Narrow is best for good ground pressure. As others have said, winter tyres are like hens' teeth now, best wait until the summer to buy for next winter. We are going to buy some in France when we go skiing in February.
Snow/winter tyres
- Thread starter AndrewSchofield
- Start date
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Well fitted a pair on the front replacing nearly new on the front ( went on the back)
I had good all season swapped to cheap winter (Goodyear to Infinity)
The difference is noticeable as it has been just above freezing the grip is better and stopping distances have improved ( both hard enough for ABS on the same bit off road) I may even get better fuel consumption as i did changed from 185/60/15 to 185/65/15 ( 3% bigger)
I had good all season swapped to cheap winter (Goodyear to Infinity)
The difference is noticeable as it has been just above freezing the grip is better and stopping distances have improved ( both hard enough for ABS on the same bit off road) I may even get better fuel consumption as i did changed from 185/60/15 to 185/65/15 ( 3% bigger)
P
potshot
Being doing a lot of research on this.
1) Change all four wheels and use a separate set of rims - the winter tyres will normally be narrower than the summer ones.
2) Check with you car manufacturer as nearly of them will be able to tell you what size a set of winter tyres should be fitted - these are complusory in a lot of Eurpoean countries - so they do have the information as the same car will be sold in Germany, Denmark etc etc
3)Provided you have followed the manufacturers information then your insurance cannot put your premiums up because you are fitting 'standard' tyres for your vehicle and it is NOT a modificaton. There should also be a certificate of conformity for you car which would state the correct sizes - winter and summer. I have even heard of one company offering a discount if winter tyres are fitted.
4) If you fit the manufacturers recommendations you should also be able to fit snow chains with that set up.
5) There is a 'GET YOU HOME' option to fit Autosocks, these will get you out of trouble on snow and are much easier to fit than chains BUT if you drive them on tarmac they will wear out very very quickly. At between £50-£70 a pair they are a very good emergency item in case you get caught out.
1) Change all four wheels and use a separate set of rims - the winter tyres will normally be narrower than the summer ones.
2) Check with you car manufacturer as nearly of them will be able to tell you what size a set of winter tyres should be fitted - these are complusory in a lot of Eurpoean countries - so they do have the information as the same car will be sold in Germany, Denmark etc etc
3)Provided you have followed the manufacturers information then your insurance cannot put your premiums up because you are fitting 'standard' tyres for your vehicle and it is NOT a modificaton. There should also be a certificate of conformity for you car which would state the correct sizes - winter and summer. I have even heard of one company offering a discount if winter tyres are fitted.
4) If you fit the manufacturers recommendations you should also be able to fit snow chains with that set up.
5) There is a 'GET YOU HOME' option to fit Autosocks, these will get you out of trouble on snow and are much easier to fit than chains BUT if you drive them on tarmac they will wear out very very quickly. At between £50-£70 a pair they are a very good emergency item in case you get caught out.
Trouble is with point 3, you need to check with the insurance as to their own stance on if they are ok to use or if you have to pay a premium or worse, are not allowed modifications. If you take the stance that you are fitting them to manufacturer information so they must be ok, if you have a claim and your insurance company take the opposite stance, it's you who will have to pay the court costs to fight them. Yes, you may win and get them to pay your costs, but you have to front the costs and be ready to accept that you might not win.
Uk cars are (in most cases) sold with Summer tyres, so fitting Winter tyres you are actually straying from the manufacturer specifications for this country.
They are not compulsary in the UK so it's quite a grey area in the insurance world. Yes, they make you safer, but from the assesors point of view they question why you need to be safer than what manufacturers fit as standard to your car. If everyone else has Summer tyres in Winter, why does a specific individual need to be different from the model. It's the same as roll cages, you might want to fit one for the safety feature 'just in case', but the assessor thinks with the attitude of 'what kind of driving is this individual going to be doing to warrant a roll cage'.
Uk cars are (in most cases) sold with Summer tyres, so fitting Winter tyres you are actually straying from the manufacturer specifications for this country.
They are not compulsary in the UK so it's quite a grey area in the insurance world. Yes, they make you safer, but from the assesors point of view they question why you need to be safer than what manufacturers fit as standard to your car. If everyone else has Summer tyres in Winter, why does a specific individual need to be different from the model. It's the same as roll cages, you might want to fit one for the safety feature 'just in case', but the assessor thinks with the attitude of 'what kind of driving is this individual going to be doing to warrant a roll cage'.
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P
potshot
You must of course inform the insurers but the moment they talk of an increased premium or of it being a modification you can prove it is not because it is in the cetficate of compliance. it is only a alleged grey area because it is not commonplace but after the last two winters the insurance companies are going to have to educate their staff....
One government minister has said that winter tyres are not appropriate for this country but he has been slated by all the motoring organisations. You only have to look at the highways dept own website for their advice on winter driving and winter tyres....
M
Mickymoody
Winter tyres seem strange that they would be thinner than normal tyres? or is that because normal tyres are oversized alloys? I think my car has 215/40/17 ?? if that makes sense? they are like rubber bands! But the spacesaver is like 165/75/15? So completely incompatible.
My car is an ex rally car, so raised suspension, better tyres etc...Yokohamas, but it always amazes me, when people go out and get stuck. Which part of the 'don't travel unless completely necessary', especially when people get stuck on a motorway?
I was infuriated with the woman that rang Sky news up, she said 'We turned up, and there is no info, the areren't no staff, no facilities,' - Your in an airport love, and the news has been telling you ALL FECKING DAY not to turn up!
The passengers that complain when they are delayed, due to a technical fault, or it is too dangerous, just round them up, get a kamikaze pilot, say welcome on board, just sign this, if you die, you won't sue, and I bet most would sign it.
My car is an ex rally car, so raised suspension, better tyres etc...Yokohamas, but it always amazes me, when people go out and get stuck. Which part of the 'don't travel unless completely necessary', especially when people get stuck on a motorway?
I was infuriated with the woman that rang Sky news up, she said 'We turned up, and there is no info, the areren't no staff, no facilities,' - Your in an airport love, and the news has been telling you ALL FECKING DAY not to turn up!
The passengers that complain when they are delayed, due to a technical fault, or it is too dangerous, just round them up, get a kamikaze pilot, say welcome on board, just sign this, if you die, you won't sue, and I bet most would sign it.
Winter tyres should be narrower than summer tyres because the better ground pressure makes them dig in more. Even on standard tyres my wife's Citroen c1 is better in snow than my Passat, which has much wider tyres. Look at pictures of winter rally cars and you'll be amazed at how narrow the tyres are.
You are confusing the width with height. The 40 relates to the tyre wall height, 40 being quite a low profile and therefore a harsher ride comfort wise. If your car was an ex rally car, it would never have had these tyres fitted during a rally as they are totally unsuitable for the abuse rally cars have to handle.
In snow you want a narrower tyre, ie relating to the 215 and 165 on your spacesaver. In the snow you want less surface contact with good wide chunky tread patterns that can alllow snow to pass through the channels rather than block them up and essentially make your tyres like slicks. My car has 225/45/17 on the front and 245/40/17 at the rear in Summer. Try driving that on snow and it slip and slides all over the place. However, in Winter, I put the standard alloys back on with 195/65/15 all round and the car is far more manageable, it will be even better once I can get hold of some decent Winter tyres.
As for your spacesaver being totally unsuitable... it's not. It's a spacesaver designed to give you more room in the boot and be able to get you home in an emergency at a maximum of 50mph. the wheel is smaller, but the tyre is taller to make it the same rolling radius as your standard alloys.
If you plan to fit snow tyres to your car, it's best to speak to the manufacturer or for older cars, a car club to find what tyres will fit your specific alloys and if there is an option to fit narrower alloys, perhaps with a smaller diameter wheel. Some top end cars cannot fit smaller wheels due to the size of the brakes and discs, but many can. Wheels cantake a range of tyre widths, not just one set size, a tyre shop will be able to advise you on what you can fit to your wheel.
You'd be suprised how fast snow can come in. On friday I could see it coming across from miles away, yet by the time I was at the other end of the road, the streets were covered in it, Once traffic starts to slow down, the snow settles more and the harder your going to find it to get home if the snow is blizzard conditions for a long time. It really can catch you out. I agree that lots travel unneccesarilly, but you don't know people's own situation when you see a stuck car. I personally have a job that means I go out all over Sussex fixing broken care alarm systems for the elderly. I have to decide if the journey is safe for myself, but when I don't travel, I am potentially putting many elderly and frail people at risk of death if their call system is not connecting to the control centre where emergency services can be raised. I am lucky to be paid when I can't travel, but if you are self employed, can you afford not to work for a week if the snow is bad? Most of the time it's not the conditions, it is people are just not preparing themselves with the basics... a shovel in the car, some salt/grit, small bit's of wood to help get your car mobile if you get stuck and a rug and a flask of coffee/tea in case you cannot get mobile.
Well, what can you say... some people really have no idea.
If only it were that simple. To grit Gatwick airport, it costs £10,000 per go because they have to use specialist grit as normal road grit is not up to the challenge of planes landing and taking off at very fast speeds. I know a few people in the traffic control and believe me, they want to keep the planes flying, but when the snow comes hard, they cannot keep ploughing and gritting and no planes, even kamikaze ones will be able to take off.
You can't grit runways, the salt would wreck the aluminium aircraft.
Well, gritting is the wrong term, yes, salt would corrode aluminium, but the road type grit getting into the jet engines would ground every single aircraft. They use Urea mixed with warm fine sand spread across the runway which is specifically made to be airplane safe and hence why the cost is so horrendous.
M
Mickymoody
Sorry long quote; I Googled my reg number, and it turns out it was used in rallies. NOT snow rallies, as suggested. By law you are not allowed to use a different size tyre on the same DRIVEN axle, and a spacesaver is only for use to get you home/to a place of recovery, but not on a driven axle.
It's obvious that if you don't supply a servive to people that expect it, as the people that have been told 'DO NOT TRAVEL UNLESS NECESSARY!", but they do.
R
RedHerring2
You cannot be serious MM.
So a spacesaver spare is only for use on two of the wheels, i.e not the driven ones. So what happens if one of the driven wheel tyre goes flat? Call International Rescue? Or do we have to carry an extra spare for the driven wheels?
And I'm taking my 4X4 back as it's not fit for purpose 'cos I can't use the spacesaver spare on any of the wheels.
The advice that some manufacturers give you, is to put the spare on the non driven axle, and move the good wheel from that axle, to the driven axle - but nobody ever bothers. You will find on some 4x4 vehicles, that the spare will not fit over the brake calipers on the front wheels, so you HAVE to put it on the back.
R
RedHerring2
But it's still going on a driven axle.
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