Snow gates in Scotland (2023 Update)

[Commander Kinsey]

Big deal, you stop the car, get out, and have a snowball fight.

[Commander Kinsey]

This is my f****ng point, we do not need closed roads in this country. Anywhere that gets snow as deep as the links recently provided, it would either be blindingly obvious you couldn't get through, or they could just put up a sign saying "x feet of snow y miles ahead".

[Commander Kinsey]

Ahh, you're one of those that fall for media hype and exaggeration. You see 20 people dying without seatbelts, but you discount the 50 billion journeys with no crash. I guess you're the type that thought the covid virus was something to worry about, something which killed less than cancer, less than kidney disease, and less than the world population growth. Insignificant.

[Commander Kinsey]

Our government is only concerned with their money, not ours. They fit speedbumps which destroy our tyres and suspension at our expense (no matter what speed you go at), making half the vehicles on the road unroadworthy and dangerous. But they ticked their pathetic little box. It's even been shown you can't drive at the speed limit over most bumps without really f****ng your car. If the limit is 20, why does the bump require you to go 5?

[Colin Bignell]

AIUI, it is an EU regulation that they cannot be used unless the Member State specifically allows their use in domestic legislation, which UK legislation does not. That may, of course, change as we shed EU regulations.

However, the Construction and Use Regulations, which are home grown, make it an offence to drive a vehicle with a tyre not suitable for the use it is being put to and also for having any defect in a tyre that may cause damage to the surface of the road. So, while that could allow studded tyres to be used on fully snow or ice covered roads, to be legal, the driver would have to stop and change to unstudded tyres upon reaching a tarmac surface.

[Max Demian]

Things on the bottom of football boots.

Or lengths of threaded rod, such as the ones you screw the wheel nuts on.

Or maybe something else. So vague.

[rbowman]

The US mandates what are known colloquially as ICC bars for fools such as yourself.

[rbowman]

You call that a trailer?

[rbowman]

In this state you can use studded tires from Oct 1 to May 31. Snow was early this year but I usually put them on at the end of November and take them off in March depending on the spring conditions. I don't think the studs add that much noise over the aggressive tread but they're noisy enough to want them off as soon as possible.

I doubt my 2200 pound Toyota damages the pavement any more than the behemoths that are more common here.

[Commander Kinsey]

I'm surprised you can screw something into a tyre without bursting it.

[Commander Kinsey]

I doubt a truck could stop quicker than a car.

[Commander Kinsey]

The pigs would have a field day if I towed that with a Renault Scenic.

[Commander Kinsey]

Sounds like one of those hand waving laws that's never enforced.

[Commander Kinsey]

Stupid way to drive. I've always left 4WD on all the time.

Was pretty funny when I saw a miniature 4x4 not getting up a snowy hill, then I easily went up with a front wheel drive Golf. Auto gearboxes let you get up anything.

[Commander Kinsey]

I had a Honda CRV with non-permanent 4wd. Stupid idea, and since it was a bit worn, it took a fair time to engage (you could hear a noise as it did it). Oh and the diff?! WTF? I had it in a muddy field, and one wheel was in a dip of mud, and the other three wheels were on solid ground. So er.... all the power to one wheel? How did they design it so badly?! What's the point in 4 wheel drive without a limited slip diff or a diff lock?

[Commander Kinsey]

She was a bit snobby and would have wanted genuine ones for no reason. When I go in that garage and a part is required, the mechanic says "budget version mate?" It's a garage specialising in alloys for boy racers, and doing up vintage cars, but they do my old banger fixing very cheap. £10 cash (VAT discount?) to fix a hole in the exhaust etc.

Amazon is way overpriced. Use Ebay.

[Commander Kinsey]

Just get a 2nd hand one off a wreck.

[Colin Bignell]

Under the UK legislation, it is sufficient that the tyre *may* cause damage for there to ba an offence. Actual damage is not required.

[Commander Kinsey]

Ah, guilty until proven innocent. About time we got a new Guy Fawkes. Why do people put up with this shit?

[rbowman]

The previous Toyota had traction control that couldn't be disabled. On the whole it worked well, braking the wheel without traction and transferring the power to the other. If both wheels were spinning it shut them both down, making rocking the car impossible.

This one has an override. The manual mentions traction control might not be appropriate in all conditions. I guess they don't have snow or mud in Japan.