Any thoughts about what DCC setting is safest for driving through the forecast sleet/snow on the M62 next Thursday morning. Normal or Sport?

 

Tyres being changed tomorrow, moving the 5mm tread P7 pirellis to the front and fitting new Goodyear 4seasons G3 on the rear axle.

DCC can impact how fluid or immediate your steering and suspension would react in terms of comfort not sure of stability. I always drive in Comfort and I like both soft suspension and variable steering effort based on speed. I live in a town at 700m altitude and 4 winter tyres are a must for me.

11 hours ago, xman said:

Any thoughts about what DCC setting is safest for driving through the forecast sleet/snow on the M62 next Thursday morning. Normal or Sport?

 

Tyres being changed tomorrow, moving the 5mm tread P7 pirellis to the front and fitting new Goodyear 4seasons G3 on the rear axle.

Just a thought, but wouldn't putting your new all seasons on the front be a better option for steering control and traction on a front wheel drive car, rather than a set of part worn summer tyres?  You can always change back when the cold weather has gone, just remember the 'Beast from the East' didn't start until 22nd Feb 2018, so a few days to go until we reach that miletone !

I thought they were worried about the rear losing grip. While I have always had winter tyres fitted on all wheels I know of people using winter ones on the front axle only.

Take a look on tyrereviews youtube channel.  The safest way is to have the more grippy tyres on the rear.  It's definitely counterintuitive but when you start to look at the physics and when you want the most grip (emergency reactions) havnig more grip at the rear help keep the car stable.  If you have more grip at the front then the rear will break free more readily and cause wild oversteer.

Drive to the conditions and set the tyre pressures and car settings to what feels right at the time, and watch for those around you that might not and have not a clue.

The handling and reactions you and your vehicle might just mean you can avoid them when they get it wrong. 

 

PS

Good luck those that think better tyres on the rear of a FWD will help if the front / drive / brake or not brake / steer wheels lose traction and you control to get the rear back into line. 

Get on out and about practising & feeling if you have over steer or under steer & see how your FWD Scandinavian Flick is.

This is about driving roads with others about and cambered roads, not some Tyre Reviewer out on a Ice / Snow track ot Track and going for the apex but not able to stay in their own lane or side of the road. 

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by Rooted

@Rooted I usually value your knowledge and I would have hoped you would see through my comments above. 

 

In all cases I would avoid fitting mixed tyres to a vehicle.  I would actually follow your past advice in fitting good summer tyres all round instead of mixed. 

 

In this instance the OP had commented in a previous thread that he didn't wish to get in a discussion on the mixed tyre topic so I left it.  In this thread people asked the question so I gave the industry standard response.  There are even tyre fitters out there who will not fit less worn tyres to the front.  Make of that what you will.

I can’t imagine climbing the paved, shady, snowy and icy streets to my extended family’s house with my FWDs with summer in the front and all seasons in the rear. Even the fitters would look to put the less worn ones in the front of the FWD’s to balance the wear.

5 minutes ago, naster said:

I can’t imagine climbing the paved, shady, snowy and icy streets to my extended family’s house with my FWDs with summer in the front and all seasons in the rear. Even the fitters would look to put the less worn ones in the front of the FWD’s to balance the wear.

 

So put all seasons on each wheel.  If it's not clear yet, I'm not a fan of mixed tyres.  If you can afford to have a pair of wheels/tyres for the colder months you can probably afford the full set.

@MarkyG82 For about 30 years or more i have at times put better Winter, Snow, All Weather / All Season tyres on the front maybe from around October if going places where the weather / roads might be poor for a few hours, ice / snow but it is not proper winter.

2 Tyre on the Front, a pair in the boot and a trolley jack and if i needed the 4 on i can.  Or the 2 can get changed because it is cracking weather until proper winter comes. 

 

Beast from the East is nothing like a bit of a blow from the South on Wednesday / Thursday.

 

March 2013 it was 23*oC across the Cairngorms and the next morning it was minus 3 *oC and deep snow and on went a pair of Snow tyres on the front and the All Seasons were on the rear still. 

 

(Tomorrow a set of 4 Maxxis AP3 on 16" Rims going on the MINI instead of the Vredsein Quatrac PRO on 17".   Horses for Courses, heading to the Borders.)

Hopefully the sidewalls are better than they were on the Maxxis AP 2 i had on the Fabia.) Good on snow though.

 

The Vredstein have been good in the very wet but will not hack it on proper snow where not ploughed or gritted.

 

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by Rooted

1 hour ago, naster said:

While I have always had winter tyres fitted on all wheels

I was speaking theoretically from the OP’s standpoint - they got 2 all seasons and 2 summer tyres.

21 minutes ago, MarkyG82 said:

I'm not a fan of mixed tyres

Me neither as shown above. My 2 other cars are FWD and have full sets of winter and summer tyres each. Our weather here has mid-30’s in the summer and as low as -20’C in the winter. We had 3-4 inches of snow in mid December.

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by naster

Well in the end I didn't have a choice. Pleasant and efficient guy from tyresonthedrive (Halfords) wouldn't do the tyre rotation even if I paid as they don't have the time allocated for the job. Didn't see but maybe there was an option somewhere but only at time of booking.

 

So all seasons on the front and 50% worn P7 on the back for now. I may change them over sometime in the spring or summer so I can get the P7's finally worn out and changed for all seasons. By my calculations that would be in about 25,000 miles time.

 

Thursday, son is driving to Man airport over the M62, forecast sleet/snow.

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by xman

Regarding DCC, VW USA recommends using Comfort setting as this make throttle response less sharp.

 

Think I'll leave it in Normal as comfort tends to wallow and handle like a barge. Sport is a lot firmer, too firm at times.

 

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by xman

The tyre fitter did say the majority of customers fitting all seasons like me, fit them on the front, for the grip. Presumably fwd.

Some vehicles / models rear tyres are horrible if put on the front after a while on the rear and having taken a set. (Shape)

 

That can be noticeable even when people rotate wheels, or move them rear to front annually / at services.

Some are best left where they are until binned as once moved to the front they can have the driver thinking of getting them changed. 

5 hours ago, xman said:

Regarding DCC, VW USA recommends using Comfort setting as this make throttle response less sharp.

 

Think I'll leave it in Normal as comfort tends to wallow and handle like a barge. Sport is a lot firmer, too firm at times.

 

Then, why not using 'Individual mode' with everything set on 'Normal' but the engine and/or gearbox (sorry, I can't remember exactly, what can be tuned) on 'ECO' or so ?...

 

5 hours ago, xman said:

[...]

So all seasons on the front and 50% worn P7 on the back for now. I may change them over sometime in the spring or summer so I can get the P7's finally worn out and changed for all seasons. By my calculations that would be in about 25,000 miles time.

[...]

Your front all-seasons may be worn out before your P7 on the back... Especially with a FWD. 

It's already the case on my 4x4.

Edited 6 February, 20242 yr by Bap33

8 hours ago, naster said:

I can’t imagine climbing the paved, shady, snowy and icy streets to my extended family’s house with my FWDs with summer in the front and all seasons in the rear. Even the fitters would look to put the less worn ones in the front of the FWD’s to balance the wear.

Climbing hills is the easy bit, worst case is that you get stuck with spinning wheels. The big problem with winter on the front and summer on the back is when going downhill. You get to a curve, gently steer round, and if the front is grippier than the back you'll likely swap ends and possibly go over the edge. I spent 30 years living in the French Alps, always kept a full set of 4 wheels+tyres to fit in winter. The standard advice from the tyre suppliers was always winter tyres on all 4 wheels. In those regions where winter tyres are now mandatory from November to March (most French alpine departments) you legally require 4 winter tyres or, in an emergency, chains on the driving wheels.

 

I think this discussion has gone on enough.

 

I don't think a bit of sleet once or twice a year is going to warrant a set of winter tyres and the hassle/expense of swapping/storing/extra rims. As I pointed out my initial plan was to put all seasons on the back but the fitter couldn't oblige. So it is what it is.

 

I know oversteer can be difficult to for novices who panic, don't  have clue what to do or over compensate. I am not a novice, having driven across Europe a number of times on packed snow/ice in minus 21C temps on standard summer tyres over a few decades.

 

I'm simply not going to bin 2 perfectly good tyres which have been no problem over 5 years driven in much worse winter episodes than we are likely to see this year. In time the car will have all seasons all round, but thats going to take some time given the exceptional  longevity of the OE P7 tyres.

Can’t disagree with that. The rears on our original P7 still had 4mm after 37k and 3mm on the fronts. Changed them in Dec 23 for Conti AllSeason as we were travelling to Donegal that Christmas. Really fantastic grip in the slushy and icy conditions there and, as a massive bonus, a HUGE reduction of tyre roar in the cabin! The P7’s were even noisier on the 280 than the Kelly Springfield tyres were, which I had on my ‘71 Cooper S; I think they were probably made of coal! 😊

New tyres on my MINI today and very happy with the difference in ride with the Maxxis & smaller rims.

 

Edited 7 February, 20242 yr by Rooted

Cross climate 2?  Using them in place of full winter (UK spec)?