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A lot of our European friends switch to winter tyres for the colder months. Over there the consensus is you’re the odd one out if you aren't running winter tyres for winter.
Like said before you need a thin skinny tyre which will cut through the snow down the hard pack snow or possibly the road to get grip. Big fat wide 18” alloys are just going spin on the surface layer of snow and skid off the road.
Personally I’ll be keeping an eye out for a cheap set of 16” or the like and fit them with decent winter tyres. Gives me a safer car in snow/ice and keeps my 18” alloys in good nick by not having to drive through all that salt!
Like said before you need a thin skinny tyre which will cut through the snow down the hard pack snow or possibly the road to get grip. Big fat wide 18” alloys are just going spin on the surface layer of snow and skid off the road.
Personally I’ll be keeping an eye out for a cheap set of 16” or the like and fit them with decent winter tyres. Gives me a safer car in snow/ice and keeps my 18” alloys in good nick by not having to drive through all that salt!
Doing just fine with my 225/45-17's. It's not just the width, it's also the surface that matters. Also the quality between different brands varies greatly.
Here are some photos of studded rally tyres. It's not just that they're narrow, they are also covered with huge studs.
And btw, you can get even 22" studded tyres if needed... made in Finland of course
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They're propably illegal anywhere else than in Rally Sweden, Rally Norway, and everywhere in Russia
As i stated, they're RALLY tyres.Just wanted to make it clear (to everyone who didn't knew it already) that the maximum grip is not just the narrow tyres, it's also because of the great amount of studs.
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More gaps in the tyre tread = less surface area contact which means all the weight of the car is concentrated on the 'nobbles' which is what gives good grip
Ooopsies, I went for the Goodyear Eagle F1 Symetricals.. Seem to grip very well in the dry and wet. We dont get much snow here, only a bit of ice.
£79 each, with good rim protector
Quite an interesting thread... I don't have winter tyres and am wondering where I could store them if I did... Problem is with tyre fitters - they don't tend to like fitting tyres if they didn't supply them, so I would need 4 more rims as well... Hmm... A different look for the winter?! I might just be convinced...
The winter tyre debate aside, the OP claimed they had 3mm of tread left... Personally I think that it quite scary! A legal minimum tread depth is just that; a legal minimum... Thats not to say your tyres are safe when they have a few tenths of a mm more tread than the legal minimum. There was a test in AutoCar (or AutoExpress or some such mag) a while back where they tested tyres with varying tread depths. The test showed dramatic increases in wet stopping distances when tyres had 4mm and even 5mm tread. The conclusion was to change your tyres when you have 4 - 5 mm tread left... And not to leave it until you hit the legal minimum.
Seeing as though the UK is so wet..........
The winter tyre debate aside, the OP claimed they had 3mm of tread left... Personally I think that it quite scary! A legal minimum tread depth is just that; a legal minimum... Thats not to say your tyres are safe when they have a few tenths of a mm more tread than the legal minimum. There was a test in AutoCar (or AutoExpress or some such mag) a while back where they tested tyres with varying tread depths. The test showed dramatic increases in wet stopping distances when tyres had 4mm and even 5mm tread. The conclusion was to change your tyres when you have 4 - 5 mm tread left... And not to leave it until you hit the legal minimum.
Seeing as though the UK is so wet..........
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