Graz

He he,

Came really close to sliding into somones parked Alfa this morning whilst playing around on the rather icy route through the industrial estate I work on

Be careful out there and think about how much room you have to play with if you are going to start sliding it around

Graz

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

If you think those are bad you should try Bridgestone RE070's (shame you cant get them over here) as they have virtually no grip at all

Tony

pappasmurf

Its snowing heavily here in East Cambs.
May'be i should take off my F1s and put my Avon ZZ1s back on while it's snowing. May'be Avon ZZ1s are great in the snow....if nothing else

richie,7,RA,spec C

YEP I'L 2ND THAT.
richie

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Most fat performance tyres are cr@p in the snow, so Avon's will be just as bad as Eagle's.

However, if driven correctly...

pappasmurf

So what is the best tyre in snow....without resorting to chains?
15".....Hard compound tyres?

pappasmurf

...i really must learn to drive my scooby properly in all coditions. Whats the secret to driving in snow?

richie,7,RA,spec C

in 2nd and plod along when going down hill 1st and leave the engine slow u down
be gentle once u know how much grip u got then u can play
richie

Brit_in_Japan

pappasurf, studless winter tyres are in fact very soft, not hard at all. The compound stays soft in low temperatures and the pattern and movement of the tread blocks means that the snow doesn't get packed in the tread, the snow gets "ejected" and stops them turning into slicks. In snow narrow tyres help increase the pressure on the road and gives more grip, but doesn't help much on ice.

Here in Japan I have Michelin Drice studless winter tyres, 205/55 R16 (I think ?), not exactly narrow but have had no grip problems on fresh snow, compacted snow or ice. Obviously not the same traction as on dry/wet tarmac, but pretty good.

AvalancheS8

Proper winter or snow tyres.

scrappydog

The trendy arrow shaped tread pattern is indeed crap for snow. F1s are however (IMHO) better than Toyos in my experience. I've always found the more blockier tyre the better in the snow; Michelins or Continentals. Obviously any wide performance tyre is going to bo much worse than an narrower winter specific tyre.

Graz

It's not so much that the tyres offer little by way of grip in the snow, I knew that already We just don't get enough snow to justify a second set of wheels and tyres for winter use (like they do in Scandinavian countries).

I shouldn't have been playing around in a confined area the first place and then the close shave would have been completely avoided. Should have learnt that by now

Anyway I missed

harvey

iTrader: (48)

The tyres we use, Goodyear, Avon or whatever are summer tyres, definately no use on snow and below 7 deg. cent. or thereabouts their performance drops off anyway.
We do not have winters to warrant a winter set of tyres although this is common practice on much of the Continent.

I would urge all of you who have not done so already to find an empty bit of snow covered road and try an emergency stop. It will come as a revelation, especially to those with ABS.

Bear it in mind for the future and drive accordingly.

Happy motoring.

BMWhere?

How can you say that...

The average winter temps in the UK are around 8 degrees, at this temperature winter tyres will perform better than summer tyres. Between 10 and 14 degrees the performance would be similar. Above 14 degrees a Summer tyre would be better, but it doesn't get much above that in the UK summer never mind Winter!

Its also more to do with the road surface temperature than the air temperature, which in the Winter will generally be lower anyway!

Temperature aside, the performace of a Winter tyre in the wet is far better than a Summer tyre, and lets face it British winters are increadibly wet. Winter tyres will significantly reduce stopping distances and increase car control when braking on wet or cold road surfaces. Forget speed cameras and mobile phone bans, if you want to save lives on British roads they should make Winter tyres mandatory!

As for winter driving on the continent, maybe you should try it for a winter. You'll soon realise that, if it snows, they clear the roads quicker, it doesn't rain so much so the roads are not as wet and its not really any colder... so how do they justify it?

As for the extra cost... a spare set of steel wheels doesn't cost so much, particularly against the normal cost of motoring and given the amount of people who change there wheels anyway, many people will already have a spare set of alloys! The tyres pay for themselves as while you have Winter tyres fitted your not wearing out the Summer tyres!

jhrfc1

I think it's amazing that more fuss isn't made about the fact that most cars in Britain are being driven on inappropriate tyres most of the time.
I've thought of getting a winter set of wheels with Nokians or similar on, but knowing my luck, someone else would just lose grip and crash into me.
PS What is the speed rating of Nokian WRs?

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

bah humbug winter tyres are for poofs

Learn to drive your car in the conditions your driving in.

BMWhere?

Is that why you asked Pirelli about fitting the Sweedish Rally tyres to your car then Wurzel?

I can! I have driven many winters on summer tyres without having an accident! With winter tyres, I still drive to the conditions, they just let me drive faster and stop quicker without compromising my or other road users' safety! The problem is *most* drivers (I'm not just talking Scooby drivers) don't adjust to the conditions, in which case winter tyres would prevent many serious accidents!

STE.W.

Hello,

Due to the snow and ice we've had here in the last couple of days, we (me and the lads at work) discussed getting winter tyres fitted to our cars but we have now agreed that unless its enforced by law, whats the point of being stuck in 50 + car tail backs not being able to exploit the benefits when most people would still be sat there flapping with summer / high perf tyres in unsuitable conditions.

I have my original set of 15" crying out for some and may just bite the bullet and have some fitted for this sort of situation but if your in the minority is it worth it??

We were stuck in traffic last night and this morning and even spiked tyres we used for wrc sweden wouldnt have been any good either. If you cant get passed slow moving traffic due to shere volume then it would be even more frustrating than ever.

Far too many slow moving cars around with not enough road space and as already stated, I'd fit em and then get tw@tted by some one on slicks trying to keep up.

If it was enforced, it would be frouned upon as more money for the road user but how many people are dipping into there wallets today for repairs caused by accidents coss of the conditions.

My excess alone would pay for a set of winter tyres for my car.

Ste.

dr.scoob

i remember when it was snowing a couple of months ago, my F1's were all over the place. Its was like being on a skiing holiday.

MJW

I run Eagle F1's and have had no significant problems in the snow (although we haven't had massive amounts of snow, right enough). Half the battle is just adjusting your driving style to the conditions ; leave plenty space between you & the car in front, take corners slower, use engine braking etc.

I'm loathe to invest in a set of new wheels and tyres, plus the fannying-about factor in fitting them, then taking them off again when the snow disappears the next day

I bought the F1's because they were best suited to English weather ie. mostly wet and have been very happy with them for the last 12,000 miles (I did swap the fronts for the rears about 1000 miles back to even out the wear though).

I think one of the problems with these sudden snow showers is that inexperienced people just assume that all the electronic gadgetry on their cars will prevent an accident and so drive at the same speed in all conditions.

NACRO

I have a set of 15" wheels I use in the winter, these are fitted with old GSD2 F1's that came with the set and they are pretty good on the snow, perhaps because they are a relatively narrow tyre?

I think the real problems start when you have 17 and 18" ultra low profiles.

ScoobyTal

I have a JDM MY03 sti with the optional Bridgestone RE070's and want to run them as summer tyres. I also want a set of winter tyres (not snow tyres) to use the rest of the year what tyres do people think I should purchase for the existing BBS magnesium wheels ?? I will change them over for winter / summer use .

Tal

Nothing to extreme please !!

BMWhere?

Winter tyres are *NOT* snow tyres, you don't just put them on for snowy days, you fit them at the start of winter and take them off again in the spring, so no more hassle than swapping the fronts and rears. F1's might be a good compromise in the wet, but winter tyres are amazing! You really cannot comprehend how much of a difference they make until you've tried them!

BMWhere?

Pathetic!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3490372.stm


@ScoobyTal
I have Michelin Pilot Alpin winter tyres at the moment and I'm very pleased with them. They're not perfect on snow due to the high speed rating (I don't need to restrict my speed on the Autobahn!), but are excellent in the wet and perform better on warmer (>14deg) days than other winter tyres I've used. I also recommend Vredstein Wintrack, they can go off a bit on the warmer days in early spring, but the winter performance excellent and phenominal on Snow and Ice, although top speed was limited to 130mph (not a problem in UK!).

BMWhere?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/n...nd/3488546.stm

5 Injured children in an accident that could probably have been prevented with winter tyres! How do all the speed cameras prevent these accidents?

Graz

I do know how to drive properly in snow, even on sub optimal tyres. Just that I was playing around and pushing it beyond the limits without really assesing the consequences first. Should know better at my age

Anyway it has all melted here now

Dodge

Ha, yes, I can vouch for that - found out how bad toyos were on snow in that last pitiful snowfall a couple of weeks ago. Combined with the wondrous powers of ABS, I seemed to be accelerating, rather than slowing down, after the briefest of brushes against the middle pedal. Shocking...

As for winter tyres, don't they have a fairly low top speed? Seems a bit strange if they do, as you're not allowed to fit "slower" tyres to a faster car..

BMWhere?

Dodge,
My Michelin Pilot Alpins have a speed rating higher than top speed of the Scooby, so no, the speed rating is not an issue! Oh, and ABS works perfectly on snow with winter tyres fitted and has saved my bacon many times!

Dodge

Ooh, that is interesting - I feared they were all similarly hobbling, like driving around on 4 space-savers...

Does your ABS keep going all the way to 0mph, like mine, or does it turn off when it hits 10 mph, like (I'm told) normal cars?

ScoobyTal

going to get some Michelin Pilot Alpins cheers for your advice