My snow tyres decision validated

[markc]

We had a heavy dump during the early morning on Saturday (and then it snowed boom, boom :)) so woke to a solid 8 inches (fnarr-fnarr) and near blizzard conditions.

I had no reason or need to go out didn't worry too much about it and settled down with a bowl of porridge in front of Soccer AM while the Mrs started making puddings for a party we're going to in the evening. An hour or so later we have a Strawberry emergency, apparently 3 punnets are not enough to fill a large cheesecake and we desperately need another (punnet). A dash to the local supermarket is required! The snow has eased to a steady fall so I agree to give it a shot.

I took a broom to the windows and bonnet of the Accord and fired it up to warm through. 10mins later I'm crunching through virgin snow down our side road. Out onto the village road and it not a great deal better, possibly worse because traffic has compacted the snow. A few hundred yards later is the big test, mini roundabout then HILL!

A modest hill but one that has recently defeated a Z4 and MX5 that lay abandoned at the side of the road. We queue up and take it in turns to start our runs. A Citroen van (on M&S tyres?) makes it up with no problem but the brand new Merc CLK fails and has to reverse back. A new model Astra gets a bit further but slithers to a halt and also comes back down. Now its the Volvo XC90 in front of me's turn. He starts of confidently and looks good but then at the exact same point as the Astra he starts sliding with all four wheels turning in unison but providing no forward motion. He too has to reverse back down. My turn, off I go and sail up the hill with just hint of wheelspin and merest blink of TCS at the slippery'est point. Smug doesn't begin to cover it :cool:

Snow tyres 1 - 4x4 on summer rubber 0 :)

Cheers

Mark

[NSX 2000]

Hi Mark

We are snow tyre converts as well. We have a flat drive leading out onto a flat road but last year the BMW couldn't even get out the drive :eek:
This year with winter tyres it's turned our crap rwd BMW into a near 4x4, I've had Landrover and other big 4x4 drivers look at me with amazement as I just follow them :laugh:

[markc]

This year with winter tyres it's turned our crap rwd BMW into a near 4x4, I've had Landrover and other big 4x4 drivers look at me with amazement as I just follow them :laugh:

A mate of mine has an E39 525i Touring (Auto) which he said was all but useless in last years snow so he's fitted snow tyres this year. The same 235x45x17 (front) and 245x25x17 (rear) sizes and he says it's transformed! Not quite a piste basher but it actually moves in snow now :)

I bolted on my winter wheels/tyres on 21st Nov just before venturing to France for a long weekend as I knew a cold snap was being forecast and that its always colder in Burgundy over the winter months than it is here. Sure enough we had snow everyday while in France and despite many of the D roads being untreated we didn't have any problems.

I've been keeping an eye on my cars outside temperature gauge and since I fitted the snow/winter/cold weather tyres it's only been above 7degrees (where winter tyres start working) on one trip to work or back! I don't expect I'll be switching back to the summer rubber until sometime in March?

I think the most important thing is to not get TOO CONFIDENT. The extra grip is good to have but its still limited and it'd be all too easy to have an accident if you were to get over confident!

Cheers

Mark

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

I used to live in an area where the snow won’t melt for weeks so everyone was on snow tyre (we call it as stud-less tyre in Japanese) from December until early spring.
In some places, no cars are allowed to go any further without snow tyres/chain and there are specific gates for checking this so some of the residence were forced to put snow tyres any way.

Because of the high demands, the snow tyres were not that expensive in Japan compared to UK and I even drove NSX for a few months with snow tyres as long as the front nose could clear the frozen ice on the road.
On fresh and compacted snow, NSX performed really well and on black ice, you just need to use the torque of the engine without the TH pedal.

I thought about buying the snow tyre for NSX in UK but the price was just unbelievable and importing them from Japan or US was not that great due to the weight and duty/tax.
However, I may consider it for my MX-5 as it’s fairly small/light tyre and can get quite cheap ones from Japan. Haven’t looked at the price in UK…

One thing surprises me is people even tries to move their car without proper tyres under these conditions. Salt needs moisture and it won’t work under freezing condition or on top of the compacted snow. I don’t think other European countries with lots of snow use salt because it’s not effective for their freezing condition. Sometimes, I feel it would be more cost effective to provide the snow tyres to the key drivers than spending so much money on gritting.

Had to help some of the RWD cars stuck in front of my house blocking the only road for the ambulance for the nearby home. Just turn around the car, switch off the TCS, put in reverse and clime (reverse) up the slope. Job done.

You can’t do more than the performance of the tyres even if you have 4x4 or etc so as markc suggested, know your limit…

Kaz

[markc]

I thought about buying the snow tyre for NSX in UK but the price was just unbelievable and importing them from Japan or US was not that great due to the weight and duty/tax.

Ha ha, there's no chance that my NSX will be venturing out in the snow.

I didn't find snow/winter/cold weather tyres much expensive than for same size normal ones. I paid £80 each for 205x55x16 Vrederstein Snowtrac 2's.

I can imagine that in bigger or "odd" sizes like for the NSX they get pricey. Of course you can't get them for love nor money now!

I might trying picking up a pair for the front of the Mrs's TT Cab when we're in France over the Christmas/New Year period as they may have some in stock over there.

Cheers

Mark

[NSXGB]

A guy at work priced some up for his Golf GTi, supplied WITH a set of steel wheels and it came to about £220 for all 4 corners. I thought that was pretty good. Was from mytyres I believe.

[AR]

Got in the GL set the height to level 2 and away we went. Seen a few cars parked up etc. My road is semi rural and it was fine till Saturday, but as nobody is travelling on it as they are not going to work, it was bleak! No problems and not even a real skid. Smart 4x4s do the job!

[havoc]

Fitted winter tyres to the 'teg and the GTi nearly a month ago, the weekend before the first lot of snow...and they've made a real difference. Not a panacea - you still need to drive sensibly - but they make driving on snow and ice so much less stressful.

The weekend it snowed back in November my best mate came round - "I was all set to take the p'ss out of you for fitting winter tyres, then it bloody well snowed!" This weekend he just asked me where I got my winter tyres from...


Trouble is, the vast majority of cars still out there on the road aren't 4x4s on proper 4x4 tyres (not counting X5s and Cayennes etc.), or ordinary cars with winter tyres - and a number are struggling/panicking as a result.

[Silver Surfer]

Got a spare set of wheels and used Winter tyres on ebay for £300.. The tyres had 6mm tread left. No problem at all in any gradient so far.

Same with the RS4....Winter tyres rock in this snow!!! Can't recommended enough.

SS

[m666 edd]

Got in the GL set the height to level 2 and away we went. Seen a few cars parked up etc. My road is semi rural and it was fine till Saturday, but as nobody is travelling on it as they are not going to work, it was bleak! No problems and not even a real skid. Smart 4x4s do the job!

As you saw I managed ok with my lowered coupe with built in snow plow lol.

Couldn't get to work today as all the wallys were out and blocked all ways out of the town I live in.

Saturday was a great learning experience for snow driving with about 100mm ground clearance.

[AR]

Ed you cleared the way for my Taxi into town! :)

Is about a foot of snow accumulated here now!

[NSXGB]

....hold on, 3 Punnets of strawberries, that cheesecake must have been enormous?!

[markc]

....hold on, 3 Punnets of strawberries, that cheesecake must have been enormous?!

3 punnets wasn't enough, we needed a 4th... think wagon wheel :)

Mark

[AR]

3 punnets wasn't enough, we needed a 4th... think wagon wheel :)

Mark

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/rigeek/ttiwwp.jpg


Of the CHEESECAKE! :-)

[dan the man]

studs for me ...takes a few few feet for me to get the shovel out if 4wd-L dont work.... ha ha

[Ewan]

I had almost exactly the same experience as Markc... Saturday morning, during the blizzard, we had to drive the A8 (with 275/35/ZR20s) 20 miles to pick up the Accord which had recently been fitted with Nokian WR G2s (it had been left overnight after a Christmas party). The A8 was a bit of a handful, changing lanes on the motorway was "interesting"... but when we got back, took the Accord out into rural W Berks for lunch at the Pot Kiln, and we were the only car there that wasn't a proper 4x4. On the way, there were all sorts of cars abandoned ... and even up & down some pretty steep hills, the Accord was faultless.

I picked up a set of used Civic alloys on Ebay for £85, and the Nokians were £77 fitted, took about a week to come over from Germany at the end of November.

8240
(this was the day I had the snow tyres fitted - fresh fall that morning so drove out with summer tyres and came home on winter ones :))

[jaytip]

We had a heavy dump during the early morning on Saturday (and then it snowed boom, boom :)) so woke to a solid 8 inches (fnarr-fnarr) and near blizzard conditions.

I had no reason or need to go out didn't worry too much about it and settled down with a bowl of porridge in front of Soccer AM while the Mrs started making puddings for a party we're going to in the evening. An hour or so later we have a Strawberry emergency, apparently 3 punnets are not enough to fill a large cheesecake and we desperately need another (punnet). A dash to the local supermarket is required! The snow has eased to a steady fall so I agree to give it a shot.

I took a broom to the windows and bonnet of the Accord and fired it up to warm through. 10mins later I'm crunching through virgin snow down our side road. Out onto the village road and it not a great deal better, possibly worse because traffic has compacted the snow. A few hundred yards later is the big test, mini roundabout then HILL!

A modest hill but one that has recently defeated a Z4 and MX5 that lay abandoned at the side of the road. We queue up and take it in turns to start our runs. A Citroen van (on M&S tyres?) makes it up with no problem but the brand new Merc CLK fails and has to reverse back. A new model Astra gets a bit further but slithers to a halt and also comes back down. Now its the Volvo XC90 in front of me's turn. He starts of confidently and looks good but then at the exact same point as the Astra he starts sliding with all four wheels turning in unison but providing no forward motion. He too has to reverse back down. My turn, off I go and sail up the hill with just hint of wheelspin and merest blink of TCS at the slippery'est point. Smug doesn't begin to cover it :cool:

Snow tyres 1 - 4x4 on summer rubber 0 :)

Cheers

Mark
I too have winter tyres on my taxi and i havn't failed to get anywhere with them on the car.In short i'm astonished at the places ive been able to get,but having said that my father drives a 4X4 and he also hasn't failed to get anywhere.
Some people assume that just because they are driving a 4X4 it gives them "imunity" if you like-to bad weather,and drive blase in the snow and i have seen a few people come unstuck in 4X4's in this weather by traveling too fast and then sliding around corners.Just because they own 4X4's doesn't mean they know how to drive them.
My Ex lives just up the hill from me and drives an X5 on regular tyres and the bad weather hasn't stopped her getting about anywhere.How you drive in snow plays a MASSIVE part in your ability to get about.