bmw owners - anyone use winter tyres?

I had conti CS3's with about 2.5mm on them in the snow this winter, and there was 4days in total that I couldn't get up to my house (I live at the top of a very steep, very now hill with walls and blind sections).

On one of the days where i managed to abandon my car into the carpark halfway up this hill, i saw a defender come down the hill very slowly and not be able to stop, sliding out into the main road at the bottom....very lucky to not have a bit of a smash there!

I will be considering getting some winter tyres this year though, there were a few iffy moments and I'm used to driving in snow now! Also, i'd like to be able to get to my house every day, and not have to consider whether a journey is absolutely essential or not, just get on with it. I find in reasonably flat areas, driving with rwd in the snow isn't a problem, it's mainly hills that cause problems!

Not sure how much better nearly new CS3s would've been instead though, but given there were proper 4x4s with normal tyres desperately struggling im guessing not massive amounts better. Luckily the council grit and plough this road very very well as a police station is a quarter of the way up it, so within 8 hours or so of a heavy fall it's usually clear.
 
Can't we just link to the many millions posts on winter tyres already ? :p

No matter how great a driver you think you are, you won't be able to go up many hills in the snow in a RWD on summer tyres. Even if you do get winter tyres there will be people blocking the road anyway.
 
[TW]Fox;19170163 said:
Not really, we get a few weeks a year, tops.

Doesn't stop everyone whinging like crazy about it and tooling up for arctic expeditions, mind.
Click to expand...

LOL so true.

I had winter tyres on my Polo, felt a lot more responsive but when the weather got warm again oh don't you know it. It's like driving on sponges.

Maybe alittle OTT having winter tyres on the Polo but after seeing a lot of guys from here wheelspinning up the epic hill by work in FWD hatches, I couldn't help laughing as I overtook them up the icy hill :p
 
Snow chains anyone?

Granted with a RWD car you will need them all round, but surely this works out cheaper than getting winter tyres. And they dont take long to fit at all. Get self adjusting ones.

I bought some last year, haven't had to use them yet though. They just stay in the boot until they are needed.
 
I'd be tempted to switch to winter tyres exclusively for the short very bad weather period if I could find a cheap used set. It's not like a blowout at 20 MPH is very likely or anything much to worry about, in fact it would probably aid traction :p

There is, however, no way I am paying £500-1000 for a new set of winter tyres for a few weeks of any real benefit. Well, I suppose the thing to remember is that you aren't using your normal tyres at the same time, so if you are a high miles user you aren't really increasing your total cost of ownership very much at all by switching to winter tyres. Hmmmm.
 
Last edited:
The problem there is trying to source a cheap used set of winter tyres when its... well, winter. If you did want to do that, you would need to buy them now.

Plus you have to then find an additional two wheels to put them on.

I personally dont see the point of going through all that hassle just for a week or two of snow. If the worst happens, ive got chains and a small shovel that stay in the boot.
 
ja I was just looking on the Internet and there aren't very many used winter tyres available - I'd need 2x 275 30 19 and 2x 245 35 19. I could just swap the tyres over on my existing wheels.
 
Paul. W said:
I personally dont see the point of going through all that hassle just for a week or two of snow.
Click to expand...

Winter Tyres aren't just for snow they are for the entire season, once the temperature falls below X degrees Celsius they will outperform normal tyres, My friend has a spare set of alloys for his Merc that he keeps winter tyres on, when I asked him about them ages ago an he said their irrelevant to a person who just goes with budget tyres in the first place but if you care about your tyres enough to want a quality brand and you can afford it then its worth picking up a set as they will outperform the all season ones throughout winter.
 
I have a set of snow tyres which I purchased last year as I was unable to get out of my road the previous year. Vredstein Snowtrac I think they are, absolutely no problems getting about in the snow. I'd definately recommend them if you need to commute in the snow.
 
I think people are getting confused between snow tyres and winter tyres.

Snow tyres are designed specifically for snow.

Winter tyres are designed for winter, e.g. low temperatures, wet/greasy conditions, ice and snow, however are not as specialised as snow tyres.

Hope that makes sense :p
 
If you don't want to risk getting stuck ever, it might be worth buying a set of chains.

No point in buying a set of snow tyres to have them sit round 11 months of the year then rush out and have them fitted before the snow hits.
 
Simon said:
Can't we just link to the many millions posts on winter tyres already ? :p

No matter how great a driver you think you are, you won't be able to go up many hills in the snow in a RWD on summer tyres. Even if you do get winter tyres there will be people blocking the road anyway.
Click to expand...
Agreed, mavity is the enemy. You can breathe on the throttle or mash it like a lunatic, if the surface below the snow is compacted and frozen, the chances are you are going nowhere without chains or snow/winter tyres.

I can ice skate, but I can't do it in sandals.
 
PMKeates said:
Not really, it just wasn't as hard as everyone made out. Wasn't easy, but definitely doable. I just rocked the car backwards and forwards to get moving and then let it wheelspin along up to speed and then just drove it carefully.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I managed just fine in the winter on hills packed with inch or so thick ice, on my premium summer tyres. Granted I only have 140bhp, but it is still a BMW and RWD and I didn't crash or get stuck or anything.

The only time I had an issue was when I decided to drive across some long grass that had around 4inches of snow on it. My treads filled and I was running on slicks. That was because I was messing about in the snow though, nothing to do with the roads. :D
 
I managed to get my car out of the drive after about 30 mins of digging. It then got stuck in the middle of the road and took 60 mins to get it back in the drive.

The harsh clutch could have been part of the issue but I seriously doubt I would have got the 22 miles to work along country roads. Hell the council didn't even grit the main roads through Southport (nearly a month of the main roads being covered in 6 inches of snow).

If all you driving gods are so sure that you can drive in RWD cars clad in summer tyres in snow then by all means come and show me how to do it in 6 months time :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom