Why the ballyheck do Brits not use winter tyres?

The only time I've bothered with owning a set of winter wheels/tyres is when I regularly drove a BMW 330d to the French Alps and back for skiing holidays. The one and only time I got stuck it would have made no difference anyway as the French police were mandating the use of chains to drive any higher up the mountain (where our resort was). I'd have got just as far on summer tyres and the chains... indeed I did a few years prior.

Owning them is a hassle, nowhere to keep them, having to swap them over, just for the benefit of 5 days a year's worth of snow (on a bad year). I'm yet to get stuck in the S3 anyway, and I've tried.
 
[TW]Fox said:
This is largely a myth and I say that as someone who drives a car fitted with winter tyres and a car fitted with regular uhp tyres.

The only time I have ever derived benefit from the winter tyres is in snow and ice.
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The braking distances in the wet are much shorter on winter tyres. It's nowhere near as dramatic as grip on snow/ice but it's still substantial.
 
Been driving for 25 years.
Total number of days I've had "Winter Tyres" on any vehicle I own = 0
Number of times I've been killed, crashed due to snow or ice, been involved in a near miss due to snow or ice = 0
 
Winter tyres not just used for snow but any day where temp is 7 deg C or below. I have mine on for at least 4 months. When not in use they are hung on the garage wall.
Andi.
 
VincentHanna said:
I can't really justify £800 worth of winter tyres for my BMW F11 for 3 months when it's cold and I've got nowhere really to store them when not in use.
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Long term it doesn't cost much more because you're not wearing your summer tyres out when your winter tyres are on.
 
I would consider them if i lived up north or if we had hasher winters here in Norfolk. The man issue for me is storage, 4 wheels would take up a lot of space in shed.
 
Roads are well gritted where I live and it hardly ever snows here anyway. Just be sensible and you will be fine. If I had a RWD car though I may think differently.
 
The problem with this 7c argument is that once you take this number and set a rule….are you the kind of person who sticks to it or use it just for the sake of an argument? Because if you are sticking to it then I hope you carry a set of spare summer tyres in the boot of your car to swap over soon as you see that temperature gauge flip between 7 to 8c. You will be doing a lot of tyre swaps twice daily. Wake up at 5c, it warms up to 10c in the afternoon on the way home….Ooooh, I better swap it over, and then do it again first thing in the morning to put winter tyres back on.


This will happen throughout Autumn to Spring, 6 months of the year.


So do you really care about that 7c or just saying it?
 
I run winters because I find it worth it, even if it is for that one day of heavy snow.
However, I also often travel to Germany and Scandinavia.

Also, I'm lucky that storage isn't an issue. I don't see the cost as a negative as the summers are not in use.
 
VaderDSL said:
I always thought the opposite, winter tyres are designed to be better solely on snow and ice?

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2017-Auto-Bild-Winter-Tyre-Test.htm
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5 extra meters to stop in the dry on the best winter vs the reference summer tyre? And wet performance being better on the summer tyre? I think I'll take my chances and drive super-sensibly when there's a hint of ice rather than compromise performance of the tyres for the other 95% of the time.

If you live in the sticks I can understand winter tyres, but for most people they just need to navigate 50 yards of hilarity until they reach a main road and then their summer tyres will be fine. The UK isn't extreme enough most of the time to necessitate fitting winter tyres for the entire season. By all means have a spare set of wheels in your garage for if you absolutely positively need to drive when the beast from the east hits, but it seems daft to have them on all the time.
 
Fair bit of snow in East Lancs this morning. Civic on 18" Rainsport 3 tyres got me the 12 miles to work no problem and I'm fairly rural. Very rarely are our main roads *that* bad. I detoured to avoid the queues of mouth breathers and the only impassable road I came to was a steep untreated hill, however I used my noggin and decided to not go too far to then slide back down out of control. I simply turned back and went on my merry way, taking my time along more travelled roads still avoiding the main choke points of idiots. Got to work on time.

After a night of it freezing what's already down, it may be a challenge in the morning but same applies. Take my time, avoid the morons, profit.
 
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All you need in Britain is a good 4 season tyre that can deal with the regular wet weather. You just can't justify the additional expense of buying, storing and fitting an extra set of tyres for 1 week of the year.

Britain just doesn't get hot enough or cold enough for it to matter
 
Mr Jack said:
Long term it doesn't cost much more because you're not wearing your summer tyres out when your winter tyres are on.
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If I had a garage or large shed I might do it.

I had winter tyres on my Evo X for a bit. But then I kept them on in Summer because I didn't have anywhere to put them and ended up with 9 months of sub-par performance in a performance car.
 
We had our first day of snow yesterday and this happened on the school run. Young lad and lack of experience.

gcmohho.jpg


Saying that it is the first day of snow we have had in several years so to splash out on sever hundred pounds of wheels and tyres seems a waste. Driving around in 4th gear and 30mph while keeping the distance seems to work just as well.
 
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Stringy said:
5 extra meters to stop in the dry on the best winter vs the reference summer tyre? And wet performance being better on the summer tyre? I think I'll take my chances and drive super-sensibly when there's a hint of ice rather than compromise performance of the tyres for the other 95% of the time.

If you live in the sticks I can understand winter tyres, but for most people they just need to navigate 50 yards of hilarity until they reach a main road and then their summer tyres will be fine. The UK isn't extreme enough most of the time to necessitate fitting winter tyres for the entire season. By all means have a spare set of wheels in your garage for if you absolutely positively need to drive when the beast from the east hits, but it seems daft to have them on all the time.
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Exactly! On days like this I'm fortunate in that I can just take public transport. I drive majority of time on normal damp/dry roads as do most people I imagine.
 
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