Car magazine winter tyre test, all season tyre looked the best option - any views?

[Robson Valley]

That's really nice that you get to decide what you think is a good winter tire.
You can base your choice on the information in car magazines.

The law (Transport Canada) sets the standard here.
Genuine winter tires are required here so pick your brand with mountain and snowflake logos in the side walls.

Our winter highway conditions change abruptly between sunlit sections and shade.
Are you always mentally ready for that? Ready for drop-offs of 100' or more?
Are you prepared for several moose or several deer to jump out onto the highway?

I know we are talking about two different places. Good tires can make up for some lack of awareness
and inexperience. You live long enough to gain the experience.

 

[Paul_B]

British, or more precisely non- hilly area English, conditions (sorry, I'm in England and a low level area too) are totally different to even a lot of Europe let alone Canada. So much so that the stories of my American grandfather about bad winters in Escanaba area meant digging your way out of your house seemed made up. A different world! Well until I met a guy who lived down a long dead end road near Bridge of Orchy who was buried for at least 2 weeks the previous winter.

All our Polish work colleagues put on winter tyres for October. Of course they drive home for winter and holidays so they have to comply with the similar law Canada has for winter tyres. IIRC most of more northern, central and Eastern Europe now requires it.

Back in England there's no law and it's choice. Not many in our neck of the woods use them. Indeed once you'd have to get them on a special order with your garage / tyre place and it would take some time to come. When I was younger (a lot younger) winters seemed like proper British winters with snow lasting at least a week or two. Back then there was a trend to use all season tyres but they weren't supposed to be good. I suspect it's created doubt that they can actually be worth getting in many who remember those old versions. That's a vague memory as I was a kid at the time.

BTW tongue in cheek a bit, but a bad winter here is two weeks with snow on the footpaths. We're talking about 1cm depth too. Fortunately I live 100m down a side road that leads onto a main bus route that gets cleared straight after motorways and trunk roads. It's rare snow stops is driving out.

Any special tyres would really be about low but above zero temperature conditions and probably wet. Ice risk is always there but as I said most places I drive are well gritted. It's only if I leave Lancashire and pass onto Cumbria that you might have issues. Less money in Cumbria council and worse area to keep clear so often they don't.

For me any change to tyres would be about a better cold, wet drive and the odd snow patch in car parks or similar. The odd year I'll be driving through slush too. I think I'll try the all season in that magazine. There's been some positive comments from people who have used them.

 

[Robson Valley]

Paul_B: Thanks for the lucid explanation. All season tires ought to suit your conditions better than what I need to use.

As a little kid, I lived in Fargo, North Dakota in the Great Plains. We had a kitchen window which could be taken
out from inside the house. After the drifting with a 3 day blizzard, Dad used it to get out to shovel the drifts away from the doors.

There is a fur trapper and his good woman who live in a very tidy and cozy camp, away back up a side mountain valley.
I won't point out the trail to their place. They have a regular looking house door in the roof. For good reason.

Wet ice is an issue everywhere. If the weather warms up, the village makes very effective use of a salt brine.
I used to clear my concrete walkways but all they did was ice over.
Volcanic pumice grit is great but so much gets tracked into the house.
Now, I shovel a trail from my front door, straight across the yard to the street.
Then we get 40" over night and I wonder why I bother!

 

[Paul_B]

Even in Britain there's a few hilly areas that get snow. I once met a guy who lived near Bridge of Orchy. The winter before our summer holiday up there he'd been stuck up there for over 2 weeks. Some of that time he couldn't get out of the house. His great big 4x4 pickup (think big American style truck) was no use at all. Eventually he dug himself out and his truck to get supplies.

As for my grandad stories about lighting a fire under the car to stop liquids freezing. Plus draining fluids. I think it was paraffin heaters. He had one for the UK too. A small round disk that you lit to create a bit of heat.

His stories of America were really interesting. He's from a logging family and the tales from his childhood of bunking off school and going to the logging camps with his dad and uncles. Stories of how his uncle died and his dad's reaction on seeing his brother. Basically their places of work were so far from medical treatment that a simple kick back was a real killer. It's all so different from his life in the UK. We had no understanding of what it was like over there.

 

[Janne]

Draining fluids? Sounds like it was not customary to put alcohol in the washer liquid container?

It the old days they had engine oils for summer use and then oils for winter oils. A summer grade oil becomes treacle around 0C and colder.
Today we are lucky. Multigrade synthetic oils are fantastic.



In Scandinavia we use a special engine heater on a timer. Looks like an aquarium heater installed in the engine block.
It not only makes it easier to start the car ( engine oils are pretty runny anyway) but gives you a nice heat in the coupe quicker. And lessens the engine wear and fuel consumtion.

I had those engine heaters installed on all the cars I owned in UK. Except the Defenders. Just removed the lead before I sold them, not to confuse the new owner.

 

[Robson Valley]

I'd like to run the whole year on a single set of tires.
Decades ago, I did. All season and I was never out of town in the winter.
Now, I'm out on the highways (both 16 and now 97 as well) and the law defines what I run on in winter.

 

[Duggie Bravo]

I used to use BFG A/T on my disco all year round, never had any trouble, but suspect they would look a bit daft on a normal road car.

There was a really good video on YouTube that compared Summer and Winter tyres on Ford Kuga, both 2WD and 4WD versions.

They drive up an indoor ski slope. Winter tyres whilst the 4WD got further it slid back down the hill, both cars on Winter tyres got further, with 4WD it got to the top.

Worth a watch.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Dave Budd]

personally I think that Britain needs too follow the other countries who enforce winter tyre use. Or at least insurance companies offer discounts for those sensible enough to use them

It's not just the foot thick snow that stops vehicles moving around, it's the thin layer of ice on the road first thing in the morning because it's been wet and was a bit nippy over night. That has probably led to more cars in hedges and low speed bumps than anything. Then there is slush from either melted snow or just mud and road slat is amazingly slippery! That lot lasts from about November until March for most of the country and at least more mornings than actual snow

Granted I live in a pretty rural area (edge of Dartmoor), so I probably see more need for them than those in the suburbs of Surrey. The main roads are gritted, but I have to drive about 1/2 a mile before I get to one of those and the roads are winding and sloping before I get there, even that main road is still a couple of miles away from the nearest road of any size.

 

[Robson Valley]

All you have to do is disturb snow. Don't ignore this.
The edges of the snowflakes will melt and freeze again when the snow stops moving.
At my place, it sets up in 30 minutes or less. You must remember this.
Driving on dry, fresh, cold snow creates that compression and temporary melting.

This is what kills people in avalanches= 2m powder snow slab becomes concrete in minutes when the slide stops.
The victims cannot dig through it to escape. But the wolves will persist so body recovery has got to be done ASAP
when conditions are safe to do so.

 

[Tony]

Cost is the main issue and also the unpredictability of the weather, who knows if we're going to get snow or even much rain each winter, it's not as predictable as it used to be making it harder to put on faster wearing tyres for no good reason.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely see the benefit of them in the snow and frosty weather, around here though I'd be putting them on and by the time I finished the snow would be all gone and the sun shining.
But I do keep my eye out for a cheap set!

 

[Dave Budd]

Tony, did you just say who knows if we will get much rain? You live in Wale man, you should know that rain is almost all we blooming get from october to march!!!!

your tyres are probably expensive, but most of us don't drive monster trucks

 

[EdS]

Nokian WR D4

A rated for wet grip....better than many summer tyres.

I normal run winter tyres through out the year as they are better on the rough tracks and muddy country lanes.

Only reason haven't this year is i got a new car.

As for wear, very little difference in mileage life £ for £.

Mind you I get through 2 set no matter what due to mileage. About 20000 so far this year, mostly country lanes and B roads

 

[Robson Valley]

Do you see "All-Season" tires in addition to summer tires? With just occassional snow and lots of rain, I'd run them all year.
Either Cooper or Hankook, Michelin might make some as well.
More noise with the block tread but they cut water better than a true summer .
They won't over flex and overheat in the dry like an alpine tire can ( 3-peak mountain symbol + the snowflake).
By law, we have to run real "winter/alpine" grade tires (all 4) October 01 - March 31 (April 30 up here).

 

[Paul_B]

All season tyres all year round I reckon.

 

[Janne]

Tyre longevity depends a lot on correct tyre pressure and gentle driving.

I was taught to go for a tyre pressure towards what the car manufacturer recommends for a loaded car.

On my C classe I run the front on 36 psi and the back on 39 psi, (cold 35C).
Manufacturer recommended tyres.

Back in Paleotimes in Sweden I was crazy, I ran my car on studded tyres as per law, W+S the rest of the year, but had a specific high prestanda summer tyre for our holidays.

Alu wheels on those, steel on the ither two sets.

 

[Robson Valley]

I's like to run all-seasons all year, like most of the UK, if I could.

We have a choice of summer tires or all seasons, take your plick.
We have a choice of alpine winter tire brands by law.
Each set on rims makes the change over simple.
Storage at 20PSI. Run PSI at whatever the mfg advises.

My winters were so soft (Cooper Discovery) that I got 4 seasons and they just did not have any real bite any more.
I was hoping for a 5th winter but they just "went away" with a lot of slip from even a warm start.
At -20C, it took at least a km to warm up.
So that's 4 x 7 months on a set of 4. $1,200/28 = $42.86/month plus a set of steel wheels.
Use 1.6X as a BPS conversion from CDN.

 

[Janne]

The cost of tyres is a very small part of the cost of car ownership.

Soft rubber compounds give a super grip (summer tyres) but do not last long.
I prefer a good grip, specially here in Paradise where the roundabouts have the wrong camber.

 

[Robson Valley]

The really soft compounds are in the winter alpine tires with crushed walnut shell traction compound.

 

[Janne]

The Finns make some awesome winter tyres.
They eat the nuts as a snack with their alcohol, and use steel as traction enhancement.

Two words ( spelling ?) Nokia. Hakkappeliita.

 

[MT606]

winter tyres are mucho worth it, (even if its to chuckle at local bottom's who can't manage a gentle slope with a few cm of snow down)..... even if theres no snow on the ground, they provide more grip at temps under 12'c. also depends on peoples driving skills etc. I swap over to winter tyres about now actually, have done for the last 7yrs since we moved north. I'd post pics up of the tyres n conditions but don't use photofucket type hosting sites.....