The dirty road season hath cometh

[steve_earwig]

and for ultimate traction use slicks, which are soo good on snow...

Depends on the depth of the snow, at about 4" you really want the tyre to dig in but above 12" it's not such a good idea. The 4x4 couldn't cope with 1" and I got overtaken by a Škoda.

[DaiRees]

As Steve said, the optimum tyre type and size depends on the surface. If you have shallow snow over ice you want a tall thin tyre with spikes so it'll cut through the snow and bite into the ice, this is the best performance you can get with snow & ice, but if the snow is too deep for those tyres you want the widest balloon tyres you can get and run them with really low pressure to increase the contact area, thus enabling the vehicle to ride on top of the snow and not get bogged down. Same thing applies with mud, shallow mud over a firm gravel or stone base = tall fairly narrow tyres with an agressive tread pattern to clear the soft stuff off the top and get down to the grippy stuff underneath (this is what my 4X4 wears - well it is Wales, there's plenty of mud on our off road tracks!), but deep soft mud and you need the balloon tyres again to try and "float" over it.

Tell you one thing though, my little Suzuki on it's Mud Terrain tyres went places that baffled even the most expensive of Chelsea tractors in the snow back at the beginning of this year, even on the hard compacted snow that was virtually sheet ice it was bloody amazing. 4wd? it's the way forward....

[V6Exec]

I went for 195/65 R15s when I originally got my winter tyres (this being the narrowest tyre I could get on the spare rims I got without being silly) because the narrower profile means more pounds per square inch, i.e. more traction. Looking at Michelin, I got it right. They were cheaper too...

Winter tyres for a V6

Crazy idea - why the h*ll would I want V (149 mph) rated winter tyres ????

[steve_earwig]

205/60R15

Interesting, summer tyres the same too, so no big fat rubber on the 6s?

Mmm, V6 estate drools

[Welly]

I found that with wide low-profile car tyres in the snow they would slide about all over the place. The 406 tyres being a bit narrower performed much better in the snow as they seemed to cut through to the road underneath (as evidenced by my 406 hauling itself up my snow covered hill on tickover whereas it took 3 of us to push my neighbours Vulva D5 up the same hill with his 225's).

On very deep snow only then the squishy balloons are right.

[bargainbro]

With my father-in-laws 407 diesel (w/225-50-17 spikeless wintertyres) I never noticed any difference to my 406 with 205-55-16 spikes. Maybe the ESP keeps the going more steady even on ice, snow and sleet so the car won´t get that snowboard traction. And then there´s the "torque -factor" naturally....

[Welly]

With my father-in-laws 407 diesel (w/225-50-17 spikeless wintertyres) I never noticed any difference to my 406 with 205-55-16 spikes. Maybe the ESP keeps the going more steady even on ice, snow and sleet so the car won´t get that snowboard traction. And then there´s the "torque -factor" naturally....

I just Googled Oulu, Finland and saw lots of snowy pics like this.......


The trouble is, I also found this........


Apparently the International Air-Guitar Championships are held there

[bargainbro]

Oh yes, Welton, you have discovered the ultimate truth about my hometown...

Damn, how the hell did my moment of fury at "the main dealers service counter after receiving the bill fron the cambelt change" (pic n:o 2) get in the web.

[steve_earwig]

You seem to have dropped your baseball bat.

[teamster1975]

It looks like Freddy Star doing an Angus Young impression! Highway to Hell

[mjb]

It looks like Freddy Star doing an Angus Young impression! Highway to Hell

That's scary. I thought EXACTLY the same...

[teamster1975]

You know what's even scarier, my initials are MJB! Aaargh!

[DaiRees]

Today was the first day I really noticed the dirty road syndrome. Man my car is minging!

[teamster1975]

The wheels & swingarm on my bike are the killers, especially when I've just lubed the chain & all the cr@p sticks to it

[V6Exec]

On the skinny tyre debate used to run one of these.

One day driving the Mancunian Way in decent snow, I was given the choice of slogging along the slushy lane or making up sime time in the snowy lane.

I quickly got up to 60+ and stormed past the other cars to a clear patch, where I turned in and slowed down. In my rear view mirror I was treated to the sight of the larger car on fat wheels that tried to follow me do a 90 degree turn into the outer barrier. The tail end lifted nicely as the front crumpled

Skinny tyres worked for me