I get what people are saying about winter tyres not being worth the cost for just a few days of snow a year, but so far everyone stating this position is avoiding the key question - if it was made illegal to drive on snow and ice on summer tyres would you obey that law?

 

If it suits their argument they probably are.

From the AA link Corradoboy posted, surprisingly Winter tyres are not mandatory in Norway or Switzerland. Surely this can't be true when Tony can't get to the Mace in Slough to get his lucky dip without them fitted.

Maybe they let the individual make the decision based on where, when and how they use their vehicle. Sounds a bit Democratic to me.

Strangely, after post 369, I've still got people pulling me up for things I haven't said.

 

Yes.

 

I'll leave it there, I've got other things to do instead of trying to get some people to read and understand exactly what I have said.

 

Good argument. It looks like you're the one who doesn't understand what he's written.

 

The mantra of some in this thread would seem to be you're an idiot as you could have saved £500 and not bothered with winter tyres

 

You can't help yourself can you?

 

You would think so and yet there are still many deaths and injuries every year that suggest otherwise; motorists and pedestrians can still be idiotic regardless the season or tyres.

On the question of whether winter tyres should be made law during the winter months? My answer would still be no and the choice left to motorist.

 

On a positive side, where there's blame, there's a claim

 

When they wise up to it, sales of Winter tyres in Bradford will probably snowball.

 

No I can't help pointing out the truth.

 

I would like to see a test of what works better between summer and winter tyres in the rain when its above 12 degrees.

 

How often does it hit 12 degrees in our winters? Winter tyres are designed for when temps drop below 7 degrees.

 

So what ? That is not answering he question and I would imagine it its 12 degrees quite often in the south of England from September to March.

 

Depends where you live,

The west country and along the south coast quite often, London again quite often

In fact outside the months of dec/jan 10 to 12 deg is probably the average

Last winter was incredibly mild in the south, hardly used my wood burning stove

Whereas this winter (and the one before last) it has been on 24hrs a day

 

It hardly ever snows down here in S Devon anyway.

Les

 

Winter tyres are not snow tyres.

 

Go out to your car and touch your winter tyres, feel what they are like then go do the same with your summer tyres or just read what I put about summer tyres needing heat to become efficient, heat = grip on a summer tyre, cold = no heat = less grip = longer stopping distance = injured child.

 

I'm quite wondering if this thread will still be going in July.

 

Dunno but its the best time to buy then

 

Maybe....

Can you buy regular and extreme summer tyres

Nik

 

Now funny you should say this, but my NSX having the factory OE rubber (summer tyres, of course) had absolutely no grip in the DRY below 8 degrees let alone in the wet. Even on a dry road just pottering about (below 2000rpm) it would squirm and slither.

BUT as soon as it was driven for any distance regardless of the ambient temperature, just through the geometry and scrub alone (NSX's run a fair bit of toe on the back hence they eat tyres pretty quickly), grip was restored as they would warm up fairly quick. To the point that in a mid november evening after a late night motorway jaunt, the thing was still gripping like a limpet even though it was below minus five degrees celsius and the road were icy and not gritted; totally the opposite to how the car handled at the start of the journey. Lots of other cars were ***** footing around and being honest I was wondering why people appeared to show difficulty in getting grip when I had no issues. After I got home I felt the tyres and they were warm to the touch both front and rear even though the motorway is 20mins drive @40mph from my home.

My daily driver is parked in a integrated garage overnight. The coldest it gets in there is 13 degrees (usually 15). Maybe tyre warmers will be the next fad? Afterall, they are all the rage in F1

 

Me too;

I'd like to see a TRUE wet weather (UK climate) tyre.

Ther term "summer" that is used for tyres is to vague. For all we know it could mean the summer temps in the Nevada desert.

 

Most tyres have metal in them anyway so why not include a heating filament powered off the battery that warms them when you start the car, you could even have a temp sensor so you could get water temp, oil temp and tyre temp on the dash. Hot countries could have a tyre cooling system fitted.

 

Maybe I didn't make myself clear, summer tyres when the outside temperature is right to use them. Not summer tyres on cold winter roads.

I did indeed check out the compound on my winter tyres whilst they were fitted and the best way to describe them would be the tread compound is very similar to a "rubber" o ring, seem to have a very high silicon content, which remain pliable at cold temperature.

 

When you consider cost, you would be driving on whatever tyres and wearing them out anyway, so the fact that you have changed to a different type of tyre makes no financial difference apart from the fitting cost and if you needed to acquire additional wheels. They do wear a little quicker, but that is negligible. Last Monday, three colleagues didn't make it into work, and one lost shift would cost me about as much as the Uniroyals I just fitted. This morning, the same hill I abandoned my car on on Monday had SIX dumped cars on it, yet I drove up it at a steady 20mph with no bother, getting home to a lovely latté, still hot and freshly made. On the 12 miles I covered from Wakefield to Leeds there were a further 10-12 cars which looked abandoned, so I guess those people got wet, cold and tired, arrived very late, and maybe suffered financially in some way too. If we get some more snow, I know I'll be able to cope unless it's a considerable deluge

 

The weather is looking good in the coming days and week, quite mild too, up to 13 degrees. I'm so glad the law doesn't force me to waste several hundred pounds on winter tyres just because we a had a few inches of snow and a few cold days.

 

Not everyone lives in the south of fvcking england though

 

Did you fail to see the news up north with several lorries jackknifed on the M6 and everyone stuck.
In those situations it's down to people who don't run winter tyres, the result is hundreds of people stuck on a motorway, can't get home and end up having to sleep in a freezing car all night in sub-zero temperatures.

Yes I bet they're all glad that the drivers without winter tyres saved a few hundred pounds

I'd be more than happy if people without winter tyres had to stay at home when snow and ice descends onto the roads because it would mean the chances of me being smashed into by some selfish tosser who drives their car in conditions it's not fit for would be significantly reduced.

I was nearly hit head on in 2010 by some tool in a Jag who decided to try and overtake in a cross-hatched area at the top of a dual carriageway up a hill.
Unsurprisingly, being RWD he hit a patch of snow and started to fishtail.
I was heading towards him at about 35mph, and had nowhere to go and he was coming sideways at me - he fishtailed at the last minute and went the other way.
With winter tyres on, the likelihood of that incident occurring would have been reduced.

Those on you on the thread giving it the big "yeah we don't need them, we're incredible drivers - we look ahead, drive slower, blah blah blah" trust me - when you are subject to a near miss or are involved in an accident due to a car being unfit for the conditions on the road, you'll soon change your tune, and you'll be the first expecting sympathy when your pride and joy gets shunted by some tit in a Corsa or a Mondeo who drives every day like it's summer regardless of conditions or temperature.
You might think you're Lewis Hamilton, but the reality is most of us are his Eddie the Eagle equivalent!

 

Did you even read and take in what I wrote?