Whether planning a winter tour or just getting from A to B, it's prudent to perform a few quick checks on your car to keep you safe this winter. Please click here to read our Tow Car Editor's tips.
Is your tow car ready for the winter?
- Thread starter LizziePope
- Start date
i'm lost for words, well maybe not.... Most modern cars do not take a 50/50 mix anymore the anti freeze these days is specific ! the last thing you want to be adding sorry telling folks is water is OK to use...! but then if your anti freeze is low,the questions has to be why? just topping up is asking for a very expensive disaster. ..
tyres! my favourite .. more important in my opinion than merely having winter tyres rather than summer tyres on is not to have well worn tyres on, even if they are strictly legal.. the difference between a new tyre with 8mm of tread and one with just 2mm of tread could be as much as taking 70 % longer to stop because of the lower levels of grip..so lets assume somebody does fit winter tyres as a rule ,and have used them over several winters,they may not give you the same grip as a new set of summer tyres here in the uk.... not even going to get onto batteries which can and do seem fine prior to winter with checks still giving good charging rates and then when the temps drop they pack in with no proir warning ,err how does one check for that.....but my main gripe is a car is not just for winter. every owner sjould be just as prudent All year round..!!!!
tyres! my favourite .. more important in my opinion than merely having winter tyres rather than summer tyres on is not to have well worn tyres on, even if they are strictly legal.. the difference between a new tyre with 8mm of tread and one with just 2mm of tread could be as much as taking 70 % longer to stop because of the lower levels of grip..so lets assume somebody does fit winter tyres as a rule ,and have used them over several winters,they may not give you the same grip as a new set of summer tyres here in the uk.... not even going to get onto batteries which can and do seem fine prior to winter with checks still giving good charging rates and then when the temps drop they pack in with no proir warning ,err how does one check for that.....but my main gripe is a car is not just for winter. every owner sjould be just as prudent All year round..!!!!
Just wondering how many people actually change tyres in winter. I personally don't and never seriously thought about it, can't think of any of my friends/acquaintances who do so either. I reckon it was 2010 when last time they may have helped, (then no longer than a week in the total winter.) I/we were actually planned to go out during the bad snow which was early December 2010, and I suspect even with winter tyres on we wouldn't have made it. The Cl we were planned on was up this lane, No Mans Lane - Risley, Derby --
Picture taken by a 'local' who lived up there
Our own street 80 miles away couldn't have tempted me out with a caravan no matter what tyres I had on.
But we did go out solo, with ordinary tyres on.
Picture taken by a 'local' who lived up there
Our own street 80 miles away couldn't have tempted me out with a caravan no matter what tyres I had on.
But we did go out solo, with ordinary tyres on.
Yes lovely piccys, I tend not to change my tyres from Hankooks to winter tyres but prefer to change them when I get down to 3 to 2 mm. As better tread,. Cold weather,below 7 c yes winter tyres give greater grip and better braking but surely , , more sensibly ( slower) driving is better allround.
Safe driving to all.
Hutch.
Safe driving to all.
Hutch.
Gabsgrandad said:
Never changed mine, but last year I put Avon Roadrunners on the rear, nice and chunky, old ones were still legal (dont tell the OH
) but they slipped a bit on wet grass so changed them over, did hear concerns about road noise on motorways etc but these concerns seem to be unfounded in my case.Oh and when I met up with Gafferbill he pointed out to me that they were M+S tyres.......Mud and Snow
I didn't even realise at the time,
Front will go the same way when they need changing (or maybe sooner, but dont tell the OH)
There is no doubt in my mind that it makes sense to use winter tyres when the conditions warrant it, after all it the safety of you and your family, but it's not that simple here in the UK.
Winter tyre are designed to be used when the temperature falls below 7C. At temperatures above 7C most winter tyres exhibit worse grip and wear characteristics than summer or all season tyres generally available in the UK.
In other parts of the world where the weather patterns do have more predictable sustained sub 7C temperatures there is a good case to use winter tyres. In some countries it is mandatory, and most drivers will have a set of rims already fitted with winter tyre. But here in the UK the case is more difficult to make, as we only occasionally see sub 7C for more than a few hours so it would be impractical to change the tyres (or wheels) in the morning when the thermometer plummets, only to find a few hours later the temperature climbing and the need to change them back, when you're out and about and don't have them to hand.
Not a very practical situation.
I believe a set of good wet grip tyres are likely to offer compromise for UK conditions
Read more at
http://www.which.co.uk/cars/driving/car-tyres/winter-tyres/
Winter tyre are designed to be used when the temperature falls below 7C. At temperatures above 7C most winter tyres exhibit worse grip and wear characteristics than summer or all season tyres generally available in the UK.
In other parts of the world where the weather patterns do have more predictable sustained sub 7C temperatures there is a good case to use winter tyres. In some countries it is mandatory, and most drivers will have a set of rims already fitted with winter tyre. But here in the UK the case is more difficult to make, as we only occasionally see sub 7C for more than a few hours so it would be impractical to change the tyres (or wheels) in the morning when the thermometer plummets, only to find a few hours later the temperature climbing and the need to change them back, when you're out and about and don't have them to hand.
Not a very practical situation.
I believe a set of good wet grip tyres are likely to offer compromise for UK conditions
Read more at
http://www.which.co.uk/cars/driving/car-tyres/winter-tyres/
Back in 1981, I was living in Moneymusk, Aberdeenshire, during the bad winter, I had Vredstien Winter tyres 195x on my cavalier Coupe and Avon 155 x M & S tyres on my wifes Chevette, In deep snow her car would go anywhere, mine wouldn't, but on hard packed snow or ice it was the other way around. Put a set of Dunlop winter tyres on my vectra 3.0 cdti. £600. 2 years later sold them for £ 200 due to changing cars. Found the Hankooks on the SF. Great. Driving style has a lot to do between getting stuck and getting home.
My brand new 2015 Skoda Yeti Outdoor SE TSI DSG 5 DOOR is only on 1900 miles so i think it is ready for winter
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