All Season Tyres
- Thread starter Pyscho_Si
- Start date
GLOBAL WARMING!!
this year im going to get a helicopter so that i dont have to go on the roads
Soldato
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[TW]Fox;17452622 said:
My auntie did actually buy a 4x4 after last years weather!! She barely goes out, bloody ridiculous
I think you also have to look at wheel / tyre designs over the past 20 years. Tyres are getting bigger, wider and lower profile. Summer tyres are getting improved summer grip though innovation... but at the expense of cold weather running.... think of the type of tyres which went onto Mk1 Vectra's or BMW's from the same the period... I expect they look more like modern 'all season' tyres.
Additionally I think in the past we have just lived with the fact that driving in icy conditions was a struggle and we lived with it. I think now with the availability of cold weather tyres in this country people are starting to think... why should i struggle?
If we look at the tyres we describe as ditch finders on this forum, if we compared the performance of them to a premium tyre from 20 years ago... which is worse? As usual with innovation, people question the reasons for change as they are stuck in an old way of thinking. I believe over the coming years, realising the benefits of cold weather tyres will change the perception and usefulness of them in this country. With any adoption of new technology (new in the sense to being used in the UK in a larger scale), you will always get people who will want to be early adopters, followed by a group who will watch and see how effective they are followed by those who will never change.
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![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
[TW]Fox;17532992 said:
I disagree, average ground temperature in the UK (especially north of the Watford Gap) during the winter months is such that winter/cold weather tyres have performance benefit over summer tyres. Even this weekend, air temperature in the south is suppose to be hitting 20+ degrees but I doubt ground temperature will get above 12 - 14 degrees in the early afternoon and therefore much lower in the early hours. I'm not a tyre expert or a meteorologist, but I am guessing if you wake up and you see frost, winter/cold weather tyres have a performance benefit over summer tyres.
I do not think we will have a mass uptake. I am assuming (I know making assumptions is dangerous) that the average person in the average small hatchback will continue to use midrange summer tyres all year round. I do however believe that the benefit for people driving either RWD cars and those in areas which are more likely to have snow, slush and ice mean people will start buying them.
Innovation is a good thing .... I guess one day technology will exist to have the perfect 'All Season' tyre.
You're*Your doing it wrong
But yeah, I agree. I had these tyres for over two years and they were most definitely not at the same height.
If you're adament that they're at the same level then the tyres are defective.
The thin ones are for snow, the low wide ones are the same as on summer tyres.
Why have two sets of depth markers otherwise?
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Right I've measured them with a digital tyre gauge now rather than the old fashioned one I used before. The bigger block are 2.2mm while the thinner blocks are at 3mm depth. So slightly out on what i said but only 0.8mm difference.
You needed a digital tyre gauage to tell you what i could see with my eyes from the photo ?
Fail
[TW]Fox;17467024 said:
The last two winters have been very bad for snow and ice. The most recent saw many roads even here in the south east immpassable, treacherous driving conditions and generally hazardous conditions all round. The winter before was also very bad in this area, I remember nearly having to abandon my car halfway down an icy hill; I was helped back up by someone else who had actually had to abandon his car at the bottom of it. As I recall, the winter before (2007-08) was also very cold, although the snowfall and disruption here was nowhere near as bad.
Although you are correct that we don't often have such bad winters, there is a trend developing toward colder winters with more snowfall. Now I agree with you in essence, and I wont be rushing out to buy winter tyres, but I am already seriously considering what measures I can take this winter in the event that we have another cold one. Last winter was the first time I chucked a shovel and a piece of old carpet in the boot, and I shall probably do the same this year, because despite your protestations to the contrary, very cold winters might be something we start having to put up with regularly.
So I dont think being so dismissive of those considering winter tyres on the basis that "we had an atypical freak winter" is all that justified, when many people here have already suffered two very bad winters for driving and and are simply considering that we might be in for more of the same if the trend continues or worsens.
Rather than waste your money on season specific tyres, spend a day at a skid pan.
You will learn more about driving with little or no grip than you will gain from tyres that - as Fox suggests - are pointless for our climate.
I had no problems last year despite working nights and frequently driving in temperatures as low as -16 (-19 one night in Middlewich, Cheshire!)
And travelling to & from work in a RWD automatic 328i with no traction control and whilst at work, driving articulated trucks all over the country.
More than once I gave stranded 4x4 drivers a tow with my truck !
You will learn more about driving with little or no grip than you will gain from tyres that - as Fox suggests - are pointless for our climate.
I had no problems last year despite working nights and frequently driving in temperatures as low as -16 (-19 one night in Middlewich, Cheshire!)
And travelling to & from work in a RWD automatic 328i with no traction control and whilst at work, driving articulated trucks all over the country.
More than once I gave stranded 4x4 drivers a tow with my truck !
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I don't believe that showing evidence of temperature, etc, over a period of 29 years ending 10 years ago is enough to reliably say that winters arent going to follow a cooling trend, especially when the last two were some of the coldest on record, not to mention the current concerns of climate change.
Like I said, I'm by no means panicking or rushing out to buy a new set of tyres, but given my experience of driving over the last two winters, I can certainly see why people might start to consider such measures.
Like I said, I'm by no means panicking or rushing out to buy a new set of tyres, but given my experience of driving over the last two winters, I can certainly see why people might start to consider such measures.
Associate
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see diagrams above and answer "is Plymouth typical of the average UK weather or one of the extremes?"
I was attempting to show that cold(ish) winters are nothing new for this country, nor is snow. When people say the last few years have been exceptional winters... these images should hopefully show that actually we have always had proper winters (well outside Deveon).
If winters do start to get colder (I don't think they are), then the argurement for winter / cold weather tyres will just get stronger.
But just because you can manage on summer tyres, doesn't mean you shouldn't use winter tyres. Snow is not the only reason to use winter tyres either.
Funny you say about your artic, last year I lived on a main road which is on a fair sized up hill. A Morrisons artic failed half way up at least two-three hours before any cars got stuck.
Associate
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How will a day on a skid pan help you drive up a steep icy/snowy hill???
I think part of it is we are more reliant on the roads now than we ever have been, people travel further to work, more cars on the road
You sound like my grandad
"Back in t'day, during the war, we never had cars, LUXURY ! i tell yer. You young 'uns now-a-days, you dont know yer born i tell thee"