Its only a bit of snow

[bingham123456]

Omg i didnt realise how useless people are when it comes to driveing in the snow.

Just had to drive 4 cars up a small hill outside my kids school.

Honestly its about 100ft long and it isnt exactly steep

Im in a auto that hates the snow but i still make it everywere. A manual is so much easyer to drive in the snow and yet those people cant manage it.

Even overtook a landrover that got stuck goin up it needless to say he didnt look to happy lol

But yeah a whole 2-3 inches of snow and people just fail and crash into everything

[r3k1355]

Roads were pretty dicey when I was last out, doesn't help that some councils didn't have the gritters out this morning.

[Piggy]

gritters do my head in...they dont cover the whole road coz the doing a zillion miles an hour, so you get inconsistant grip levels, they do cover my car in chips and they fail to plow first so you get a nice watery surface ontop of the ice...

prefer no gritters and council to sponsor people to have snow driving lessons and to buy winter tyres

[Matt]

gritters do my head in...they dont cover the whole road coz the doing a zillion miles an hour, so you get inconsistant grip levels, they do cover my car in chips and they fail to plow first so you get a nice watery surface ontop of the ice...

prefer no gritters and council to sponsor people to have snow driving lessons and to buy winter tyres

Covers it in chips? Simples don't drive so bloody close

[Dum-Dum]

The winter tyres on my four-oh-shit are epic, theyve gripped at times when i was struggling to walk like it was a normal day.

I do agree people are f*cking idiots. I think there should be an extra driving test for people to be allowed to drive in snow.

[bingham123456]

Thay should have a driveing test like thay do in sweden and places like that will post a link up of a video

Ok i cant find the video but its something like 2 years before you get a full licence and you have to learn how to powerslide a car and you even play on a skidpan for a bit. Dont know about you but that sounds fun.

No wonder that finland/sweden and those countrys have so meny rally drivers that are amazing

[Piggy]

gritters do my head in...they dont cover the whole road coz the doing a zillion miles an hour, so you get inconsistant grip levels, they do cover my car in chips and they fail to plow first so you get a nice watery surface ontop of the ice...

prefer no gritters and council to sponsor people to have snow driving lessons and to buy winter tyres

Covers it in chips? Simples don't drive so bloody close

so what do you want me to do when the gritter is driving in the opposite direction?!?!?


yeah sweden is amazing...proper driving lessons from much younger age, for 2yrs and inc all weather and skid pans...
and their fatality rate for under 21s is about a quarter of britains

[C.A.R.]

Gritters only really scatter your car with loads of little bits of grit when they are coming towards you on the other side of the road...they're also driven by lunatics and just last night one didn't slow down at all when passing me on a narrow country road, I thought my wingmirror was toast!

Winter tyres aren't necessary either, people just need educating.

[Piggy]

yeah educating to get winter tyres!!

most other european countries that have snow regularly you will find drivers have all got two sets of wheels as the norm...one for summer and one for winter...

and we dont see them have national crisis when it snows

[pugolliek]

On the continent many change the tyres twice a year and buy new winter/summer sets as a matter of course. Hence the availability of imported part-worn tyres, especially so within the last few years here.

[bigcheez2k3]

yeah educating to get winter tyres!!

most other european countries that have snow regularly you will find drivers have all got two sets of wheels as the norm...one for summer and one for winter...

and we dont see them have national crisis when it snows

Do you see the flaw in your argument there?

We have about 5 days of snow out of 364. What would be the point in buying a new set of tyres for those 5 days?

[samass]

Yeah, you don't need snow tires. My car has barely legal eco shit things, and I mange to not crash. It's simple really, don't just mash your foot down and don't drive like a f*cking retard and you'll be fine

[Piggy]

over last 5years we are having regular snow fall/nation stops winters...

be sensible and upgrade

[samass]

There's seriously no point in spending the best part of 200 quid for tyres you're only gunna use once or twice in a year. The issue is people not knowing how to drive in the snow, not having the "wrong" tyres

[burnmw]

Thay should have a driveing test like thay do in sweden and places like that will post a link up of a video

Ok i cant find the video but its something like 2 years before you get a full licence and you have to learn how to powerslide a car and you even play on a skidpan for a bit. Dont know about you but that sounds fun.

No wonder that finland/sweden and those countrys have so meny rally drivers that are amazing

Yeah makes sense, so we all have to do a weeks worth of driving on snow before we can have our license. So everyone has to wait for the 5 days of snow we get a year, and then take 7 days worth of lessons, each. Now, I'm not overly intelligent but I can see a problem arising here.

Not to mention the cost of all these lessons for 5 days a year. And besides, between the 5 day periods most people would forget it anyway.

[C2K]

On the continent many change the tyres twice a year and buy new winter/summer sets as a matter of course. Hence the availability of imported part-worn tyres, especially so within the last few years here.

That's not strictly true. Whilst we've had an influx of part-worn tyres from the continent, the primary reason is down to the fact that their legal tread limit is 3mm, not 1.6 as ours is. Their limit is much more strictly enforced too.

[bigcheez2k3]

over last 5years we are having regular snow fall/nation stops winters...

be sensible and upgrade

No, we're getting ~5 days of snow...not a 'nation stops winter'. The reason everything screws up is because it's that out of the ordinary. Doesn't happen when it rains, does it? Because we're used to that.

[Daniel306]

Need to try a year up here in the highlands, 5 days of sunshine is out of the ordinary. 2-3" of snow is normal for this time of year

[Dum-Dum]

Winter tyres aren't necessary either, people just need educating.

I used to think this but now having winter tyres Id disagree. I can happily drive in the snow and on ice on normal tyres without getting stuck but these are epic, the car hauls up hills I was struggling to walk up.

yeah educating to get winter tyres!!

most other european countries that have snow regularly you will find drivers have all got two sets of wheels as the norm...one for summer and one for winter...

and we dont see them have national crisis when it snows

Do you see the flaw in your argument there?

We have about 5 days of snow out of 364. What would be the point in buying a new set of tyres for those 5 days?

Winter tyres are good as soon as the temperature gets below about 10*C which is actually a good few months of the year

[bingham123456]

Im not saying thats what needs to happen hear im just saying that thay have a better more thorough drivein test. Thats down to the fact thay have snow for months not days like we get.

[anto]

Winter tyres arent just for driving in snow.
They are better than summer tyres (which is what most cars in the UK drive on) in cold weather, anything from 5degrees and lower due to the softer compound.
They are also very good at clearing standing water, something that we have an abundance of at present.
They are better in snow/ slush conditions.

The cost argument isnt really an argument at all..... when you have the winter tyres on you arent using your summer tyres and vice versa so you wont be replacing either set as often as if you had only the one set.

[Poodle]

What Dum-dum and Anto said. So many people don't understand the concept of winter tyres, even in an enthusiasts club like this, half the replies are from people who clearly don't have the foggiest what winter tyres are about, so what hope do we have trying to inform the general public...

To add to Anto's cost argument: Winter tyres wear less fast than summer tyres in temperatures below 5 degrees, so you'll actually get more life out of both sets of tyres and save money over normal, or at the least not spend any more. Laziness is the problem here, it's a lot of hassle for people to do something safety-related that's not entrenched in law, so it doesn't happen.

[rickye]

Gotta agree, winter tyres are a real good job at low temps, but I've yet to lock up the proxxies apart from on snow or ice, yet to get any worse understear than to be expected of a car with no suspension, and nothing without studs is gonna grip on ice

in snow if we get beat we through on a set of gravel tyres from the rally car and they grip like nothing normal, but at that, I've nvr needed them, only my da's transit and brother passat needed them

but gotta love making it to work running toyo proxxies on the front and the boss can't make it in his x5

[Matt]

I've got budgets all round and haven't yet had an issue with snow/ice.
Tbh the way I see it is that of you take care , don't abuse the f*ck out of the throttle and are in the right gear you pull along nicely. Even up a chronic hill I've had no issues

[Piggy]

all as above...I use my winter tyres and my wife does in her 106 for about 4/5months a year...as soon as temps are averaging below 8degrees or so, they go on...so thats usually Nov-March

And my summer tyres are nice and tucked away not getting abused by winter roads, salt, grit, and potholes...

so you are extending the use.

Yes its pricey initially but you end up with good summer tyres for summer every year which is when you want them

---

I've got budgets all round and haven't yet had an issue with snow/ice.
Tbh the way I see it is that of you take care , don't abuse the f*ck out of the throttle and are in the right gear you pull along nicely. Even up a chronic hill I've had no issues

Poodles point applies here.

while it maybe true you can manage generally, when the times comes for a quick change of direction or quick stop coz some nutter ahead has made a right hash of driving in bad weather you are going to want to have fitted winter tyres!!!

[C.A.R.]

Just LOL.

We live in Britain, winter tyres really aren't necessary. They have a place - for a fraction of the year. The outlay simply isn't worth the advantage you will gain!

I've tackled snow-covered roads on some Kumho's this winter that are near the limit. Driving in snow just requires common sense, not a car shod in grippy winter tyres.

It makes me laugh, there are some people mental enough to consider getting an Audi with Quattro or a 4x4 to 'get them through the winter'.

F*ck sake anyone would think we lived in Siberia.

[bingham123456]

I almost got a 4x4 for winter to get me through. Would have been quiet happy to spend 300quid on a old fiat panda 4x4 but someone else had the same idea sadly.

Allways wanted another panda. Had one a fiew years ago when it snowed and it woz so much fun and if you did get it stuck in some deep snow you just picked it up n moved it lmao. That only had crappy tires on it and i think the back ones were only just legal.

But yeah its common sence when it comes to drivein in the snow/ice you dont need 4wheel drive or winter tires but thay do help. Iv never driven with winter tires but as evryone that has keep tellin me thay are worth it i might splash out on 2 next year and see how thay go.

[Face.]

People need to learn to drive to the conditions at the time and not just the speed limit imo.

[bingham123456]

People need to learn to drive to the conditions at the time and not just the speed limit imo.

Yep agreed

[procta]

we had a slight dusting yesterday. today blue sky and its all clear.
when we had it bad a few weeks ago, i had to go out with one of the home shopping drivers. some of the estates were really bad further in land. With the vans been autos, they are well crap. we had to go thru an estate that was down a hill to drop shopping off. on the way back we had to go up the hill. surely enough the van got stuck. we jumped out to try and get some salt down and dig a track. the frighting thing was that the van started to slide down hill! all four wheels were locked too! the driver had to jump back in for extra weight.
after we got out of that one, we were ok, but as soon as we hit gateshead area, the snow was boot deep!
we went thru an estate that was cleared from the enterance. but further in it was like a f*cking ice ring!
managed to deliver the customers shopping, have a quick brew. on route out tho, the van decided to kick the backend out . that sent us on the path of a parked C1 and mini bus. driver managed to get the back in only just clipping the wing mirror of the car and stopping with in a foot of the mini bus.
driver was a bag of nervous after that.
there was hell on about that in work, as the company wouldnt pull the deliverys. plus they wouldnt buy snow chains.