Should we be using winter tyres in the UK?

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Originally Posted by Sonic

LOL!

In answer to the thread - no. Better driving style would be a much better investment than buying tires for different seasons. Back in Feb when we had the worst snow in 18 years I was out working (driving instructor) teaching my clients an invaluable lesson in car control and winter driving preparations. The lessons were good fun, despite their initial misgivings and I bet they are all very pleased they had the practise now the snow is even worse.

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If you have freezing temperatures, you should have winter tires. Driving with summer tires in icy conditions is just plain stupid. Over here people use studded tires and it's amazing how well the traffic flows even in snowfall. That's why it's always a bit amusing to see pictures from the US or UK where everything stops because there is snow on the roads.

I've just come from B&Q (stocking up on gravel and sand). At 8am the car park was an irresistable blank canvas - not that I condone handbrake or J-turns you understand ;)

On the way I must have seen at least a dozen cars with no lights on, many more with ice and snow covering the lights, and a good handful where the driver had cleared their front windscreen and nothing else. And that's before we even get started on driving standards...

When it snowed last February my brother heard his car alarm going off and looked out the window to find a neighbour had reversed down the street not having cleared her rear windscreen and had eventually managed to reverse into his car. It was a good job it was a woman. I think my brother may have punched a bloke because he was so mad.

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Originally Posted by Dave Brockman

I've just come from B&Q (stocking up on gravel and sand). At 8am the car park was an irresistable blank canvas - not that I condone handbrake or J-turns you understand ;)

On the way I must have seen at least a dozen cars with no lights on, many more with ice and snow covering the lights, and a good handful where the driver had cleared their front windscreen and nothing else. And that's before we even get started on driving standards...

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I just don't get people sometimes :crazy:

We've got the headlights on permanently on both of our cars regardless of whether it's winter or summer.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

I just don't get people sometimes :crazy:

We've got the headlights on permanently on both of our cars regardless of whether it's winter or summer.

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I once rented a car in Spain and was stopped by the police because I had the lights on in daylight :) . Over here cars have lights on automatically and it's an offence to not have them on.

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Originally Posted by DexDexter

I once rented a car in Spain and was stopped by the police because I had the lights on in daylight :) . Over here cars have lights on automatically and it's an offence to not have them on.

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Yeah I remember from my two trips to Finland for the rally :)

I drive with my lights on all the time here as well and my car also has DRL's on it and the amount of people who flash you to tell you either that you've got your lights on or your foglights is annoying.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~fenix1983/Files/DRL.jpg

To all the Finnish persons on here "Can you still get KOMETA TYRES" We used to have them for the Hankki Rally
If so can you get me the address as I lost my Kometa tyres hat,and would love another

Took me three and a half hours to get to work this morning. Usually takes around 90 minutes.

Crawling along in Lane 1 at 30mph was slow enough, but then the A1 was closed at Scotch Corner, which didn't help matters!

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Originally Posted by driveace

To all the Finnish persons on here "Can you still get KOMETA TYRES" We used to have them for the Hankki Rally
If so can you get me the address as I lost my Kometa tyres hat,and would love another

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I think you still can get "kometa" or "tikka" studds, but they are not the same they used to be, only the center is hard steel anymore the rest aluminium, when was you here? Its sad but Hankiralli is not the same it used to be either, mainly because of mild winters lately.

Of course you should have winter snow tires if there is snow!
It is not expensive, since your summer tires will last much longer before needing replacement.
You are much less likely to cause an accident, and I am sure everyone has a $250 or $500 or more insurance deductible.
I swap out my wife's tires at the first whiff of winter, and she definitely feels much more secure about it.

There's no stopping the march of the idiots, though, no matter where you live!