 inches of snow and I'm happily ploughing through that down my private lane to the stables each day then spending all afternoon watching cars and lorries get stuck on the A road outside!

If anyone wants to moan about UK roads not being cleared I have one message for them ..... if you get stuck it is totally your own fault! ANY car can be dug out if you carry a shovel, gloves and some old carpet. If you've got crappy tyres on you should carry basic things to get yourself out, plain and simple. Frankly from what I've seen most of the UK's loudest moaners about the state of the roads are the ones who expect hourly snow ploughs and their own private council man spreading grit before them. Pathetic!

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Couldn't agree more. If the UK was equipped to deal with the weather then taxes would have to be higher etc etc.

Kind of reminds me of the bear patrol tax in the Simpsons. Damn immigants!