I put a set of second hand winter tyres on today, cant believe how much grip im now getting, i like my Goodyears in the dry and wet but even with 4 wheel drive they are useless on white untreated roads and there are lots of white roads here in Scotland. I was out looking for the steepest roads today in Perthshire great fun in the -3 blue sky weather today

Last week, we got a bit of snow and my road ended up basically squashed into ice, it was actually terrible, and jammed solid. So I just happily drove up the back roads nobody else could, it’s like cheating. But the real clincher was, when I stopped at the top of the hill to help put out grit and stuff, I parked on the handbrake and the car started to slide on its perfectly sensible Hankook allrounder rears- I could drive fine but I couldn’t park! That’s crazy.

(yes yes STW, I know you’re supposed to put 4 on but one set is worn out, and my own experience is that 4>2 but not by as much as 2>0. The rears don’t get worse just because you have winters on the front)

I had some on an Alfa 156 a few years back. Bought them second hand off eBay in August for about £80 all in?

Absolutely brilliant. I ended up keeping them on all year. I did so few miles that the cost to get them swapped was less than the extra fuel they used up.

My MX5 was doing unintentional doughnuts in the uni car park the other day. Summer tyres.

Off to a cabin up a big hill in Pitlochry tomorrow. Forecast up there is -10c overnight then snow all day.

That will be fun. I can pretend I am a drift car racer!

Absolutely brilliant. I ended up keeping them on all year.

I keep winters on all year. On tuesday morning I set off boldly in the fresh snow to drop van off at the garage for a quick bit of work, all booked in in advance with parts order…. its still there waiting on a part that was due to arrive the same morning but can’t get there because of the snow 🙂

So while I have an absolutely fabulous set of winters on the van I’m skittering around in a summer-shod hire van. I’m having to keep the hire van parked 3 miles away and commute to it in the car at the beginning and end of each day. And since the snow has started turning to packed ice I’m now keeping the car 1/4 mile away as well.

I seem to be cursed as the last time we had a decent amount of snow this happened too

Indeed. What did you buy ?

I am looking at new cars and tyre availability winters and 4 seasons is a key factor.

Re: keeping winters on all year have a look at dry braking distances vs summer tyres)

Two videos, winter tyres vs 4wd cars on summer tyres. The Porsche one is RWD vs sophisticated 4X4 😯

[video]https://youtu.be/f8kzUUSqj0c[/video]

[video]https://youtu.be/7l2cMlNRX_A[/video]

I love having winters on my BMW, it goes from completely undrivable to almost unimpeded by snow and it coped far better than a lot of the other cars out in snowy Sheffield last week. I’m sure that a silly soft roader 4×4 on normal car summer tyres will get beaten by it in any conditions.

BUT – my wife’s Freelander (presumably due to its chunky all weather tyres) is on another level, both in terms of accelerating and stopping. Bear in mind they’re not even winter-specific tyres. There clearly is some benefit of having a proper 4×4 with deep treaded tyres (at least for about 5 day’s a year).

(yes yes STW, I know you’re supposed to put 4 on but one set is worn out, and my own experience is that 4>2 but not by as much as 2>0. The rears don’t get worse just because you have winters on the front)

actually, just having them on the front is far worse than not having them at all.
With none you can’t start or move effectively and are likely to crash at very low speed. With them just on the front axle a light dab of the brakes will quote possibly cause you to pirouette down the motorway or other main road at 30 or 40 mph (or more if you’re an idiot)

Source:- Vehicle Dynamics Management 101.

Not saying that’s technically wrong, and I understand why in theory you should have more grip on the rear or the front. But in ten years of fitting winter tyres to fronts only (and driving sensibly) I’ve never had an issue

Also goes against advice on snow chains, I’m my Touareg, you can Only fit them to the front, meaning there’s far more traction at the front end. It seems to work fine and is also what the vast majority did in the ski resort when the police shut the road in Borg to anyone without chains fitted.

(and driving sensibly)

that’ll be it

grippy tyres on the driven wheels is obviously good for getting going but a “light” rear has some definite associated dangers/amusement

i run all seasons all year round, down here in the south we don’t get snow and ice that often but i even noticed the difference when the roads get mucky and wet and colder. Of course, correct tyres for conditions is the real solution but the compromise when you have AS types on dry summer roads vs a summer tyre, compared to the compromise of summer tyres in the wet is a no brainer for me.

But definitely you don’t want the rears to underperform the fronts, you might not have had the issue in years of driving but the day you do, you’ll know about it.

what’s the speed limit with chains?

Hint, it’s really not very fast. (And I still see lots of people propping up snow banks with chains on.)

huge chunk of luck helps as well. Even if you make it yourself.

Have been having lots of fun on the snowy roads of the west of Scotland last few days in A6 Quattro with CrossClimates. I can only imagine how grippy full on winter ones must be !

I am looking at new cars and tyre availability winters and 4 seasons is a key factor.

Seeing as I regularly see proper bonafide supercars driving around with winters (And some even with studs) I doubt you’ll find much where you truly can’t find a winter option. (Even a couple of 60s classics with them on last week!)

You might need to look to Germany or Scandinavia to get them though.

I was just going to put on two brand new exact same size 45 profile on the rear but bought 4 already cladding steel rims but an inch smaller 16 versus 17 “
I would hate to think what only two would be like, maybe for older folk like myself who remember cross plys mixed with radials recipe for landing in a field

I’ll disregard all the above and recomend my own winter tyres .. ;0)

Kenda happy medium and a sb8 on rear 700x32c, not had a puncture yet

jonnyboi – Member

Not saying that’s technically wrong, and I understand why in theory you should have more grip on the rear or the front. But in ten years of fitting winter tyres to fronts only (and driving sensibly) I’ve never had an issue

Exactly this. Vehicle Dynamics Management 101 vs real world experience, the people saying how terrible it is have almost never actually tried it… As ever, drive like a cock and you’ll die but in all the times I’ve done it, I’ve never once wished for normal tyres on the front. It’s like “put the newest tyres on the rear”, good general advice but that’s all.

I guess it also depends on your taste in normal tyres though, I have sensible allrounders that work decently in bad weather, not “summer tyres”. And no doubt the actual car makes a difference too.

redmex – Member

I would hate to think what only two would be like

It’s exactly like having winter tyres on the front, and normal tyres on the back. The car itself doesn’t do anything worse than it would have with normal tyres on all 4 corners, and it does lots of things better since on most cars the front tyres do all of the drive, all of the steering, all of the engine braking and most of the wheel braking. Mechanically, it’s effective.

The drawback- and this is real- is that it could lull you into a false sense of security, or let you get yourself into trouble, as mentioned above. But you’ve got the software override, as with all driving, with the right inputs you can make anything dangerous.

Actually, carry on.

I only ever put winter tyres on the front (and probably drove like a complete cock). Never had any problems with it.

I only have two on the fun bus atm.

Thanks to black circles making a complete and utter horses ass of my order.

First attempt I get 3 tires -ordered 4….. Did you think it was a robin reliant. But I get 2fitted anyway as my current tires wouldn’t cross wet grass never mind get me into the puffer ….

Today just been back to garage. They mounted one .. and were in the process of mounting the other when I notice from the waiting room. They had received a mud terrain rather than an all terrain for my 4th tire…..no only that it was wrong weight rating.

But we didn’t die ……just went canny in the knowledge my front tires were less grippy than the rears.

First attempt I get 3 tires -ordered 4….. Did you think it was a robin reliant.

Did you order under Trotters Independent Trading 🙂 ?

With having 4 wheel drive and 200bhp just keeping summer tyres on the rear with winter on the front would be crazy i think even a definite spin where you dont want it in my opinion

Ah, scuse me redmex, I didn’t realise you were awd