my opinions on winter tyers ect
And I'll counter with a few points:
winter tyers are highly overated IMO Good quality normal tyers are pritty bloody good, no point getting winter tyers the same size as they'll be to fat.
Really?
so the whole of the motoring world are incorrect in seeing the benefits?
Normal tyres are crap under 8 degrees C. I've had winter tyres on my last 3 cars...and without them, you can't pull out of the driveway.
Oh, and my winter tyres are the same width as my 'normal' or summer tyres...I've tried 195, 205 and 225 wide.
Currenty run 225/40/18s on the Golf and I can go where people in X5s etc can't.
Too wide you say?
It appears not...
cold wet weather demands narrow tyers they cut through standing water better ( you meet much more of that than snow ) and they cut into snow better.
Wrong.
Cold weather demands a compound and tread pattern designed to cope with low temperatures.
My winter tyres are as good in warm standing water as my summers, vastly superior in cold standing water...and in a different league in slush and snow.
Cutting into the snow/slush is about the tread pattern biting into the snow then shedding the compacted snow as it spins....explain again why a narrow tyre does this better than a wider one?
i've never botherd with superfandango snow tyers, if the conditions are bad enough to make it worth swaping tyers over wrap them in chain.
I can't get chains onto my Mk6 GTI..and arsed with stopping every 1/2 mile to take them off/put them on again...when I can stick winter tyres on (properly speed rated) and drive through 8" of snow one minute, then do 155 MPH on the Autobahn the next without the need to get out of the car.
So winter tyres...let me drive anywhere I want to go in pretty much any weather, where not fitting them means I can't get out of the driveway.
I didn't have any winter tyres for the winter of 2005/2006...and I couldn't get out of the driveway.
If you live where the weather is bad enough to justify them...you will NEVER go back after using them.
The benefits are huge.
Underrated, in fact...