Winter Tyres

[dwilson]

Hi. Although the snow has gone for now I am still pondering whether I should buy a 4x4 or some winter tyres (or possibly both!).

I think winter tyres would probably be best as they would presumably inprove sideways grip and stopping distances, as well as forwards grip. And be a much cheaper option

I know some people have mentioned they have a spare set of wheels and tyres.

Has anyone on here just swapped the tyres in the winter, stored the summer tyres, and then had the summer ones put back on at a tyre fitters? That would save the outlay on a spare set of wheels.

I also can't decide whether to put the winter tyres on my Prius, or my wife's Auris or daughter's very old Micra - all of which I am insured and have permission to drive. Any thoughts?

[acetip]

Hi. Although the snow has gone for now I am still pondering whether I should buy a 4x4 or some winter tyres (or possibly both!).

I think winter tyres would probably be best as they would presumably inprove sideways grip and stopping distances, as well as forwards grip. And be a much cheaper option

I know some people have mentioned they have a spare set of wheels and tyres.

Has anyone on here just swapped the tyres in the winter, stored the summer tyres, and then had the summer ones put back on at a tyre fitters? That would save the outlay on a spare set of wheels.

I also can't decide whether to put the winter tyres on my Prius, or my wife's Auris or daughter's very old Micra - all of which I am insured and have permission to drive. Any thoughts?

hi dwilson

it may pay to put them on the micra cos they be cheaper and if you did have an incident due to the bad conditions and the vehicle was a write off then your not going to lose as much money.

the other two cars are worth more to you.but you never get a settlement for what you think a cars worth.

[Chris Dance]

My son has a Prius and uses Winter tyres. At the moment his Summer tyres are stored by the local dealer. In April the Winter tyres will be removed and changed for Summer tyres. He pays £70 for each tyre changeover this includes the tyre annual storage fee.

[dwilson]

My son has a Prius and uses Winter tyres. At the moment his Summer tyres are stored by the local dealer. In April the Winter tyres will be removed and changed for Summer tyres. He pays £70 for each tyre changeover this includes the tyre annual storage fee.

Thanks for this reply. Is that at his Toyota dealer? Sounds reasonable enough. I was thinking of storing in my garage at home...

David

[dwilson]

Hi. Although the snow has gone for now I am still pondering whether I should buy a 4x4 or some winter tyres (or possibly both!).

I think winter tyres would probably be best as they would presumably inprove sideways grip and stopping distances, as well as forwards grip. And be a much cheaper option

I know some people have mentioned they have a spare set of wheels and tyres.

Has anyone on here just swapped the tyres in the winter, stored the summer tyres, and then had the summer ones put back on at a tyre fitters? That would save the outlay on a spare set of wheels.

I also can't decide whether to put the winter tyres on my Prius, or my wife's Auris or daughter's very old Micra - all of which I am insured and have permission to drive. Any thoughts?

hi dwilson

it may pay to put them on the micra cos they be cheaper and if you did have an incident due to the bad conditions and the vehicle was a write off then your not going to lose as much money.

the other two cars are worth more to you.but you never get a settlement for what you think a cars worth.

Thanks - good point. Mind you I know the Auris is not worth more than 6k as a trade in according ta local dealer when I enquired about buying a Rav4. Seems quite a hit for a 2007 1.6TR that has only done 16000 miles !

[Chris Dance]

My sons car is serviced by a dealer who is Toyota approved but the garage is not a main dealer. The garage in question was a Toyota dealer but lost the full franchise a couple of years ago. Still sells and services all Toyotas in that town though.

[jules8343]

My son has a Prius and uses Winter tyres. At the moment his Summer tyres are stored by the local dealer. In April the Winter tyres will be removed and changed for Summer tyres. He pays £70 for each tyre changeover this includes the tyre annual storage fee.

I got a spare set of steel wheels with my winter tyres so the alloys with the summer tyres are in the shed and I will swap them over myself in the spring when the weather warms up. Although this cost more initially, it saves me from having to transport mucky tyres or wheels to and from the fitter and also saves on the cost of fitting. I could use a mobile fitter, but it would still cost for fitting twice a year.

[dwilson]

My son has a Prius and uses Winter tyres. At the moment his Summer tyres are stored by the local dealer. In April the Winter tyres will be removed and changed for Summer tyres. He pays £70 for each tyre changeover this includes the tyre annual storage fee.

I got a spare set of steel wheels with my winter tyres so the alloys with the summer tyres are in the shed and I will swap them over myself in the spring when the weather warms up. Although this cost more initially, it saves me from having to transport mucky tyres or wheels to and from the fitter and also saves on the cost of fitting. I could use a mobile fitter, but it would still cost for fitting twice a year.

Thanks for your info.

[Doesn'tExist]

Don't have winter tyre for the prius, heck the dealer has had ours more than us. But I do have a set.for my audi quattro. And previously for my bmws.

I just buy a cheap set of alloy wheels. There are normally lots of 15 or 16 and even some 17 (for where my brakes were too big for smaller wheels) wheels on eBay. They tend to be cheap as nobody wants those ugly little wheels but perfect to put a set of interferes on. I then just swap them over myself and store them in one of our sheds.

My audi looks stupid but at least I am not damaging the 19' wheels.

[dwilson]

Don't have winter tyre for the prius, heck the dealer has had ours more than us. But I do have a set.for my audi quattro. And previously for my bmws.

I just buy a cheap set of alloy wheels. There are normally lots of 15 or 16 and even some 17 (for where my brakes were too big for smaller wheels) wheels on eBay. They tend to be cheap as nobody wants those ugly little wheels but perfect to put a set of interferes on. I then just swap them over myself and store them in one of our sheds.

My audi looks stupid but at least I am not damaging the 19' wheels.

Thanks for the information. I can see it will save money in the long term to have another set of wheels.

[harrypotter:)]

Hi. Although the snow has gone for now I am still pondering whether I should buy a 4x4 or some winter tyres (or possibly both!).

I think winter tyres would probably be best as they would presumably inprove sideways grip and stopping distances, as well as forwards grip. And be a much cheaper option

I know some people have mentioned they have a spare set of wheels and tyres.

Has anyone on here just swapped the tyres in the winter, stored the summer tyres, and then had the summer ones put back on at a tyre fitters? That would save the outlay on a spare set of wheels.

I also can't decide whether to put the winter tyres on my Prius, or my wife's Auris or daughter's very old Micra - all of which I am insured and have permission to drive. Any thoughts?

[harrypotter:)]

I find it ashame snow chains are illegal or as far as i no they are?? I drive lorrys and on many occasions got stuck and had to call out recovery costing my company money where snow chains for 2or 3meters would had got me out of bother and back onto firm grip. So if cars where allowed to carry chains for severe conditions only and when stuck would this not improve traffic flow providing there is significent depth of snow the road asphalt wont be damaged or maybe im wrong or some people would forget to take them off???

[acetip]

I find it ashame snow chains are illegal or as far as i no they are?? I drive lorrys and on many occasions got stuck and had to call out recovery costing my company money where snow chains for 2or 3meters would had got me out of bother and back onto firm grip. So if cars where allowed to carry chains for severe conditions only and when stuck would this not improve traffic flow providing there is significent depth of snow the road asphalt wont be damaged or maybe im wrong or some people would forget to take them off???

would have thought it would be a job to forget chains on a car with the vibration and noise.

maybe not so noticable on a commercial vehicle though.

did not think they are illegal.

use to be able to buy tyres with spikes in them,dont see them advertised these days.mind you, i am talking about 40 years ago.

no fun being old.(and past it)

[Grumpy Cabbie]

What about tyre socks? They're like chains but nowhere near as harsh. Google them, they're about £60.

Might be worth it for next winter?

[Doesn'tExist]

Yes I can't imagine anyone forgetting they have chains on. I have seen a few ruining socks and wonder why they have to take them off. Not fit to drive a vehicle I think.

[dwilson]

What about tyre socks? They're like chains but nowhere near as harsh. Google them, they're about £60.

Might be worth it for next winter?

Do you think they would be as good as winter tyres?

What do you have on your taxi GC?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I have stock tyres!

Was off ill over the bad weather otherwise I'd have invested in some winter tyres. Thing is, the tyres at the moment are good for grip (but not so good in snow)and should last another 15k miles. Once they're out and depending when they run out I might get some all season low resistance tyres ready for winter.

The stock Bridgestones were useless in snow and ice - infact probably beyond useless!

[Doesn'tExist]

The current stock non low resistance michelins on the prius were surprisingly good in the rare days we had ours.

[sjrainsford]

Mine has bridgestones on the back if I remember right, and Michelin Energy saving ones on the front.

My Prius was useless in the snow. Much worse than the outgoing front wheel drive diesel Jag of mine.

Think I need to look at the tyres on it. The Jag was running cheaper Barum tyres, and they were great all rounders.

[cootuk]

When my Turenzas wear out I'm just going to put on Nokian WR G2 and run them all year.

I have socks until then.

[dwilson]

When my Turenzas wear out I'm just going to put on Nokian WR G2 and run them all year.

I have socks until then.

This sounds good but won't the winter tyres be less effective in the summer and frowned upon by insurance companies?

I only got stuck once in December (on sheet ice) and could reverse out of trouble. The Prius seems good in the snow but I am trying to decide what to do in the future. My options are buy a 4x4 (which is expensive but I know people who have done this after getting stuck in snow last month), put on winter tyres between November and February inclusive (which I think is my favourite optin), buy snow socks for if I get stuck (useful for emergency situations not for long term use).

David

[Doesn'tExist]

As you say, socks are for a short distance emergency only. It would do my head in to keep putting them on/off/on/off. Spending a few hundred on some tyres is well worth it if you are in an area where you rely on your car. Otherwise just stay home and enjoy the few days in the snow :-)

[Opifex]

For what it's worth DW I read in the Daily Telegraph motoring section a recommendation to get winter tyres instead of a 4x4. Remember that 4wd helps you go forward but is no help when braking. It still becomes a 4 wheel sledge if your tyres don't grip. :o

[Doesn'tExist]

For what it's worth DW I read in the Daily Telegraph motoring section a recommendation to get winter tyres instead of a 4x4. Remember that 4wd helps you go forward but is no help when braking. It still becomes a 4 wheel sledge if your tyres don't grip. :o

I agree, when I had my Navara I pulled quite a few 4x4 drivers out of a country lane here with negative camber. The first muttering is 'I don't understand I have a 4x4'. I tell them that they still need to go as slow as everyone else and that they just have grip and control longer but not unlimited. Difference as well is to keep a steady speed, there are just too many 4x4 style vehicle around as well that don't have the low down grunt as a proper 4x4 will have to keep that slow but steady pace to get up the hill.

Winter tyres are great but are also no substitute for idiots.

[Opifex]

Here's another idea for keeping moving in the snow.

When I was young and foolish (as against old and foolish)and my girlfriend was even more foolish, we solved the problem of getting up a snow covered hill by her sitting on the bonnet of the Mini while I drove very slowly up. It worked like a dream but at the top I was very worried what would be the reaction of the policeman standing there. Actually all he said was "Well, that's one way to do it", and walked off.

It did work but I don't think it's to be recommended.

I'm certain that the girlfriend (now wife) wouldn't repeat the trick now. Come to think of it though, the Prius bonnet slopes so much you couldn't sit on it even if you wanted to.