Winter tyres discussion!!
Winter tyres discussion!!
Moley Yes it's fwd but thats not the point I'm making Steve.
When we get a bit of snow or ice how many accidents do you see on our roads ??
Over there they can drive without any problems, but here our country comes to a standstill with just a light covering of snow. When we were coming home from Norway yesterday Aberdeen airport was shut with freezing fog in the morning, but when we took off the Norwegian pilot just said about the weather that there was just a bit of mist in Aberdeen, this made me laugh, just shows you the difference between the two
Moley Yes it's fwd but thats not the point I'm making Steve.
When we get a bit of snow or ice how many accidents do you see on our roads ??
Over there they can drive without any problems, but here our country comes to a standstill with just a light covering of snow. When we were coming home from Norway yesterday Aberdeen airport was shut with freezing fog in the morning, but when we took off the Norwegian pilot just said about the weather that there was just a bit of mist in Aberdeen, this made me laugh, just shows you the difference between the two
Well its a bit of both mate. When there was no snow on the roads you could hear the noise from the cars with the studded tyres and I would have said it was about a 60-40 % to those with the studs. But we were driving without studs and had no problems even in the snow so just winter compound ones would be good for us I think.
ill throw my 2 pence in.....
many people think they are for purely snow and some places call them snow tyres which is wrong. its also to do with temperature as mole has said below 7C tyres go hard and you loose grip.
winter tyres are also for snow and ice - snow being the main focus as you wont have a huge grip on ice without studs although you do have some grip, compacted snow goes to ice hence studs etc.
i personally would recommend getting a set of 16" wheels and using those during the winter time. look at michelin alpins or dunlop wintersports, DO NOT consider toyo snowprox... they have poor grip and leach oil for months out of my presonal experience
for info even cars which spend all the time in ski resorts dont normally have studs, from what i have seen over here.
Here in Sweden it's illegal to use summer tyres in winter conditions between the 1st December and the 31st March.
I've mostly used Nokian tyres for my cars as they often get the highest rating in the tests. There are two main types of winter tyres over here, studded ones and so called friction tyres. Both types have a much softer rubber mixture than summer tyres, which is one of the main reasons they work a lot better when it's cold. We actually quite recently got a law against studded tyres on some streets in the major cities, due to the fact that they aren't very good for the environment.
I recently sold a set of 16" Nokian Hakkapeliitta RSi friction tyres which were great. However, I have a set of stock 17" rims in my basement and I'm planning on getting winter tyres for those.
Friction tyres are nice to have in cities and on highways as they are a lot quieter than studded ones, but when all the roads are covered in snow and ice nothing beats studded tyres. My girlfriend's Mazda 323f is fitted with studded Gislaved winter tyres and when I drive it I'm going just as fast as in the summer, without noticing the ice and snow.
There are also all season tyres that are fairly good for both summer and winter conditions, but if you are able to switch tyres twice a year I would recommend real friction winter tyres. If you're interested I can upload this year's big winter tyre test (made by Auto Motor & Sport) where I believe Continental scored the best results.
That would be interesting to see or you could just tell us all which tyres to get :tongue_smilie:
Moley That would be interesting to see or you could just tell us all which tyres to get :tongue_smilie:
Moley That would be interesting to see or you could just tell us all which tyres to get :tongue_smilie: