I've a Forester and a Scout. Both with standard tyres. Live at the top of a hill and my drive is about 1 in 6.

Never not stuck - yet

The secret is much more in driving technique and not bothering to go out if the weather really is that bad unless it's a matter of life or death.

Why? Because if you do the other vehicles will stop you before you get stuck as round my way wherever you want to do there is a steep hill up and down. The 'Chelsea Tractor' lot just block the roads as the idea is foot to the floor due to the idea that brute force will always win through. Golly gosh, they do get cross when they find the combination of steep hills and an inch or two of snow needs a different approach

I'm new to winter tyres as of last winter which I had put on my Octavia 4x4 estate. Before that, through the worst of the snow, I was geting around, up hills, up kerbs, on & off off-road parking (unploughed), breaking through ploughed snow banks on my well worn budget summer tyres. Passed many a stuck 2x4 car & got in to work everyday. I think the ESP helped (used in snow but not on ice - works for me but maybe debatable!) My previous car was not 4x4 & I spent about a week working from home the previous winter as I couldn't even get out the street!

As I needed new tyres anyway I got budget winter tyres fitted & didn't really notice any improvement as I didn't experience any worse conditions than I'd had with the summer tyres & I try to exercise more caution in snow & ice anyway.

Now I have the Scout 4x4 I have some old Audi 16" wheels I'll soon be sticking cheap winter tyres on for this winter. I'm not totally convinced I need them (for NE England) but guess I've seen all the posts here & advice elsewhere & got caught up in the need to upgrade.

Before I'd even heard of unstudded winters tyres I was getting around in a previous non-Skoda 4x4 with regular tyres just fine in bad winters when I lived higher than I do now. Same in our current old Jeep Cherokee which uses same tyres all year around. We get lot of snow where we live & my hobbies often seeing me actively seeking out the snow.

I've bought into the winter tyre thing mainly due to this forum but must confess to being baffled with all the talk of brands & handling characteristics. I'm a tyre philistine & have not noticed any difference between the multitude of 'good brands' the leasing companies insisted on for my company cars & the multitude of budget tyres I've had fitted since I've ran my own cars - except the cheaper ones sometimes last longer. I've done around 30K miles a year for last 20 years. It may be that my driving style isn't demanding enough to reveal any difference. I'll cry if I have to spend more than £70 a corner!

Regular use in alpine or nordic winters (inc parts of Scotland) would be a different kettle of fish altogether. Studs are amazing!

I would never put budgets tyres on any car I own or drive. They just aren't worth it on stopping distances alone, let alone handling. I've just gone from budgets to dunlop on my van at work due to the budgets being appalling. I can now actually pull out of junctions and actually go around corners with no horrendous understeer.

I would never put budgets tyres on any car I own or drive. They just aren't worth it on stopping distances alone, let alone handling.

Must be my driving style or lack of awareness of nuanced car response despite my high mileage. I always leave plenty of room to stop, never have problems setting off at speed (one busy r/bout in particular you have to be nippy or sit for ages) & my cars have all cornered to my satisfaction. The odd time I've been caught out & had to brake hard I've not noticed stopping any later than I'd expect. Certainly haven't hit anything in over 20 years & that time would have been on non-budget tyres.

I should maybe have checked the tyres of the 3 cars that have hit me in the last decade to see what they were wearing?

Must be my driving style or lack of awareness of nuanced car response despite my high mileage. I always leave plenty of room to stop, never have problems setting off at speed (one busy r/bout in particular you have to be nippy or sit for ages) & my cars have all cornered to my satisfaction. The odd time I've been caught out & had to brake hard I've not noticed stopping any later than I'd expect. Certainly haven't hit anything in over 20 years & that time would have been on non-budget tyres.

I should maybe have checked the tyres of the 3 cars that have hit me in the last decade to see what they were wearing?

Probably as you have only ever driven on budgets ! Just read some of the tyre tests on line and you can see how they compare - Some of the results are shocking, particularly in the wet.

Yawn

(i) for 99% of the driving population = FWD + winter tyres + aptitude/brain function

Or

(ii) for the other 1% who live in the mountains = proper 4WD + winter tyres + aptitude/brain function

simples

really

Edited 4 August, 201114 yr by dieseldogg

Posted by juan27

This company sells complete wheels with winter tyres, including alloys now I notice:

http://ssl.delti.com...Complete_wheels

Nice link. They only do 16" for the vrs and I need 18" :(

Why do you need 18's you running bigger brakes??

The price of winter tires is shocking just now wtf is going on!

This company sells complete wheels with winter tyres, including alloys now I notice:

http://ssl.delti.com...Complete_wheels

Maybe if we have significant snow again they might actually start clearing the roads in the South.

Some people have had problems with ordering from mytyres.co.uk. IIRC the first time you order from them they want a money order instead of letting your pay online.

Even if they do start clearing the roads properly it is still worthwhile investing in winter tyres. Most modern cars are fitting with summer tyres that are designed for use in warm weather. Below around 7º C they become harder and loose some of their grip. At this point good winter tyres will outperform good summer tyres and be safer regardless of whether there is snow or ice on the ground. They are winter tyres not snow tyres.

If anyone is thinking of buying winter tyres then now is the time to buy them - around October/November time the prices start to creep up as demand increases and sellers start to capitalise on people that start to panic buy.

Ive bought some winters from MyTyres. I had no grief at all after paying with PayPal

Probably as you have only ever driven on budgets ! Just read some of the tyre tests on line and you can see how they compare - Some of the results are shocking, particularly in the wet.

Only been on budgets for last 10 years. 20+ years prior to that on branded. I see tyres tests & the opinions on this forum. I also read car tests for car's I've owned & outside of things I can see & touch I rarely recognise what they are on about re handling. With the mileage I do I know if a car is right or not - for me. What's more shocking to me is how close folk drive in poor conditions (& good) - a high percentage in premium &/or company cars that are likely fitted with 'good' tyres.

Only got stuck one day earlier in the year when we had 18 inches of the stuff and the plough had not been up our hill

I fit vredestein 15 inch snow tracks at the start of November £70 each fitted, never had any problems, going down our many steep hills just selected 1st and let the car go, try it in the dry and see how fast you dont go

Yawn

(i) for 99% of the driving population = FWD + winter tyres + aptitude/brain function

Or

(ii) for the other 1% who live in the mountains = proper 4WD + winter tyres + aptitude/brain function

simples

really

Disagree:

90%+ of the driving population = standard ("summer") tyres, stick to main roads which get cleared (ie don't blithely go where the satnav points you) and don't go out in the car unless its necessary for the few days a year we get snow.

Below around 7º C they become harder and loose some of their grip.

Is that taking into account the heat the tyres themselves produce? Surely it depends what kind of driving you're doing?

I've never noticed any significant difference in grip on dry roads in low temperatures with standard tyres.

I wonder how much 4 new steels are in 16 inch from skoda........or is it cheaper to buy 4 new wheels and tyres as a package say from wheelbase in manchester

ive found a set of golf alloys classified for £200 5X112 16" with random tyres on them might get those and some winter tyres online ordered in then again might just not drive in the snow I do have that option it not vital for me !

Hi,

I've been looking into this as well.

I think I,m going to go for Continental WinterContact TS830, just waiting for prices to drop. Last year kwikfit did them for approx £80 for 205 55 R16. Cheapest I can find is approx £100 + fitting.

VW gave me the best price on steels wheels, the extra strong winter 6J ones, 8P0 601 027 i think, 4 for £223, but wheel trims are pricy :( at over £120, thus a total of £343.

But might go alloys ? As they could be on 4 to 5 months, when looking at the temperatures for gloucestershire. 6.5x16" Apollon Alloy Wheel CCH600007 at £432 is £89 more and in my eyes worth it.

Anyhow hope this helps....

I think I've posted this before. The best cars we ever had in snow were the 2 old 4x4 Panda's. Narrow wheels, reasonable ground clearance and designed and built in the Alps.

The wide tyres on our Disco act like skis, but it's fine if driven with care. The ground clearance does help. The Octy is OK, although when the main agent delivered it back after a service they got it stuck in our 90degree turn steep drive.

I do think it's all in the driving rather than the vehicle. Twice last winter I had to reverse quickly to avoid being hit by people coming of the main road to ungritted side roads and sliding.

In the past I've always had, apart from the Landies, things like Omega automatics. power to the rear, brakes to the front. If you can drive them in the snow, you can drive almost anything.

I would like to know if anyone could let me know how the Skoda handles in snow. I know it sounds odd to ask in the mid summer but my wife is worried we will be stranded on the driveway again this year! We had about a foot of snow! I was going to look for some winter tyres but are they any good on a front wheel drive car? or would it be better for me to buy a 10 year old Subaru Impreza WRX to drive in the snow season? or any 4x4 for that matter? I could buy a Subaru for £2000 but is there any point in doing this or would the winter tyres option be much better? Please let me know of your experience of driving in the snow with a Skoda Octavia VRS mk2.

Hi

I got a set of virtually new (delivery mileage) 16" VW Transporter steel wheels off ebay for £120 or so and got a full set of Continental WinterContacts at my local Kwikfit on a Saturday morning for just over £60 per tyre as they were fitting them to loose wheels. I picked the wheels/tyres up in my astravan, took them home and fitted them to the VRS. I took it out for a test drive in the thick snow - what a difference - if you drive with care, they really handle much better and increase your safety.

I was so impressed with the tyres that within the hour, I called the guy at Kwikfit and asked him to keep me another 4 for my van - got them fitted on the Sunday morning for just over £70 per tyre as they had to charge me fitting but he gave me the excellent same price for the tyres (remember this was in the middle of winter when online prices were around £130 to £150 each for the same tyre) - A very good deal and excellent service - not something you would expect to hear about Kwikfit. Good on them.

I made 2 triangular brackets out of angle iron and bolted them to the garage wall and the winter wheels/tyres are on them up high out of the way. I will swap them back onto the car and van when the weather starts to turn again.

Well worth forking out for the winter tyres - just watch you insurance treating the steel wheels as a modification as my Wife's insurer, Tesco does when the winter wheels are on the car.

Cheers

Dave

Edited 5 August, 201114 yr by FatblokeVRS

I ran the 4x4 last winter on a Conti TS830 and it was superb. Given the 4x4 never got stuck the previous winter (both of which were heavy snow), but the steering and braking where massively improved. Wor lasses fabia had Conti TS810 on it and it left most cars on the estate trailing. She was gutted to put the summers back on as the they aren't great in the wet. The car that proved to me that winters work though was the works rapid response ambulance cars. They are ford focus estates and they have a lot of kit in the boot making the front end light and you can feel it in the wet. The Michelin winters they fitted to them transformed the cars.

So my answer would be forget a cheap 4x4 and get some tyres.

We went through the same dilemma, having spent much of last winter staring at blocked roads in every direction (exacerbated, as said elsewhere, by vehicles that really shouldn't have been out and now couldn't get back in...).

We went belt and braces - sold the Fabia and bought a Hyundai Tucson which now has all-seasons (Vredestein Quatrac) tyres on. They're perhaps not the best summer tyres, but they're better than the Kumho things it came with and, let's face it, you shouldn't be hammering around corners in any weather in a 4x4 unless you like the feeling of sea-sickness. But they should perform well come this winter, so I'll find out then if it was the right move!

I had a look on Ebay for some steel rims but I can only find them as an individual prchase not as a set of 4's. I found a website that sell the rims & winter tyres of your choice + they also fit the tyres before they deliver which is realy good! Only downside is that the wheels they specify are for a mk1 vrs. I don't know if this makes a diference. The price for 4x steel rims + Michelin Alpine 4's + fitting comes to about £540 this includes delivery too. Does this sound like a good offer anyone?

The mk1 octavia is 5x100, the mk2 is 5x112 so mk1 wheels will not fit onto a mk2. I suspect the site you're referring to is mytyres - lots of people appear to have trouble paying for tyres from them if there is a high value order from a first time customer. My neighbour is having diffulties and told me their customer service is appalling, so be warned!

Had new tyres fitted today at my local STS TyrePros. While I was there I asked for a quote for a set of winters. For my 225/45 R17s they quoted me £109 per corner inc fitting. This was for Klebr Quadraxers (not a brand I had heard of) that the guys in STS recommended. They also said they would be happy to store the winter tyres for me until I needed them fitted. According to the guys I spoke to they reckoned that buying winter tyres in August was a good idea as by mid-september they said the prices go up and availability goes down.

Anyway I thought that wasn't a bad quote and come the end of the month when my next payday rolls around I will be investing. Last winter in Kent was a nightmare. A couple of drives after late shifts at work were some of the scariest experiences I've ever had (you know its bad when you are following an HGV that is struggling on a single carriageway )

Found this link to a steel wheel seller. Seems ok for a wheel. These winter tyre look really good now i've just spent an hour reading about them. Basically they operate best below 7 oC & thats it really. From what I can see you run them from Nov-March depending on which end of the UK you are. I'll be looking into this & now seems the best time to buy them too.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380357071795

Found this link to a steel wheel seller. Seems ok for a wheel. These winter tyre look really good now i've just spent an hour reading about them. Basically they operate best below 7 oC & thats it really. From what I can see you run them from Nov-March depending on which end of the UK you are. I'll be looking into this & now seems the best time to buy them too.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380357071795

Hi All

I seem to remember the wheels direct from Skoda were slightly cheaper than these ones on ebay.

It might be worth checking the price from your local dealer or trying a group buy from them if you know other people in your area that are interested.

Cheers

Dave