Winter Tyres and Chains

We have a thread on this topic every year. So I thought I'd get in early. Plus now is the time to be thinking about ordering your winter tyres - they're manufactured during the summer and the stock is finite, so by mid-winter stocks can be low/empty. Rather than the usual comments, I thought that I'd write a narrative:
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You're driving along a French road on the way to skiing in the Alps. Outside, the temperature is around 0°C to -2°C and the skies are grey. "We're fine – the snow chains are in the boot, so we're prepared. And we're front-wheel drive anyway." you say. But you are already at a disadvantage against the French and German cars around you. They have their winter tyres on and you're on the summer tyres fitted as standard to all British cars. This means that when you brake, you'll take 20%-25% more distance before you come to a stop, even on tarmac.

Now it starts to snow and after a while you're driving through patches where you're alternating between tarmac and snow. But you can't stop easily and anyway, the chains aren't suited to this. "If it gets heavier, I'll put the chains on – but no one else is, so let's see. I can't keep putting them on and taking them off." The car starts to slide a bit on the snowy patches and you slow down to compensate, but everyone else seems to be coping fine. That 25% difference in stopping distance is now more like x2-x3 but it's not obvious. And there's a queue building up behind you. "Can't these people see it's snowing?" In fact they can, and since this is a regular winter situation, that's why they have their winter tyres on. They don't need to slow down until the conditions are much worse. And it looks like they're behind a typical English driver who seems to think that having chains solves everything.

Snow now covers the road, but it's not that deep and you're debating whether to stop and put the chains on when you approach a corner and slight incline. Each car ahead happily takes the corner at 50Kms/hr but when you do the car slides alarmingly. You just about keep it on the road but halfway up the incline (it can hardly be called a hill) you gently glide to a halt, skewed slightly into oncoming traffic, the wheels spinning. Further back in the queue, another English car coasts gracefully into the rear of a French delivery van and at the corner, a similarly unprepared young Dutch driver pitches quietly into the ditch.

Your chains are still in the boot.

There's a thread going on over on Snowheads at the moment around winter tyres, with an actual expert on the subject (shock horror)!

If anyone has specific questions on winter tyres, or general advice, that would be a good place to ask them.

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=91733

We run our Uk based car on winter tyres every season so I can speak from a personal perspective. Winter tyres can make a huge difference. We swap over in November and keep them on until around March/April.

With relatively fresh rubber the grip is excellent in snow and it is possible to drive along at 40 to 50 mph without any problems at all (on the straight bits, not corners!!). I did get very frustrated though during the recent bad winters with cars ahead of me driving at 10 mph! People do seem to get annoyed when you overtake them...

We have taken the car over to Norway twice, once at Christmas with temperatures as low as -25. I was able to drive along safely without holding up the local traffic (who are all driving on studded tyres - no real sign of chains in Norway, other than on Belgian and Dutch vehicles)

Word of warning about tread depth - once you are down to approx 4mm a lot of the grip has gone (compared to 1.6mm minimum for tyres generally).

I cannot endorse this enough. I ruin one of my cars on winter tyres November to March in the UK so that I have a car to use in any event. I dont run them on the Merc as its RWD and automatic which means it turns into a dodgem car as soon as it snows irrespective of what tyres its got.

For driving abroad, many countries now make it legal to have winter tyres and you can be fined for not having them.

Buy a cheap set of wheels and put winter tyres on them so you can swap and change according to weather, as its never cold enough here for a sustained period to warrant having them on full time through winter. And they'll wear out fast as soon as its goes above 5c. Plus it will save your alloys getting covered in grit and salt.

We also have an automatic Merc.

How would one get round the fact that winter tyres are pointless if the law says you have to have them?

Hi Folks,

Sorry not been about much lately....work calls unfortunately....heres a reply I posted on another forum with regards to winter tyres etc....

Sorry I am little late to this trhead as I've only just registered on the site, with regards to Winter Tyres the main misconception is that people think " they are only for snow aren't they "....well the answer is no.....

....normal tyres have a harder silica/rubber compound which once the temperature falls below 7 oC ( 44.6 F ) starts to harden up and be less pliable, and therefore lose traction/grip ( in wet/damp,cold,ice/snow conditions ).

Winter tyres ( proper winter tyres will have a snowflake+mountain symbol on the side wall of the tyre ) have a different silica/rubber combination which keeps the tryre grippy from 7oC to around -30oC dependent on make etc, also the grooves and tread on the outside of the tyre (sipes) are deeper and bigger, typical tread depth on a winter tyre for cars is 10mm - 12mm, it is the ability to hold snow in these sipes that makes the tyre grip.....think of when you make a snowball with wooly gloves and how the snowball sticks to the glove.

With respect to how many tyres, winter tyres should be fitted to ALL 4 tyres, as one of the main things a winter tyres will do is under breaking make the car brake in a straight line, if tyres are only fitted to the driven wheels, the other end of the car will become like a peendulum and put the car into a sideways spin....not good.

There are many good makes of winter tyres but after driving in the French Alps for over 20 years I would recommend Continental , Vredstein and Nokian as probably the best ......Continental's winter tyres are regularly voted top choice in the German equivalent of the AA's tyres tests.

I drive a Vauxhall Astra 1.7diesel and will be buying a set of the Continental winter tyres at the end of the month ( a good site to buy from is http://www.mytyres.co.uk ) sorry about the long link folks.

As for do winter tyresd wear out quicker again no more than normal tyres, a set fitted at the end of October and changed back mid march or when the temps start to avarage 9oC - 10oC in the morning and evening rush hour should last 3 - 4 winters on average mileage.

As for snow socks and chains......chains are brilliant in the event of exceptionally bad roads ( with winter tyres ) and make a world of difference when used with just normal tyres, the only problem is that they should be removed when the road has no snow as driving on tarmac with chaains will not only destroy your tyres but will do damage to the road surface, also chaains are only good for up to 20 - 25Mph maximum, if you do buy chains RUUD are about the best about at quite a fair price ( dependant on size of tyre etc ), also make sure you practice putting them on before the weather is bad as doing it for the first time in freezing cold , snowy conditions isn't fun ( a pair of gloves kept in the car and a piece of plastic sheeting to lay on would be a good idea as well ).

Snowsocks are okay ish but have very limited areas of use , to be honest....a set of winter tyres backed up with snowchains is more than you should need, also a plastic shovel in the boot is a good idea .

I hope some of this is helpful and informative and welcome comments on anything I've missed or can help with.

Again I hope this helps.

All the best

jon.

Hi Again,

I also followed on with the below comments, again I hope they are of help...

Sorry meant to follow on from my previous post......along with the value of winter tyres, driving style should be moderated in accordance with the conditions, no sudden acceleration, turning of the wheel etc along with gentler use of the brakes ( use engine breaking where possible ), with regards to 4x4's the same applies........

......although 4 wheel drive is a massive advantage, a Range Rover ( for eg ) with low profile/normal summer tyres will just become a 2.5 ton sledge if driven normally under the assumption that " it's got 4 wheel drive I can drive normally " ....if you are lucky enough to own a 4x4 some winter rubber at each corner imakes even more sense.

I personnaly think it should be compulsory from the beginning of November to say Mid March in the UK to have winter tyres fitted, the amount of accidents and lives saved would be worth it alone, and less accidents should hopefully mean lower insurance premiums for all.....on a final note in Germany & Switzerland if you are involved in a car accident in the winter and do not have winter tyres fitted.....you are automatically in the wrong regardless of fault.


Peace..

jon.

Dids1 wrote:We also have an automatic Merc.

How would one get round the fact that winter tyres are pointless if the law says you have to have them?

in this country I meant. If it snows I just leave it at home as they don't treat our roads the same way they do abroad.
If you've got an auto Merc and its obligatory to have winter tyres, you have to have them, and whilst it will improve traction etc, its just not a good car to have in snow and ice.