Is it compulsory yet to have winter tyres in the UK for the winter months? In Italy and many European countries it is mandatory to have Winter tyres fitted (and carry snow chains) from mid November through to mid April. People store a set of winter tyres over summer and then fit them for the winter months (I have a set of 'winter' wheels c/w snow tyres as I don't like to change just the tyres twice a year and risk damaging the rim seals) . Most garages/tyre fitters store and fit them for people at a reasonable charge although I store and swap my own having the space and the equipment to do so. We live in the foothills of the Apennine mountains and throughout the region (including some stretches of autostrada) there are many sections where road signs indicate snow chains must be fitted when it snows. We have a 4 x 4 anyway for the rural unpaved roads. However, anyone who uses winter/snow tyres for the first time is always amazed by the huge difference in grip levels between all purpose/summer and snow/winter tyres. If UK is out of step with most of Europe on this it probably accounts for the fact that the country grinds to a halt at the first sign of snow.
It’s not compulsory I have them on my car though. And you are right the difference is amazing. I drive to the alps 2 or 3 times per ski season and since switching to winter tyres have never needed snow chains. Snow tyres on a 2 wheel drive car give lots more grip than summer road tyres on a 4x4
I can't tell whether you're being sarcastic or not, but it's definitely not a European thing. In The Netherlands, there are no rules about it (and no hills either coincidentally). In Germany, you have to have winter tyres when it's under 4 degrees celcius. And in some countries with higher mountains (such as Austria and Italy) there are rules about carrying chains and using them. So it's definitely not centrally regulated.
I think he was being sarcastic. In any case it would be a bit silly if Greece for example all had to fit snow tyres from December to April like in Austria Its a tricky one for the UK- When it snows its chaos as you only need one car to get stuck to block the road for everyone but many winters, especially in the south, there is no snow all winter. I am lucky in that I have a local tyre place that will store tyres for me as long as I pay them £15 per tyre to swap them over. I could buy a second set of wheels but thats really quite expensive - £2800 for wheels with Winter tyre for my BMW if I got them from a dealer so I am happy to pay £120 per year to swap them.
April for winter tyres?? I’ll be in shorts by March haha. Don’t be a dick when driving (not sure some drivers can actually do this) and always take the conditions into consideration with journeys. I don’t particularly look for them but I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody with snow chains on their car.
I think Snow chains are illegal in the UK, they are also forbidden in Austria unless the road is covered in snow. For properly snow covered roads though they work really well but decent winter tyres are good enough for all but the most severe conditions. I used to use them on Summer tyres when driving in the French alps in winter and they do give very good traction even in deep snow but since switching to Winter tyres I have always had enough grip even going up in the mountains Obviously not being a dick is a good plan as well - a few years ago some guy with a range rover with worn summer tyres pulled into my drive ( which is a down hill slope ) to let a car past and got stuck - it was annoying as had he not blocked my car in I could have towed him out as my car had snow tyres with a 3 litre Diesel engine over them and could have pulled him out easily - but we had to dig him out and put carpet down before he could get out
I go skiing regularly and it amazes me when I see the shitty little vans and cars whizzing around on snow and ice, up and down hills without a problem. A massive contrast to this country, where the average car falls apart at the sight of 1mm of snow. I'd definitely advocate winter tyres as a far less costly alternative to buying a 4x4
My dad always had a set of what were known as 'town and country' tyres in the garage for snow...in the bad winters of the 70's and early 80's we worked in South Elmsall and never missed a days work . About six years ago my in laws in Sheffield needed a lot of care, I bought a set of snow tyres from a German Internet seller, only about £35 each, did the job nicely got us there on several occasions in quite heavy snow. The only drawback was people abandoning their vehicles without leaving room to pass.
Yeah I did wonder if there would be a legality issue with them. I hope I don’t put the kiss of death on it now but generally I don’t think there’s much need them around here anyway. That with the Range Rover sounds like a lot of effort on your part! With it being quite hilly around where I live it can get a little dodgy occascioaly but as I mentioned before, driving to the conditions and realising when to take it super steady and you should be okay. I have actually seen a couple of salters/gritters our recently which is good, hopefully the roads will be kept as clear as they can.
I always put snow tyres on during winter months . Not sure why any with kids wouldn’t . Anything I can do to make it safer to drive with my kids I will. They don’t cost a huge amount and the difference is unbelievable
Kaht Junior (the younger) lives and works in Durham. Her decision to get winter tyres put on her Polo two weeks ago has left her grinning smugly, especially as she has to conduct some fairly rural house calls. This was compounded when she arrived at work to find her colleague floundering in the car park in his BMW! The only place for a Beemer in snow is in the garage.
I concur . I used to have a 525i M3 Sport - fat tyres and RWD. Impossible in snow. Later bought a used Skoda Octavia Estate Diesel FWD when I was moving stuff over to Italy which was a bit better although we did get snowed in February 2012 fin rural Italy for a few days with it and had to delay our journey back to the UK. Between the BMW and the Skoda since I was working mainly from home or using train/Hire cars for my job we bought a Fiat Panda as a runabout. That was brilliant in snow with FWD and skinny tyres. Because of where we now live I bought a Skoda Yeti 4x4 with rough road kit, mainly for ground clearance, and a spare set of winter alloys with snow tyres fitted for the winter months. Touch wood we've never been stuck since and only used the chains once when it was sheet ice as even the snow tyres dont work on that. Winter tyres ARE mandatory in Italy, Austria and Germany and some other countries in spite of what someone posted on this thread (although I may have misread it as people were talking about snow chains) I even came across a motoring advice website stating, incorrectly, that winter tyres are not mandatory in Italy. In fact someone recently got fined here for not having them on (spot checks are common here) Another thing is that if you are involved in an accident in winter and a driving offence was committed any fine imposed is often doubled. I've never read anywhere that snow chains are illegal in the UK though, but you would not use them anywhere where there is not standing snow and ice as they would be knackered within a couple of miles anyway. PS How did your Saturday runners and riders do? I always thought that gambling was a mug's game but since you are no mug it must just be me that is useless/unlucky when it comes to betting. My wife is the same - she has had some Premium Bonds which her mum bought when she was 2 in 1956 and in 60 years her total winnings are exactly ........£0 pounds. What a bargain they were!!!
It probably depends where you are in Greece - Mount Olympus has a snow-cap for 9 months of the year and I've seen games in Turkey with two feet of snow piled up around the pitch in February...
Unless you put decent snow tyres on!. I havent had any problems with a 5 series fitted with Dunlop Wintersport's though I must admit I felt happier with my old Front wheel drive pug. I did have an amusing episode watching someone trying to get an almost identical car to mine out of an open air car park in Les Arcs a cople of years ago. It had been ploughed but had a slight incline and whenever he tried to move the car the back wheels had no grip and he was actually going sideways I just got in my car and drove out
I have them on my car permanently, and do so because I found I get 4,000 miles more out of a set, than ‘normal’ tyres.
Only problem with that is that Winter tyres operate best at temperatures below 8C (or at least my Vredestein SnoTrac tests results show), and above that they are much less efficient than normal/summer tyres. Stopping distances are therefore correspondingly worse in summer with winter tyres fitted as with summer tyres fitted in winter conditions .That said, the average road temperature difference here in central Italy is somewhat more extreme than in the UK.The Vredesteins suited me as they are good all rounders for both heavy rain and the snow and not just specialist snow tyres. One thing though, the Vredesteins are much much quieter on motorway than the low profile Sports radial tyres the car came with (whoever at Skoda thought that was a good choice factory fit for a 4x4x crossover lost the plot somewhere)
I swear that, unlike the 'sports mode' select button on the central console on the 5 Series auto sport, the 'Snow and Ice mode button simply illuminated a light on the dashboard. There was no other discernible effect when it came to trying to move away uphill in snow and ice.