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I've had winter tyres for four winters now, this year will be my fifth. I only ran them for three though, as the year before last was too mild and they weren't needed. My car is a 2002 Lexus IS200, it's RWD, and has the most pointless limited-slip diff for snow use (it's a Torsen diff that needs one of the drive wheels to have a level of grip in order to make the one without lock - on snow, when neither wheel has grip, it simply doesn't lock. Great for hooning round roundabouts without spinning out, useless for trying to pull away on snow in a straight line). So I bought a second set of standard 17" alloys for £50, and a barely used set of Uniroyal winter tyres (8mm tread down from the original 10, and all in great condition) to try them out before committing to a brand new set. Thankfully I have just enough room to keep 4 wheels with tyres, so I can change them over when needed, usually beginning of Dec (or mid/late Nov if particularly cold), and then back again when it warms up (typically end of Feb). Winter tyres generally work best at temps lower than 7 deg C, and will work least over 10 deg c. What drew me to the Uniroyals is I'd had a set of their RainSport tyres many years before and they were by far the best tyres I'd ever had in the wet. Phenomenal grip. And these Uniroyal winter tyres are just the same - standing water is almost likes it's not there, grip in the cold and wet is exceptional, and they really give a great sense of confidence in those conditions, where my normal Hankook tyres (which I think on the whole are excellent) do begin to feel a little uncertain (when you get down to the cold temps around 4/5 deg). This last winter I changed from my Hankooks to the Uni's after having a "moment" on the M11 early one morning - with myself changing lanes, inadvertently, due to standing water at around 60mph, and an Audi that passed me at probably 70 changed all three lanes and then back two lanes again. Next day I fitted my Uni's, and that cold wet motorway wasn't a problem anymore.
In regard to snow, I've not actually driven my car with the Hankook's on in snow, because I've always put my Uni's on before it has snowed. However, my neighbour used to have a C class Merc, and when it snowed that thing was beached. To move off from our parking spot to the main road you turn 90 deg onto an incline to get to the main road. The road in the estate is block paved, which seems to play havok with snow and make it compact more, or something, to the point it's like an ice rink. The Merc simply used to sit still and the back end slide slowly down getting closer and closer to my car, so he daren't risk trying more as it'd just hit mine. When it snowed for the first time after rI got my Lexus, I had to try the tyres - even though it was 7:30 am on my day off! I had to go out before it melted, and since there was a good 2 inches on the ground, out I went. And it pulled away, mad the turn, up the incline to the road and turned out as if it was a normal summers day. Not even a hint of wheelspin. Granted I was feathering the throttle and not being daft, as there was other cars around, but I then drove it up a hill, past a stranded BMW at the bottom, and slowly went past a Volvo XC90 that was struggling for grip. Now the XC90 should have made mincemeat of that hill, but even with 4WD, low profile "sport" tyres won't grip. Wrong footwear for the job. You don't wear sandals to hike a mountain just as you don't wear work boots on a beach.
So, short version of the above - winters tyres are great in cold (under 7 deg C), wet, icy, or dry, and snowy conditions, not great in warmer weather. |
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Author: JFRTDI
24-11-2019 22:38:38
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