Winter Wheels and Tyres

[p3asa]

If there is so much snow on the roads that my wife feels uncomfortable driving, then she would probably stay at home, therefore there is no point at all in putting winter tyres on her car. If the weather is that bad, you have to ask the question, can you manage with not going out for the few days of snow we actually get?

Totally agree that if its that bad then the best bet is to stay at home but the problem with where we live is, Glasgow (where she works) can be snow free but our place is covered in snow and were basically snowed in. So everyone thinks your at it 

I work in the health profession so don't have the option of just saying I'm not going in today as caring doesn't stop but I've had to text my boss a couple of times with pictures of our place, in my defence 

One of these days I'll get the winter tyres 

[Daz Auto]

Major squeaky bum moment on Friday.

It froze overnight and then it snowed early in the morning. So I reckon there was wet snow on black ice. After my mountain expedition on Tuesday morning's snow and ice - I was full of confidence that my winter tyres could handle anything. I pulled out onto the road and there was fresh snow with no other tyre tracks. I slowly brought my speed upto 50mph. The road is straight for 2 miles before a sharp right-hand bend and an immediate stop onto the main road. I had approached this bend way to fast. As I breaked and turned the whole car started to go sideways. The ABS and ESP took over the car wobbled a bit and came to a stop. I sat there thinking, 'what and idiot!' I guess I would have pushed the limits at some stage. This showed me that even winter tyres have their limits in poor conditions.

Summer tyres would have been no use at all in that situation. If I had only had two winter tyres I have no doubt that the car would have spun and I would have crashed.

I learned that you still need to be careful on winter tyres.

[p3asa]

Summer tyres would have been no use at all in that situation. If I had only had two winter tyres I have no doubt that the car would have spun and I would have crashed.

I learned that you still need to be careful on winter tyres.

Horrible moments those. Its as if time stands still.

I reckon its all relative and if you had summer tyres on then there is no way you'd be doing that speed on snow. But then again may have slid at a lot slower speed.
I know I am extremely aware I run with summer tyres on so adapt my style accordingly. Its the getting stuck in the snow with summer tyres that makes winter tyres appeal to me.

[R32UK]

i gave the clio winter tyres a good test on saturday morning... found a nice frosted over lay by and slammed on the brakes. Pretty impressed, but still felt the abs working under my foot.

Think you have ensure you dont drive silly with these winter tyres on just to show you have them.


On another note last year I drove my dads 7 series bmw with 20" wheels + summer tyres home on 3" of snow.... 2 tons of car sliding down a dual carriageway side ways is a very scary sight!! 

I was going to get him some winter tyres this year as a xmas pressie... at £447 per tyre he will just have to sit his a$$ at home 

[Buck]

Major squeaky bum moment on Friday.

...sounds like it too - at least you're hear to share that OMG moment with us all - makes you realise just how much stopping power/grip is needed - the other night I braked then I realised I wasn't stopping quickly enough and ended up "nose-diving" and stopping centimetres fromt he car in front mouthing "5hit" as I realised how lucky I was - normally I read the road ahead really well but for some reason hadn't noticed that they were not just slowing but stopping!

Lesson learnt ... until next time

[p3eps]

I'm going snowboarding tomorrow at either The Lecht or Glenshee - so it will be the first time my winter tyres have ever seen real snow!!
Apart from a few frosty mornings and a slightly icy car park, they haven't had any action yet!

[Daz Auto]

I made the mistake of going through the mountains this morning. The snow was much deeper than last time. The tyres were unstoppable, but I didn't like the car acting like a snow plough because of the low ground clearance

Another lesson learned.

[Mr_F]

I made the mistake of going through the mountains this morning. The snow was much deeper than last time. The tyres were unstoppable, but I didn't like the car acting like a snow plough because of the low ground clearance

Another lesson learned.

[Daz Auto]

OK this is the last time I go over the mountains. It is quicker, but just to dangerous.

One half of the road was clear, but icy. The other half covered in snow. The scary part was when meeting other cars. I was going up a long hill with a medium gradient and slight curve to the right in the road. I reckon one of the cars coming down the hill had winters on the front. When he touched the breaks the rear of his car swung out. :shocked:I pulled onto the snow to get out of his way. Next was a van and it went sidways too, before he started driving down the ditch for grip. Not sure he had any winters on. On a steeper hill who knows what would have happened!

My car did manage to stop on sheet ice going down one hill. ABS was going mad but it still stopped.

Drive safe everyone.

Edit to add: it was raining on the sheet ice!

[IsleOfManGTi]

Ok, my first post on this forum, so please don't shoot me down if I'm asking a dumb question that's been asked lots of times before.

I'm looking to put some steel wheels on my GTi for the winter. The 18" Monzas with summer tyres, are just not right for the job. Plus they've had a few winters now and the laquer is coming off, so I want to get them refurbished, so need a spare set of wheels.

I did some brief research and found out that the wheels I need are 5 x 112 PCD

Seems that the post 96 Passat, Sharan, Transporter T5 and Caravelle came in this size.

I've seen some 16" Transporter steels on ebay for an ok price. I don't need them with tyres as I'm going to be buying 4 winters anyway.

But this is my question. Do 16" wheels fit the GTi mk 5 / 6? The standard fit alloys are 17" so I thought maybe that was the smallest, but people are mentioning 16" here. I don't want to buy 4 plus pay for shipping to the Isle of Man, only to find that won't fit over the callipers.

Can anyone confirm they've fitted 16" steels without problem?

Thanks