Snow Chains or Socks

[Andrew]

Kill two birds with one stone

Three actually, you will be kept warm too

[RJH]

I've got some all season tyres on my Audi 'soft' 4WD A3 quattro - managed Sheffield's snowy and steep roads with ease, even where some 4WD SUV can't pass.

But all bets off with ice IME - never managed that.

[Paul]

You can drive winter tyres, up to 7C or so. Leave then installed until consistent warmer weather shows up.

*Do not* under-inflate the tyres. If conditions are causing you to even think this is clever, just leave the car in the driveway. This is hard on the sidewalls, and will cause the tyre to heat up in spots. And not all tyres can withstand this kind of abuse - a heavy vehicle, poor tyre construction, you could have a blowout. Just the shimmy in the steering wheel, should be enough to tell you (at highway speed) that this is a stupid thing to do.

For God sake, just buy a decent set of tyres for the conditions. You can get winter tyres with sipes and heavy treads for snow - if they are also fitted with "black walnut shells", it gives some of the performance of steel studs, but is legal.

I buy a set of tyres and a set of rims. That way, the aggravation of swapping tyres versus rims is removed and you have more options for fitting them. I do my own tyres, in the driveway, using a floor jack and two jack stands (to secure the setup). I lift the car via a center jack point, as the center jack points on old cars, are more secure than the welded/pinched jack points by the wheel(s). I have a torque wrench to adjust them to the correct wheel nut torque (for my car, 80 to 85 pounds or so). There is a web site that lists torque values.

For winter tyres, I usually wait until the air temperature is approximately 0C, before fitting them (that's because I'm lazy, it's not a technical issue). I don't mind working outside at that temperature. Gloves on, gloves off, like fitting wheel nuts, the gloves come off. What I don't like in my car port, is a 30MPH breeze. That sends me back into the house. I just can't stay warm out there, if there is a wind. But 0C or even a bit lower, in still air, is quite OK.

I've tried the "one set of tyres is enough" routine, and given up on that. I don't play pretend any more. I don't stick fingers in ears and sing "Lalala". Just buy the proper tyres and be done with it.

Because I don't put a lot of kilometers on the car per year, the tyres can last a while.

The difference between a good tyre shop and a bad tyre shop, is the good tyre shop will take the time to explain features, and the guy will flip through the catalog and show potential solutions. Like speed grade and similar parameters. This allows you to compare what products are out there. If you visit the shop during the less busy season, you can get the royal treatment. One reason I pay attention to speed grade, is several sets of tyres had poor sidewall stiffness, and the car used to "slog to the side" when rounding a corner. And once moving to higher speed grade tyres, that stopped happening and it started driving like a car again.

Paul

[Muddymike]

Tyres, tyres, tyres. In our 2wd Yeti on Michelin 4 season tyres I drove straight past a couple of fancy 2wd SUVs that were unable to get up a slight hill into a local housing development :-)

Me smug...

Mike