Should we be using winter tyres in the UK?

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Originally Posted by Jag_Warrior

So what's it like over there?

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Not as bad as the TV reports have made it sound, typically.

We usually get maybe two inches of snow on my land once or twice each winter and it lasts a week at the most. This year it's been 8ish inches that's been the type that goes to ice the moment you stand on it and it's lasted over a week solidly - no defrosting at all. When more has fallen it doesn't get deeper, just compacts to hard white ice.
The result is that here (and for twenty or so miles around at least) we have packed snow on some roads that acts like a skid pan and however hard I try to lift it with a shovel it just stays there. Every car passing squashes it harder. I even put salt down at the back of my home to stop cars skidding and it just sat there on the surface :p :

It was 3 degrees at best this week, on the south face of my covered barn area. That means probably out in the open has been an air temp of -1 or worse during the day. No wind though, so it's felt perfectly warm and pleasant if you're dressed right. I love it :up:

Tomi,,,I was there for the Hankki Rally in 1980,with the Henri Toivonen RAC car KWT556V,you will know it as NUG 327V.
But for the RAC and Hankki Rally it ran as KWT,for Peter Clarke, Atso Aho was the navigator and we ran out ot the Toivonens garage in Helsinki.Memory tells me it was an underground garage under some shops.
Whilst there Harri Toivonen ,and myself went to pick up Harri,s rally car,the Ex Henri Avenger with a 2 litre Brazilian block motor in it,from a body repair shop,about 30 miles outside Helsinki.The ride back with Harri in thick snow ,on Kometa ,s was a ride to cherish.I have NEVER been driven as fast on snow in my life.The reason we went to pick up the car was due to the fact ,that Pauli was on holiday,and Harri did a rally whilst he was away and damaged the Avenger,so he wanted it repaired VERY QUICKLY so Pauli did,nt know.Hopefully Harri is now fully recovered after his hospitalization last year
IF you can get me a Kometa hat I would be very grateful.

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Originally Posted by driveace

Tomi,,,I was there for the Hankki Rally in 1980,with the Henri Toivonen RAC car KWT556V,you will know it as NUG 327V.
But for the RAC and Hankki Rally it ran as KWT,for Peter Clarke, Atso Aho was the navigator and we ran out ot the Toivonens garage in Helsinki.Memory tells me it was an underground garage under some shops.
Whilst there Harri Toivonen ,and myself went to pick up Harri,s rally car,the Ex Henri Avenger with a 2 litre Brazilian block motor in it,from a body repair shop,about 30 miles outside Helsinki.The ride back with Harri in thick snow ,on Kometa ,s was a ride to cherish.I have NEVER been driven as fast on snow in my life.The reason we went to pick up the car was due to the fact ,that Pauli was on holiday,and Harri did a rally whilst he was away and damaged the Avenger,so he wanted it repaired VERY QUICKLY so Pauli did,nt know.Hopefully Harri is now fully recovered after his hospitalization last year
IF you can get me a Kometa hat I would be very grateful.

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Ahaa ok, i see, was the garage at the same place their car shop was in center of Helsinki? Guess what, that same ex. Henri Avenger is the very first rallycar i have been sitting in, not driven by Henkka but the car was same. Dont know Harri, but i heard from somewhere that he is teaching youngsters to drive on track. Henkka i knew, and from that bunch i still see Juha Piironen now and then. I try to find you the hat :)

I know one person on this forum, apart from me, who doesn't have winter tyres ;)

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Originally Posted by Mark

I know one person on this forum, apart from me, who doesn't have winter tyres ;)

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Yes but Mark, when it snows or is cold (-6 today) my car is staying put because I'm not working :) When I'm working again winter tyres are one of the first things I'll buy. Tyres don't matter when your car is standing still.

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Yes but Mark, when it snows or is cold (-6 today) my car is staying put because I'm not working :) When I'm working again winter tyres are one of the first things I'll buy. Tyres don't matter when your car is standing still.

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A very wise decision. :up:

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Originally Posted by Daniel

Yes but Mark, when it snows or is cold (-6 today) my car is staying put because I'm not working :) When I'm working again winter tyres are one of the first things I'll buy. Tyres don't matter when your car is standing still.

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Daniel, All I can say if you never see snow after this week, then you will chew those winter tires up. You need more than a week here or there to justify the extra set, the extra rims and taking them on and off every spring and fall.

A good all season radial SHOULD be enough to get buy if you really careful.

Ok so its time to put my money where my mouth is. We've had a reasonably heavy snow fall over night (15cm's) and I'm going out for a drive. I say "winter tires? Pah! Silly soft stuff!" Lets see if I'm right. :D

Three and a half hours to do a 4 mile journey yesterday, partly down to the dump of snow that suddenly came from nowhere, partly down to the already frozen roads upon which it fell, and a great part down to the tittish driving standards we seem to tolerate.

The part when a bus came the other way with it's front wheels locked up and pointing towards us was particularly memorable for all the wrong reasons.

If that chain email doing the rounds yesterday had been for blokes instead of women, my Facebook status would have been "brown" ;)

I got the train and walked home. Couldn't be bothered with the roads!