My apologies Robsy, don't believe all you get told

99% of people you meet are idiots

god forebid i ever meet you!!!

 

Doesn't your wife complain about the smell of rubber?

 

Suggested by who?

Some bloke in the Dog and Duck?

 

Yea got a link Peter? When is this taking effect from?

 

Just to add,it don't have to be just snow to fit winter tyres,they are called winter tyres after all.

 

I think they should make winter tyres a legal requirement on cars.
With the tyres made with RED rubber for identification purpose, as otherwise it would be impossible.

The old argument about cost is rubbish really, as if you go through a normal set of tyres once a year, then you'd take 2 years to go through the same set as you'd only use them half a year. So you'd just replace the winters one year, and summer the other. Same as you'd do anyway, only costs would be a set of steels or if your fussy second set of alloys.

As for 4x4, if they are real all-terrain tyres then they should be fine all year around as they are on a vehicle with usually a low ratio gearbox and a locking diff. They usually have lettering on the outside and usually sat All Terrain or AT on them in raised white lettering which makes identification easier.

Its not a case of being a nanny state, or another bureaucracy at work, but a GENUINE safety thing, that I think would save a LOT of money on our insurance policies (less crashes), and save lives.

 

They would be better off insisting upon better standards of driving.

 

Didn't some insurance companies put up their prices last year after fitting winter tires? Can't say I've heard of anything like that this year so far, maybe they have seen sense?

 

 

Or drivers could drive more slowly and with a greater distance to the vehicle in front. Drive to the conditions. No real need to force people to haves second set of tyres/wheels, besides it won't be enforceable, how many people could afford a whole set of wheels and tyres right now?

 

Too feckin right! Whilst stationary at junctions / traffic lights over the last two days I've found myself constantly looking in my rear view mirror worrying at how fast the car behind me is approaching, praying it will stop with good distance. There are some real ****** on the road in this winter weather, and it doesn't matter how safe we make our cars, they are only ever going to be as safe as the people driving them.

 

You see enough idiots on the road with knackered tyres and they don't replace them, getting people that drive like that to buy a second set isn't gonna happen.

The space to store spare tyres and wheels would be a problem for a lot of people, especially if they have two or more cars in the household.

I'm sure the tyre dealers would love it to be made law though!

 

I don't think the winter tyre debate is only to do with safety, but about making progress in general. How many vehicles get stuck becuase they simply can't get any proper traction? It doesn't matter how good the car or diriver is if, in some conditions, you aren't able to get traction due to the tyres!

 

Yup

 

We have them on the wife's family wagon - having just come back from the Alps where there was 3 feet of snow in a week. The dealer just keeps whichever set of wheels/tyres we aren't using and swaps them when we want.



There was an illustrative moment on the way there as i spent the last 20 miles on the dry auotroute stuck behind a UK Range Rover Sport who was a complete *** - he was blocking the fast lane going slowly even when there was no one inside him, only to accelerate like a mad thing whenever he occasionally pulled in just so he couldnt be overtaken. That worked well for him until we got to the snow and the twisty road up the mountain, where i just pulled out from behind him after an uphill hairpin and drove away from him in the FWD 2.0 diesel MPV . He was frothing and mouthing off behind the wheel, but could do nothing about it as we were on snow and he didn't have winter tyres on. I then spent all 10 days driving around virtually normally while 4x4s without snow tyres were buried in snow banks all around. One brave soul in a BMW 3 series was trying to drive down the mountain at about 2 mph one day when we were going up, with his mate walking alongside the front wheels occasionally pushing down on the front wing I think to try and make the front wheels grip so that the car could turn round the bend Needless to say it wasn't working and God help him if the gendarmes caught him as you have to have chains/ snow tyres above a certain height in winter. Euro 2 k fine IIRC.
As said above, they make a massive difference and in my view they would be a good idea. Driver training / ability counts only while you still have any traction/ grip.

 

Until they address the issue of cheap summer tyres manufactured in various parts of Asia and Eastern Europe that are totally unsuitable for use in the UK's climate and roads, be it summer or winter, as well as the better branded tyres only suited to dry/warmer roads. The govenment demanding winter tyres won't change a thing in regards to outright road safety.

You know exactly the tyres I'm on about...Sunny, Nankang, Fulda, Goodride etc...even their M+S rated tyres perform worse than a branded non+M+S tyre. And M+S tyres are allegedly supposed to work better in wetter/cooler climates. Not so with the budget crap as the rubber compounds just don't work.

Admittedly some "brands" are also poo for UK use too: Pirelli Cintuartos P1s and P6s are not good, as well as some Bridgetones Turanzas and Conti Premium contacts etc.

Banning tyres that don't perform on wet roads below 15 degrees C would make much more of a difference to year-round road safety IMO and get rid of the nasty crap I see fitted to a majority of cars driven by non-petrol heads (although I could slap a few petrol heads/idiots for using ultra-high performance dry-weather/track tyres in the wet too ).

Just stipulating winter tyres would force people into the same traps they fall into already with summer tyres and m+s tyres...buying cheap nasty rubbish that doesn't perform. Do you honestly think a "Linlong" winter tyre will work much better? Maybe better than a Linlong summer tyre, but thats not much of a benchmark is it?


PS we sell tyres...and unfortunately guess which tyres have the biggest profit margins?

 

Even ling long m&s tyres would definitely work better in snow than any summer tyre, yes, and two wrongs ( or should that be Wongs) don't make a right, but I do get your point (even though I was out last night in my 450bhp P1 on R888s in the snow and therefore am a petrol head/idiot )

 

Aren't Fulda a budget German brand, who have been around for years? Unlike the other brands you mention which are far eastern & relatively new to the UK market. Not saying this makes Fulda any better, just they seem the odd one out of the list you mention.

 

Yes, but try explaining this to the leagues of posters we get on here saying because their Scoobs have AWD they are able to drive around in the snow and ice with no problem while all the FWD and RWD cars are completely stuck. They obviosuly can't unless they have winter tyres and in many cases their cars are worse than some narrower tyred FWD cars, but as long as they come on here and reinforce the myth the more people believe them and so it goes on.

 

read his threads the answer is a massive YES

 

Spot on..........

Are they not going to publish more specific performance on tyres, wet grip, stopping distances etc etc.
I have OEM fit Bridgestones on my car and in wet and greasy conditions they are appalling to the point i am seriously thinking about replacing them.

 

This site isn't bad for at least getting some idea about tyres:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/

 

Seriously, why the hell are you using R888s on UK roads?

Point being: P1= performance car, yes? Its original main-foray?...Its all-round ability in varying conditions. Especially in the wet. So surely your are defeating the point of the car's original advantages?

I'm only asking because I'm struggling to see why I see people is shod their car with dry-orientated track tyres that only really work to any advantage when its warm and they've had some heat put into them. Then using them on the UK's roads where the traffic and the avarage summer weather would only see them working better than normal summer tyre for maybe only a couple months of the entire year (dry track days excepting )?

Thats is unless you have an extra set of wheels with more suitable tyres, and just wanted to practice some drifting.

 

As for winter tyres becoming a legal requirement, UK Police cannot control the muppets who drive about with lights not working correctly, how would the the use of vehicles on summer tyres? be monitored?

Having finally got winter tyres on my scooby, I will not be going back to summer tyres in winter.

 

How many cars on the roads in the UK? 20 million? 30 million?

That's a lot of tyres, someone will make a lot of money!

 

rubbery jubery

as they may say in China

 

Anyone drove using Vredestein Quatrac 3...

 

Imagine the amount of time the Old Bill would have to spend stopping, checking and ticketing cars.

 

It wasn't, he's lying.

 

I may have mixed them up with Falken ( I do it all the time...its either one or the other)...its bugged me now, I'm going to have to check the past invoices when I get back to work

Simple reason being I drove a BMW e46 318i with M-sport alloys with these tyres fitted,. At the time I had a e46 325i with Michelin Primacy HPs. The diference in the wet between the two cars was quite staggering one would grip, the other didn't.