Used the AutoSocks today

[Exonian]

Winter tyres only work their best at very low temperatures so wouldn't be needed that much in most of Britain (I appreciate things are different for you blue skinned northern types

Actually winter tyres work their best in temperatures of 7 degrees C and lower so they are actually very much useful to have living in Britain

They may be useful but hardly essential for us southern types. It's about 10 deg here today and we've only had a couple of mm of snow twice now all winter. Hence my reply that the socks would be good for the two days a year I might need them. 

[mac7]

They may be useful but hardly essential for us southern types. It's about 10 deg here today and we've only had a couple of mm of snow twice now all winter.

I'm in the south and we were under a foot of the stuff twice in the last 12 months! Honestly, the progress of global warming has been very disappointing 

Good review Rolfe, thanks for letting us know how they worked out.

[DDRFan]

really useful review Rolfe thank you for posting
the only thing missing is some photos!

it's the first time i've heard of this thing, and it seems a worthwhile product to have in emergencies, at least for the temporary fix, and chains won't be as abrasive on beloved alloys. and with snowy British winters that only come for a relatively small number of days, fitting winter tyres isn't a viable option.

a few weeks ago when there was quite deep snow, i grabbed the empty rice bags i keep in the boot to line the boot floor to keep the actual boot floor from getting dirty and tried putting it under the drive wheels of my car to help traction. the rice bags are made of this fabric material but still quite tough (if you wondering how i got them, lets say i 'acquired them' from a take-away shop!)
i have to say it didn't work very well because as soon as i applied power to get up the drive, the rice bag just went under the tyre, and spun round and flung the bag into the middle of the street. also i was a bit worried the bag might get stuck under the car somewhere. probably not safe, but i was kinda desperate to get the car up the drive by myself so i was thinking all crazy ideas.

obviously i needed a way to wrap the bag around the tyre, which i neither had the time or implements or the necessary thought-power to think how i could do it.

but this Autosock obviously takes this idea of using fabric to grip and puts it in a convenient product that seems to be easy to install and requires no special modifications to the vehicle. it's maybe a bit too late for me to consider getting one now as the snow in Greater Manchester hasn't been that bad lately, but maybe next season would have to check it out - by then i would hope i will actually have a real GTI to drive 

[Rolfe]

Here's the web site where I actually ordered the product.  There are several pictures there.

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/

Click on the tabs and look at all the pages relating to the product.  There's a lot of information there.  The "performance" version you need for the GTi is a bit more expensive, presumably due to the wheel width.  It also has extra stabilising straps across the wheel diameter.

I think the comment about "more effective than winter tyres" is a bit disingenuous.  It's obviously true, and elsewhere on the site they show how the performance of winter tyres is improved by the AutoSocks.  However, they're a lot more comparable to snow chains, in that you can't simply drive all winter (or even for a whole journey if a lot of it is going to be on treated roads) on the things, you have to keep taking them off and on.  You're restricted to 30mph while you're wearing them, and there's a warning about car handling due to the huge difference in traction between front and rear wheels.

They're a practical and cheap (though I imagine less durable) alternative to snow chains to get you around in severe snow, especially up hills.  Once you're actually driving (as opposed to carefully negotiating very bad conditions), off they come.  And as I said, putting them back on again after you've been driving on a gritted section without having shown them the inside of a washing machine first, isn't something I fancy much.  I'm also a little nervous of getting them on at the side of the road, in the dark, in a sub-zero snowstorm.

Rolfe.

PS.  This page

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/autosock-company.php

has a good picture of the performance version of the AutoSocks.  The ones in the photo are clearly brand new, they don't stay that white.

[Rolfe]

Before my AutoSocks arrived, I saw my new neighbour (moved into the house at the top of the road on about 15th January, but was running up and down before then) with a pair on her small hatchback.

The road where I live is a fairly short cul-de-sac which rises to a hill at the far end.  I saw the neighbour who has one of the two end houses in serious trouble a couple of times in his estate car.  He would get about half way, over the less sloping part of the road where there was also more traffic, then completely stall on the last bit.  He had to call for help on his mobile phone, and I saw a lot of digging and shovelling going on.

The other end house is the one that was changing hands.  The previous occupants got out just in time the day before the very heavy snow.  The new people were reported to be stuck at their end, in a rented house three miles up into the hills above the village at the end of a single-track road which is fairly steep in places.  But hey, they showed up, driving that very ordinary little hatchback, and negotiated our road apparently with no trouble at all.  They were even turning into the drive, which hadn't been cleared.  That was when I noticed the AutoSocks on the front wheels of that car, and boy, the difference was very obvious.  Apparently they were managing to get up and down that three-mile road up to the house they were renting, using these things.  And knowing that road (some of it is very exposed and was bound to be affected by drifts, I wouldn't have gone near it), this was seriously impressive.

Rolfe.