Snow driving

_Phonic · Oct 2, 2013

Hey folks, havent had a chance to drive the car in snowy conditions yet, but living in Scotland means its pretty inevitable unfortunately! Can anyone comment how the driving is in the snow? I have eagle f1 tyres all round so i dont think it will be very good..! Also, what kind of snow tyre set up could i go for to improve driving in snowy conditions?

Cheers,
Ryan.

Mikeyjp · Oct 2, 2013

i have got a winter set of alloys and some winter tyres waiting to go on, living in the midlands it was quite rough Easter time, and i had PE2 tyres on it and they were ok till i got to a hill, then went flying down it into a round about :S

SoS · Oct 2, 2013

I was OK on the PS3s last winter, although it did get bogged down in the snow in a car park at a customer I was visiting and needed a push but I got by OK. It was certainly better than the 5 series BMW I had a the time!

I am thinking of winter tyres, I have a spare set of Turinis but the tyres are a bit pricey for a good known brand. Any winter tyre suggestions? Maybe dropping to 15in with a higher profile tyre would be better.

_Phonic · Oct 3, 2013

Cheers for the replies guys. Maybe winter tyres would be a good option, even just fitting two at the front since its FWD. As for brands, im not sure of any off the top of my head, ill ask around and get back to you. I had a clio dynamique before buying the trophy which had 15" wheels and that was amazing in the snow even on normal kumho tyres! So dropping the allow size and width could also be an option for winter like SoS said.

Thanks again!

phillyt1988 · Oct 3, 2013

I was on Continental Premium Contacts and I got on just fine last year.

SoS · Oct 3, 2013

I think the Chinese suppliers may not be the best, although on ebay there are companies selling remoulds that have similar tread patterns to the big suppliers for around £50 a tyre in the same size as the standard 16in. Not sure how good they would be, they must be used in far worse conditions in Europe than here.

I think fitting two may be good for traction but I wonder what would happen if you braked hard or lifted off, the back may start sliding due to the difference in grip between front to back?

Luke335 · Oct 3, 2013

The Trophy is ok in the snow but the wide tyres don't help. Winter tyres are brilliant. I've been running winter tyres on 15" steels for years now just when really necessary. They are 185,55,15's so not great in the dry as they are narrow. Ideally I'd like to fit some decent winters to my spare turini's or some wider 15" alloys so the car is less compromised in good weather.
I wouldn't recommend fitting 2 winters as the grip difference is night and day in the snow. I would expect it to be difficult to keep the back end behind you!

j333evo · Oct 4, 2013

I used to be a little sceptical of the merits of winter tyres haven grown up & learned to drive in Glasgow. Until you actually drive a car on winter tyres you really can't comprehend how good they actually are. In most cities and towns the main roads are usually pretty good, and you can get about in normal circumstances by taking it easy, and most importantly braking in plenty of time. Get a heavy downfall of snow, or drive on less used roads with compacted snow & ice you can forget it. You may get traction but it's the stopping and turning that causes the biggest issues.

The last two winters with my Trophy I ran 15" wheels with 195/50/15 Hankook iCept EVO's and they were brilliant compared to the frankly useless PE2's & Marginally better Goodyear Eagle F1's. Even travelling the 43miles to work at 530 in the morning on Virgin snow the car was amazing. Also ran BF Goodrich winters on the Civic Type-R EP3 in 16" on Type-S wheels which were brilliant. One day coming from MK to Towcester the M1 was partically closed 5mph limit A5 was pretty much stopped and we decided to go cross contry on roads hardly anyone if any at all had used and it didn't miss a beat. The look on the guy in the Range Rover who had slid off the road near Silverstone as I took the bend with ease was priceless as is when you pull out on dual carriageways when folk are all crawling along in trail on the inside into the snow covered outside no one wants to use.

I've just bought some 17" Laguna wheels for my RS Megane to fit this winter as I'm convert and if you plan on keeping a car for a few years actually works out economical as once you get past an initial investment in wheels/tyres you then don't end up buying any for years.

I'm sure Bolt would still be faster than 90% of the population if he ran in jeans & Timberlands, but he wouldn't set any records and probably end up with pulled hamstrings or worse. Having the right equipment at the right time makes all the difference.