This bit of snow

I could only get onto an (safely) off our residents car using my chains. Then down to the main road and take them off. (total about 200m) When in France I have a 3km drive to the road so much better 'value', but my Renault is crap on snow.

Snow socks look good & much cheaper than tyres. Easier to fit, (not much space under my wheel arches when I'm putting the chains on) Not sure how durable the snow socks are though.

Not allowed - causes damage to the surface

I suspect the spray on tyre chain is going to be my next purchase.

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I've seen bikers using it in spain and it seemed to do the business.

Reply to
JTM
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I've got Vredestein SnowTracs on. Why those? Price vs brand reputation vs speed rating vs availability when I got 'em a couple of years ago. I got 'em from Camskill.co.uk, and had 'em fitted locally - most smaller tyre places or garages will do it for you for some folding drinking vouchers. Big tyre chains will charge a chunk more.

A _damn sight_ better than the normal summer tyres - a pair of Mich Energies and a pair of Conti PremiumContacts this year, previously Mich Pilot Primacies.

Let's put it this way - my leg still hurts from where I went flying and twatted it on the underside of the door trying to get back in the car after waiting for a big 4x4 tractor and trailer to stop sliding sideways and get a wiggle on at a T-junction on Tuesday. I'd stopped OK, I moved off OK, and I turned just fine.

Yep. 1990 Saab 900T16.

4wd is irrelevant in braking or turning, only for getting moving. If you've got no grip, it'll merely bring you to the location of your collision sooner and at a higher speed.

Go back to that list of road conditions, and add...

d) cold wet tarmac e) cold dry tarmac

to it. The grip relative to summer tyres swaps over at about 5degC.

Reply to
Adrian

There was a stretch of road in Burnley with a flyover that was heated, built in the late 60's I think. A long time later when the surface was getting pretty worn, it needed more ratepayers money for the repair than the unheated surfaces!

Reply to
JTM

To my way of thinking, you take one waste vehicle driver, send him on a course, and you have a dual purpose driver to go with your dual purpose vehicle. OK, it's not perfect, but it's better than nothing.

Reply to
Mike Barnes

I never got round to fitting winter tyres to my van this year as the spare rims I bought have gone missing. However my Dad always uses winter tyres at this time of the year and can easily drive up and down his steep snow and ice covered street. It does not mean he can get where a SUV can get in the snow due to height clearance but yesterday he could get up the street (two very icy ungritted wheel tracks) without the wheels skidding and I struggled in a RAV4 with normal tyres.

I don't know how much help the traction control and 4WD also gave him.

Reply to
ARWadsworth

Hi

I've heard of them.

Impressive.

True.

With that extra argument you make it sound more worth the effort or finding a cheap set of rims and getting the tyres (which will probably last until the rubber perishes in my case!). Wonder if I can find some steels for my car... Right now I really have zero storage space but that'll change by this time next year.

I'll look up those tyres in my size and make a note for next year - thanks.

Tim

Reply to
Tim Watts

4wd will help if one end has grip (assuming a lockable centre diff). Traction control won't do anything you can't do manually - if there's no grip, you won't be moving, because it'll cut all power.
Reply to
Adrian

This same debate is going on in a wide range of places atm, for obvious reasons.

There doesn't seem to be anybody who's tried winter tyres and reckons they're pointless - those with opinions fall into just two categories :-

- those who've tried them and are sold

- those who refuse to try them...

Reply to
Adrian

You have 4 brake pedals and 5 feet?

Reply to
Huge

Possibly some sort a variable diff. It's a Golf 4Motion. Yesterday was only the second time I have seen it.

Reply to
ARWadsworth

Perhaps you missed the bit where I said "if there's no grip", rather than just some wheels having no grip...?

Reply to
Adrian

Reply to
S Viemeister

Buckle the front end, I should think, or more likely make the node dip and the rear wheels leave the ground. Tractors are *designed* to have that sort of thing attached at the front, so no wonder its tractors, which will have better grip anyway, which do the work.

Reply to
Tim Streater

Tried fitting 'em, have you, on the road and in a blizzard?

Course, they have a nice warm dry garage to do the fitting in, plus the kit.

Reply to
Tim Streater

Who is going to be driving them, as has already been pointed out.

Well I suppose you could do to Southern Region lines what some (all?) commuter lines have out of New York - the third rail is upside down and power is taken (again by a sliding shoe) from the underside, thus avoiding it getting iced up.

But you'd have to explain where the billyuns needed to convert hundreds of trains and thousands of miles of track is coming from, and, more importantly, what your transition plan is, given that your train can run on the one sort of line or the other - but not both. So you'd have to shut down (e.g.) the London-Brighton line for some months while you converted it.

You could also install electric heaters in all the points on the railway network so that ice didn't get between them and jam them - but see above.

Doancha just love it when these armchair pontificators come up with their latest wave-a-wand-and-make-it-all-OK idea?

Reply to
Tim Streater

Hang on a minute - something contradictory here... Do the bus drivers get out every 5 minutes to fit/remove their chains?

Reply to
Tim Watts

Dustmen - think that has already been mentioned...

Except this country seems to be run by armchair dwelling "do-nothing" types.

Reply to
Tim Watts

Did ou hear the beeb yesterady

"I am a farmer with a tractor: I can clear snow, but I need to buy fully reflective clothing, have twin whirly lights on top and empty my tank of red diesel and fill it with road diesel before they let me on the roads for non agricultural purposes: So I don't.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Tractors don't do much work on farms at this time of year: They are laid up in sheds and barns. Makes sense to use em.No investment needed. Just fix the silly regs.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

buy different wheels as well. The rim width needs to be smaller.wheels are cheap.And makes changing easier.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

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