camk

A set of Normal winter tyres is all you need, none of this studded crap. Just straight forward winter types, as are used all over Europe. They are cheaper than low profiles and so after the initial outlay they actually save you money . Now they are not speed rated as high as normal and they won't do the handling any favors. They do however work well in snow,wet and icy conditions and more importantly they give good grip in the cold.
I follwed a UK Scoob last year into Val D'isere in my 523i with Winter tyres, Scoob was all over the place in comparison. Now I'd say much of it was down to the driver but I know the difference tyres make as i change mine every year in Germany and first day of snow, you spot those without the right tyres.

[Edited by camk - 10/24/2003 12:48:29 PM]

Wilster

Snow aside, I run on F1's which are aguably the safest tyre on the market in the wet, particularly aquaplaning and under wet braking. I've even splashed out extra on my new Scoob to get new F1's all round, for that extra margin of safety.

Wilster.

greasemonkey

Obviously depends what rims you've got at the moment. If you're on 18's, smaller would be preferable. There are plenty of winter tyres that will fit the older 16" OE rims however. If they'll fit over your brakes, this would be the perfect excuse to buy a set of old rims. That way, you won't be quite so ticked off if you do slide on and kerb one.

Suppose the other option (provided you haven't lowered the car too much) would be keeping a set of snow chains in the boot.

If you're going to get a set of tyres that is genuinely only going to be used in snowy conditions BTW, 185 or 195 section would be more suitable than 205 and infinitely preferable to anything wider.

You certainly are more limited, but you should be able to pick up some 17" tyres that would do an acceptable job. Anyone running the standard 294mm or smaller brakes is just about ideally set in this situation, as you can go all the way down to 15" wheels if necessary.

While the rain clearing properties of these tyres may help you in a situation where the snow has largely turned to slush/water, in fresh/deep snow, don't expect too much.

The trouble with any wide, high performance summer tyres in these circumstances is that there's simply too much rubber on the road. The contact patch is too big, and there's not enough tread pattern. As Dazza found out with his BMW, a wide "sports" tyre will simply sit on the surface of the snow and spin, rather than dig in (preferably to the road surface) and generate traction.

Going to a narrower tyre puts the weight of the car over a smaller contact patch, helping it to dig in, while the open tread allows the tyre to dig still deeper, as well as clear more easily.

The skills of the driver are secondary to the amount of grip the car is generating. Make Michael Schumacher drive a Scoob on snow on a set of semi-slick road tyres, while you had some proper racing snow covers, you would have no problem simply driving away from him.

It won't "sort it out" at all. It might help a tiny bit, but encouraging someone to think they're a "good" winter driver may drop them in the sh*t more quickly than have them think they're cr*p, thanks to overconfidence catching them out. If the choice was between spending £500 on a driving course, or £500 on a set of decent tyres, there's no question about how best to spend the money.

[Edited by greasemonkey - 10/24/2003 3:00:47 PM]

daveydog

thanks for your help first sign of ice or snow gonna get to nearest car park and have some fun

mr smash

my wrx came with winter tyres from japan and they r brand new might pick up some crappy old alloys 4 them in winter

wrxbugeye

Had a bad fright in my old 98 turbo in snow with the standard fit tyres. Got a second set of wheels and fitted gislaved 16" winter tyres and the difference was amazing (but they are obviously not as good on dry tarmac). Still have the same wheels and fit them to my bugeye in the winter.

bobbyh

ive got a ur quattro turbo....20yrs old with lockable centre and rear diff, + switchable ABS!!


yours smugly..

pugoetru

Last winter was my first winter in a scoob and the abs was the only problem

it is no use on snow because all four wheels lock and you just slide down the road you cannot cadence brake as it locks as soon as you touch it

i could not stop from 5mph

you can disable it easily by unpluging one of the sensors it then switches itself of
pulling the fuse may take power away from the whole system meaning it wont work as in you cant stop


also why buy a 4wd car and lock it away in the weather it was designed for



[Edited by pugoetru - 10/25/2003 11:43:17 AM]

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Bobby,
I take it you havnt been listening?
Its not just the ABS that causes problems in snow, even having a 4wd car will still cause you serious problems if your running the wrong tyres.
No doubt that your UR has lower profile, quite wide tyres? this is your hinderence, and being smug about it, lockable diff or not, will still put you though hedges in the winter.

Tony

bobbyh

ok tony,

was just havin a quick swipe at you impreza boys!

please explain how wider (225/50) tyres can be more of a hinderance on tarmac in the winter, than thinner wheel/tyre combo's?

i can only see a smaller contact patch affording less grip....unless you are talking about the 'cutting in' effect thinner tyres will have on suface slush, in a skinny tyred landrover type of way....


(incedentally the reason you stop quicker without abs, is the snowplough effect of snow building up in front of the locked wheels, adding to the friction/effort needed to move said snow.
also one can employ cadance breaking techniques more effectively.)

cheers

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

Accelerating a scoob is by far the best car I have ever driven in snow, even on 17"s I've driven out of areas where the snow was above the sills. Braking it is no better or worse than any other car, this only becomes an issue because the aceleration is so good you don't pay as much attention to the conditions under tyre. Cornering is a hoot if you have the space - turn in, wait until the front end finds some bit and accelerate to bring the back end round and you can drift along nicely Where you don't have space it will understeer like a FWD hatch, and if you don't get on the throttle it will just keep on doing it until it reaches the kerb.

I haven't had a car to touch it in the snow, and I can't imagine my current form of transport - 300bhp, RWD, with 255 section tyres is going to change that