Winters on today after they'd been stored for me by Sinclair Skoda over the summer.

Winter Continentals on the standard 17" alloys - and the first, and only, really, thing I noticed on the 46 mile journey back over the hills was that there was an awful lot more water deposited on the back glass than the Summers had left there on the way down. The weather was identical with odd smirrs of rain, and pretty damp road surfaces.

I reckon that they're doing their stuff!! Oh - and for the first time in days the temperature rose above the magic 7 degrees - typical!!

Best bit about the day, however, was that fact that the garage had managed to remove the ploughed field from the sides, the back, the wheel-arches and inside the door-sills. My Yeti is aqua blue. I'd forgotten.

sk4gw,

I was told the reason for "give way to vehicles coming up hills" went back to horse drawn vehicles. To restart a horse on a hill is not easy. :wonder:

Fred

That is a good reason. (I give way to horses where ever they are anyway, so that will be the same on a hill,

never actually meet one on hills while in a car, & for vehicles i will stick to Vehicle coming down getting the right of way.

RE

Horses doing Hill Starts,

I think i might know something related to that,

or i remember from the stories when i was a child.

In the Villages i mentioned Gamrie (Gardenstown) Crovie & Pennan (The Village in Local Hero with the Red Phone box)

my Grand Father & my fathers brothers where Carters & Hauliers.

My father was the youngest of 12.

They delivered coal. (among other things, Ice, Fish, Nets, Boats, engines , winches, Building materials,etc.

Transported by Lorry from Macduff or Fraserburgh Harbour, or the train station to the Villages.

In my fathers young days he helped,thats around the mid 30's, the coal & lots of other stuff was still delivered by Horse & Cart down the hills then if the weather or load required..

The unusual thing was,

The coal was taken from the Lorry at the top of the village & put onto the cart, which was drawn by 3 horses kept in a field at the top of each village.

The horses to take the cart down hill were 1 or 2 behind the cart holding it back & the 1 or 2 in front as required.

That was to control the weight of a full coal load going down the brae.

The men walked & lead the horses & the cart stayed on the brae/wide road, the pends and lanes lead off to the houses and the coal was carried in.

They hard work for the horses was going down with full carts, even tho they got lighter as they went,

the families hard work was moving the coal, bagging, loading the lorry, transfering to the carts, then delivering to the bunkers.

The cart coming up was empty apart from bringing up Fish Boxes, nets etc

If the cart had full boxes, there were 3 horses as required to pull the cart up.

In the much earlier days they took the Barrels of fish up the hills, & transported that.

Many more horses were kept up the top fields in those days.

If stuff was going to the Harbour or Shore road it could go by boat,

if it was going up the brae, it was taken to the top and taken down, half way or whatever.

I would imagine it was not just like this in the Banffshire Coastal villages, it would have been common practice around the coast where the villages are all on a hill or at the foot of cliffs,

but it is not something i have ever really looked into.

I must really do some research into it now as its a long time since i was told it all and none of my uncles are still alive and their sisters, my aunties did not actually know much about what the men did.

Only 1 still alive and i asked her a while ago while at a funeral, and it was news to her!!

My Mum moved there during WW2, & she only remembers lorries & the Rag & Bone Mans horse and cart

in that area, but plenty of milkman & draught horses in Edinburgh..

george.

Had my winter wheels and tyres on for 2 weeks now - 4 degrees this morning. Tyres are Nokian D3's, seem to drive/handle/corner just like summer my Continental Conti 2's but I think they are a little 'rumblier' over some road surfaces. Anyone else noticed a change in road noise with winters?

have this with the Hankooks, some surfaces there better than the summer Conti's for noise but gravel rash'd surfaces yes there is a rumble.

TP

The deed is done. Just ordered Anzio Waves and Uniroyals from http://www.tyremen.co.uk....£695 fitted to rims, balanced and delivered

Seemed very helpful .... time will tell....spanners and jacks out on Wednesday

I went for 215/60/16.

I did try for Hankooks but no stock

Courier dropped the wheels off at 2.00 and new wheels on by 3.30

No report on how they feel as I've only done the fifteen feet back into the garage!

.....and before anyone comments....I've left the wheel nut covers off to give it some of that utilitarian look.... :giggle: :giggle:

.........and to save time when I check the torque in a couple of days

They look nice, if you get chance a pic fitted would be good.

Regards,

TP

TP........... I've put some thumbnails on

TP........... I've put some thumbnails on

Many thanks

Look just as good if not better on the SM; perfect winter choice.

TP

Many thanks

Look just as good if not better on the SM; perfect winter choice.

TP

+1 I'll add these options to my short list.

The deed is done. Just ordered Anzio Waves and Uniroyals from http://www.tyremen.co.uk....£695 fitted to rims, balanced and delivered

Seemed very helpful .... time will tell....spanners and jacks out on Wednesday

I went for 215/60/16.

I did try for Hankooks but no stock

Courier dropped the wheels off at 2.00 and new wheels on by 3.30

No report on how they feel as I've only done the fifteen feet back into the garage!

.....and before anyone comments....I've left the wheel nut covers off to give it some of that utilitarian look.... :giggle: :giggle:

.........and to save time when I check the torque in a couple of days

Those Anzio Waves are a good match for the Moons - excellent choice. I went for MSW 22s to match Spitzbergs, though I don't think the look is as close as yours. The price was almost the same too, at £685 all in.

Those Anzio Waves are a good match for the Moons - excellent choice. I went for MSW 22s to match Spitzbergs, though I don't think the look is as close as yours. The price was almost the same too, at £685 all in.

Also already on my short list Looks like a decision between MSW 22 (as I know they clear the larger brakes on the 170 TDi) and the Waves. Oh then got to decide on the boots.

Also already on my short list Looks like a decision between MSW 22 (as I know they clear the larger brakes on the 170 TDi) and the Waves. Oh then got to decide on the boots.

Regarding boots I went for 205/55/16s principally because I wanted Nokian WR A3s and they aren't available in 215/60/16 - it would have to be the directional WR D3s. Given that I'm already running non-standard alloys I could have gone for A3s in a slightly different size like a 225/55/16 (< 0.5% difference in rolling circumference over the OEM 225/50/17s) but wanted a slightly narrower profile for when/if the snow comes.

Regarding boots I went for 205/55/16s principally because I wanted Nokian WR A3s and they aren't available in 215/60/16 - it would have to be the directional WR D3s. Given that I'm already running non-standard alloys I could have gone for A3s in a slightly different size like a 225/55/16 (< 0.5% difference in rolling circumference over the OEM 225/50/17s) but wanted a slightly narrower profile for when/if the snow comes.

Good point, my short list just got a tad longer... Decisions decisions.. time to ponder.

And Yokohama - V rated.

To Truthseeker - Need winter tyres? Maybe not. Ought to have winter tyres? Up to you. Do a 'risk assesment' based on where you live, likely weather, need to drive etc.

End of the day - up to you.

Sent from my Xperia S using TapaTalk 2

And Yokohama - V rated.

To Truthseeker - Need winter tyres? Maybe not. Ought to have winter tyres? Up to you. Do a 'risk assesment' based on where you live, likely weather, need to drive etc.

End of the day - up to you.

Sent from my Xperia S using TapaTalk 2

Polite reply - the reason I don't need or require them, is that I am retired and if I need to travel in bad weather (snow/ice), I use public transport (bus), which by luck stops right outside my house. However, if I needed to use my car everyday like some, then I would probably fit them (but on a spare set of alloys not steelies). As my old boss used to say - "never assume always confirm"

I think there's a potential misapprehension issue here?

Cold weather tyres are designed for conditions when the average temperature drops to 7 dec C. They are not snow or ice tyres-which are an entirely different concept.

The advantage of cold weather tyres is in their ability to provide considerably better braking and water dispersion. They are therefore considerably safer.

ETTO

Polite reply - the reason I don't need or require them, is that I am retired and if I need to travel in bad weather (snow/ice), I use public transport (bus), which by luck stops right outside my house. However, if I needed to use my car everyday like some, then I would probably fit them (but on a spare set of alloys not steelies). As my old boss used to say - "never assume always confirm"

Absolutely right, both bahnstormer vrs and truthspeaker. The winter tyre decision is very much down to personal circumstances and needs. For me the great thing about this forum is that it gives information and opinion to help the individual make the choice.

I think there's a potential misapprehension issue here?

Cold weather tyres are designed for conditions when the average temperature drops to 7 dec C. They are not snow or ice tyres-which are an entirely different concept.

The advantage of cold weather tyres is in their ability to provide considerably better braking and water dispersion. They are therefore considerably safer.

ETTO

So do we need 3 sets of tyres now - summer, cold weather and snow/ice - just asking?

So do we need 3 sets of tyres now - summer, cold weather and snow/ice - just asking?

No, winter tyres supplied in the UK are designed for the cold weather plus snow/ice generally encountered here and western Europe. However in countries such as Norway where conditions get a lot worse, then you can get more specialist tyres for those conditions, for example studded tyres.

Regards,

TP

No, winter tyres supplied in the UK are designed for the cold weather plus snow/ice generally encountered here and western Europe. However in countries such as Norway where conditions get a lot worse, then you can get more specialist tyres for those conditions, for example studded tyres.

Regards,

TP

Many thanks - very informative (and polite) as usual TP.

I think there's a potential misapprehension issue here?

Cold weather tyres are designed for conditions when the average temperature drops to 7 dec C. They are not snow or ice tyres-which are an entirely different concept.

They do, though, also provide vastly more grip on snow than do summer tyres. Not as much, I imagine, as full-on dedicated snow/ice tyres with studs, but from experience a winter tyre on snow is a much happier thing than a summer tyre on snow, and there are plenty of videos demonstrating this.

Just to steer away from the tyre bit for a moment, I have seen some VW Passat wheels in the local scrap yard, they are 16" but apart from that I don't know anymore info, will these fit my 170TDi Yeti? I can then look for winter rubber, wheels are £20 each.

Apart from the concern that they may have been curbed and don't run true, then they will need to fit the following dimensions.

There should be 5 studs @112 mm centres, the hole in the middle must be 57mm and the offset (ET) should be 45, wheel width should be 6.5J or 7J

For all the gory detail check out "The Plumbers" guide on wheels and tyres here

Just to steer away from the tyre bit for a moment, I have seen some VW Passat wheels in the local scrap yard, they are 16" but apart from that I don't know anymore info, will these fit my 170TDi Yeti? I can then look for winter rubber, wheels are £20 each.

Passats from '97 onwards use the same 5x112 PCD and 57.1mm centre bore for wheels. Most places seem to list the offset as 35-45 (as they do for Skoda) so they should fit.

Thanks Gents, I will go tomorrow and see if they are still there, can try them on first before I buy them.