Reply With QuoteWhen the average ambient temperatures drop below 7degsC.
For those of you that do this, when would you recommend swapping over?
I was thinking about changing over around the start of November, and then keeping them on until March. I didn't enjoy rwd in the snow last year, so bought a set of winter wheels and tyres to use this winter.
Thanks
When the average ambient temperatures drop below 7degsC.
It’s temperature dependant
What are the recommended operating temperatures of your tires?
When you start wearing your thermal vest?
This. I used to run winters on previous RWD cars when I used to travel for work, Nov to March is about right.Originally Posted by Bravo73
Last edited by ed335d; 21st October 2021 at 15:45.
I usually put the winter wheels on once I’m using the wood burner most nights.
I’m usually a bit slow removing them, they don’t seem to wear excessively in warmer temperatures so I don’t think it’s that critical.
Winter tyres in Saudi? Talk about climate change!
Always amazes me that people do this. I've been driving over thirty years, my brother similar and my Dad over 50 years and none of us have ever used winter tyres. Neither have any of my extended family, mates or their parents. I didn't even know it was a thing until I joined TZ.
Totally unnecessary IMO.
When the Winter Boot thread springs into life on here
I really should update my profile, been back in the UK since June 2020.
Me too, all I do is alter my driving technique, even when in Police cars the tyres weren't changed.
Clearly you live on an estate, I swap mine over everyyear, even with them we get around 3 days snowed in, without them I reckon 15-20 days, the difference on ice is remarkable
That's on a Q7, they turn it into a proper battle bus for the family
Nov to Easter
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June?
I do but my Dad doesn't, he lives in a tiny village in rural Northumberland only reachable by A and single lane roads. He's never had an issue or an accident. To be fair, in Aberdeen I can understand it.
I used to think the same and then owned a RWD BMW with wide tyres. One day I couldn’t even get traction on the car park at our kids nursery. Took 3 of the nursery staff to give me a push to get me moving. After that I bought a set of winter tyres and things were much better.
If you have a car with front wheel drive and narrower tyres, then you probably wouldn’t get a huge benefit with winter tyres.
If you live in a rural area with limited traffic, roads aren’t gritted or snow not cleared, then winter tyres or 4WD can be a benefit.
The main reason I switch to winter tyres is that I drive to the French Alps every year for skiing; the side effect is I have more suitable tyres for a British winter ... they are defiantly better in wet conditions; its not just snow.
It's quite common here to do it when the clocks change.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
My father never did in the old days as the wheels and tyres were smaller and thinner. He's had a few scares in his old Merc, but now puts all seasons on his present car, and drives more slowly.
That never goes away.
Wide, low profile summer tyres on a powerful rwd car don't make for good traction in wintry conditions. I got stuck at the bottom of a hill some years back in an E46 M3 I had at the time, and my sister in law sailed past me up the hill in her fwd hatch. Once moving, braking and cornering are also compromised in my experience. If I had a 4wd, or even a fwd car I probably wouldn't bother, but as this is my daily driver it makes sense to me. I've got another car but that's tail happy by design, so winter tyres on this is a good solution as far as I'm concerned. Besides, I get a chance to use my low entry trolley jack, axle stands, impact wrench and sockets and torque wrench.
Just because the police force you worked for never bothered, doesn’t make it a good idea!
Changing driving technique doesn’t help when you’ve been forced to stop on a hill where you were making good progress until then.
I can nurse a car through most conditions, like most people who’ve been driving for a few years and experienced driving in snow and ice, but once you’ve been held up it can be very difficult to get going again on standard tyres.
Two things changed my mind, first was a few miles walk home from work in heavy snow after having to abandon my car in a dip on an A Road when I’d managed to get over 40 miles without issue.
The second was when I’d dropped the daughter off at school and came home to work, the snow came down and before mid afternoon the school had closed and they wanted the kids picking up. I couldn’t get off the driveway or even down the street to do either. Ended up walking over 3.5 miles to the school, and carrying my daughter back. I joined people who’d had to abandon their vehicles, some of them AWD, and we walked as a sorry mob to collect them.
The same happened last winter, rural leics/lincs, and and this time a pair of snow socks came to my rescue, brilliant things and I’d recommend putting a set in the boot even if you don’t change to winter tyres.
The wet braking alone is worth the hassle, before you get to snow and ice. I’d actually recommend an all season as a good winter tyre for most of the UK. I’m getting a set of Michelin Cross Climate 2s on the ID.3 tomorrow now the original tyres are shot, but I’ll be leaving them on all year.
Ah the annual winter tyre thread
EDIT - at £700+ I think I won't bother!
Now this I have wondered about. My tyres will need changing soon and I've looked at cross-climate. Worth the money? Not a gimmick?
Last edited by TaketheCannoli; 21st October 2021 at 20:07.
Your point about what happens when moving remains valid on a 4WD: what allows you to turn and slow down is grip.
I have all weather tyres and am quite happy with them as indeed I believe they will be fine in 99% of the cases (F11 BMW) but there have been days in 2009 I think when the snow tyres I had made me one of the very rare cars still mobile in the village.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Well, the people who don’t agree with the idea still won’t agree with it, but this will be my third set since the original Cross Climates came out around 2015. I used them as my ‘winter tyre’ and they were 80% as capable as a full winter tyre on white stuff and ice, but better than a full winter on a cold dry road.
When they wore out, I replaced them with the then CC+ versions that were better again. Still got those in the workshop, but they don’t fit the new car. I scrabbled around on the OEM Bridgestones last winter, but needed the snow socks to get over the Pennines a couple of times and to fetch the daughter from school as I’ve said.
The CC2s are supposed to be even better, so looking forward to getting them fitted.
I’ve got a good idea, let’s turn this in to another winter V summer tyre thread arguing the merits of winter tyres.....again.
If the snow comes down and sticks where I live, without winter tyres I can’t get home if I’m already out and about, with winter tyres I’ve never failed to get home.
If you live far enough south that you rarely get snow then there isn’t so much need (although if it’s below 7° and wet, winters are MUCH better than summers) but if you live in an area that does get snow each winter then winter tyres or cross climates are very much recommended.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one, was worried I'd been doing it all wrong!
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In fairness, the OP asked when it was best to stick winter tyres on, didn’t take long for the naysayers to chime in.
It's a little like 'I never wear a helmet because I've never been knocked off my bike'; until you do.
Driving a 400+HP RWD car with 275mm wide standard tyres on is not fun. The problems often aren't usually when you're on the move, it's when you come to a stop (especially on a hill) and try to get going again (or reversing uphill from being stationary).
Despite how good a driver you are, you cannot account for the inadequacies of other drivers. Winter tyres give vastly superior performance in the cold and wet, that's a fact.
This discussion seems to draw parallels with religious belief/non-belief; neither side will persuade the other.
If he knows why he uses them why doesn’t he wait until conditions dictate?
Cross climates on my van and they’re immense
Disagree with your conflation there, as someone that always wears a helmet and is generally pretty safety-conscious (especially as a parent to 2 young kids).
I've lived in Scotland all my life and have never had winter tires - that said I've also not tried to drive a 400+HP RWD car in winter conditions, which in itself is an inherently stupid idea, no matter the tires equipped.
As you say, entirely subjective and open to debate, agree to disagree.
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If the people who don’t believe they’re of benefit just ignored the thread, then there would be no angst and he’d get his advice and we can all move on?
Leave us to our deluded bubble if that’s what people think! :-D
As from November 1st, many French departments in the east of France, and some in the centre, will require winter or all-season tyres (with the appropriate markings) or the carrying of snow chains for the driven wheels as a legal requirement - i.e. a finable offence for non-compliance.
With the weather as it is here in the U.K, you might need summer tyres one day in October, and winter tyres in June!
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In the UK roughly mid Oct - late March
I know people go mainly by temp but they are way better in the rain also
Maybe not the best analogy (especially when read by someone who rides a bike and wears a helmet!; which I also do), but the point was it's easy to say you've never needed something, until the situation arises when you've needed it. And this wasn't a direct pop at you
I can, however, talk from experience, having driven powerful RWD cars in the cold/snow/ice both with and without winter tyres; the latter are much safer. I would also disagree that driving with 400+HP in winter conditions is 'inherently stupid'. I'd suggest that this is quite a lot less stupid with winter tyres than driving pretty much anything else with standard tyres (although those with FWD with skinny tyres would be along to disagree).
I still drive a RWD car with wide tyres, but not in the snow (as I no longer have winter tyres). I'm also fairly risk averse and not confident about other road users' ability.
Yes, it is subjective, but not to those who've driven in the snow with winter tyres; I don't recall any of them stating they're not sensible!
Michelin CrossClimate 2's on both our cars as I rate them highly - in slippery mud as well as snow/ice.
Edit: on the cars all year round
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Answering the OP's question: Next Tuesday around 10AM
I started using them three years ago when I bought an M140. The Michelin Pilot SS are poor in cold wet weather and useless on ice/snow. Putting winters on between Nov and March transforms the car and gives much more confidence. It’s largely cost neutral too.
Rubbish, have you forgotten about Monday at 17.47?
It's threads like this that make me wonder how anybody managed to do anything before the internet was invented.
Might have been said but I’ll say it again.
It’s not just about snow it’s how the tyres behave in temperatures below 7°c. Normal rubber doesn’t like the cold.
Bought 4 Michelin Cross climates today as car due MOT next week.
They only need to ' work ' once to be worthwhile
Have the same on our GLC. No complaints.
Would never skimp on tyres.
Yup, runflats can be even worse.
I wish I’d changed rubbers about six years ago.
Ribbed or plain?
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
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