Did your winter tyres work, what are they?

[blackrevolver]

Originally Posted by wimorrison

@blackrevolver and @malcolmk - I am assuming from your statements that you consider that you only need to fit winter tyres if there is snow on the ground and you cannot maintain control of the car.

That is one of the reasons for fitting winter tyres, not the only reason

Steady on pal, was partly tounge in cheek!

As for winter tyres, I couldn't afford spending money on four tyres and four steel wheels, unless I knew I needed them for a safety aspect.

I had standard summer tyres and I honestly can't remember having wheel spin aside from my work car park which isn't gritted and out in the sticks.

What annoys me about people with winter tyres (not all) is that they tend to believe they can drive normally? personally I think if you're a good driver and drive to the conditions then unless the conditions are highly dangerous then where I stay you won't need winter tyres.

Although I know some people have to buy them due to their locations like steep hills etc, where winter tyres help with grip.

[Volvo6]

Generally I would agree with you blackrevolver about not needing winter tyres most of the time for the vast majority of motorists in the lowland areas of the UK. Although I would always encourage people to fit them if they can afford them because there aren't really any downsides.

However I'm slightly surprised about your comments regarding the A9; with significant accumulations of snow in the past I've found it quite a dangerous place to be with the usual combination of lorries, vans etc and varying estimations by drivers of what is a safe speed and more importantly distance from other cars to travel at. When it starts snowing hard in the higher regions of the road it piles up very fast no matter how much grit has been put down. Indeed driving on a road like that regularly in the winter is one instance where I would strongly recommend fitting winter tyres because it gives you such more more control in situations were other road users around you may be losing control and one has to brake and steer around the hazards that this creates.

The other benefit that I've found in Scotland is that having winters allows one to take routes that will likely be deserted in heavy snow. For example a few weeks ago I was on the M90 when it really came down hard, people were sliding all over the place, a number of cars had spun off and the traffic density was such that it was just impossible to keep a safe space around me. The traffic had slowed, but was still fast enough to cause a major accident if cars started coming together. I decided that on balance it was actually safer to exit and take a minor back road that would probably have been impassable without winters. My logic was that with winters on we were unlikely to get stuck in all but the heaviest of snow or perhaps on a steep incline and that we had a much better chance of completing the journey safely trundling along at about 20mph on a deserted back road than on a passable but very slippery motorway full of people who clearly don't know how to drive. With summers on I would have been stuck on the motorway and at the mercy of those around me...

[blackrevolver]

Volvo6, fair comment about the A9, as it is a dangerous road but the road was virtually always gritted and aside from the unexpected blizzard or patches which weren't treated I found it to be fine to drive on.

Just as an example, I work with another guy at the site and he drove like a maniac (same route as me), crashed his car twice over the winter period, damaged wing, steering rack, drove like a boy racer and now his car is a write off (after an mot).

I drove like a grandad, taking it easy and not once did I feel in danger of a crash, my real concern was other road users.

Although If I could afford it, I would have a set of winter tyres that I could swap on but due to the cost, I just couldn't justify it.

[100K+]

Gislaved Nord frost 5, could drive anywhere without worry where there was less than 6"-8" of snow, including steep hills. any more and I risked "beaching" the car.

I went out to play in the snow - had great fun - ok my V70R is AWD but it was awsome.

My T5 got stuck on the gentle sloping drive.

Agree 99% of time you dont need winter tyres as main roads are kept reasonably clear - its the minor, side roads and housing estates that have the problems with snow.

Cheers

Bob

[Gissur]

I used Sava Eskimo Stud tyres, they worked extremely well on the icy slippery roads and in the snow. I bought them new for about 60.000 ISK which is about 300 pounds which is a great price (atleast in Iceland).