As the title suggests had a fun morning.

Had to divert of a blocked main road due to heaver than forecast snow, down a county lane bizarrely following a Tiguan (who had no problem). The road was narrow and step next thing a knew I was travelling backwards with just no grip.

Needles to say I managed to extract myself but a very close call (still to get home).

Off-road works a treat but totally useless when there is no grip from the tyres. As a side note a policeman took a shine to Yeti, he had a Proton police car.

Steel rims now on order followed by winters of a size suitable for my chains.

That sounds rather scary if I may say so!

Ordered a pair of Autosocks yesterday and they arrived this morning - no sign of snow here though.

I've heard it said that drivers of 4wd vehicles are statistically more at risk of coming a cropper in ice/snow than 2wd as they are more likely to venture out. Also, there are some 4wd drivers who see snow and think "Yes! Time to test my 4wd!" and head out when they have nowhere to go and no reason to go there!

Where do you live by the way plumber? That's quite an investment in snow driving gear for UK?

I've heard it said that drivers of 4wd vehicles are statistically more at risk of coming a cropper in ice/snow than 2wd as they are more likely to venture out. Also, there are some 4wd drivers who see snow and think "Yes! Time to test my 4wd!" and head out when they have nowhere to go and no reason to go there!

Where do you live by the way plumber? That's quite an investment in snow driving gear for UK?

Yorkshire Wolds, transverse across it almost daily (have the chains already, had them on Golf 4motion).

Edit

Oh very little snow at home and light winter showers forcast when I set off.

Edited 18 December, 200916 yr by The Plumber

It's the tyres that let the poor grip ability down. The Tiguan might have been using lower pressures in his tyres which may explain why he had grip or perhaps he was driving on fresh snow and you where in his compacted tracks?

Or maybe just too fast for the conditons ?

IME 4wd can give you a false sense of security. In my old Impreza wrx it had plenty of grip when you were on the throttle, and was great fun, but once you need to brake 4wd makes no difference and the laws of physics take over.

Or maybe just too fast for the conditons ?

In crawl with off-road/hill support engaged; simply down to wrong choice of alternative route and wide summer tyres designed for a autobahn not a x-over in the snow.

IME 4wd can give you a false sense of security. In my old Impreza wrx it had plenty of grip when you were on the throttle, and was great fun, but once you need to brake 4wd makes no difference and the laws of physics take over.

Not much use 4WD without the correct tyres. Wide low profile tyres rubbish in snow. Wee narrow tyres on cheap cars will do just fine.

It is not a good idea to lower the psi in the tyres on snow covered roads. Lower tyre pressures might afford greater traction for pulling away but they will also invoke unstable handling and might in its self provoke an of road event.

On a thread recently on Briskoda, I can not quite remember which, I shall need to do a trawl I laid out the reasons why a 4x4 is more likely to slide off the road than a 2x4.

Ah yes, http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/146488-cold-weather-affecting-tyres/page__pid__1832363__st__0entry1832363 Post 10

Plumber, I had the fortune to spend a day at the old Hendon Metropolitan Police Driving school back in the early 1960's as a very young lad.

One of the things they beat into the head of students was this:

You can cheat the Law of the Land - Rules of the Road in this case - but you cannot cheat Mother Nature.

The four little point of contact between tires and road can only transfer so much in a given situation. If the forces on all four patches are exceeded, no manner of electronic and mechanical wizardry can help.

Summer tyres are just ****ty in the snow. ( I just love how the forum corrects bad language automatically)

I have been out testing the Monster out a bit in the snow we had yesterday. I have Goodyear Eagle Supergrips on the car. The Yeti is very well behaved in the slick stuff. The various gizmo's work quite well and give you fairly clear signals as to when enuff is enuff. Steering and powering through a snowy bend procides just enough alternate slipping between the front and back to tell you to back off. Coz if you don't, you know what will happen.

Analogous to selling property, the three important factors in driving off road, tyres, tyres, tyres - and yes on all four wheels.

Edited 19 December, 200916 yr by Agerbundsen

I absolutely agree with Agerbundsen 100%. Tyres are one of the most important items on any car, not least off road or in bad weather. Tyres are one of the best value for money performance and safety enhancements one can buy.

Edited 18 December, 200916 yr by Anthony 1

Have had snow tyres fitted to the Golf for past 2 weeks... Who's a smug son of a beee now....

Def improvement over the summer Conti2 tyre which gave up in a mere 50mm snow covered level driveway last year.

Hi Plumber,

Would be interested to know what winter tyres you decide to go for, I assume you'll stick with 17" rims.

What winter tyres are others using right now - suitable for UK roads that is.??

Thanks - and sorry to hear of your "adventure"

Graham

In the past I have read reviews of tyres including winter tyres. I can not remember what www. I read them on. Perhaps a search. I can say the our European cousins will have a very good idea because they are used more often than in this country.

I have used legal "E" marked Forrest stage rally tyres and Grass Track tyres before, on two wheel drive vehicles with incredible results. Phenomenal traction and exceedingly cheep. Less than £25 per tyre. Unfortunately I can not find the Welsh company that makes them. Possibly they have gone bust. I think that Demon tweeks may still have some left. It is possible to get other companies tyres of the same type. I do not know if they did 17" tyres of that type. perhaps now one else would like to try them anyway. I most certainly would buy them again. they also come in different compounds, I use intermediate. The knowledgeable tyre fitter, a rally nut, said that the hard compound had better friction properties than normal road tyres. I can only guess how good the soft might have been.

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html have winter tyres

It is not a good idea to lower the psi in the tyres on snow covered roads. Lower tyre pressures might afford greater traction for pulling away but they will also invoke unstable handling and might in its self provoke an of road event.

On a thread recently on Briskoda, I can not quite remember which, I shall need to do a trawl I laid out the reasons why a 4x4 is more likely to slide off the road than a 2x4.

Ah yes, http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/146488-cold-weather-affecting-tyres/page__pid__1832363__st__0entry1832363 Post 10

Depends on what you are doing.

I lowered the pressures in the Yeti a few weekends ago to get accross a wet (but not especially muddy) field and then once I was through I used the tyre inflation kit to inflate the tyres back up again.

I wouldn't advise lowering the pressures in the snow if you're going to go onto a motorway but to escape out of a driveway a little track it is useful.

Exactly what I meant. Which is, to get out of trouble and then re-inflate when driving on the road. Off road I may have lowered tyre pressures for a considerable time for one reason or another, grip, comfort, soft ground and so on. What I meant was that a, driving on the road with pressures too far outside of manufacturers limits is not legal and b, handling and tyres will be likely to deteriorate which may lead to a premature accident. Your example was a good one if I may say.

Depends on what you are doing.

I lowered the pressures in the Yeti a few weekends ago to get accross a wet (but not especially muddy) field and then once I was through I used the tyre inflation kit to inflate the tyres back up again.

I wouldn't advise lowering the pressures in the snow if you're going to go onto a motorway but to escape out of a driveway a little track it is useful.

Plumber, I had the fortune to spend a day at the old Hendon Metropolitan Police Driving school back in the early 10960's as a very young lad.

One of the things they beat into the head of students was this:

You can cheat the Law of the Land - Rules of the Road in this case - but you cannot cheat Mother Nature.

The four little point of contact between tires and road can only transfer so much in a given situation. If the forces on all four patches are exceeded, no manner of electronic and mechanical wizardry can help.

Summer tyres are just ****ty in the snow. ( I just love how the forum corrects bad language automatically)

I have been out testing the Monster out a bit in the snow we had yesterday. I have Goodyear Eagle Supergrips on the car. The Yeti is very well behaved in the slick stuff. The various gizmo's work quite well and give you fairly clear signals as to when enuff is enuff. Steering and powering through a snowy bend procides just enough alternate slipping between the front and back to tell you to back off. Coz if you don't, you know what will happen.

Analogous to selling property, the three important factors in driving off road, tyres, tyres, tyres - and yes on all four wheels.

10960's was that in back to the future?

In the past I have read reviews of tyres including winter tyres. I can not remember what www. I read them on. Perhaps a search. I can say the our European cousins will have a very good idea because they are used more often than in this country.

I have used legal "E" marked Forrest stage rally tyres and Grass Track tyres before, on two wheel drive vehicles with incredible results. Phenomenal traction and exceedingly cheep. Less than £25 per tyre. Unfortunately I can not find the Welsh company that makes them. Possibly they have gone bust. I think that Demon tweeks may still have some left. It is possible to get other companies tyres of the same type. I do not know if they did 17" tyres of that type. perhaps now one else would like to try them anyway. I most certainly would buy them again. they also come in different compounds, I use intermediate. The knowledgeable tyre fitter, a rally nut, said that the hard compound had better friction properties than normal road tyres. I can only guess how good the soft might have been.

Are you talking about "SILVERSTONE TYRES"?

Hi Plumber,

Would be interested to know what winter tyres you decide to go for, I assume you'll stick with 17" rims.

What winter tyres are others using right now - suitable for UK roads that is.??

Thanks - and sorry to hear of your "adventure"

Graham

Hi Graham,

to be honest not done much research as yet on which of the current tyres to go for. For summer tyres often use Avons but know idea if their winters are just as good, only had experience with Continental winters; expensive though.

So any thoughts would be appreciated.

Regard rim's ditching the 17" and going back to the size I had on the Golf 205/55/16 (also the size for chains which I have from trips to the continent, if things get real silly) as that size seemed to be better in terms of grip even with summer tyres fitted.

Best describe these 225/50/17 I have now as snowboards.

Have ordered the steel rims as fitted to the 'E' spec; they will take the above mentioned tyre size and curbing will not matter, plus less than a 1/3 of the cost alloys in that size.

Oh thanks for your input so far everyone.

TP

I have an old one around somewhere, I will have to dig it up and have a read of the sidewall. the only Silverstone Tyres that I know of , are made without looking it u,p somewhere in Northern Europe.

I have been out testing the Monster out a bit in the snow we had yesterday. I have Goodyear Eagle Supergrips on the car.

Thanks Agerbundsen,

would be interested in which size, speed rating and load index you are using.

Regards,

TP

10960's was that in back to the future?

It must have been, but it should have said 1950's

Plumber, The tyres I have on the Yeti are Goodyear Eagle Ultrgrip 215/60 H rated. They are on the standard factory Moon alloy wheels, replacing the original sumer tyres delivered with the car.

I am expecting to go to 17" 225/50 H rated wheels for the summer, but have not bought them as yet. Normally, I use winter tyres from Early December through late April. I weight wet handling and performance highest for both the winter and summer tyres, as that is what there will be most of.

I do not expect to do any real off road stuff, so I do not need any really agressive tyre threads. The most off-road will probably be in the mountains in the south of Spain, where the Yeti will let us get a little further out on the trails than we could in the Octy - not really off road, but on smaller roads with gravel surfaces.

Edited 19 December, 200916 yr by Agerbundsen

It must have been, but it should have said 1950's

Plumber, The tyres I have on the Yeti are Goodyear Eagle Ultrgrip 215/60 H rated. They are on the standard factory Moon alloy wheels, replacing the original sumer tyres delivered with the car.

I am expecting to go to 17" 225/50 H rated wheels for the summer, but have not bought them as yet. Normally, I use winter tyres from Early December through late April. I weight wet handling and performance highest for both the winter and summer tyres, as that is what there will be most of.

I do not expect to do any real off road stuff, so I do not need any really agressive tyre threads. The most off-road will probably be in the mountains in the south of Spain, where the Yeti will let us get a little further out on the trails than we could in the Octy - not really off road, but on smaller roads with gravel surfaces.

Many thanks Agerbundsen,

wish we could get the Moon alloys over here but SUK don't import them.

are your Goodyears a load index of 91 or 94 and standard or XL?

regards,

TP