Winter tyres

Lady Godiva · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 368

Dear All - during the recent snowfalls, I have discovered (again) that I really don't like driving in the snow. I live in a hilly area, and I am nervous with the steep up and downs.

This is something I will be working on, but in the meantime, is there a good set of tyres recommended for an MGF. I don't necessarily mean winter tyres, more a really good one that will help in these conditions.

Your ideas and prices would be most appreciated.

Regards
Sally

TripleS · Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject: Re: Winter tyres

Renny · Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 440 Location: Fife, Scotland

Most "Summer" tyres will struggle once the temperature falls below about 7C. I'd suggest changing to winter tyres if you can afford to. Marrangoni, Kleber, Gislaved as well as the better known Michelin, and Pirelli makes have all had reasonable reviews for thier winter tyres. I know it is a hassle, but the cost of an insurance claim, or inconvenience of having to abandon your car because of snow/ice can outweigh the cost.

Having said that, I've still got the OE Continental Sport Contact 2s on the Fabia, but I would use the Discovery if it got really bad.
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Red Herring · Joined: 20 Oct 2007 Posts: 673

I live in a slightly rural area surrounded by hills and we are forever getting snowed in, (or out) as ours are invariably the last roads to get cleared. Now I used to have an old Astra and I went out and bought a pair of old steel wheels from a car breakers and fitted them with a pair of specifically designed snow tyres (cost about £40 per wheel). As soon as it looked like snow i would put the wheels, a trolly jack and a speed brace in the boot of the car, and on several occasions I just came to a halt at the bottom of the hill, changed the wheels and then drove straight up, invariably driving around several other that had got stuck. It's very tempting to just leave the snow wheels on, but they are so soft that if you drive on clean tarmac for any great distance you take the edges off the tread blocks, which rather reduces their efficiency. Changing them only took a few minutes each time, and was a great deal quicker than fitting chains. One word of warning though, if you only do a pair (in my case the front drive wheels) do be careful when going around bends......Unfortunately since I changed to a BMW I can't get any snow tyres in the right sizes, and rear wheel drive isn't a lot of help either!!

waremark · Joined: 15 Apr 2006 Posts: 838

Red Herring · Joined: 20 Oct 2007 Posts: 673

Not yet, and I'm not that keen on trying them. Low profile tyres, alloy wheels and sports height suspension are not conducive to driving in snow. I'm planning on borrowing the wife's Skoda when it snows........or I'll take the bike!

Big Err · Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 675 Location: Kinross, Scotland

Renny · Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 440 Location: Fife, Scotland

Big Err · Joined: 02 Jul 2006 Posts: 675 Location: Kinross, Scotland

Renny · Joined: 27 Apr 2006 Posts: 440 Location: Fife, Scotland

WS · Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Posts: 59 Location: Poland

In Poland, where I am based, winter tyres are used by most drivers in the winter season and I also use them every year. A few comments about winter tyres from my experience:

- if there is snow on the road, they are much safer than summer tyres, or even - they are the only way to move around (if the layer of snow on the road is thick). Also on ice they provide much more grip.

- It is not really true that they lose their efficiency after driving on a longer distance; for most of the time during winter in Poland there is no snow, it's only cold (usually somewhere around 0 degrees C); I cover about 5,000 kilometres every winter and still can reasonably use one set of tyres for three seasons. Also, this year, I used my winter tyres for the entire summer (for financial reasons) too and while they did wear off a bit, it's not true that they get destroyed immediately when you use them when the weather is warm.

- on dry or even wet surface (without snow) below 7 degrees C, average summer tyres will always provide better grip than average winter tyres. However, on snowy surface, even poor winter tyres will provide more grip than even excellent summer tyres.

- so in summary, winter tyres are useful only on snow and ice; it doesn't make sense to use them if it's only cold. They don't wear off as quickly as they say.
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Best regards from Poland
Wojtek