Anybody else impressed with winter tyres in the recent snow?

Scania

Scania

Scania

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Finally got round to replacing my worn front tyres, I'd decided on swapping them with my good rears and put winter tyres on the rear (RWD BMW, notoriously cack in the white stuff!) I live in Leek, Staffordshire, where snow is common compared to Stoke a few miles down the road that gets comparatively little.

I've just moved to a house that's on a steep hill, and was astonded how drama free it was driving up!

Whilst initially sceptical as to if I needed them at all, I'm going to get the fronts replaced with winter tyres at the weekend!

I Just wondered if anybody else has tried winter tyres for the first time and been equally impressed??
 
In the snow and this sort of very cold weather they are superb.

However when I first drove on my set it was 10C outside and dry, lets just say 4 wheel sliding was the norm rather than the exception.
 
Yes they are great, and not just in snow, but when it's cold and/or wet too. You should probably be more specific and say good winter tyres are ace because there seem to be at least some people who think they're doing a good thing by fitting the winter equivalent of linglong ditchfinders where, in fact, in that case, they'd have been better off leaving their good summer tyres on.

I'm in Norway and rolling some Nokian WR-A3s this year (have to support the Swedes, bless them) and they are awesome. I was able to compare directly to my Mich PSs as I didn't get round to fitting winters till I got back from a somewhat delayed-return offshore trip which meant I was driving round with the summers on for a few days in mid November before the winters arrived. It was pretty cold, wet and miserable when I swapped and I noticed a significant difference in grip and feel.
 
I'm in Rushton Spencer, absolutely no problems with normal tyres and a steep hill.

You certainly don't need anything more in Leek.
 
Really depends on how you define "need".
On the same note some would argue that you don't need premium quality tyres on your 330d and that Linglongs would do at half the price.

Depending on where you live the potential of avoiding a crash isn't that much different when driving summer tires 4 years a month where you could get snow than it would be to driving linglongs sensibly all year round.

Just to clarify things, I will be replacing my FK452's that the car came with with Goodyear Eagle F1s, so there's no need to explain why linglongs are bad.
 
You know what it was minus 1 this afternoon and shocker I drove about normally on normal tyres until where a water pipe is leaking and has frozen then I just slowed down a bit.

Amazing I know.
 
Cristian said:
Really depends on how you define "need".
On the same note some would argue that you don't need premium quality tyres on your 330d and that Linglongs would do at half the price.
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If I'm putting any tyres on my 330d then I'm either paying for someone else's tyres or my 2nd car is a delorean. ;)

I haven't had a 330d for 2 years.
 
Cristian said:
Really depends on how you define "need".
On the same note some would argue that you don't need premium quality tyres on your 330d and that Linglongs would do at half the price.
Click to expand...

This is a frequently cited but irrelevent argument.

When you chose, say, a Michelin Pilot Sport over a Linglong you are increasing the cost of your tyre in order to make an upgrade.

When you chose a winter tyre in a country which has a mild winter climate with significant numbers of days over 10c and where snowfall is such a rare event that it fills the press days before it even happens, you are not simply making an upgrade to your tyre choice you are buying an entirely new set of tyres alongside your existing tyres.

Quite different.
 
Winter tyres are quite handy for that week that it snows though.
Having said that, I've made it to work perfectly safely 2 days in a row after it dumped 10cm of snow.

The only place I got stuck was my parents' driveway as they didn't bother to shovel as they have winter tyres :rolleyes:
 
[TW]Fox;23571531 said:
This is a frequently cited but irrelevent argument.

When you chose, say, a Michelin Pilot Sport over a Linglong you are increasing the cost of your tyre in order to make an upgrade.

When you chose a winter tyre in a country which has a mild winter climate with significant numbers of days over 10c and where snowfall is such a rare event that it fills the press days before it even happens, you are not simply making an upgrade to your tyre choice you are buying an entirely new set of tyres alongside your existing tyres.

Quite different.
Click to expand...

As I said in my previous post, it really depends on where you live. A lot of the country has at least four months a year when temperatures are less than 6 degrees and often below freezing in the mornings and evening when people usually commute.

Snowfall might be rare in some areas, but you don't need snowfall to get your money's worth out of winter tyres. Sure, you can drive around in your summer tyres when it's a bit damp/icy outside as it usually is throughout the winter but you wouldn't be safe in the same way you wouldn't be safe in the same way that you wouldn't be safe by driving on Linglongs instead of quality rubber.

paradigm - apologies, haven't been in Motors in a while now.:D
 
Did I read it wrong or did you put winter tyres on the back and summers (old back ones) on the front?
If so then I hope you don't have to brake hard in the snow :eek:
 
They are certainly impressive in the white stuff, they just don't make sense as an ownership proposition in this country. And I say this as someone who lives in the Lake District ;)
 
My ones have been great in the heavy snow and ice this week... Unfortunately as the other 99% of the population don't run them the fact I can make it home after work is irrelevant and I'm stuck like everyone else in a 3 mile queue of traffic for 4 hours to get home from work :rolleyes:

I've always been an advocate of winter tyres but this week has shown just how pointless they really are in the UK as you sit crawling along in traffic with drivers who should really hang their keys up apart from sunny days in the middle of July.
 
Cristian said:
Snowfall might be rare in some areas, but you don't need snowfall to get your money's worth out of winter tyres. Sure, you can drive around in your summer tyres when it's a bit damp/icy outside as it usually is throughout the winter but you wouldn't be safe in the same way you wouldn't be safe in the same way that you wouldn't be safe by driving on Linglongs instead of quality rubber.
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Interestingly Evo's recent winter tyre test didn't back that up at all. The summer tyre they used (Conti premium contact 2) performed better than all the winter tyres in all the tests not involving snow. They also tested a winter Linglong that actually scored well in snow.
 
Gribs said:
Interestingly Evo's recent winter tyre test didn't back that up at all. The summer tyre they used (Conti premium contact 2) performed better than all the winter tyres in all the tests not involving snow.
Click to expand...

This is what I've been saying all along. For a typical wet British winter where even sub zero temps are the exception not the norm, you are better off with a tyre with damn good wet performance.
 
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