Should we be using winter tyres in the UK?

[Daniel]

My potenzas on my rx-7, (this being back in 1994) were awful in anything but the dry. I hope they have improved over the years, but I know they would be awful in snow.

Well I'm sure they've moved on a lot since then. TBH the Fiat hardly troubles the Potenza's and is more limited by its suspension than anything.

[donKey jote]

Thanks for your advice Donkey!

well to be honest I would have gone for the Conti's myself... they are much better in the wet than the other 3 top tyres in the test (Fred, Goodyear and Dunlop), and as Mark mentioned, your snow (where the Fred is marginally better btw) won`t take long to melt :

Still, way better than then Blizzaks or no Winter tyres at all

[Daniel]

I guess Not going to be doing great distances in the 500 so they should last a while I guess. For some reason I wanted a change from having Pirelli's, Bridgestone's, Michelin's or Conti's like I've always had before as well.

Donkey have you seen those pump sipes they do on Nokians I think?

[donKey jote]

hehe not close up... nice catchy name, but they look like normal sipes to me

[Daniel]

I saw them on Youtube. Seemed an interesting idea, not so sure how useful it would be though.

[Mark in Oshawa]

well to be honest I would have gone for the Conti's myself... they are much better in the wet than the other 3 top tyres in the test (Fred, Goodyear and Dunlop), and as Mark mentioned, your snow (where the Fred is marginally better btw) won`t take long to melt :

Still, way better than then Blizzaks or no Winter tyres at all

Blizzaks are the tire of choice around here for a lot of people who go with winter tires. In snow, I guess they are quite good and I know a lot of ice racers who run rubber to ice class and they are the tire of choice there too.

Donkey, I defer to you being in the industry for the better alternatives.

I would love to know what is the best snow tire that can also tolerate pavement because our winters may involve dealing with snow where my Mother in law lives (she is in the edge of the Georgian Bay lake effect snow belt) but I see mainly pavement down here. Blizzaks I know wear out really quick if they don't see a lot of snow. It is part of the reason I muddle through with an all around all season tire....

[DexDexter]

I was just wondering if your ESP lamp was blinking all the time due to traction control or stability correction. Bad traction control can be a pain on snow, I know... specially if it cuts the power :

True, I guess it's both but I do see the light flashing in the corners so that's not traction control.

[Valve Bounce]

Firstly before some clot say "We're not bloody Finland or Russia, we don't always have snow" let me just say that a more correct name for winter tyres would be cold weather tyres because they are made of a far softer compound than summer tyres and are still softer than all weather tyres. Because we're all motorsport fans here we know that the hotter it is the harder the compound you run because rubber softens up under heat and the colder it is the softer the compound you run because rubber hardens up when it's cold. The tyre companies say that summer tyres and winter tyres are equal at 7 degrees C and below that the gap just gets wider and wider.

Here's a graphic illustration of the capabilities of winter tyres on 3 cars of a similar weight and configuration.
[youtube]pXuhfwY74b8[/youtube]

Now we've had a bit of snow in the South West of England yesterday and today and because the tyres sold in the UK are almost exclusively summer tyres every one is (to quote Dave Brockman) "doing Torville & Dean impressions" on the road and no one's getting to work and the economy is losing money, cars are going off the road, having accidents etc etc. Now if we're to believe what the media tells us, these sorts of events will be more common and probably more severe in the future because of global warming so is there now a case for winter tyres in the UK? People argue that it's an extra expense but can you really put a price on having more grip in the cooler months and also not being completely helpless in the event of heavy snow? It's not even that much of an expense! You buy some cheap steelies or alloys and then you buys your winter tyres which in general are actually cheaper than summer tyres so you don't get all that nasty salt screwing your nice wheels up, and you save wear on your more expensive summer tyres.

A link to a BBC story so some of the foreigners can have a read and a larf.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8419898.stm

Am I missing something here?

Why bother? why not just get an AWD vehicle? I'd go for a Subaru if I was living in England and cannot afford a Volvo XC.

[Daniel]

Why bother? why not just get an AWD vehicle? I'd go for a Subaru if I was living in England and cannot afford a Volvo XC.

Just remember VB that AWD vehicles don't handle or brake any better on ice and snow than a FWD car. Plus a Subaru is more to tax, insure, service and run in terms of fuel and tyres PLUS we've already got one Subaru

[Mark]

Why bother? why not just get an AWD vehicle?

Because that'll probably be around £10,000-£20,000 more expensive than an ordinary car when winter tyres are more like £200 for a set?!

The phrase 'using tactical nuclear explosives to open a bag of crisps' comes to mind