I'm heading up to the Scottish Highlands the weekend after next and the longer range forecast is for cold & snow, are they really much better on ice and snow than your standard tyres? I can pick up a decent make for not a lot of money as they are only 165/70 R14's, looking at around £38 each on Openeo (falken) with free delivery. Never had winter tyres before -  Can they perform well enough to get me out of a snowy situation? 

 

http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-finder/car-winter-tyres-165-70-r14

Edited 21 January, 201412 yr by VRSD30

Yes. The difference is night and day. On winter tyres you can run rings around 4x4s on summers. Just don't get too complacent. They will help a lot to move, brake and steer, but nature has its limits. As long as its not too deep for the car, you shouldn't get stuck though. If you have somewhere to store your other set, then they don't really cost anything as you're not wearing out your summer tyres while they're on the car.

Thanks for that, common sense will tell you if a roads passable or not, I wouldn't try and drive down a road blocked with deep snow. I have somewhere to store my summer tyres so I can swap them again after the trip or I could leave them on for the remainder of winter and then store them over the spring/summer, until next season. 

Edited 21 January, 201412 yr by VRSD30

Keep them on all winter. They're not just for snow, you can feel the difference just in the cold and they're generally better in standing water too, due to the open tread. I keep ours on november to april, regardless of whether there is ice or snow for those reasons.

Just had a browse through some winter tyre reviews and have chosen a set of Barum Polaris 3's which seemed to get excellent consumer scores. I'll report back once they are fitted and in use.

Edited 21 January, 201412 yr by VRSD30

Yes. The difference is night and day. On winter tyres you can run rings around 4x4s on summers. Just don't get too complacent. They will help a lot to move, brake and steer, but nature has its limits. As long as its not too deep for the car, you shouldn't get stuck though. If you have somewhere to store your other set, then they don't really cost anything as you're not wearing out your summer tyres while they're on the car.

 

as said the difference is night and day. Eric has winters fitted all round as does Ambrosia     :yes:

I Have winters on my Citigo as I live in deepest darkest Leicester where. We get very little snow but all my work is on housing estates that never see the gritting lorry and they are a god send the extra grip you get when the temperature drops is brilliant.

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Do you guys with winter tyres keep the tyres on steel wheels (and just change the wheels in winter) or do you literally have to change the tyres? And do you drive with a spare winter tyre as well?

I have a set of 16" alloys for my Vrs and the CitiGo has a set of 14" steel wheels.  Both sets have winter tyres on and the Summer wheels/tyres are in the Garage

I may be teaching granny to suck eggs, but do not just fit winters to the driven wheels!

All four or not at all.

Oh, and yes is the definite answer to the OP's question. Leave them on till temperatures regularly stay above 7*C

Have a good trip.

Do you guys with winter tyres keep the tyres on steel wheels (and just change the wheels in winter) or do you literally have to change the tyres? And do you drive with a spare winter tyre as well?

 

Both our cars have separate full sets of wheels. Mine are on steels. I also have an asymmetric winter tyre on a steel spare (I have an alloy summer spare) but that is only because I had the 5th steel lying around.

Just got a quote from my local Skoda dealership who advertises winter tyre fitting and they came back to me with £84 each fitted for Evergreen rubber!! I could get Continental winter contact sport  for £51 each online and I can get them fitted for £6-£7 a corner!

Continental will be much better!

Decided to get a set of Vredestein snowtracs instead of the Barum tyres, getting them fitted next week. 

Great choice, I really rate Vredestein's Tye offering all round.

 

I have their summers on my Fabia and SWMBO has their All Season Quatracs on here Yaris.

we have winter conti's on our citigo (in OE 185/55/15 flavour!) Ash preferes them to her summer tyres... think she would run them all year round given the chance!

 

I'm considering using mine all year round but I'll have to wait to see how well they perform in various conditions. Been doing some research and it seems many folk use them all year round and if you could only choose one tyre to use all year in the UK it would be a winter one. Lets face it we get rain and plenty of it all year round! I'm sure a decent winter tyre will outperform many of the budget summer tyres available hands down. 

Edited 22 January, 201412 yr by VRSD30

indeed, our ambulance service uses them all year round, Ash's response is that they are so much better in the wet greasy conditions than her summer tyres.... 

I know some people who use them all year round. And yes, unless you have something fast and drive it like that, a winter tyre makes more sense all year round here than a summer one. Its not like we get many hot days

I need the winter tyres now, just been left with a covering of hail! 

The tyres arrived yesterday, very chunky with a fairly smart looking directional tread. Can't wait to get them fitted on Monday.

Edited 25 January, 201412 yr by VRSD30

Nice one

 

Let us know how you go with them fella

well, I'm at work tonight, and we have big snow forcast by the time I go home tomorow morning, so I'm taking ash's car to work instead of my horrible basic citigo (replacement for my vRS while its repaired) with its awful hankook eco tyres on!

 

give me the awesome conti winters

About half a much grip again even in just wet roads at 0-10 degree C.

 

Test showed about 0.25 Coefficient of friction compared to 0.17 I seem to recall.

 

In actual snow etc would be not just a fraction but a magnitude of several fold as the summer tyres gets clogged with snow.

 

Openeo best place to get them I have found.

 

Difference between have an accident and potential not 

Mine are sat in the garage at the moment, still haven't put them on yet - haven't missed them so far