Hi All,

 

Looking at taking a road trip to France to see my cousin in Biarritz (before the year ends hopefully). 

 

Not driven abroad for a good few years, but what do I need to do regarding the headlights on the Superb ? In the old days you used to get stickers to put on them to redirect the beam...  

 

Mine is the L&K with xeons. 

 

TIA,

John

In the car menu, go to settings and then lights / lighting. There will be an option to switch to "right hand traffic" or similar

1 hour ago, Patent said:

In the car menu, go to settings and then lights / lighting. There will be an option to switch to "right hand traffic" or similar

Many thanks.. Just been out to the car and seen the setting

Remember you now need to display a UK sticker rather than GB

If you're used to travelling with a European Health Insurance Card, it's no longer valid. You need a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). Apply online and allow yourself plenty of time.

In some parts of France it is now compulsory to have winter tyres from 1st November to 31st March.   I think this is first year it applies.   It covers 48 of the 96 mainland Departments.

 

The Pyrenees-Atlantic (where Biarritz is), is a winter tyre area

 

Of course, not a great idea to drive on summer tyres in UK November-March either, but winter rated tyres are not mandatory in UK

 

 

Edited 15 November, 20214 yr by SurreyJohn

1 hour ago, freelunch said:

If you're used to travelling with a European Health Insurance Card, it's no longer valid. You need a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). Apply online and allow yourself plenty of time.

I was looking at this recently due to a family member going to France. I was surprised to find on the NHS website that EHICs are still valid until expiry. Might be useful info for those who have a card still with a good length of time left until expiry. 

1 hour ago, SurreyJohn said:

In some parts of France it is now compulsory to have winter tyres from 1st November to 31st March.   I think this is first year it applies.   It covers 48 of the 96 mainland Departments.

 

The Pyrenees-Atlantic (where Biarritz is), is a winter tyre area

 

Of course, not a great idea to drive on summer tyres in UK November-March either, but winter rated tyres are not mandatory in UK

 

 

Only on certain roads where it is indicated, whilst the legislation does list 48 departements where it could be applied to individual roads many of them have not implemented it anywhere.

That might be true, but as France is inclined to inflict as much pain on the UK post-Brexit as they can, I prefer to take the least line of resistance. I still carry two breathalysers even though they are not supposed to be a requirement anymore. 

 

I was stopped in a road trap before Brexit. They went through me with a fine-toothed comb. I was very fortunate to have 0% alcohol on my breath after a long lunch.

 

I didn't even vote for Brexit!

Don’t forget your Crit’air sticker usually only big city’s require them Paris , Lyon to name a few order here 

https://www.vignetteshop.co.uk/emissions-stickers/crit-air-france?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgt7KqqWb9AIVkd_tCh0O5gNtEAAYASAAEgLprfD_BwE

 

Edited 15 November, 20214 yr by patrolman

7 hours ago, jstallan said:

Hi All,

 

Looking at taking a road trip to France to see my cousin in Biarritz (before the year ends hopefully). 

 

Not driven abroad for a good few years, but what do I need to do regarding the headlights on the Superb ? In the old days you used to get stickers to put on them to redirect the beam...  

 

Mine is the L&K with xeons. 

 

TIA,

John

 

Given u have Bi-xenons and a Columbus Navigation unit - u don't need to do anything - the car will automatically switch the headlight beam pattern, based on ur GPS location, once u've reached France.

10 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

In some parts of France it is now compulsory to have winter tyres from 1st November to 31st March.   I think this is first year it applies.   It covers 48 of the 96 mainland Departments.

 

The Pyrenees-Atlantic (where Biarritz is), is a winter tyre area

 

Of course, not a great idea to drive on summer tyres in UK November-March either, but winter rated tyres are not mandatory in UK

 

 

There is a certain amount of leniency this year, apparently.

However, you do not need winter tyres to conform with the law. A set of chains, or socks (homologated if possible) are enough.

 

 

 Not required unless you are going to be driving on prescribed roads at prescribed times, ski-ers might want to check the situation but usually chains.socks are only required to drive higher than the ski stations or if there is exceptional snowfall that hasn't been cleared, most ski-ers would be equipped anyway.

 

And as for the Brexit BS...............................

16 hours ago, CageyH said:

However, you do not need winter tyres to conform with the law. A set of chains, or socks (homologated if possible) are enough.

That's right. Only "if possible" may need to be deleted.

This law has been around for decades in France, at the bottom of any ski mountains will be a warning sign saying pneus de neige (snow tyres (with correct marking only)) and probably a little modifier sign below with chaines permis (chains ok) FR spelling might be wrong. Note that chains might still be needed with snow tyres too if it gets icy.

Certainly the 3 Valleys and Paradiski says chains are OK but Chamonix is/was proper full on snow tyres when I was there.

But as long as you do not pass the sign you are legal on ordinary tyres (but leave big gaps as summer tyres are scary in the cold), never go beyond the aire de chainage if the signs are out (usually from miles away on the overhead signs, locally at the biggest chain lay-by), going on without chains will get you stuck on just summer tyres (even with 4x4) and so you'll get a big fine, a towing fee and probably your car dumped in a random field in the furthest part of the valley - it's called the english field[1], other nationalities don't generally take the micky. If lots of cars are abandoned they end up in the same field but no recovery charges usually.

 

Don't worry about putting chains on as it's just the same as when you tested fitting them on the drive [2] take a pair of marigolds too.

Oh and most snow socks wear fast on half covered roads, and are just crap on ice.

 

[1] all 4 UK nations and Eire

[2] you must try them as you need to know they fit [3]

[3] hire cars from Geneva are bad for wrong sizes!!

6 hours ago, NJRJ said:

This law has been around for decades in France, at the bottom of any ski mountains will be a warning sign saying pneus de neige (snow tyres (with correct marking only)) and probably a little modifier sign below with chaines permis (chains ok) FR spelling might be wrong. Note that chains might still be needed with snow tyres too if it gets icy.

Certainly the 3 Valleys and Paradiski says chains are OK but Chamonix is/was proper full on snow tyres when I was there.

But as long as you do not pass the sign you are legal on ordinary tyres (but leave big gaps as summer tyres are scary in the cold), never go beyond the aire de chainage if the signs are out (usually from miles away on the overhead signs, locally at the biggest chain lay-by), going on without chains will get you stuck on just summer tyres (even with 4x4) and so you'll get a big fine, a towing fee and probably your car dumped in a random field in the furthest part of the valley - it's called the english field[1], other nationalities don't generally take the micky. If lots of cars are abandoned they end up in the same field but no recovery charges usually.

 

Don't worry about putting chains on as it's just the same as when you tested fitting them on the drive [2] take a pair of marigolds too.

Oh and most snow socks wear fast on half covered roads, and are just crap on ice.

 

[1] all 4 UK nations and Eire

[2] you must try them as you need to know they fit [3]

[3] hire cars from Geneva are bad for wrong sizes!!

The law has been around for a long time, but now it is being rolled out in 48 departments. Areas I go frequently are now affected, where it never used to be applicable.

 

There is a map of the areas here.

 

As I live in dept. 31, and have family in departments 12 & 15, it looks like I am going to need to invest in winter wheels and tyres. There is hardly ever any snow in Toulouse, and when there is, it is gone by lunchtime.

Edited 17 November, 20214 yr by CageyH

On 17/11/2021 at 06:44, CageyH said:

The law has been around for a long time, but now it is being rolled out in 48 departments. Areas I go frequently are now affected, where it never used to be applicable.

 

There is a map of the areas here.

 

As I live in dept. 31, and have family in departments 12 & 15, it looks like I am going to need to invest in winter wheels and tyres. There is hardly ever any snow in Toulouse, and when there is, it is gone by lunchtime.

Well that's a tyre sellers take on the law and I think it says chains are OK anyway?

Chains are fine. As stated earlier, you only need them in certain areas, indicated by the sign posts.

I don't even bother responding now when it appears that someone is actively looking for hoops to jump through and money to spend, never mind that they are ill advised it seems to make them happy and those who stand to benefit can rub their hands together. UK and Critair stickers spring to mind.

 

Its important though that the wrong message is not imparted to others who may think they have no choice.

Was that aimed at me?

I assume that the lack of response means it was, so to be clear I am unable to fit snow chains or socks on my car as I have 235/40/R19 tyres. The only wheel and tyre combination that you can fit chains or socks on use a 17” wheel. That means I have to either change tyres on my wheels and fit winter tyres. The existing have done just  over 12,000 km, or spend €400 on snow chains for “unchainable” cars, or spend a bit more on a set of wheels and tyres for winter. There is of course another option, which is to do nothing and risk getting  stuck in the snow.

On 18/11/2021 at 14:32, CageyH said:

Was that aimed at me?

 

Absolutely not

3 hours ago, CageyH said:

I am unable to fit snow chains or socks on my car as I have 235/40/R19 tyres. The only wheel and tyre combination that you can fit chains or socks on use a 17” wheel. That means I have to either change tyres on my wheels and fit winter tyres.

 

 

The only reason you can't fit chains is a lack of inner clearance so they might hit various suspension components.

 

Take a look at the Konig K-Summit chains K34 as they will fit 235/40 R19's and don't need any inner clearance

 

There might be some other brands that offer something similar too...

 

@CageyH Did you have a look to Michelin Easygrip Snow chains? They can often suit to so called "not chainable" cars. As @langers2k said, it's an inner clearance story.

Give a call to Michelin Customer support center, they'll tell you if it can fit. I had the same problem with a Mk2 Audi A3 years ago. It was OK. It's really efficient and much more affordable (~80-100€ for a set).

4 hours ago, Bap33 said:

@CageyH Did you have a look to Michelin Easygrip Snow chains? They can often suit to so called "not chainable" cars. As @langers2k said, it's an inner clearance story.

Give a call to Michelin Customer support center, they'll tell you if it can fit. I had the same problem with a Mk2 Audi A3 years ago. It was OK. It's really efficient and much more affordable (~80-100€ for a set).

When I looked on the Michelin site to find out what would fit, I started with Easy Grip, as I had a set for my BMW.

The only problem is that they don’t do a set for 235/40/R19