What's your car like in snow?

[AnotherGareth]

I'll ignore the banter except to say my wife changed the wheel on her car after suffing a puncture in the Yorkshire Dales two weeks ago. Initially the jack was seized but she hit it with a rock until it gave in. Further, she and I have older cars that are commonly thought to break down quite readily so we had towbars fitted in case one needed to take the other to a garage. We used both a few times, and often enough buy a rigid tow-pole from the RAC's suppliers.

any thoughts on snow chains?

Might be handy if you encounter really bad conditions but my experience of winter and good all season tyres is that they are good enough in all circumstances I've encountered. That said we have a set of snow chains for the car that currently has all season tyres - we bought them many years ago and have never used them.

By the way, snock socks serve essentially the same purpose as snow chaings but are a cheaper and less resilient solution - both are only good for up to 30 mph and both must be dismounted when a clear road surface is reached.

[anewman]

I understand Asda are doing snow socks for £35. Just looked back at their website and seems they went out of stock very quickly http://direct.asda.com/TEX-Car-Snow-Socks---Various-Sizes/MASTERTexSnowChains,default,pd.html not sure if they might have any left in the bigger stores.

Someone who used to have an Estelle told me it was great going uphill in snow. I ventured out last year in the Fabia (I usually avoid driving in the snow entirely if at all avoidable) and it started going in a direction I didn't want it to a few times. Got me more used to controlling skids though. Also messed about a little in a largely empty car park (not like a complete nutter) to induce skidding just to try get a feel for it. Didn't try contend with any hills though.

[John Edwards]

I'm a woman, and I have no problem driving in snow.

No winter tires, either, though I have been thinking about getting them this year. Which ones do you all like best? (For a Felicia 1.3 estate).

Strange that; my cars have tyres which don't get "tired" in the snow !!

[mdon]

I live in west Cumbria (wettest place in englad) and we often see cold temperatures down past -8 or 9 and last year we even got as low as -16! I've driven over winlatter pass, honister pass, newlands valley and Alston in the snow and ice and I've never encountered a problem, I've also never had winter tyres. I just buy decent tyres like pirelli p6000. I currently have p7's fitted to the octavia at the moment.

Back to the original question my only favorits always managed no problem, would have been better with abs but still fine.

[Sonner]

P6000 is not a good tyre!!!

[mdon]

P6000 is not a good tyre!!!

They did alright on my old 1.8 20v octavia, it was a few years ago now but I never had any complaints.

[Sonner]

they are Pirelli's base tyre and it shows, for the same money you could get better tyres hands down

Edited 10 October, 2011 by Sonner

[mdon]

they are Pirelli's base tyre and it shows, for the same money you could get better tyres hands down

I'll take your word for it, I havnt looked that deep into tyres, I just normally go for preium brands. The p7's I have at the minute seem to give quite a bit of road noise. My old octavia had Avon tyres fitted when I got it which were very good with grip but I only got 10k out of the front tyres whereas the p6000's got nearer to 20k that's why I liked them.

I used to have dunlops on my laguna which were good.

[KenONeill]

I'll take your word for it, I havnt looked that deep into tyres, I just normally go for preium brands. The p7's I have at the minute seem to give quite a bit of road noise. My old octavia had Avon tyres fitted when I got it which were very good with grip but I only got 10k out of the front tyres whereas the p6000's got nearer to 20k that's why I liked them.

I used to have dunlops on my laguna which were good.

Well, I'm convinced that you've not looked into tyres beyond "do I recognise the brand name?". Pirelli separate "good tyres" from "Chinese ditchfinders" in tyre test tables these days.

Dunlops I find have a high wear rate, but don't offer good grip to compensate.

[S1MON-zs]

Brilliantly!

[anewman]

Brilliantly!

Lol, is that its final resting place until the snow defrosted?

[S1MON-zs]

^ Was nearly but a phone call later and £10 my mate pulled me out in his Land Rover.

He was suprised how far i had gotten as he had seen Land Rovers struggling to get along where i fell off the side of the road!

Edited 11 October, 2011 by S1MON-zs

[richardsfavorit]

Lol at this thread! All this talk of the white stuff is going to bring it back!

I purchased four steelies and some Nokian tyres and got to work every single day last winter. Will be putting them on when (if) the cold weather arrives. I ended up being a minibus for quite a few people at work.

I think Skodas are good in the snow

[Distracted_writer]

Strange that; my cars have tyres which don't get "tired" in the snow !!

I slip now and again and use the American spelling...

[Hodgy]

Well I start work at 5am, with an 18 mile drive to get there, so today I ordered a pair of Hankook winter tyres to help make sure I get through safely should the weather be bad this winter.

Last year I had Michelin Alpin winter tyres fitted to my Mercedes Vito works van, they paid for themselves many times over getting me through trecherous snow conditions that had more able vehicles stranded

[swedishskoda]

No problems with a Felicia in snow if you use your brain... I've never even missed ABS.

In deep/loose/wet snow it makes sense to choose narrower tyres: 165/80/13 rather than 205/40/15...

What last winter was like:

[mada3030]

hhhhhhhhhhhhh you are talking about snow come and see in hot countries it makes a lot of problem to skoda felicia it makes my cry