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OP, I'd get winter tyres. Last winter we went upto Edinburgh to see friends and always took the scenic route to Moffat on the way back partly because I know my car (yes yes awd) but more importantly it had decent michelin Alpin winter tyres.
In the new few weeks I'm picking up some new winter tyres.
Put it this way - £200 spent or what price would you put on being stranded for hours in very cold conditions?
I'd love to fit a 2nd set of wheels with snow tyres to my car but at the moment its cost prohibitive (£1400 for wheels then another £1200 for winter tyres )
r-kid, have you priced steel wheels instead of alloys? look on mytyres as they do tyre and steel rim packages, and the steel rims work out pretty cheap. Obviously depends what car you have though!
I'd love to fit a 2nd set of wheels with snow tyres to my car but at the moment its cost prohibitive (£1400 for wheels then another £1200 for winter tyres )
Look for non-repaired tyre sets on Ebay.
Would not consider getting winter tyres for either car despite living in a reasonably rural part of the Highlands. I do accept that if you are driving on snow they would make a big difference, but
1) unless you are actually driving on snow you don't need them
2) it doesn't snow on that many days (actually settling on the road)
3) IME the council are pretty efficient at ploughing and gritting all main routes plus any roads designated for school buses, fire engines and ambulances
Even last winter there were probably only 5 days in total when having winter tyres would have made the difference between being able to go out and not.
When the roads you are using are clear, winter tyres are noisier, increase fuel consumption and reduce cornering grip
Edit - /dons fireproof jacket/
When the roads you are using are clear, winter tyres are noisier, increase fuel consumption and reduce cornering grip
i'll agree with the first two points (but only marginal increases) but in cold temps on [b]snow free[/b] roads i think winter tyres give more grip.
but in cold temps on snow free roads i think winter tyres give more grip
No they don't. Winter/snow and mud tyres by definition have much deeper treads with wider grooves than normal tyres. When cornering on snow free roads these treads will flex significantly reducing your actual mechanical grip. Amount of mechanical grip is directly proportional to amount of tread in contact with the road
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view from my front door on tuesday this week ....
landlord has warned that when it snows with us IT SNOWS - and they did so before we moved in .... i dont care where there is a will there is a way - cant get the car out ill run/ride 5 miles to the station ... if the train isnt going i wont be going to work simple 😉
basically it goes up as you see - does a sharp u turn and goes uphill again. Thats the only way out of my drive in a car and it wont ever be gritted or ploughed as we live at the end of a dead end.
have a mile of this style of dirt track before i hit a B road that wont be gritted till i reach the village ! - think ill put snow tires on the van !
No they don't. Winter/snow and mud tyres by definition have much deeper treads with wider grooves than normal tyres. When cornering on snow free roads these treads will flex significantly reducing your actual mechanical grip. Amount of mechanical grip is directly proportional to amount of tread in contact with the road
ah but the rubber in normal tyres hardens with cold temps, whereas winter tyres use a softer compound which is more pliable at low temps and grips better. Well thats what a lot of the literature online says! I dont really rag it around in winter or summer though so i cant say i really notice the limits of cornering grip so i might be wrong.
Trail-rat if we lived in a similar location then I would seriously consider winter tyres. My point is that 99% of people aren't that rural and therefore don't need them.
We live about 150m up a steepish rough track until we hit a minor road, but it's a school bus and emergency services route so gets cleared. The track itself we sorted out with a couple of hour's shovelling
"No they don't. Winter/snow and mud tyres by definition have much deeper treads with wider grooves than normal tyres. When cornering on snow free roads these treads will flex significantly reducing your actual mechanical grip. Amount of mechanical grip is directly proportional to amount of tread in contact with the road "
winter and snow and mud tires are mutually exclusive ....
snow tires will be deep open treaded and possibly spiked with soft compound, mud deep open treads with normalish compounds
Winter tires are just car tires with slightly more open treads but with a soft compound that works better in low temps ...
of course this does depend what tires you buy .... i was looking at some for the van on blackcircles and reading about the different types there. Its deffo just winter tires i want , snow tires wouldnt be great in this country - just get some chains if im desperate to get out the drive !
i agree for sure - 99% of folk dont need them - but the ammount of beemers and mercs i saw stuck in aberdeen last year - what people do need to do is think "is this journey really neccessary"
i purposfully took the bike and stuck to the pavements last winter as drivers in the snow are ****ing dangerous(more so than other times) ... i saw a car screaming up NAD and up to the rear of a traffic jam - careered into a tree at about 40mph as he slid down the road trying to stop !
ah but the rubber in normal tyres hardens with cold temps, whereas winter tyres use a softer compound which is more pliable at low temps and grips better
I agree, but after a mile or less on cleared roads, your tyre rubber temperature will be well up to the point where it ceased to be an issue, and the other factors are then more important
Horses for courses.
I'm at nearly 1000ft therefore snow tyres on an astra is the only way forward. 😆
Captain, I think that you have been in your office too long as last year the majority of roads in the highlands were an issue. True that when you stay on a link road like yourself it might have been looked after but the reality was that the rest of us were sliding about on our way to work on a number of occasions. Good practice for car handling 😯
The fort to Inverness road had more landslides than major snow I seem to remember but I'm old and addled so I could be wrong.
crash_gav, I completely accept that there were some slidey days last year. My point, and to answer the OP, is that for the majority of people there was only a real problem for a few days as pretty much all adopted roads were cleared within a couple of days of significant falls, at least round our way. If you absolutely 100% have to get places on the 4/5 days when there is snow on the road, then winter tyres well worth it - otherwise not