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[J500ANT]

I've got winter tyres on my SEAT, did maybe 10k+ last winter on them - not visibly worn down at all, and these appear to have plenty of tread on despite being used all last winter, so i'm quite sure that the "wearing very quickly" thing is a myth.

And JJ, how does this work, bitterly cold yet in double figures?

Today in Bristol has been bitterly cold but ambient air temp is still in double figures.

As for a pic, one for you stolen from Facebook (courtesy of Jodie Brown)

[Problemchild]

wind chill young man

and after a spirited drive, the damp on my tyres was steaming a little.

don't think the wearing down of tyres is a myth. the material is designed to be more adhering/softer at lower temps. you raise the temp, the material becomes increasingly softer. the more it warms, the more it moves and the more grip reduces. if grip reduces the tyre will slide across the tarmac more and thus friction wears it.

if you are driving at "miss daisy" speeds then there will probably be no real noticeable wear but then the summer tyre would be coping anyway at those speeds.

would be interesting to measure tread depth front and rear on your tyres though after 1 winter of driving.

JJ

[funkydoodycool]

I've got winter tyres on my SEAT, did maybe 10k+ last winter on them - not visibly worn down at all, and these appear to have plenty of tread on despite being used all last winter, so i'm quite sure that the "wearing very quickly" thing is a myth.

And JJ, how does this work, bitterly cold yet in double figures?

Today in Bristol has been bitterly cold but ambient air temp is still in double figures.

As for a pic, one for you stolen from Facebook (courtesy of Jodie Brown)

My wife's yaris had winter tyres on from last October until she wrote it off in June this year. Last time I checked they had lost less than 1mm.

[J500ANT]

This came up in my Twitter feed earlier.

Still not convinced about winter tyres?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/9715518/Winter-tyres-put-to-the-test.html

[Problemchild]

Yup - again - much better in cold icy conditions

Only had 1 lack of traction so far in this cold weather and that was on the building site that I had to cut through to avoid the closed ring road this week.

Fresh mud and -2degC didn't make for good traction in my speed hump gp.

But I have trouble with traction on that road in the summer and its muddy like that.

All I did is drive steadier - easy

I still remember this quote from a smart roadie owner from a few years back...

"Just fitted my new winter tyres and took the car out for a ragging in the back lanes. Can find the limit of grip easier now and when sliding the back end around its easier to regain control."

Hmmmmm

JJ

[basilbrush]

At some stage in the future cars will drive themselves. With all the developments on cars the weakest point now and the cause of the most danger is the driver or some might say the "nut behind the wheel".
I started motoring without disc brakes, radial tyres, seat belts, ABS, ESP, air bags, padded dashboards, rubber bumpers and if I scratch my head a bit more I'll probably think of some others. Now I'm supposed to panic if for maybe a few weeks a year it might snow or even maybe get a bit cold. Then maybe my wonderful Contis that I have might kill me.
The quote from the roadie driver says it all. Nothing you give them will ever be safe enough because they don't use their heads.

[Problemchild]

100%  -  drive to the conditions, irrelevant if you have abs or winter tyres.

Also been told before that by not having winter tyres and by driving slowly because of my innapropriate tyres then I am a danger to other road users and especially lorries as they need to speed up hills in the snow!

I bet the number of cars running winters is less than 1 in 100 and I bet 5 years ago this number was 1 in 1000

Outside the smart community (who seem to have a bee in their bonnet about this), I only know 1 car driver who's wife has them and she is a nurse on 24hr call out.

I don't even think the emergency services change all their vehicles over to winters (could be wrong)

JJ

[funkydoodycool]

It is interesting that the subject of winter tyres seemed to pop up from nowhere about 2 years ago, with noone I know even knowing they existed before that.

I do love a good conspiracy theory, but even without that bias you have to wonder how we ever survived before.

It never fails to annoy me to read headlines such as "icy weather causes tenfold increase in vehicle accidents." It should read "idiots driving like the road it's summer cause tenfold increase in vehicle accidents."

Now I've said that, I hope I don't have one...

[lil.smartie]

Ocado fit their delivery vans with winter tyres every year, they make it to a much higher % of customers than the other food delivery bods do when it gets bad!

Kate

[Brabs]

Makes me think of this quote "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing." -- Sir Rannulph Fiennes
The comparison here being inappropriate driving as you say JJ, and some people just not allowing for the weather conditions be they rainy, icy, windy etc. Also not maybe planning their route out and/or allowing extra time to do the journey.
After the recent floods there was a fire chief who said that some stupid drivers were caught out driving through flood water because they believed that just because their vehicle had four wheel drive it somehow made their vehicle amphibious! Numpties!

 

[Newbiebrabus]

My fear is people fitting winter tyres and becoming over confident and charging round like lunatics while everybody else is taking it easy.

I agree with Mr Brush, it seems the more airbags and stability controls fitted, the less drivers have to rely on prudence and skill.
Driving is an art form, as miles driven builds so does the ability. Having learnt to drive on cross plye tyres, without ABS,EBD,ESP and all the other electronic device's, I've never had an issue in winter. Accept when I've forgotten to turn them all off!
It seems the Brab does not have an "off" switch. Apart from the ignition key!!

[Alex]

Still, how do you protect yourself from a guy pulling up in front of you then braking heavily?

[Problemchild]

1. Hopefully you will have seen the issue develop
2. If he has ragged past and cut you up its his fault
3. If someone pulls out in front of you, winter tyres won't help either (just like normal tyres in the summer)

It's been slippy out today (first time this year really as its -2degC) and if I could have put winters on for today then I would have because they do help. But I had no issues and didn't feel out of control and I knew where the limit was and given i wasn't on a race track it didn't matter. I could still pootle past the fiesta drivers

JJ

[basilbrush]

As a matter of interest I've been looking at all season tyres mainly because I share car with wife.
They wouldn't suit Brab owners, but the more moderate drivers with the smaller engines may see some benefits. Two examples are Goodyear Vector 4 seasons and Vredstein Quatrac lite. They look really good on paper and in testings. Something I will consider when I need another full set.