Winter tyres and driving to La Rosiere

If you dont have winter tyres and get stuck its a terrible faff trying to get the showchains on in a really bad downpour and if you are on your way to a days skiing you end up with manky dirty, cold hands a wetter than necessary back and a foul mood!! Get the tyres.

IN some countries you will be fined for not having winter tyres

Tony_H wrote:IN some countries you will be fined for not having winter tyres

France your Ok but you can get a fine for not having snow chains

has no one use the link I posted on page 1 of this thread :roll:

daved wrote:has no one use the link I posted on page 1 of this thread :roll:

No !!!!

Sorry :wink:

Knowing the road up to La Rosiere I would suggest snow tyres BUT for the one trip a year I would use chains and take it very steadily IF the road is covered in snow. But as Bandit says the road is kept very clear to get the coaches and the HGV's with food supplies up there.

Hi,

I can only agree with the majority of the other replies, a set ( all 4 not just the driven wheels ) of winter rubber will be the best option but you will need a set of chains to comply with the French motoring laws.

Chains are great but once the snow/ice cover is gone they should be removed to avoid damage to the tyres and to the roads, the problem being that if the snow/ice cover on the road is patchy you may be taking them on and off at different points , winter tyres on the other hand ( should have the Mountain and Snowflake symbol on the side wall ) are designed for when the temperature goes below +7 degrees and down to around -20 degrees or there abouts.

Also they give added stopping and traction in wet, cold , snow and ice ( not just snow and ice as some think ), as for the cost benefit a set of say Continental , Nokian or Vredstein tyres will set you back around £300 - £450 ish , but will wear just as good as summer tyres so will last for many winters.

Another way to look at the cost benefit is that as they are designed to perform below +7 degrees , this is in fact the driving to work and driving home road/air temperature in the UK for around 5 -6 months of the year.....so again they are not just an investment for the odd few weeks in the Alps, one other point is to check with your car insurance company as some of them claim fitting them will invalidate your insurance ( they claim it is a modification to the car ) if they do tell them to sod off and change your insurance company...they will soon learn and get the message.

The 3 main makes of Tyre are Continental , Nokian and Vredstein.....myself I will be opting for the Continental Conti-winter-contact TS800 Tyre for fitting next month.

If you don't have room to store your summer tyres at home Kwik-Fit will store them for you in their Tyre Hotel for about £50, you just ring them up and arrange to have the tyres swapped when the average morning/evening temp rises around the end of March /early April.

Best of Luck

jon.

boredsurfin wrote:Knowing the road up to La Rosiere I would suggest snow tyres BUT for the one trip a year I would use chains and take it very steadily IF the road is covered in snow. But as Bandit says the road is kept very clear to get the coaches and the HGV's with food supplies up there.

Thank you Boredsurfin :thumbup: