Winter/Snow tyre discussion thread

[Ben-B 0]

how about letting 1/3 of the pressure out of your rgular tyres, should provide slightly more grip, not suggesting you do 80 on the M-way with less than 20psi in them, but to get out of trouble or on snowy roads?

any thoughts?

 

That would create a larger surface area as the tyre flattens... meaning less grip... Narrower tyres are better because they dig into the snow, as such wider tyres (or flatter tyres with a large surface area) "float" on top of the snow.

 

Also that would put additional strain on the tyres potentially leading to premature failure as well as increased wear rate when not on snow.

 

 

And if you underinflate the winter tyres, that's worse because then the little sipes (slits in the rubber) close up reducing grip.

[dannyboy 0]

doesnt matter if you let air out of normal summers(but that works good in sand)

 

Winter tyres have more silica compound in them that stops the tyre itself from get stiff at lower temps.as summer tyres stiffen at lower temps they cant adpat to the road surface which in turn means less grip.letting air out wont change anything,as ben said itll make it worse cause it cant disperse the snow under the tyre

[colinstubbs 0]

For the record, I fitted winter tyres because my worn, SUMMER tyres are sh!te on snow and now i'm working full time as opposed self employed I need to actually get to work safely every day I can or loose leave.

 

If your running (worn) SUMMER tyres in these conditions and need to get to work then Winter tyres are a bloody good idea - period

[dukest 0]

do you think these were snow tyres?!

 

[youtube:u7a6nzui]SSZLSfBDyhs&feature=player_embedded[/youtube:u7a6nzui]

[Wullie 1]

Spot the one with snow tyres.

 

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/22122010/36/fo ... ill-0.html

[KIPVW 0]

Spot the one with snow tyres.

 

http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/22122010/36/fo ... ill-0.html

 

Quality entertainment Wullie :salute: Did you click on the Aviva bus too? impressive stuff :clap:

[Veearrhsix 0]

do you think these were snow tyres?!

Beige has never been so sexy :pukeright: Great line up of colours there for a promo vid...

[pumbaa 0]

summer tyres.... winter tyres....??? I know they make a difference but i have 9j wheels with goodyear eagle f1's (an all weather/summer i think??) and i drove through the worst of londons mess last weekend with no problems at all. I took it gently, didnt bumper hug, didnt speed, didnt pull out on anyone, stuck to the clearer lane, blah blah blah but sorry, i feel i must say this in caps..... WHEN I LOST TRACTION AND WHEN I WAS MOVING OFF I STUCK IT IN A HIGHER GEAR!!!!!!)

apologies guys as i'm sure you're all more than adequate drivers but i was delayed on the sat drive to norwich by 4hrs...... not because the snow made it un passable but because some t**t in his merc was sat in the middle lane of the m11 flailing from left to right trying to get some grip because his simple mind dictated to him that if the car couldn't get grip, what he needed to do was give it some more welly!

People were afraid to pass and so the 4hr tailback began! I actually (finally) got past the hold up, parked up in the hard sholder, walked into the middle lane, waved my hands in the air to get him to stop and then told him to stick it in f*****g 2nd and take it easy..... and off everyone went on their merry way. Words cannot describe. :bad-words: :censored: :bad-words: :censored:

 

On the plus side i passed many brand spanking new BMW's on the side of the road in my 18yr old VW and it all cleared up by Cambridge way. :D :D :D

[Toad 0]

how about letting 1/3 of the pressure out of your rgular tyres, should provide slightly more grip, not suggesting you do 80 on the M-way with less than 20psi in them, but to get out of trouble or on snowy roads?

any thoughts?

 

The tyres on my work car were down to about 20psi in the last lot of snow and were useless. I pumped them up and they're still useless. :lol: Conti Eco Contacts or something. To be honest whatever work car I had last year was better. Not sure if the fact the tyres are 3 years old (plenty of tread left) is not helping. I've noticed that they spin and skid easily when it's just wet too.

[davidwort 0]

... they're still useless. :lol: Conti Eco Contacts or something.

had those on the golf from new, they are low rolling resistance tyres and from my experience as well are low grip tyres :) fecking aweful on round abouts etc, only positive was they were fairly quiet in a straight line.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Are the Eco Contacts sheet then? I was looking at 205/50/15 summer Contis and they don't do anything decent (i.e. SportContact) in that size :bad-words:

 

What about the premium contact? Any good?

 

They've pulled the 205/45/16 SportContact as well, standard tyre on the Missus's Polo. So we had to go with Pirelli P Zero Nero and they are bloody awful tyres.

 

What is it with tyre companies pulling all the decent tyres on smaller sizes? Not EVERYONE is roaming around on truck sized tyres these days :roll: Sorry. It annoys me that people who hang onto their cars can't stick with a particular tyre they like.

[dragon green 4]

After my mate heard me raving about my snow tyres,he bought some for his van,within the first hour of snow (last week) he was on the phone to me,telling me what a godsend they were,and being able to carry on with his job,they have paid for themselves allready :D

Saw him last night,he was in his Scooby,He couldnt believe how sheet it handled in the snow,wished he had taken the van out instead !!

[Veearrhsix 0]

Let me just get this right - are winter tyres winter tyres coz they're softer in lower temps? Is that the crucial factor between these and summer ones :scratch:

[leeeeshad 0]

Let me just get this right - are winter tyres winter tyres coz they're softer in lower temps? Is that the crucial factor between these and summer ones :scratch:

That and a different tread pattern, with snipes.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yeah we discussed that on page 1 :D

 

But yes, in a nutshell, they are winter tyres because they are soft.

 

Summer tyres get too hard and have little flex and the treads fill up with compacted snow / ice easily, which turns them into slicks essentially.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

That and a different tread pattern, with snipes.

 

I think you meant sipes, or cuts :D

 

[colinstubbs 0]

Veearrhsix Mine look like this........ 8)

 

winter_sport_m3.jpg[/attachment:nge18yut]

 

Loads of sipes

[colinstubbs 0]

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/20 ... -Test.htm#

[The_Dude 0]

That and a different tread pattern, with snipes.

 

I think you meant sipes, or cuts :D

 

I'd still prefer Snipes on my wheels. :D

[Pat_McCrotch 0]

Got 16 inch Audi Winter Wheels along with bridgestone winter tyres going on the quattro tomorrow :) Not the most attractive wheels in the world but they'll do the job.

 

When I do find a decent Corrado it will be going into storage for winter, so they won't be needed for that :grin:

[Dan_Storm 0]

I've had my Nokian WR G2's on the Leon for nearly 2 weeks now and put some good mileage on them. I'm very impressed with them.

 

In the snow and ice the difference between my old tyres (Eagle F1's) is amazing. It is still easy to spin the wheels or kick in the ABS, but the traction control and ABS actually have an effect! With my old tyres I had a couple of scary moments braking for junctions - the ABS would kick in but not slow the car at all. The same happened with pulling away, if the traction control kicked in it would work away but the tyres never had enough grip to move the car. With the Nokian's on I have so much more confidence in the snow/ice. I can feel the car moving/sliding slightly when pushing it but it all feels very controllable. I tried a few emergency stops on an icy car park and it stopped amazingly well, it was very hard to walk on the ice without falling over which made it even more impressive.

 

I'm also very pleased with the tyres in the dry & wet. With the Eagle F1's it was very easy to spin the wheels in cold or damp conditions when pulling into fast moving traffic. I have not had that problem with the Nokian's. They also handle better and give more feedback than the Eagle F1's! But that is probably because I dropped the wheels down from 18" to 17". The only negative thing I can say is that you can feel the tyre move/flex slightly when cornering and going over a bump in the road. I guess that is down to the softer rubber and bigger sidewall from 17" tyres.

[rob1234 0]

I am quickly becoming boring in advocating winter tyres.

 

So so much better in the snow, but also in normal british cold/wet/slimy roads.

 

[smug snow picture]

 

PS can you spot what's missing off my car?! (and not "proper wheel centre-caps"...)

[8vMatt 1]

What happened to your window rubber?

[colinstubbs 0]

What happened to your window rubber?

 

good spot!! :lol:

[rob1234 0]

It got stuck on my window when I put it up once...

 

Anyone got a spare one in good condition?!