It does but you know how forums go. Things get duplicated all the time.

Was only teasing

I'm sorry, but what are you talking about, like many other regions of Europe we have at least a few months where the temperatures in the morning and evening when people are driving are below 7 degrees.

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=cet;sess=

(5 months from that)

It's not minus 7 degrees we are talking, but plus 7.

I know we're talking +7C.

1) the CET values are 10 years behind.

2) the CET values only cover a small section of central England.

The UK average for the whole of England is over 7C for most of the 5 months you refer to. The south west's averages are 9C+.

Also found this which back up my post above - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/car_clinic/article6834134.ece

My temperature gauges show below 7 degrees when I'm driving from about November through to March time so I'll run winter tyres until temperatures start showing up above 7 degrees.

Non of the options quit fit with my situation on the Yeti anyway. After the first snow round here last December I discovered almost to my cost that the standard wide and low profile 17" 225/50 sports tyres Skoda bizarrely fit to both the Yeti & Scout were ideal for tobogganing. Managed a 180 spin followed by a going backwards slide on a single track lane descending a hill in a heavy snow fall; came close to wiping both of us out (snow not forecast that day :S ).

After that experience I ordered steel wheels and Nokian winter tyres; fitted a week later. No problems with the weather after the switch, so come late November then I will be back on the winters in preparation for whatever we get this year.

Not sure what to do with the wife's new Fab II yet and my lads Furby I HTP 54 appears to have some form of far east manufactured all season tyre fitted (M+S marked). He bought the car earlier this year with these tyres already fitted so will be interesting to see if they work.

TP

Well, I managed all my crucial work journeys in freezing awful conditions with no problem using the tyres that were on my Favorit when I got it

The only day I was 2 hours late was when I set off at 3am in already icy conditions up the A1 to find the A66 had been closed. This led me to detour back from Scotch Corner to the Leyburn services, then Leyburn, Wensley, Aysgarth, Hawes, Garsdale Head, Mallerstang -where the snow drifts were higher than the car and the road had been cleaered overnight by a farmer with a tractor, then down to Kirkby Stephen where I passed a weirdly perched Transit van on top of a drystone wall, before crawling to the railway station up the 1 in 7 hill at about 4 mph.

Fun is!

I did about 8 or 10 journeys in weather like that because my shifts mean I have to get to work for 05.30am, for a 12 hr day, often resulting in another rubbish and dark drive home. I certainly saw several walls stoved in thanks to the watery and icy dales roads. Driving is no pleasure in those circumstances! However, the little Skoda coped pretty well all things considered.

Regards

Matt

I'm getting winter tyres next week, as the Leon was a real handful in the snow last winter.

I drove all last winter in my Fabia vrs with Toyo T1-R tyres with no problems at all. I simply exercised a little throttle control and applied some forward planning.

In all honesty, that's exactly what I used to say, and I managed OK in my Fabia vRS with Conti SC2, but last year, I had to reverse 3/4 mile down a country lane with ditches both sides, because there was simply no grip to climb a slight incline, so I'm fitting winter tyres instead of the Conti SC3s on the Leon, and the Lupo will stay on the drive if it looks bad. Even the best drivers need *some* grip- the real muppets get stuck in the slightest bit of snow.

Not sure what to do with the wife's new Fab II yet and my lads Furby I HTP 54 appears to have some form of far east manufactured all season tyre fitted (M+S marked). He bought the car earlier this year with these tyres already fitted so will be interesting to see if they work.

TP

Its funny you mention that TP, I have a set of more sensibly sized wheels and a pair of the budget tyres on them that have a "M+S" marking on them. However, I've no idea what they need to do to be able to claim that so I'm not exactly confident in any extra ability they may have.

For the last 10 years I've been driving 150+ miles a day and only missed 2 days due to the snow. In an ideal world I would have a choice of wheels and tyres to suit the weather, but in reality I don't have the space to have a few sets of wheels laying around the place.

Its funny you mention that TP, I have a set of more sensibly sized wheels and a pair of the budget tyres on them that have a "M+S" marking on them. However, I've no idea what they need to do to be able to claim that so I'm not exactly confident in any extra ability they may have.

M+S means that 25% of the tyres contact surface is grooved, there's a good article regard winters and there markings here My link

Regards,

TP

M+S means that 25% of the tyres contact surface is grooved, there's a good article regard winters and there markings here My link

Regards,

TP

Thanks, as I half-thought, chocolate fireguard.

Thanks, as I half-thought, chocolate fireguard.

The problem with winter tyres is if too warm they suffer just like F1 cars intermediates or full wets on a dry track. The blocks of rubber move excessively causing heat, and so they burn out.

Countries that stipulate winter tyres do so because it drops below 7C and stays there for 5+ months. Most of the time 2/3's of most of the UK's day temps will be over 7C. I'm in the car almost all day for work, and I'm confident I could count the number of times I was driving round in temps below 7C (according to the dash) on both hands.

I'm sure the bench mark was always less than 5C before everyone said you needed winter tyres. Seems they now like 7C after the 2 years of 'exceptional snow' we've had.

If we had the weather, I'd have them. But we dont IMHO.

The problem with winter tyres is if too warm they suffer just like F1 cars intermediates or full wets on a dry track. The blocks of rubber move excessively causing heat, and so they burn out.

Countries that stipulate winter tyres do so because it drops below 7C and stays there for 5+ months. Most of the time 2/3's of most of the UK's day temps will be over 7C. I'm in the car almost all day for work, and I'm confident I could count the number of times I was driving round in temps below 7C (according to the dash) on both hands.

I'm sure the bench mark was always less than 5C before everyone said you needed winter tyres. Seems they now like 7C after the 2 years of 'exceptional snow' we've had.

If we had the weather, I'd have them. But we dont IMHO.

That depends on the pattern of the winter tyre.

It's always been 7 degrees as far as I've heard.

What I will say is that you wouldn't want to run hard core winter tyres through the summer (as a Polish friend realised) but that some of them are ok.

All I can say is that you must be warmer than me, because both last year and the one before, I was very very pleased to have winter tyres on and would say that they were probably the only reason I made it on a couple of journeys. If I'd been on the summer tyres I'd have been stuck at the bottom of a hill.

It's down to personal choice, but at least around where I drive, it's well worth it IMHO.

Edited 28 September, 201015 yr by cheezemonkhai

For some summer tyres may be OK but many a winters morning round here when I leave for work it's well below 7 degrees and as I found out last winter 225/50 W rated sports tyres are dangerous in snow and not much better on a frosty morning particularly descending some of the more interesting gradients we have around the Wolds.

TP

I'd love a set but money is tight at the moment and ideally I'd like a good set of steelies for them, or a good new set of alloys for summer tyres. Plus where I live now I don't really have anywhere to store the summer ones, not without incurring the landlord's wrath anyway. I will therefore just avoid driving in snow.