Why do UK cars all come supplied with 'Summer tyres'?

[VincentHanna]

Obviously cars are fitted with tyres in the factory and arrive at dealers on a trailer.

I know we have 'mild' winters compared to a lot of countries, but 'Winter tyres' work best at 7°C and below, so i'm surprised that manufacturers don't take account of this and supply cars delivered to the UK between November and February with winter tyres.

Is this just a logistical issue? I'm not that clued up about how cars on a manufacturing line get allocated to specific countries, and obviously there is lag between the manufacture date and getting it shipped across to a dealer (and then selling stock), so i'm guessing it's hard for them to predict if a car fitted with winter tyres will actually get sold.

Don't you think they should at least liaise with the dealers to offer you a free choice of summer or winter tyres though at the point you collect the car?

Anyone bought a new car in winter and requested it be fitted with winter tyres instead? Anyone get it thrown in for free?

 

[Nasher]

They don't. They are all wet tyres really

If they put winter/snow tyres on clueless people would just leave them on all year. Which can be dangerous since they are very soft and overheat on warmer days.

 

[Bug One]

Because it doesn't get cold enough here to warrant them.

 

[Gibbo]

Because even today in December its over 10c.

We don't get much snow, some parts of UK get none, its rarely below freezing and as such its not compulsory to fit Winter tyres like some EU countries.
Of course there is nothing stopping owners from fitting said Winter tyres and having owned a car and fitted Winter tyres when it drops under 3c the quality Winter tyres certainly offer more grip over say a quality Summer tyre. If it does snow then the grip level is in another league, but its optional.

 

[VincentHanna]

Because it doesn't get cold enough here to warrant them.

I'll quote this back to you in about a week

 

[ttaskmaster]

NVM

 

[Joe T]

Obviously cars are fitted with tyres in the factory and arrive at dealers on a trailer.

I know we have 'mild' winters compared to a lot of countries, but 'Winter tyres' work best at 7°C and below, so i'm surprised that manufacturers don't take account of this and supply cars delivered to the UK between November and February with winter tyres.

A very odd thing to suggest. When a car goes past the point of no return on the build process (perhaps a month or so before it starts on the production line) the tyres would need to be ordered at that point in time. The gap between that point and when it is handed over to a customer is a significant period of time, and will vary from say 3 months to maybe 12+ months on the outside. How would you propose that this would work in practice?

 

[Yaayuh!]

Just because they're summer tyres doesn't mean they suddenly stop working below 0c. They can still perform really well in cold and wet.

 

[200sols]

Its simply not cold enough to warrant winter tyres, its 14c here today

I would have preferred Audi to supply me with a car where the windows dont freeze though!

 

[VincentHanna]

Just because they're summer tyres doesn't mean they suddenly stop working below 0c. They can still perform really well in cold and wet.

I know, but they are terrible in ice and snow.

 

[Kenai]

I know, but they are terrible in ice and snow.

On the South coast I've had to drive in snow or ice about three times since I started driving, so now not only do you have a logistics problem regarding delivery timing and stock holding, you need to account for where in the country the car is going.

It's simply far easier to let those people who feel they need proper winter tyres to go and buy them.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Because even today in December its over 10c.

We don't get much snow, some parts of UK get none, its rarely below freezing and as such its not compulsory to fit Winter tyres like some EU countries.
Of course there is nothing stopping owners from fitting said Winter tyres and having owned a car and fitted Winter tyres when it drops under 3c the quality Winter tyres certainly offer more grip over say a quality Summer tyre. If it does snow then the grip level is in another league, but its optional.

For a Cheshire the data averaged over the past 30 year shows that the average cold nights through the year dip below 0 degrees for 6 months of the year and the mean daily temperature sits under 3 degrees for 4 months of the year.

 

[grudas]

I know, but they are terrible in ice and snow.

no tyre will be good on ice without studs..

winter tyres do work better on snow because of softer rubber and different thread pattern than can use snow to it's advantage and increase grip but in my opinion the logic is simple.

we have less COLD/Snowy/ICY days compared to warm(over 7c) to justify having winter tyres... and to be fair the only time I genuinely had issues with my "summer" tyres is in ice or snow which is very rare, especially down south where I live.

I guess people in scotland etc have winter tyres and never question the point of them.

 

[DereksDontRun]

To be fair, there's a better argument or them to fit all season tyres in UK, than outright winter tyres

 

[VincentHanna]

I believe that's what they do in the states.

 

[sovietspybob]

I think a lot of cars would be best served by all season tyres , i've used them on a couple of cars and i found them to be a really good compromise, never really understood why they're not more of a thing over here as our climate is perfect for them.

They don't turn to jelly and wear out in 5 minutes in the summer and they were very usefully better than summer tyres on snow and in frosty mornings. There is a trade off in ultimate performance compared to a summer tyre but i'd have much rather had my branded (Bridgestone) all seasons over some linglong/evergreen ditch finder budget summer tyre.

 

[VaderDSL]

To be fair, there's a better argument or them to fit all season tyres in UK, than outright winter tyres

Problem is, the vast majority of driving is in conditions that favour summer tyres, with all season you give up the dry/wet/warm performance as a trade off for a much better cold/snow/ice performance which you might only see once or twice a year. I was toying with all seasons/winters recently but when I actually sat down and thought about it, even living in the Pennines and having to drive at 300m plus heights, I've only had to drive once in snowy conditions. I weighed it all up and summer tyres are better, cheaper, as long as I understand that in snow and ice they are a no go.

But everyone is different, if you get a lot of snow then I reckon winters and summers are a better options.

 

[Kreeeee]

As above it is so infrequently cold enough that it's not worth swapping tyres seasonally.

Where I live the hottest it gets is around -14C (-24C at night) in the middle of winter, and touching 40C in summer, so summer/winter tyres are required by law. The UK has nowhere near that temperature range so all-year/4 season tyres are viable.

 

[Gibbo]

For a Cheshire the data averaged over the past 30 year shows that the average cold nights through the year dip below 0 degrees for 6 months of the year and the mean daily temperature sits under 3 degrees for 4 months of the year.

I'm lazy and don't get up that early.

As I say they offer a performance advantage, under 5c, particular under 3c and very noticeable when freezing, but I can get the same results simply by slowing down and if it snows I can simply work from the home office and not risk going out on the roads.

 

[grudas]

To be fair, there's a better argument or them to fit all season tyres in UK, than outright winter tyres

but they're okay at everything and not great at anything.

i'd rather have a good summer tyre than have an average tyre all-year round.