alanbell

iTrader: (6)

its ok (ish) in the snow and ice , same as any other awd they will slip about, the back wheels seem to spin up first it even gets up icey hills ect, pleased im back with awd . but i do miss my sti (ish)

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Get some Pirelli Sottozeros if you can find somewhere who sells them!

Matteeboy

Not the same but saw two cars and a t4 van try and fail to get up an icy hill today. The van slid backwards towards us but we dodged it. Then drove up without any problem. This was in our,recently acquired 110 Defender! 4wd works.

stilover

I found the Subaru rubbish in the snow. And as stated on another thread, my Tiguan is very good in the snow, but would be even better if it was wearing winter tyres. Of which I can't find anywhere.

mattvortex

The tyres are crucial- which is why you said your scooby wasnt much cop! Low profile road tyres not really the thing for driving in snow!
Best tyres for this are tall relatively narrow tyres with a 70-80 profile.

Last year, i saw a Nissan Narvara in a ditch having slid off a steep uphill road. I then noticed that he had bling alloys and low profile tyres fitted. He probably thought being a 4wd, it would steam up the road, no probs but, power is nothing without control!!

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

Ive 265/35/19 on mine not the best in snow, but stedy aways ok with awd.

Ant

my a4 quattro with ballon tyres is brill in the snow

john banks

I am simply amazed with the Legacy on winter tyres. Been across Scotland in it yesterday and today. ABS and traction control didn't come into use in 240 miles until I provoked it going over the tops in 5" of snow. Only issues are falling on your **** after you get out of it as you don't think it is that slippy

zip106

My pick-up on it's 18" All Terrains hasn't had any problems in the snow.
It's a bit tip-toey on sheet ice, but then anything would be.

austinwrx

I had a vw T4 camper but with a full set of snow tyres on it. (used to swap the alloys when weather was bad) they had the tread pattern that meant you could put studs in them (but I never did)

it was very very good in the snow for a FWD van.

previous owner to me had put snow tyres on it for when he was in Sweden as he was a UK filmmaker, but a regular traveller to Sweden to make gentlemens films. Seriously !!!

Matteeboy

Austin - the T4 van that slid backwards did look heavily loaded. He tried three times then gave up!
Driving down the hill beforehand was a bit sketchy - the ABS and traction control of the Landy got slightly confused then worked a treat.

Going UPHILL with 4WD - great. Going downhill - not really any different and totally reliant on tyres (16" 235/85 Grabber TRs in our case with a HUGE depth of tread!).

fivetide

iTrader: (1)

Pootled past a number of 4x4's today in the rear drive Merc. No issues. Some peeps just can't drive.

5t.

pacenote

LOL, I can relate to that

alanbell

iTrader: (6)

my cars a weekend car, drive my van mon ??fri. so it stays in the garage,
( ?blonde is now reged to your new car )

gallois

You always get 4wd or awd owners surprised at how poor the car performs on snow covered roads, but the tyres make a difference like you'd never believe unless you tried them, even mattee's defender can become unstuck as soon as thoses grabbers get clogged with ice, you are then running on a mixture of smooth rubber and ice. Snow tyres have loads of little sipes (cuts) in the tread blocks to allows the tread to grip on slippery surfaces, the difference between a tyre with no sipes is really surprising, something like a 20% inprovement in stopping distance on ice, rolling traction increased by almost 30% on ice and this is the big one, a 65% improvement in breakaway traction (moving off from a standstill) on ice. The downside is increased wear and noise on tarmac. Well worth the money and hassle if you use your car daily in winter.

Matteeboy

Gallois - the Grabbers we have are snow rated (whatever that means) and coping very well in the ice.

Had to use difflock to get out of a field two days ago though - hidden steep "ramp" (buried in snow) into the field and it simply would not get enough grip. Difflock on, two tries later and I was home and dry, albeit rather sideways. I reckon 99% of vehicles wouldn't have made it!

gallois

grabber at2's are prob what you got, good in fresh/deep snow, but try grabber-snow for icy/compact snow (it looks like a regular car tyre, with loads of sipes) , although not really worth the difference in grip for near double the price of at2's a tyre). i used to have a rangerover with at2's, coped with everything i asked, although it probably snowed about 3 times in the 2 years i owned it.

Matteeboy

I have Grabber TRs, 16" 235/85

http://www.generaltire.com/tires/T11/Grabber-TR

TBH, for the amount of snow we get here (Cornwall), snow tyres are a bit excessive! I just drive carefully and with low tyre pressures.

Grabber AT2s are not "snow rated."

http://www.generaltire.com/tires/T5/Grabber-ATsup2-sup

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

My R32 is tucked in the garage due to the thermostat sticking open (crappy heater, and not so healthy either as the oil takes much longer get up to temp), but its excellent fun - oversteer on command and so controllable.

So unfortunatly I'm currently using the trusty old e46 BMW 325, wearing some good all-weather Michelin Primacys (they are summer tyres, but more suited to colder temps than other brands). Turn off the DSC, enable active diff and away it goes. Its a bit more friendly than the 530 because the tyres are much taller profile and much narrower (the 530 has 275/35/18 tyres on the rear, whilst its not too bad in the snow, the skinny wide tyres aren't so ideal).


As for Landies - The standard M+S tyres are actually suprisingly good. Done some heavy off-roading in snow and ice with a TD5 110 and I was amazed at how they coped compared to the knobbly BF-Goodriches on my Landy. Snow is not heavy enough to go out and defrost that (or put some fuel in it).

hodgy0_2

have Grabber UHP's 275/70/16 on the cruiser -- Road tyres -- but I just take it easy on the snow/ice -- basic physics still apply to AWD vehicles.

will be in Palzeath for Xmass & new year Mattee

surf was pretty good last year

Matteeboy

Shout when down Hodgy!

This was taken on the 2nd Jan last year at Polzeath - it was freeeeezing!

Matteeboy

This is when the trend for massive wheels and over-wide rubber looks REALLY stupid.

zip106

Not snow rated?

Well mine have 'M+S' branded on the sidewall... (as in Mud and Snow)

From that link you posted -'Meets the severe snow service requirements of the RMA and RAC'

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...8/photo-12.jpg
Been untouchable in this snow so far

Matteeboy

Zip - my mistake. They just wrote the snow bits in different sections of the description! Well both apparently work in snow.

Mine certainly do, yours appear to as well.

zip106

They really are good tyres.

I had them on my last truck and did many snow covered green lanes and pay-and-play off road sites.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...8/Image067.jpg
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/h...8/Image069.jpg

Matteeboy

They get good write ups.

Mine came with five brand new TRs which should last 40k miles so I'll stick to them for now! Seem to be coping very well so far although the shoulders look less aggressive than the AT2s.

They also have M&S written on them - I just checked! OEM on Defenders.

Jimpreza

My Beemer has been In the garage for over a week now and I am using the works vauxhall vivaro. I've had to be pushed off 3 times now and I wasn't even on a slope. Anyone got any tips? The continental vanco tyres have loads of tread but I don't know if they are summer or winter tyres.

Matteeboy

Jim - they're pretty standard van tyres - allrounders really.

Pull off in 2nd. Treat the brakes like they are made of eggshells - avoid where possible. Use engine braking where you can. Go very slowly down hills. A rolling tyre is better than a skidding one for control.

Jimpreza

Cheers mattee. I've been pulling away in second gear and have had to rock it on the clutch as I had virtually no grip.