Tyre Urban Myths? or fact!

[AH1951]

Incidentally, the Germans I worked with were aghast to hear that the fitment of winter tyres is not a legal requirement in the UK.
Dealer claimed that grip of ordinary tyres drops off significantly below 7 Deg C.
It is a legal requirement in many places, and certainly in Quebec from Dec 15th to April 15th.
Most drivers in Quebec keep a set of winter tyres on rims to avoid having to change-over tyres every 6 months.
http://www.etyres.co.uk/winter-tyres-law" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mick D]

Incidentally, the Germans I worked with were aghast to hear that the fitment of winter tyres is not a legal requirement in the UK.
Dealer claimed that grip of ordinary tyres drops off significantly below 7 Deg C.
It is a legal requirement in many places, and certainly in Quebec from Dec 15th to April 15th.
Most drivers in Quebec keep a set of winter tyres on rims to avoid having to change-over tyres every 6 months.
http://www.etyres.co.uk/winter-tyres-law" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This bit made me laugh.

After all, 48 per cent of all accident claims are made during the autumn and winter months. Surely improved grip would reduce the accidents and make winter driving safer for motorists and cheaper for insurance companies.

So according there arguement for safer winter tyres, it is actually already safer in Autumn and winter than Spring or summer anyway.

[Per]

Every winter we have loads of accidents caused by trailers, some with fatalities. Most are caused by foreign trailers on summer tyres, and last winter IIRC all fatalties were caused by those trailers.

Simimarly every year the first major snowfall sees a lot of crumpled wings and worse. I have seen dozens of them and every culprit was on summer tyres. Surprise

[Torquemada]

I could not visualise driving here in Germany in winter without winter tyres and I think considering the winters UK gets (look at Easter this year in Yorkshire) it should also be a legal requiremnt, they do work.

What made me laugh or makes me laugh was upin Haworth end of March/start April this year was the amount of 4x4s with massive low profile tyres stuck in the snow and me in the Espace with my winter tyres just cruising by, I never got stuck once in the snow, and by golly there was a lot of it.

When the temp drops to under 7C summer tyres react differently and dont function as they should, wheras winter/MS tyres have a different compound and treading which works well in cold,wt,icey temperatures.

The reason why you had to have asticker back in the past was becasue the compounds were not as advanced as they are now, ( you can get winter tyres rated for 300KMH these days) and the sticker was a legal requirement and reminder telling you not to go too fast.

[patrick hiron]

I can confirm that modern winter tyres work well below+ 7C. Some years ago we moved from Montreal to washington DC ; capital of the greatest country in the world . As good Quebecers we had 4 winter tyres, consequently we were the only drivers who could start , stop and change direction after a major , {well 5 cm] snow fall which shut the city down for three days .
The snow tyre law is one of the few traffic laws which is respected in Quebec .[ Red lights , stop signs and speed limits etc are purely advisory] because your insurance is void if you don't have snow tyres
Cheers
Patrick

[Denis]

I could not visualise driving here in Germany in winter without winter tyres and I think considering the winters UK gets (look at Easter this year in Yorkshire) it should also be a legal requiremnt, they do work.

What made me laugh or makes me laugh was upin Haworth end of March/start April this year was the amount of 4x4s with massive low profile tyres stuck in the snow and me in the Espace with my winter tyres just cruising by, I never got stuck once in the snow, and by golly there was a lot of it.

When the temp drops to under 7C summer tyres react differently and dont function as they should, wheras winter/MS tyres have a different compound and treading which works well in cold,wt,icey temperatures.

1. What can I say - what ever 4X4 car in the snow better accelerates than stops.
2. On the summer tires there is no difference how many wheels drives. You stuck.
3. Nothing works better on the ice, snow and near-ice condition than nailed tires. But nailed tires are very bad on the dry/wet road. Lamelled winter tires are good on the snow, but bad on the ice. M/S all season tires are quite mediocre everythere, but still usable year round.

[RAP72]

What ever happened to tyre chains? I am sure that when I lived in Berlin (77-80) we had to have them in the car as part of winter survival equipment.

[Per]

What ever happened to tyre chains? I am sure that when I lived in Berlin (77-80) we had to have them in the car as part of winter survival equipment.

Low profile tyres and narrow wheel wells happened. Chains would damage the lot. Snow socks still exist though as a get out when stuck measure.

[DaveAK]

We run all season tires here, and 4WD. I have the same tires on my VW Passat that I've been driving on all summer. My pickup truck needs some extra weight in the back as it's a little squirrely being so light in the back end, but other than that we seem to do OK. Studded tires are legal from September through to May, but they decided to impose a tire change tax a few years ago.

[Torquemada]

In certain parts of German, Swiss and Austrian mountain roads chains are the law, they also have spikes and snow spyders which are very good.

[Torquemada]

I can confirm that modern winter tyres work well below+ 7C. Some years ago we moved from Montreal to washington DC ; capital of the greatest country in the world . As good Quebecers we had 4 winter tyres, consequently we were the only drivers who could start , stop and change direction after a major , {well 5 cm] snow fall which shut the city down for three days .
The snow tyre law is one of the few traffic laws which is respected in Quebec .[ Red lights , stop signs and speed limits etc are purely advisory] because your insurance is void if you don't have snow tyres
Cheers
Patrick

I thought you said Washington, not London

[Chris_R]

Incidentally, the Germans I worked with were aghast to hear that the fitment of winter tyres is not a legal requirement in the UK.
Dealer claimed that grip of ordinary tyres drops off significantly below 7 Deg C.
It is a legal requirement in many places, and certainly in Quebec from Dec 15th to April 15th.
Most drivers in Quebec keep a set of winter tyres on rims to avoid having to change-over tyres every 6 months.
http://www.etyres.co.uk/winter-tyres-law" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We don't often have temperatures much below 7 Deg C. Average low temperature in London in December and January is 5c. Average high temperature is 9c. Yes, there are colder days but then again there are many warmer days. Most of the UK has a mild climate most of the time. Snowy days are not common and generally any snow is gone in a few days. Sure, there have been some exceptions in the last few years but on average, it is a mild climate. Despite not having winter tyres, the UK is on average the safest place to drive in the world beating even Sweden.

[felixkk]

switzerland is apparently the only "alpine" country (I'm citing this, not sure if this is correct or what an alpine country is! http://www.tagesschau.sf.tv/Nachrichten ... er-Schweiz" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) which doesn't require winter tires.
but if you have inadequate tires on snowcovered roads and cause an accident or get stuck and cause a hindrance, you are liable.
some roads will temporarily or seasonally require chains, exempt from this are 4wd vehicles.
there doesn't seem to be an age restriction for tires, but I assume that you are also liable if something happens due to the tires.

"Achtung: Wer allerdings auf schneebedeckter Fahrbahn mit unzweckmässiger Ausrüstung (Sommerreifen) stecken bleibt und den Verkehr aufhält, kann für die Verletzung von Grundverkehrsregeln gebüsst werden."

"Allgemeine Vorschriften (Auszug aus Art. 58 und 59 VTS):
- Die Räder müssen mit ausreichend tragfähigen Luftreifen oder andern, etwa gleich elastischen Reifen versehen sein, die sich für die Felgen eignen.
- Reifen müssen sich für die mögliche Höchstgeschwindigkeit des Fahrzeugs eignen.
- Alle Reifen eines Fahrzeuges müssen dieselbe Bauart (Radial- oder Diagonalreifen) aufweisen.
- Bei Luftreifen darf das Gewebe nicht verletzt oder blossgelegt sein. Die Reifen müssen auf der ganzen Lauffläche mindestens 1,6 mm tiefe Profilrillen aufweisen.
- Für nicht genormte Reifen, für Reifen oder Felgen-Reifenkombinationen, die von den Normen (z.B. ETRTO) abweichen, und für Reifen, deren Verwendung nicht
der Kennzeichnung entspricht, ist eine Garantie des Reifenherstellers oder der Reifenherstellerin erforderlich. Die Reifen (Marke, Typ, Dimension, allenfalls abweichende
Kennzeichnung und die erforderlichen Auflagen) sind in diesem Fall im Fahrzeugausweis einzutragen.
- An Fahrzeugen … müssen Reifen montiert sein, die der Richtlinie 92/23/EWG oder den Verordnungen (EG) Nr. 661/2009 und (EU) Nr. 458/2011 entsprechen.
- Winterreifen (Zusatzbezeichnung M+S) müssen entweder für die mögliche Höchstgeschwindigkeit des Fahrzeuges zulässig oder bei Personenwagen für
mindestens 160 km/h geeignet sein. Wird die mögliche Höchstgeschwindigkeit des Fahrzeuges durch die M+S Reifen nicht abgedeckt,
so muss der Reifenverkäufer eine Aufschrift abgeben, die auf die für die Reifen zugelassene Höchstgeschwindigkeit hinweist."

[Per]

Snow tyres are not manadatory in Norway either, but as in Switzerland you are liable if something untoward happens and you were on summer tyres. Apart from the first day of snowfall you will have to look long and hard to find anybody not on snow tyres or all year tyres.

[Peter Heywood]

What happened to the minimum 4mm profile depth? Is it mandatory or still advisory? Was this just for Germany? or EU?

I bought my last winter tyres from http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop. ... &s_p=index" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They came from Germany by courier as a single delivery. I would rather have that, than ones which have been knocking about the UK for a long time.