I have never once experienced a tyre being soo bad in winter that I thought I would need to change it for a winter tyre. If it snows, I slow down. If it snows really bad, I will assess whether I need to make the journey, then either not bother, go really carefully or use a 4x4. Winter tyres may offer better grip, but then on black or regular ice the amount of grip offered is basically none.

IWinter tyres may offer better grip, but then on black or regular ice the amount of grip offered is basically none.

Winter tyres provide grip even on regular or black ice..........

AS i said in previous post depents on where you live and how much you rely on your car!

MY Story...

OK so I live in the North of Scotland and I have owned front wheel drive cars on standard tyres and I have driven on ungritted snow covered back roads since I moved here in 1994........

I had (so far) my only accident back in December 2000 when I wrote my car car off by flipping it upside down on an "A" road at 33mph in winter conditions........

I Got my current car (Fabia) in Jan 2001 and the ASR and the EDL that it has prevent the reason that I flipped my previous car.........

BUT........the winter of 2009-10 was very bad and in the December on one morning I had a nighmare getting across Inverness due to severe black ice......driving as smoothly as possible was still tripping the ABS which was working against you when approaching a downhill junction as it increases your stopping distance!!!!

So I got a set of "winter" tyres in Jan 2010.........talk about night and day!!!!!!!!................

I have driven in far worse conditions than I have ever encountered, and driven passed masses of 4x4's on standard tyres.................

They do not "change the laws of physics".......but they work better and "tell" you how much grip you have well before you slide......so you can balance the car around a corner like you would in summer..........but without the fear of it suddenly snapping out!.....when it does it is nice and gentle....easy to correct!!!!!

Buy the correct tools for the job and make the job easier!!!!!

I would recommend turning off ASR in snow.

Again though spending £400 on a set of winter tyres to be used by 'most' people for a few days a year really is not worth it, is it.

Ok there will be a few exceptions where winter tyres would be useful, like you say in highland Scotland, but more times than not a decent driver outweighs snow tyres. For instance I had a Corsa before, a cheap crap car, however driving it sensibly and with perhaps greater skill than a lot of drivers in Cornwall seem to have in the snow, I was able to get around in the snow just fine, more so than a colleague who had bought snow tyres for her Fiesta.

Well I bought my winter tyres last winter. Didn't have the weather for them however I never took them off over the summer as let's face it we had more winter than summer.

You can twist that agreement around. Why have summer tyres when we don't have much summer?

I would recommend turning off ASR in snow.

, but more times than not a decent driver outweighs snow tyres.

ASR should only be OFF when getting away from a standstill on soft snow....other than that leave it on...........and having had it for 11yrs now I think I've got the hang of it!

And yes being a very good driver..........(one accident since i passed in 1994)....and never any points on my licence...............I still say that it doesn't matter how good you are there comes a point where you get fed up with "stressing" just to drive the car in snow....so get the right tyre for the weather and don't stress so much!!!

Could also say why buy performance tyres when a more advance driver could drive faster on cheap no names than the average Joe.

I buy general purpose tyres.

If I wanted to go racing around on track or hammering the car I would buy performance tyres, if I wanted to drive on snow all year I would buy snow tyres. However for me general purpose tyres with a decent level of grip suffice and ensure I can drive my car (so far in 7 years) 100% of the time.

What I am saying is that the expense of winter tyres for 99% of people in Britain is not worth it for the couple of days a year they MAY use them (and where they would make a noticeable difference).

Winter tyres aren't just for use in the snow though. As stated above, they're for use when the temperature drops below 7c.

Which is a lot of the time.

Think ill stick with winter or all season tyres from now on. Like I say I left mine on for the summer and they preformed well.

however driving it sensibly and with perhaps greater skill than a lot of drivers in Cornwall seem to have in the snow

So all your previous comments are based on living in Cornwall... Says it all really doesn't it lol you don't get proper snow very often, so no in your case it wouldn't be very beneficial. Go further up north, where we have real hills, real snow, then have a job thats critical to get to or small kids/babies, then it makes sense. Your not exactly helping the OP talking about something you know not a lot of.

As for tyre sizes, there's a few handy tyre size calculators on the web to show how much your speedo will be out if you go above your current profile size. Generally the best size is a high profile 60+ as you have more flex in the tyre. Width is a double sided sword in my experience. I found a 195 better for braking and stopping as it has more surface area to build up snow in the tread and sipes. However I found a 185 to be better for standing starts up hills and going up steep hills in general due to placing more weight over a smaller contact patch, giving more traction. I'm sticking with 185's from now on as I have some pretty steep hills to climb and the trade off for braking isnt huge. Hope that kinda helps

So all your previous comments are based on living in Cornwall... Says it all really doesn't it lol you don't get proper snow very often, so no in your case it wouldn't be very beneficial. Go further up north, where we have real hills, real snow, then have a job thats critical to get to or small kids/babies, then it makes sense. Your not exactly helping the OP talking about something you know not a lot of.

As for tyre sizes, there's a few handy tyre size calculators on the web to show how much your speedo will be out if you go above your current profile size. Generally the best size is a high profile 60+ as you have more flex in the tyre. Width is a double sided sword in my experience. I found a 195 better for braking and stopping as it has more surface area to build up snow in the tread and sipes. However I found a 185 to be better for standing starts up hills and going up steep hills in general due to placing more weight over a smaller contact patch, giving more traction. I'm sticking with 185's from now on as I have some pretty steep hills to climb and the trade off for braking isnt huge. Hope that kinda helps

Should really find out peoples backgrounds before assuming things. I am a northerner, a Yorkshireman to be exact, so trust me when I say I am used to harsh weather and driving in it.

No problem with winter tyres in summer either (lack of) but if you are buying winter tyres to use for only a few weeks then swapping back to summer tyres in my opinion it is a waste.

Your the one assuming 99% of the population don't need winter tyres, that makes you king of assumption.