Or just park at the bottom of the hill.
Fitting and removing chains isn't a trivial task.
I'd park 400m from the house rather than take snow chains on/off for that distance.
I’d park 400m from the house rather than take snow chains on/off for that distance
This. My fingers have barely recovered from fitting chains to a hire car in the freezing Alpine winter circa 10 years ago.
What about snow socks? Any used them?
I've used snow socks on a previous car (a rear-wheel drive Merc) and they were very effective but not really useful for longer use.
Now we have a place in the Cairngorms and travel up their each week I've fitted Michelin CrossClimates to my current rear-wheel drive Merc and so far I've been impressed by them - enough that my wife's SLK will be getting a set too.
Nokian tyres, Finnish make I've used them in the past and they are excellent. They do an all season and some really good winter tyres.
I use Michelin Alpin but still have a set of chains in the boot. When driving up to the resort the Winter tyres work well on the first slush and snow but there's stage where the wet snow means little grip (this is well beyond the point cars on Summer or even cross climates have got). If I get past that point the snow gets drier and grip improves. However once in a while the slippy stuff coincides with the steepest point of the climb and chains are the only way forward.
I bought a set of alloy wheels and Nokian winter tyres last week, off a guy at work who's recently sold his Superb. £250.
The first chance I had to fit them was last Saturday, I had to sweep the storm Arwen snow off the drive to be able to push the trolley jack under the car.
It's nice to hear someone recommend the tyres.
E-car driver living in rural Aberdeenshire. I'm actually getting some CrossClimates fitted tomorrow - they will stay on all year.
For my application, i'm prepared to accept a few miles less range for surefire handling and the ability to handle cold weather / snow.
The Golf GTD that I've just sold had CrossClimates on too. They were brilliant for everything from 'spirited' summer driving to calf deep snow.
Or just park at the bottom of the hill.
Fitting and removing chains isn’t a trivial task.
I live at the bottom, have done for 15 years so I'm quite familiar with where to park and when.
You don't always know when it's going to snow and how much, you can't always park at the top, and the top of the hill also doesn't get ploughed, the ploughed bit is double yellow lines. But yes otherwise thanks for the tip, I'd never have considered it 🙄
I used to have a 1.2 Fiat Panda and fitted a set of Pirelli winter tyres and they were quite simply superb. The extra grip is amazing and worth the little extra it cost me as I had a spare set of steel wheels and a shed to keep the other ones in for 6 months of the year.
The first snow that hit I must’ve overtaken 50 cars - who were all doing about 5mph - on a half mile straight on my way to work.
A few weeks later I drove about three miles into a forest to watch a rally and there was at least a foot of snow and didn’t cause a problem at all, no other cars came in behind me.
Converted. Should be mandatory but stupid people that would moan…
Where do you store a second set of tyres and where do you have them fitted?
I keep a second set of wheels in a corner of the garage and swap them myself or more usually get the local tyre place do them for £5 a wheel.
Under s tarp on a board in the garden
Id imagine the garage will fit them. If unable but more so if all that's an issue. All season tyres .......
If anything we should be swapping the summer tyres on when conditions allow if we require them......
You will still need to carry chains if you go to the alps
Personally if you live south of Scotland I would stick with normal tyres and buy some snow socks for the one in a zillion time it snows or you would require winter tyres
Running Goodyear vectors a year now. Been fine all summer and they are great on our wet miserable roads in Scotland 🙂
Funnily enough I do have a set of snow chains as well as the winter wheels, although have never actually used them here in Scotland. The single time that I have used them was in Spain. The irony of it! We had the only car to get out of the hotel drive that day, near Granada and to then get up the hill to ski up at Sierra Nevada. Perfect powder day, with only one other small group of off-piste skiers in the whole place.... Sorry, went off down a rabbit hole there.
one in a zillion time it snows or you would require winter tyres
Perhaps needs saying again, winter tyres are not just for snow. I would agree that in many parts of the uk it doesn’t snow often, but it is very often cold (below 7 Celsius) and wet.
Edit: perhaps if I only drove in well gritted metropolitan areas I might not bother, but in the real world for me of poorly maintained and often muddy rural and semi rural roads often driving early in the mornings when cold and wet I have chosen to get a set of wheels with winters. When they wear out I will probably get a set of cross climates but still swap to the summers in April.
My rears need replacing, 255/35r18 isn't a cheap winter tyre size!
And like anything, once you start going down the rabbit hole of reading reviews I have no idea what to get 🙄
I found it did affect economy, but not outside the margin for error.
If I did the same round trip Reading to Manchester and back they might be 1-2mpg worse on the computer. But then the 50mph roadworks on the m6 or the M42 smart section being at 60mph would have as much difference. So even in that controlled scenario it wasn't all that noticeable. And I was doing that trip twice weekly for 3 months so was well attuned to traffic levels, keeping a light right foot and how much filling up cost.
Close enough that I figured it was cheaper overall that when they hit 4mm it was cheaper to just wear them out over the summer than it was to fit new summer tyres.
As for whether they were needed? It's VERY marginal.
I'd driven the same car through snow deep enough to beach it on summer tyres. Similarly it would still slide on winter tyres, they're not spikes. Last year I had winter front tyres and summer rears on the Berlingo because someone was giving a pair of brand new winter wheels away for free. It still understeered. So even the "if you don't fit 4 then it'll just oversteer into a ditch" advice is only really relevant if your car has such perfect 50/50 balance that it would be noticeable (the berlingo does not, it understeers and that's all it ever does, and it does it at comedically low speeds).
If you're ****ing up aften enough to challenge the limits of tyre grip regularly, then I'd suggest driving lessons would trump new tyres in the safety stakes.
Are the all-seasons any noisier than a good quiet summer tyre?
If you’re **** up aften enough to challenge the limits of tyre grip regularly, then I’d suggest driving lessons would trump new tyres in the safety stakes.
Numerous complaints about your post TINAS sorry, but this one stands out.
It's not always YOUR **** up that requires good tyres to avoid.
Numerous complaints about your post TINAS
Molgrips outs himself as a mod. This would explain why some of my posts have been removed recently. We're not allowed to comment on moderation so I'll just say that I miss Cougar.
Edit: and having reread TINAS post, the bit you quote is perectly reasonable, Molgrips. Read it again and think again.
Molgrips outs himself as a mod. This would explain why some of my posts have been removed recently.
No, I meant *I* have numerous complaints about it.
I run Pirelli tyres on an SUV. The year-round tyres they do are not very good in snow. Now I switch between winter & summer tyres.
Never been stopped in the alps yet so no opportunity for smugness - I live in hope.
Are the all-seasons any noisier than a good quiet summer tyre?
Yes for the winter ones, but no worse than a poor summer tyre. I deliberately always bought the quietest summer tyres which were always the eco versions (Dunlop blue response, Michelin energy saver, conti eco contact, etc) but the Avon Ice Tourings were no worse than Uniroyal RainExperts.
The Berlingo is noisy enough to drown out any tyre choice so it's now moot.
Are the all-seasons any noisier than a good quiet summer tyre?
I can hear my (much chunkier looking) Maxxis AP2 above the three Hankook 4S's and before them the Michelin Cross Climate's.
I don't think my Conti Viking grip are any noisier than my summers (Conti's again), and the impact on range is pretty minimal (~5%). But I am pretty sure you'll have a game time in summers on my road that's now gone 3,4 cms of slop on it, and won't be melting fully on a week. No matter how awesumz your driving is (and in winter it probably isn't as clever as you think) I'll take the mandatory winters thanks :.)
