Contact your car insurer if you are thinking about fitting winter tyres!

Time will tell how mine hold up this winter, I will update on wear and usage if people find it useful?

If you have time Tony I'd be interested in how they get on.

Tony_H wrote:Ally, you're not getting a good deal there at all, although I don't know what kind of car you drive and therefore what size wheels you have.

Its a tractor. :shock:

Tony,
Normally we have a very mild climate here, with only a few days of frost and a couple of snowflakes during the winter so we don't usually have a problem. But you are quite right and I am thinking of getting some snow chains for the really extreme weather we've been having over the last couple of years. January I couldn't drive up or down our road for about a week in the snow and my daughter had to stay in town with friends to be sure of getting in to school to sit her January modular AS exams. She will be sitting her A2 modules this January and I don't want that worry again.

I would like to have the winter tyres for the increase in grip in cold wet/icy weather and I'd just put them on in the autumn and forget about them until late Spring. I suppose it means my normal tyres would last twice as long because they'd only be getting half the mileage.

Brooksy,
My husband drives the tractor - I drive a very small and cheap Daihatsu Sirion which manages very successfully to carry washing machines, tenant's rubbish etc. and loads of kids around the place (oh yes, and an 8 foot Christmas tree!).

Emma,
I will pm you for prices on wheels.

Ally

Every year the Austrian, German, & Swiss Automobile Associations (ÖAMTC, ADAC and TCS) conduct tests on winter tires in Ulrichen a very cold (-30oC) snowy village in the Goms district of Valais. You can read the report here: http://issuu.com/touring_online/docs/infotechtcs_winterreifen2009_de unfortunately its only available in German, French and Italian, but there are lots of tables so you should still be able to see which tyres are recommended and more importantly which ones are not.

AllyG. if your Sirion is fitted with 175/65R14 tyres then Vredestein Snowtrac 3 would be a good choice, they are normally available from Camskill for £41.50. but they don't have any in stock at the moment. This could be due to a recent change to the law in Germany which requires cars to be fitted with tyres appropriate for the driving conditions.

Thanks SwingBeep :D

£41-50 sounds much cheaper than the prices I've been looking at. You are quite right, my tyre size is indeed 175/65R14. I currently have the Kleber Dynaxer HP2 tyres on all 4 wheels, and I have no complaints with them.

How do you buy tyres from Camskill - do they post them or what?

Maybe I can order some winter tyres even if I can't get any right now.

Ally

Problem is, Ally, too many people are reactive rather than proactive. You need to have got your winter tyres by this time of year it seems. I hope you can find some somewhere. Kwikfit were advertising them on a big poster campaign outside their stores this week.

Camskill Performance & Tyres http://camskill.co.uk/index.php is an online mail order supplier of Japanese car parts and tyres in Whitehaven Cumbria. The 175/65R14 Snowtrac 3 is listed here: http://camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m11b0s712p15151 As they have a good price performance ratio they are popular and sell out quite quickly.

As Tony_H says you've left it a bit late for this winter, I wouldn't expect the Camskill to be able to get anymore before the end of January.

SwingBeep,
Thanks, I am trying to buy those Vredestein Snowtrac3 tyres from another company, and I have also bought some snowchains which will hopefully be delivered in the next few days (my Christmas present to myself so don't ask how much they cost!).

Now that I've bought chains we probably won't have any snow ever again, but at least if we do I will be prepared this time :D

Ally