Winter tyres question?

[Daz Auto]

Hoping for some decent snow soon to really put them to the test.

Yeah, I could not wait to test my winter tyres too. They do give a lot of confidence. However, I had a few near misses, because I was driving (like an idiot) to fast for the conditions.

[Mike J]

[quote author=monkeyhanger And the French Police love to pull UK plated cars over to check if you have these (and a disposable breathalyser) just for fun and issue you with a fine if you don't have them.[/quote]


When you live or drive someone else's country the common sense rule is to obey their laws, to the letter!
I have lived and driven all over Europe and different statutory equipment laws are the norm. its a real pain sometimes but its not our country and as guests we are obliged to respect its Laws (or have a credit card handy  ).

BTW the disposable breathalyser isn't required any more so you can play with yours over the next few weeks   .
However you can be sure that once were outside the EU the Gendarmerie will probably require us to stop and remove the EU flag from our number plates should anyone be so daft as to continue to display it.
Tip; new cars can now be plated without it 

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[monkeyhanger]

MikeJ: I would carry those things required, not advicating not doing so. Just iterating that the French love to pull Brits over for a check, hoping to issue a fine. You are not currently obliged to have GB EU plates, nor have you ever been, but if you don't, you need a GB sticker/sign stuck to your car.

[itavaltalainen]

I haven't ever been pulled over in France, nor in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Austria on UK plates.
You need to give them a reason, same as in the UK. Which is why I keep my car looking standard, no need to attract police attention.
Though I think my new GTD is worse for that then my boring estate.....

[Mike J]

Yes me to.
Never been stopped anywhere in Europe except by the Portuguese PSP when I was less than 400m from my house.
My immediate problem was that I was not displaying my Insurance ID on my windscreen, my saving grace was the cop knew me and that my neighbour was the Chief of Police, so I was allowed to drive home and collect it (from my stupid wife's handbag) and return to show I actually had it on display.

When in Germany I stopped to ask the Autobahn Police for some directions they were very helpful but failed to notice that the German registered car I was driving had an out of date Tax, MOT and thus invalid insurance.
I was delivering the car for a very wealthy German friend who had given me his complete assurance everything was completely legal, some friend!!!!
(That was the third time where a German acquaintance had told me a bare faced lie, and the last time I have ever trusted one).

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[p3asa]

.......so I was allowed to drive home and collect it (from my stupid wife's handbag)........

Was your "stupid wife" driving?   

[Mike J]

.......so I was allowed to drive home and collect it (from my stupid wife's handbag)........

Was your "stupid wife" driving?   

No, but she told me she had done it when she had driven the car earlier, not an excuse as your point is quite correct, the driver should ensured a car is legally compliant, but after 30+ years of marriage you (or I did) trust your wife.
What a mistake that turned out to be when I later discovered she had been syphoning our joint account for nearly twenty years.

Fortunately my barrister recovered it all when I divorced her!

 

[p3asa]

What a mistake that turned out to be when I later discovered she had been syphoning our joint account for nearly twenty years.

Fortunately my barrister recovered it all when I divorced her!

 

That's fair enough then 

[GTD_Man]

Here in Sweden there is a law to use winter tires 1st December to last march. I had some different tires, 16" on my Golf and 17" on my CC but my experiance is that when you go above 16" and 205 width the grip is terrible. But we probable got some other climate then UK. I used to have tires with studs but the last 10 years I have choosen Nordic winter tires without studs. There is a Europeean type of winter tires as well and that has better grip on wet surfaces just above zero degrees. I would recomend 205/55 16" tires because if you get snow any wider gives very bad grip in the snow, the tires just rides above the snow. Just look what tires rally cars uses at the winter rally here in sweden.
Hope my nordic eye on the issue gave you some info.

[Mike J]

Hi GTD,
What you say is exactly what we used on our Land Rovers which were driven almost constantly off road in deep mud and water.
The narrow tyres/tires would cut through the mud and get down to the harder flimt and stone where they could get a grip whereas the wider tyres just skated over the top and the vehicle went off in all directions.

Never driven in studs by I would imagine it could be fun on packed snow.