Winter Tyres

[OCScene]

Hi guys,

Just posted this on athe general forum but think it may be better suited here.

Has anyone got any thoughts or opinions on winter tyres. I have just ordered an Octavia Estate DGS and have been hearing mixed opinions about the car. One thing that is consistantly cropping up is how useless the DSG's are in snow and ice.

I use the car to commute 25 miles to work everyday and I usually set off about 6am before many tracks in snow have been made by other cars.

I currently drive a Mondeo ST TDCI and it has just about coped (hairy at times) but it always got me to work.

Would buying an extra set of alloys from Skoda and getting them fitted with snow tyres be worthwhile? Just how much of a differnece do snow tyres make and also will they be fine fitted to a DSG car?

Many thanks

[Mute]

Hi,

If you're UK based, dedicated winter compound tyres can wear quicker in the days where we don't have snow, especially when temperatures hit 10 degrees Celsius or above.

• Nokian WR Generation 2
  
• Bridgestone Blizzak LM-18 (or any of the other LM- series)
  

These are both sold as winter tyres, and qualify for the mountain and snowflake badge for severe conditions. However, they're designed with UK type climates in mind, they will wear less in 10 degree weather than normal winter tyres, whilst giving very good traction in snow and ice vs. all seasons.

Hope this helps!

Edited 20 February, 2010 by Mute

[anewman]

How about a set of steelies keeping the alloys for summer?

[domhnall]

Hi,

If you're UK based, dedicated winter compound tyres can wear quicker in the days where we don't have snow, especially when temperatures hit 10 degrees Celsius or above.

• Nokian WR Generation 2
  
• Bridgestone Blizzak LM-18 (or any of the other LM- series)
  

These are both sold as winter tyres, and qualify for the mountain and snowflake badge for severe conditions. However, they're designed with UK type climates in mind, they will wear less in 10 degree weather than normal winter tyres, whilst giving very good traction in snow and ice vs. all seasons.

Hope this helps!

I got a set of Nokian WRg2s on steel wheels back in December. They made a huge difference and I have left a couple of 4x4s for dead in the snow. As has been said already though once the temp goes above 9 degrees or so they wear faster. We've not had temperatures that warm for a few months now so I'm not too bothered. They're grippier in the wet too as far as I am led to believe. They are all weather rather than 'just' winter tyres.

Hope this helps

[OCScene]

Cheers for the advice guys, was actually looking at the Nokians

Just how much of a difference do they actually make, we live on an estate where the exit is up a slope that in freezing snow conditions only 4x4's ahave been getting out. Do snow tyres make such a diffence that i stand a chance of going where 4x4's go on roads with snow and ice?

[Mute]

They made a huge difference and I have left a couple of 4x4s for dead in the snow.

They're really good aren't they ground clearance will be an issue before loss of traction in a FWD with these on.

The WR's are pretty nifty design, they're asymmetric treads, the inboard tread (right hand side in pic) is designed for grip in snow, the centre tread is designed for high speeds on rain soaked roads, the outer tread is for dry pavement. The angles of the sipes are to reduce tyre noise vs. normal winter tyres.

The profile of the tyre is designed to squeal a lot during hard cornering before the tyre exceeds it's grip -- you get plenty of advance warning when you're cornering too hard.

All the treads are designed for efficient water evacuation so they'll really shine in pools of water where other tyres would aqua plane. Also the full width of the tread has small lines cut through -- this is supposed to help in ice, and to some extent in snow -- lots of edges contacting the surface.

In terms of wear, they start at 1cm of tread, and there's depth indicator numbers (8, 6, 4) embossed into the tread (bottom, centre, right of pic), once you can no longer see the 4mm depth indicator they've lost their winter ability and can be safely run in the spring / summer down to 2mm when they should be replaced.

Mute == More Useless TExt ?

[Mute]

Do snow tyres make such a diffence that i stand a chance of going where 4x4's go on roads with snow and ice?

Yeah. So long as no ground clearance issues, you'll go anywhere a 4x4 will. Just don't make the mistake of flooring the throttle -- it's the most common mistake.

If you're wheel spinning you're wasting time and destroying the snow surface for people coming up behind you. Better to go back a bit and take a run at the hill and do it in a controlled manner (if you're wheelspinning a FWD you've got minimal steering control) -- better to go up with momentum & traction.

These tyres will also cope with mud -- although no tyre works well in that clay type mud you get in some places, you cant even walk in that stuff.

[Conti]

Here is an impromptu test of winter tyres by Autocar that you might find interesting

Autocar cold weather tyre impromptu test

[cheezemonkhai]

Hmm useful, all weather vs summers.

How about 4 identical cars, then 1 with snow tyres, 1 with CWT winter tyres, 1 with all weather and 1 with summer tyres.

Then run them on thick snow, hard snow/compacted snow, cleared surface and see how they compare.