Now that winter is coming...

[TW]Fox;23122488 said:
If you genuinelly have needed to use chains in the UK 4 times to get to your destination then you are in an acutely small minority of people that don't generally include people who live in Wiltshire and work in Bath.

There are probably more people in the UK who have used a small dinghy to get to work in the last few years than people who have required snow chains on 4 seperate occasions, but I don't see you suggesting we carry one of those :p
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I've been known to carry an inflatable kayak, does that count?

Least I won't get stuck or sink :p
 
Brookert said:
Snow chains? In the UK? Just get a good set of winter tyres, snowchains are inappropriate for this country, we barely get frozen/snowed enough to warrant them.
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Yep, totally agree with this.

I run winter tyres, bought a cheap set of alloys in the early summer and a cheap set of part-worn winter tyres. Under £100 for 4 tyres and alloys :)

Not much help now as the prices are starting to go up.
 
theron said:
Thanks Joe. Have you or anyone else used these ones before? If so, were they any good?
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I bought some last winter (from a Vauxhall retailer), but they've not come out of the packet yet. I have 19" wheels and they cost around £70 (iirc).
 
Matt82 said:
Post of the week :-D

I have looked at a few long range forecasts and it didn't look like there was a high likelihood of a good dollop of snow this year :-(
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Snow's hard to forecast, current models have essentially no skill predicting it more than 10 days out. Long range forecasts can't be used to judge likelihood of snow this winter. Any website suggesting otherwise is being disingenuous to get traffic.
 
Glad I found this thread. I had a case last Feb (I think) where I had to send my staff home around 9pm due to the amount of snow that was coming down and then headed home myself.

Managed it but that 20 minute drive took 1 hour 40 due to the speeds we were travelling and a couple of cases where it was really touch and go. I've been considering buying a set of chains purely to help out in this case. I know it's rare i'll need them but like the saying goes "Better to have condom and not need it than need it and not have one!" :p
 
Confused said:

This would be suitable for getting you unstuck, but obviously not for prolonged driving.
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rofl how many people are we going to have on here posting "ah you see i was sticking to 12mph in 2nd gear as that is the most optimal" if we get any snow and now that that video has come to light
 
I've just put 4 x Vredestein Wintrac 4 Extreme on my MG ZT 190 and they are absolutely fantastic. There's a *slight* lack of feel of progressiveness when braking very heavily in the dry, but other than that they are amazing for a winter tyre in what is still relatively mild weather.

From everything I've read I shall be making my way to work no problem when the snow comes :)
 
acemastr said:
Try a RWD car, then you'll know difficulty in snow, FWD is easy

Fairly sure it's illegal to use snow chains on a gritted road, same as studded tures
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There are no specific laws in the UK surrounding studded tyres or snow chain. It's a regular myth that gets trotted out every winter in pubs and internet forums across the land. What is illegal is having tyres (or anything on your car for that matter) that can and will cause damage to the road surface. And snow chains could indeed damage a metalled road surface.

Brookert said:
I can imagine your car wanting to swap ends often if you only had winter tyres on the front. Would the other way around cause massive understeer/no steering at all?
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It would only do that if you drove it like a complete and utter ham-fisted berk, like the people from Autocar/Fifth Gear etc do when trying to demonstrate/over exaggerate the effects of mismatched tyres front to rear.

Example :


In my opinion, you'd have to be a dick of the highest order to be taking that corner at 25-30mph in that depth of snow anyway. Shock horror as car with no snow tyres on the front understeers like a beast.
 
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[TW]Fox;23143766 said:
Shock as nice new tyres better than tired old ones.
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You are so arrogant it is outrageous.

I'd just swapped over from a set of 3 month old Sessanta's. I had big problems the past few winters, so I'm just being preemptive. I was simply surprised that they were so good in the dry.
 
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