Lancia Motor Club

I am sure this has been discussed before, but having just returned from the Alpes I am a complete convert to winter tyres !

Not fitted to a Lancia ,but my trusty Land Rover Disco 3. We had some appalling weather - snow , ice, heavy rain, standing water,extreme cold etc etc and you felt confident in all of it. 4WD is great going up hill, but is just as dangerous coming down it, especially with nearly 3 tonnes of motorcar.

I usually rely on all weather tyres (all year round) and carry "snow-socks" but this time stumped up for a set of full winter tyres and they are so much better in poor conditions.

There are down sides, but from now on I will keep a winter set for those miserable months !

ps the skiing was fantastic, loads of new new snow across the Alpes .....

Snowing in Colchester but not enough to get the winter tyres on my Gamma!!! (yes they are great especially on a lighter car like Lancia build).

I think I might have posted on this before but this is my take on winter tyres.
For use when the road temperature is 7 or below.

The following is in my opinion how various combinations stack up for driving in cold/icy/snowy conditions. From worst to best

Worst  ....... rear wheel drive ordinary tyres
                   front wheel drive ordinary tyres
                   four wheel drive ordinary tyres
                   rear wheel drive winter tyres
                   front wheel drive winter tyres
Best             four wheel drive winter tyres

I am sure there will be some that disagree .... but as Simon alluded, four wheel drive makes no difference when braking.

                              Andy

Had snow tyres fitted to my Lybra when I bought it. Didn't think about them much and drove all year round on them until they had to go after a few years because of uneven wear due to worn bushes. We get some heavy snow here (snowing today) but when it came to replacement I opted for cheaper normal tyres as we don't have prelonged periods and working from home, I don't need to do a lot of driving. However.........the following winter I had no option but to drive to an appointment in heavy snow. What a difference! The normal tyres were terrible and only then I realised how good the snow tyres had been. Even felt the ABS working which it never had on snow tyres. If I had to drive to work every day I think I would convert back during the winter. Somewhere on this site is a video of snow tyres being demonstrated in an arena. Two cars side by side up an indoor ski slope type thing - the snow tyres go straight up, the normal tyres get a short distance then slide back down. I'd always thought they had some special tread pattern (they were more 'blocky' than a normal tyres) but in fact the main difference comes from the rubber which remains soft and grippy at lower temperatures.

Winter tyres are fab! I had to get a set for my Skoda Octavia VRS to be legal in Austria over Christmas and so had them on in Dundee over weekend. Going up The Law on Saturday am in snow and untreated roads had no problems but son in Audi A5 had to go back. Of course it may have been my more expert driving skills..........

I have a set of winter Michelins on my Yeti and I'm very impressed with them on wet roads. I have yet to try them on ice and snow, 'cos the weather hasn't been bad enough lately.