Winter Tyre Advice

Mmmmmm if I drive this year I might invest in a pair of winter socks

Ian Wickham wrote:Mmmmmm if I drive this year I might invest in a pair of winter socks

:D :D :D Your a disturbed man Mr Wickham....

:D how are you , hope you are well ?, it's been a while since I've been here

Jon.

jonG wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:Mmmmmm if I drive this year I might invest in a pair of winter socks

:D :D :D Your a disturbed man Mr Wickham....

:D how are you , hope you are well ?, it's been a while since I've been here

Jon.

We are all good at this end Jon and I hope you and yours are in fine fettle and looking forward to a fantastic winter :thumbup:

Mr Q - with decent winter tyres on the quattro you'll probably never need chains (carry them just in case) and definitely don't go near studs!

I ran an Audi on Vredestein Wintrac Xtremes and they were the nuts - never, ever needed chains even in some very slippy and deep snow. They lasted four winters and around 20K miles with a couple of trips to the Alps in each - still had 4mm of tread when I sold the car.

Last winter I left it too late to find Vreds and ended up with Avon Ice Tourings - but was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.

Here's one road we took for lunch...



About 6km further on we parked next to the only other vehicle to have made it up...



:D

Many thanks Mr A.

Never realised that you drove a piste basher though :shock:

A couple of other people have suggested Vredesteins as well, especially those people I get to deal with who live in Europe.

All I have to decide now is cheapo steel wheels and not worry about any curbing, or go all vain and get a set of cheapish alloys for £20 a wheel more.

Thanks to everyone else for comments too.

Far Queue wrote:Many thanks Mr A.

Never realised that you drove a piste basher though :shock:

:lol: :lol: :lol: ROF..etc.....

Far Queue wrote:Never realised that you drove a piste basher though :shock:

But of course - doesn't every self-respecting ski site admin? I wish... must have a go one day!

Pagey66 wrote: I had an Audi with either 18 or 19" alloys. I used a set of Maggi Traks. http://www.maggigroup.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Valxer.woa/wa/page?path=maggi it may be worth looking there before investing in a set of tyres. However, they are expensive, but worked fantastically on our low profile Alloys (R18/235/**)

Snow chains shouldn't be regarded as a substitute for winter tyres. At temperatures below 7°C, summer tyres become too hard to provide enough grip for effective traction and braking. Winter tyres are mandatory in Austria and Germany if road conditions so require; as well as being fined, you may also be deemed to be at least partially at fault in the event of an accident.

Although much easier to mount, quick-fit chains don't perform anywhere near as well as ordinary chains especially under braking. They are only loosely attached to the tyres so when you brake they slip round the tyre increasing the stopping distance by up to 30% more than it would be with winter tyres and no chains. (http://www.ktipp.ch/downloadfile/1021130 sorry about the German!).

Admin wrote: still had 4mm of tread when I sold the car.

4mm is the minimum recommended tread depth for a winter tyre.