Why not just leave them and get people to use snow chains instead? Probably a hell of a lot safer…

To help the vinegar stay in place?

Can't get chains to fit my car.

You're east coast though, so it would be to keep the sauce in place surely.

OOh, Local humour for local folk

As I mentioned in an eariler thread, road salting is why the sea is salty (from run-off down the drains > rivers > sea). If they didn't salt the roads the sea would get less salty (cos we keep extracting sea salt to put on Onion's chips with his vinegar).

Then all the octopuses would die.

Was chatting on the phone to collegues on the continent. "Doesnt anyone in England use winter tyres", "er, no I reckon most dont know such things exist", [laughter] "how stupid!"

Its a secret ploy to reduce the lifespan of cars to boost future sales.

because pepper would make us all sneeze?

To go with the loose chippings…

Its a secret ploy to reduce the lifespan of cars to boost future sales.

I think you'll find its also a perfectly good excuse for a new winter bike next year 😆

Was chatting on the phone to collegues on the continent. "Doesnt anyone in England use winter tyres", "er, no I reckon most dont know such things exist", [laughter] "how stupid!"

Laughs right back at the stupid europeans. We don't get weather that warrants winter tyres from one decade to the next. Even now, this isn't winter tyre weather, unless you live right up in the hills. (And we've had 8-9 inches round here). Pretty much everyone seems to be managing on normal tyres.

[]Even now, this isn't winter tyre weather, unless you live right up in the hills.[/i]
er, maybe in the south. LOTS of main road round here still sketchy on "normal tyres" (west lothian/fife) – particularly where untreated side streets/car parks have dragged stuff out on to main roads. probably still BBQ weather down there though…

Was chatting on the phone to collegues on the continent. "Doesnt anyone in England use winter tyres", "er, no I reckon most dont know such things exist", [laughter] "how stupid!"

Laughs right back at the stupid europeans. We don't get weather that warrants winter tyres from one decade to the next. Even now, this isn't winter tyre weather, unless you live right up in the hills. (And we've had 8-9 inches round here). Pretty much everyone seems to be managing on normal tyres.

uuurrrghhhh – wrong. There are 2 types on winter tyre. Continental Europe & Nordic Europe. The tyres for contintal Europe are precisely for the winter conditions that are typical for the UK. Cold (below 7deg), wet roads with some ice patches & occasional snow.
Nordic winter tyres would perhaps be more suitable for Northern UK right now in that they are designed primarily for driving at constant freezing or below temperatures & with frequent snow & ice.

The difference between summer tyres & continental winter tyres as already written on here a number of times now is vast! I can agree that the UK has an issue in that too few people have winter tyres to prevent road blockages which screws up everyone but just to say winter tyres are not beneficial is mis-informed.

Probably a hell of a lot safer

Definitely not a hell of a lot safer.

typical for the UK. Cold (below 7deg)

not quite – our average maximum temperature dips to around 7 degrees for the very coldest part of the year, but not for the whole winter, but its just that and average, so in many areas, such as the lower lying coastal areas where a great many people live, there will be weeks,days or parts of the day, or even winters when its quite a bit warmer than that.

If you live somewhere with a bit more exposure, altitude and less road treatment and do most of your travelling in that environment then you can make a case to fit winter tyres yourself, but for many its not an effective solution you can enforce for everybody in this crazy unpredictable lets-talk-about-the-weather country we live in. But if you stopped gritting you'd have to enforce it.

And if we stop putting salt on the roads we'll be over run by slugs before you know it

To answer the OP: snow chains are not supposed to be used on tarmac, so I guess not too useful where some roads may be clear (even if they don't salt there still seems to be a lot of regional variation).

Also they are only good to 60 and a significant number of people on the roads apparently want to go faster than that, regardless of the weather or road conditions. 🙄

I agree with Marty, in Devon a lot of the roads are minor, so get off something 'main' and your'e stuffed. I can assure you we also have hills, I live at the top of a 1:4 deep lane, stone walled, total nightmare in these conditions and *nothing* not even 4/4's or tractor attempts it.
It's ok for those in the flat lands!!! ( well, bad enough…)

My friendly plumber tried to get other tyres last year for his VW transit van, as he constantly carries loads of gear, steep lanes, wet and muddy and he's constantly loosing traction despite being a sensible driver. He contacted his mate, a tyre distributor. His current tyres are designed for high speed motorway work, no other tyres available….but in Germany he'd get a choice of ~ 14 different ones. Actually considered a trip over to re-boot his van!
In many ways we're our own worst enemies over here.
cheers
Q

Neighbour of mine has just got a set of wheels and winter tyres for his Zafira. Think he ordered them online to be delivered to a local participating dealer. Don't know what the website was unfortunately. He used to live in Germany where it was apparently common for everyone to have a spare set of wheels fitted with winter tyres that they put on in November and took off at Easter. It's a cultural thing in the UK, try telling most motorists in the UK that they need to fork out for a second set of tyres and they'll start muttering ridiculously about stealth taxes.

Personally I'm giving some serious thought to fork out for a set at least for the drive wheels on our Touran, currently fitted with very fuel efficient tyres which are pants in the snow. And that's despite having an all wheel drive Honda which has so far been very good in the snow.

It is law in Germany. Many Germans wouldn't buy them if they didn't have to.

The more snow the better.At least it fills the potholes

Also they are only good to 60

I think snow chains are more like 20-30mph max

The law in Germany is clear. It is not compulsory to fit winter tyres. It states that tyres should be fit for conditions, ie good summer or all weather tyre or winter tyre.

However, because of the amount of snow and the duration that it is around for it makes logical sense to have a second set of wheels and tyres for the winter.

So says my German partner from the Blackforest after checking on Google.de….

"Niemand wird gezwungen, Winterreifen aufzuziehen", betont Peter Meintz, Pressesprecher des ADAC Nordrhein. Allerdings müsse eine Fahrt auf Sommerreifen umgehend unterbrochen werden, wenn Matsch oder Schnee aufkommen, so Meintz. Denn seit Mai dieses Jahres gilt eine Änderung in der Straßenverkehrsordnung: Danach kann ein Verwarnungsgeld von 20 Euro erhoben werden, wenn ein Auto ohne eine "an die Wetterverhältnisse angepasste" Bereifung unterwegs ist."

They salt the roads as we have so much traffic. Otherwise the snow compacts into ice, which then gets polished. Snow chains or winter tyres are no better on ice, the only solution for ice is studded tyres or some of those specialist spiky snow chains.

I bought mud and snow (winter) tyres for the rear of my van last summer to help get out of muddy fields, they are great in the snow, but make little difference in the ice. No noiser as far as I can tell either.

Our little Punto will be getting some winter tyres next time as it is probably the worst car in our street, it can't get anywhere on its current rubber and doesn't have much grip in the wet. Being a light narrow tyred car, it should be quite happy in the snow but this doesn't seem to be the case.

Our weather probably suits winter tyres for 4 – 6 months of the year, and apart from being a bit faster wearing, no harm in the summer.

things would be a bit safer if folk would just stop flooring it when they get to a slippy road. **** mongs with your spinning wheels.

it's compulsary here in germany – and in many european countries – to have winter tyres fitted on your car from october through until april.

i was surprised first time i drove on proper snow how much of a difference it made and my tyres were relatively cheap ones (£105 for the four).

buy and old set of steel and some winter tyres and stick them on the car when everything turns white.

re. OP. snow chains **** the road surface unless there is a decent layer of ice/snow there already.

Its not compulsary in Germany, just Germans been Germans following guidelines/rules like they were the law.

"Also they are only good to 60"

Blimey the ones I had for my old car were rated up to 30mph

I think running so-called "all-season" tyres would work well from Dec->March in the UK. I'm getting by with my summer tyres but it's a bit limiting and dangerous. The auto-socks should come next week.

TO STOP SLUGS AND SNAILS LEAVING THEIR STICKY TRAILS OVER THE ROAD AND CAUSING GLUE LIKE TRAPS FOR CYCLISTS

I hear from a friend over in Germany that while winter tyres aren't compulsory, if you have a crash and are wearing the wrong tyres your insurance won't pay out.

I always thought that it was a conspiracy between The Government,The Greys (the aliens, not the nice couple from No. 12) and Jeremy Clarkson to salt the roads, specifically to eat away the expensive components of cyclists.
Yet another example of how the c***s are out to get us.

b r, it IS compulsory.

i got done two years back when driving the works pick-up. i got pulled over on a sunny November afternoon due to there being no netting securing the load (it was all strapped down, though) and the Bullen then went round and pulled me up on having no winter tyres on. the firm was fined 140€ in total.

you can drive around without snow tyres if you're on foreign plates but in the event of an accident you're probably, default, at fault. especially so if you're on german plates.

p.s. i've lived in germany for two years so i know how it works…..

Why not just leave them and get people to use snow chains instead? Probably a hell of a lot safer…

Not safer, although it should ensure drivers keep to a more appropriate speed. Only useful on snow though, what happens when you hit tarmac? Stop and take them off, but put them back on when you next turn into a side road? Impractical in my opinion as our weather is so unpredictable.

My solution? We should all get hovercrafts instead 🙂

Car manufacturers have lied for so long about salt melting ice that we all now think its true and pressure our councils to spread salt over our roads. if only we knew the truth. If salt does melt ice then why do we have icebergs eh! sat in loads of salty water.

The motor industry of course lie to us so our cars rust away to nothing and need to be replaced every so often. Of course its the salt that does it.

It is also the reason why there are no car manufacturing plants in places like Saudi Arabia. As it is warm there is no snow and ice.

No ice = no salt needed so the lie can't be told = no rusting cars = not much demand. 😀

its what keeps their business ticking over in these hard times.

Insiders are ranting over the car scrappage scheme – made to replace the rusting car thing as , wha the government didn't realise was that there are no cars over 10 as they have all effectively dissolved away to rust. The car industry has been severly hit and will continue to do so for a few more years yet as the scheme left councils with no alternative but to save on salt.

no salt = slippy roads = less rusty cars next year.

The motor industry of course lie to us so our cars rust away to nothing and need to be replaced every so often

I can't remember the last time I saw a rusty car less than about 12 years old. It's really not an issue with cars anymore.

it's compulsary here in germany – and in many european countries – to have winter tyres fitted on your car

Sounds like very effective lobbying by BMW, to mask the fact that their cars are complete shite in snow.

I think cooldhand luke wins the award for most bizarre post on STW that I've read in – well since kaesae and the pivot bearings servicing thread…

All the salting does is lower the freezing point of water by a few degrees on the road to reduce the chance of ice forming at 0C (and remember, if it gets cold enough it will still freeze even with salt). Once enough snow is settling, the salt does crap all. What's required with snow is snow ploughs, the correct tyres (or a 4×4), and/or sensible driving.

On the flat you can drive on the kind of piddly little amounts of snow we get in the south easy enough even with so called "summer" tyres (though the tyres we have in the UK are generally fine for typical mild wet conditions), especially once enough people are driving it. High gear, lower tyre pressure, slow but not too slow and keep momentum and stick to straight lines as much as possible. Don't slam on the brakes, change down to slow down and light touch on the brakes. Ideally you want ABS on the car. Stability systems are a help when moving but you need to turn them off if you're on the snow trying to move away else you'll get nowhere.

Winter tyres are fine, except in my case they're really only any use for the short stretches between the untreated side roads, and the well treated main roads that are clear. Keep them on for the duration of a typical British winter down south and they'll be a complete waste. Average temperature rarely goes below 7C and we just usually have mild wet conditions. They're expensive and hard to get hold of in this part of the country (tyre fitters think you're barmy for asking for them, asking if you're taking a trip abroad or something!), and do you want to be getting tyres changed twice a year with all the hassle that's involved? (especially if it involves going to brainless monkeys like KwikFit).

Just deal with it. It'll be gone in a week or two for us southerners.

The motor industry of course lie to us so our cars rust away to nothing and need to be replaced every so often. Of course its the salt that does it.

I love conspiracy theories, they're great 🙂

and do you want to be getting tyres changed twice a year with all the hassle that's involved?

got a jack? yup.

got a wrench? yup.

then what's your problem….?