I'm aware that much of this comes down to the skill of the driver rather than the car, but occasionally for work I have to drive over part of the pennines on smaller A- and B-roads. I drive an Octavia 4x4 which is on Goodyear All-Season tyres. I'm just wondering how capable the 4x4 actually is in poor conditions such as snow - is it much better than an ordinary estate of a similar size? Obviously don't expect it to be comparable to he last car I drove in snow was front wheel drive 2002 A4 Avant which wasn't bad at all but was limited by the clearance between floor and car on more countrified roads.

 

Also, is it worth investing in Snow socks etc for the car? I'm thinking if I have to try and make it home across the hills - what will give me the best chance?

6 minutes ago, alessio92 said:

I'm aware that much of this comes down to the skill of the driver rather than the car, but occasionally for work I have to drive over part of the pennines on smaller A- and B-roads. I drive an Octavia 4x4 which is on Goodyear All-Season tyres. I'm just wondering how capable the 4x4 actually is in poor conditions such as snow - is it much better than an ordinary estate of a similar size? Obviously don't expect it to be comparable to he last car I drove in snow was front wheel drive 2002 A4 Avant which wasn't bad at all but was limited by the clearance between floor and car on more countrified roads.

 

Also, is it worth investing in Snow socks etc for the car? I'm thinking if I have to try and make it home across the hills - what will give me the best chance?

 

Not sure if your tyres are original or Gen-2 all seasons

 

With 4 wheel drive and these should be able to get home, but might struggle on steeper hills (they are not full winter tyres)

 

Not sure how much snow socks will be improvement over all season tyres, might be better with some lightweight (smaller link) chains for deep snow

 

 

I would tend to agree with @SurreyJohn for your occasional use in more extreme conditions (extreme in UK terms before some jumps down my throat) your all seasons for 99% of the time will be just fine with light juty chains for the 1% of tough going you may come across. Some tyre comparison tests suggest that all seasons are the correct tyre for UK usage rather than full winters so you are already on the right tyre. 

Just out of curiosity what tyres were on that A4 you thought was good in the snow? Your 4x4 octy should be leagues better than that on all seasons. 

I have a Scout on winter tyres and in snow it only stops when ground clearance runs out and even then will still allow you to back out of the drift.

Chains are a PITA putting on and off if you needed them for just a few minutes where roads are open to cars, ploughed and gritted and passable.

Fitting in a blizzard or blizzard like conditions. then removing at the side of a road as little old ladies in their Picanto or VW UP GTI fly past.

 

Chains used on a road that is closed is just a bit silly if the Police are not moving about because they have not suitable equipped vehicles.

 

Snow Socks can stay on for many miles on snow covered roads and work well.

I have seen in 2010 & 2012  postie vans that have been using them day in and day out on rounds were the roads have never gone to black top.

 

Better just having the right tyres on in the UK IMO.

Edited 17 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

Which Goodyears? 

We've had Vector 4S' Gen-2 fitted to both a FWD Mk4 Golf and now our Mk3 Fabia and have never had any issues, including navigating some pretty bad stretches of road around the NY Moors (though I know which areas/climbs to avoid when the bad weather hits!).  With 4WD I would imagine that they should pretty much be able to cope with all but the worst Winter weather we get in the UK.  I've found ours to be just as capable as the GY Ultragrip 9 Winter tyres I've previously used. 

 

I've been using Vredestein Quatrac 5's on my 280 and they don't 'bite' as much Vector 4 Seasons when changing direction in snow but twinned with the Haldex system they feel much more surefooted and capable than a FWD car on Winter tyres, IME. 

 

 

 

 

I now have a petrol Octavia 4x4 and it copes well in snow if you drive sensibly, having said that I drove in snow with an Estelle in the mid 80s in North wales and it was brilliant with normal road tyres.

1 hour ago, Roottootemoot said:

Chains are a PITA putting on and off if you needed them for just a few minutes where roads are open to cars, ploughed and gritted and passable.

Fitting in a blizzard or blizzard like conditions. then removing at the side of a road as little old ladies in their Picanto or VW UP GTI fly past.

 

Just for clarification, I was not suggesting the use of chains as an alternative to winter rated tyres (be they all seasons or winters). I was suggesting them as a "get him out of a tricky situation" option that OP may find himself unintentionally in.

As has been discussed ad nausea in other threads here all seasons are widely regarded as the right tyre for most in the UK in particular the latest versions of all season tyre. However if anyone who doesn't wish to compromise then changing tyres summer to winter is the way to go for them. I didn't comment on snow socks, other than the very variable reviews online I know nothing about them. As I said the chains were only suggested for those once in a blue moon occasions to get OP going again in an extreme situation when perhaps only something like a Nordic winter tyre (not something many will be using in the UK) would do or loads of ground clearance or indeed those occasions when probably should have stayed at home. 

For clarification i was just posting my general comments.

 

On the Snow Chain subject, and actually the Snow Socks as well.

It is amazing how some with AWD / 4x4's / Haldex / x-drives etc do not know the manufacturers advice on where to fit if not fitting to all wheels.

Or what to do with the TC / ASR with chains on or not.

 

Funny seeing Snow Socks on the Front of rear wheel drive cars, or the rear of FWD's.

I mean where there is just a pair fitted.

 

That is not just seeing the ever green annual pic of the 1 series BMW with snow socks on the front.

Edited 17 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

We have a Octy II TDI 4x4 on Cross Climates and live on a steep hill at the edge of the Peak District near Sheffield.  We've had it since 2007 through lots of bad weather and up to 18 inches of snow and we've never been stuck or had problems getting about in it - it's been excellent in all weather and has put a lot of more expensive machinery to shame - in fact we are one of the few people who actually get out and about in the bad weather.

 

The only thing that it lacks is a bit of ground clearance but that only caused us an issue when we had 18inches of snow...

@skomaz

Was 18" on unploughed snow on the roads you drove along?

Do you have a snow plough blade on the front of you Octavia?

 

1 1/2 foot of fallen or windblown / drifted snow is not easy to drive through.

Edited 17 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

6 hours ago, Roottootemoot said:

@skomaz

Was 18" on unploughed snow on the roads you drove along?

Do you have a snow plough blade on the front of you Octavia?

 

1 1/2 foot of fallen or windblown / drifted snow is not easy to drive through.

 

 

It was fresh powdery stuff unploughed - we were first out (and ploughs didn't do the road we lived on at that time anyhow) so we were making out own furrow.  Not too far - just a few hundred yards or so onto something more compacted but it coped surprisingly well as it seemed to push it's way through dragging its belly.

 

In terms of the stuff you've shown above that's typical for round here and I've not had any problems getting about: 

 

 

I use Continental WinterContact TS850 tyres on the 2wd Octavia VRS and TS860 on my Audi A3 quattro.

 

The VRS has never let us down in thick snow up in the Scottish highlands. The A3 has been pretty good too.

 

 

4x4 and your all season tyres will get you most places, where they don't is probably better not to go there.

 

I've always found the limiting factor is other vehicles that have got stuck, once you loose momentum on steep inclines it's difficult to get going again.

 

It's icy downhill/ polished hard packet snow that I dislike, car sliding under it's own weight absolutely no control. Worst ones always seem to minor roads onto busy T's.

 

Scott

Thanks, this is all very encouraging! They are Goodyear Vector 4seasons - not sure if they're gen 2 or 3. Really appreciate all the responses (and enjoyed the pictures )

I'm only 2WD and use full winter tyres from October to April, but always carry chains and socks just in case. The socks have got me out of a couple of situations over the last couple of years:

- finding the handbrake frozen on (seems to be a 307 feature, hated that car) when last to leave a car park covered in a thick layer of ice at -6C. Winter tyres were just spinning needed the socks to get enough traction to knock the handbrake off.

- In a line of cars waiting my turn at the top of one of those icy downhill's smc998 mentions watching everyone else sliding down with no control I remembered I had the socks so got out and put them on to strange looks from the cars behind. I drove down the hill (slowly and carefully) in complete control, they just slid like all the ones in front. Cars coming up were spinning and sliding sideways too, it was one up one down, most people needed the whole road to go in either direction...

 

Never actually needed to chain up, even when my parents lived in the north of Scotland and the roads were hard packed snow for days or weeks at a time when I visited over xmas a couple of times.

20 minutes ago, Jim-octavia said:

finding the handbrake frozen on (seems to be a 307 feature, hated that car)

 

Water in the handbrake cable freezing the cable to the outer sheath.

Don't put the handbrake on or tap the handbrake lever on the caliper.

You can also run antifreeze/WD40 down the cable in warmer times to prevent it happening.

 

 

2 hours ago, alessio92 said:

not sure if they're gen 2 or 3

 

3's not made yet.

 

Thanks AG Falco

 

 

5 minutes ago, AGFalco said:

 

Water in the handbrake cable freezing the cable to the outer sheath.

Don't put the handbrake on or tap the handbrake lever on the caliper.

You can also run antifreeze/WD40 down the cable in warmer times to prevent it happening.

Maybe a bit extreme, but my solution was to scrap the hateful thing. Admittedly that was after a lot of messing around with injector blow by and oil seals and loss of confidence that it wasn't going to give me CO poisoning...

So glad I replaced it with an Octavia!

On 17/12/2019 at 12:26, Roottootemoot said:

For clarification i was just posting my general comments.

 

On the Snow Chain subject, and actually the Snow Socks as well.

It is amazing how some with AWD / 4x4's / Haldex / x-drives etc do not know the manufacturers advice on where to fit if not fitting to all wheels.

Or what to do with the TC / ASR with chains on or not.

 

Funny seeing Snow Socks on the Front of rear wheel drive cars, or the rear of FWD's.

I mean where there is just a pair fitted.

 

That is not just seeing the ever green annual pic of the 1 series BMW with snow socks on the front.

the newer model of the 1 series is FWD

 

But it is not a new one, well maybe it was 6 years ago.

Edited 18 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot

Well yes they would be doing it wrong

To be fair the biggest influence is tyres, the last big snow we had I owned a shogun, in 4wd with soft roader tyres on it wasn’t as good as my misses zaf gsi with winter tyres on.

 

 The shogun being so heavy felt very unsure on the snow, but the zafira felt like you could drive it anywhere without issue.

^^^ Exactly.  You should have got suitable tyres. 285 wide Summer Tyres are crazy even if M&S marked, and hopeless on a wet road in summer.

So many 4x4's or AWD's are running around on rubbish tyres.

  Which is why it is sad that Skodas that are called SUV's or Octavia Scout's arrive in the UK with rubbish Eco tyres.

Bridgestone Dueler are the type of rubbish that Toyota have on RAV 4's, Suzuki have fitted to Jimmny's and Vitara for decades, and Skoda fit.

Edited 19 December, 20196 yr by Roottootemoot