Best £40 I've ever spent !!

[tigler]

Just had a couple of part worn Fulda winter tyres fitted to the front wheels of my Xantia and it's like magic !!!
The approach to my mums place is a very steep hill into a cul-de-sac and in snow it's my nemesis !! Regardless of driving technique it's just impossible to climb it. Just came back from having the tyres fitted and it was like driving on a normal road !! No wonder the Scandinavians carry on as normal in winter !

And all they cost was £40 off ebay !

 

[Pete.]

Nice! I've been thinking about buying a spare pair of wheels and fitting tyres on them in readyness for next winter.

 

[grandads_shed]

was that 40 each or for them both ??

 

[overload]

This just reinforce my opinion that it should be law to own a spare set of winter tyres no matter how little use they get.
Nothing makes a bigger difference to road handling in the snow than winter tyres. Just my opinion!

 

[tigler]

was that 40 each or for them both ??

for the pair, including carriage !!!

 

[SC_BK]

I bought a pair of mud and snow tyres a couple months ago for my transit, they're a fair bit better than normal van tyres, and I have chains for when it gets bad

 

[Robotstar5]

A little tip for 2 wheel drive cars, if a wheel starts to spin, touch the brakes, it stops the spinning wheel hopefully allowing the the other to keep you going.

 

[hareng]

Switch off the traction control as well

 

[Robotstar5]

Switch off the traction control as well

Definately not (in my case) - going home Saturday (we had our worst snowfall) watched a couple of other 4x4's struggling up a hill so had a go in 2nd gear almost tickover, started to lose it near the summit when the traction control kicked in and took me to the top.

 

[Emmsy]

just use the gearbox, forget the accelerator, people seem to want to rev and slip the clutch too much in this weather.

 

[hotrodder]

FWIW winter tyres are generally considered past their best when the tread reaches 4mm against summer tyres where below 3mm is when wet performance starts to drop off rapidly. Still be a lot better than summer tyres with similar tread levels but vast majority i've seen on ebay were sold as 4mm tread left...

Fitting a pair of winter tyres to just the drive wheels changes the balance of a car significantly. Granted if you tip toe around as you would on ditch finders then shouldn't be an issue but given that all the tyre manufacturers recommend they should be fitted all round to avoid dangerous handling characteristics i'm wondering how the insurance companies would react in the case of an accident...

2 versus 4 winter tyres http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cBSWEhimdA

 

[oz.]

Winter tyres cope with the cold better than the summer tyres. It's a bit like in car racing choosing between soft, med or hard compound. So even if there is little tread left on the tyre it will often be better than a summer tyre.

 

[tigler]

Fitting a pair of winter tyres to just the drive wheels changes the balance of a car significantly. Granted if you tip toe around as you would on ditch finders then shouldn't be an issue but given that all the tyre manufacturers recommend they should be fitted all round to avoid dangerous handling characteristics i'm wondering how the insurance companies would react in the case of an accident...

2 versus 4 winter tyres http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cBSWEhimdA

Acknowledged but I was aware that would be the case. On snow and icy surfaces it is noticeable, the back end feels twitchy but at the speeds involved it's not going to be an issue and I drive accordingly.
I can report the car feels far more planted on cold wet roads. Overall I'm delighted. All I want them to do is allow me to get out of my drive and along the local rural roads I live on when there is heavy snow, this is very challenging on normal tyres, and of course that hill up to my mums place, so they'll do for me !

 

[dai]

Acknowledged but I was aware that would be the case. On snow and icy surfaces it is noticeable, the back end feels twitchy but at the speeds involved it's not going to be an issue and I drive accordingly.
I can report the car feels far more planted on cold wet roads. Overall I'm delighted. All I want them to do is allow me to get out of my drive and along the local rural roads I live on when there is heavy snow, this is very challenging on normal tyres, and of course that hill up to my mums place, so they'll do for me !

the best time to buy some will be in july