Snow tyres

[Anonymous]

Hi guys,

Another quickie , with all this winter freeze stuff going on and the roadster's ability to spin its tail in the minimal wet. I'm thinking safety first. Whats the deal with snow tyres in this country ? and also does anyone know of any good ones for the roadster ?  Do they really make any diference ? are they worth the investment ??

Cheers guys ?

[uktotty]

I think snow tyres ae illigal due to the damage to the road.

These seem popular though

[Wabbitkilla]

I don't think snow tyres are illegal, they're a requirement in some European countries in bad weather.

Snow chains were illegal last time i heard, but not sure these days.
The trouble is getting them in suitable sizes for the 2, and you need a spare set of wheels.

[markiii]

studded snow tyres aren;t legal but then, you will kill them in minutes when you hit normal tarmac again

hopwever you can get proper non studded winter tyres whihc will be an improvement, but wether you can get suitable sizes is a whole different question

[Two's Company]

Has anyone tried those snow sock things above?  Could do with some of those today.

[Mad Matt]

I fitted winter tyres to the Mrs car this year and am very impressed driving on snow and ice. Her original wheels were 17" 225s so I don't think it'd be a problem for the MR2 in terms of size availability. I was advised to go higher profile, as if you slide and whack the curb it's better that the force is absorbed by the tyre rather than more fragile parts of the car.

Having said that I haven't bothered putting them on my car, I just take hers when there's lots of snow  :-) :-) :-)

[markiii]

225 is way too wide for a snow tyre

[alancdavis]

Out in Kazakhstan it is quite normal for people to fit there snow or studded tyres when the ice and snow arrives and carry on bussiness as usual

Here in UK first sign of ice and snow and its total chaos

It seems we lernt nothing from the snow last Febuary

[mrzwei]

Or the Febuary before that, or the Febuary before that, or the........  s:D s:D

[firepower]

i have used the autosock a few times now and would say they are very good they cost £65.00 for the 2 +p&p the code size for 205/50/15 tyres is 605 i got mine from roofbox

[Ullevi]

Does anyone have any recommendations re suppliers of winter tyres in this country?

I am trying to get some winter tyres for my daughter's car but find the usual tyre places have difficulty in getting them,and my Toyota dealers came up blank.

I have heard that in cold weather,let alone snow and ice,winter tyres give better grip.

A couple of tyre places came back offering Avon winter tyres,but they don't have good reviews.

Any suggestions?

[mrzwei]

This is an interesting point, because on a car like the 2 I'd be worried about their performance (grip) in the dry. Just what constitutes a winter tyre (a legal requirement in Germany for example)?

[Mad Matt]

For markiii's point: Yes 225s are too wide for winter tyres. I should have made it clearer, those were the original size, the winter tyres are 205s and as I said before they work very well. For a start the snow tends to fall off of them, as opposed to forming a layer of compacted snow around them.

Obviously these are not snow tyres in that they are not studded. I don't know what qualifies them as winter tyres legally. I believe that those advertised as winter tyres on the tyre manufacturers web-sites all qualify. The adverts on the radio from Michelin say that stopping distances are improved by X percent with their winter tyres once temperatures fall below 7 degrees or so.

I'd never thought about them when I lived in the UK so I don't know where to get a good supply from. Here they seem very common.

Oh well, next week it'll be "The Big Thaw" in all the papers and back to normal  :-) :-) :-)  Anyone remember Giles cartoons from the 70s?

[markiii]

I beleive winter tyres have a much softer compound (so they don't go like a rock in low temps) along with smaller wider spaced tread blocks to allow for better grip and snow clearnace

cross cuts rather than radial cuts are also more important on snow, wheres as radial cuts are better for water clearance

[Ilogik]

could of done with some snow tyres today when I took my car to get painted, christ uphill backroads are terrible. Only way I could get up it was to get onto the outside where there was thicker snow that hadn't been pressed down and slowly make my way up in 5th.

The toyo's in the snow are useless   s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[pada1462]

I bought  some of the muligrip socks in February after getting stuck (about £40 from ebay IIRC), haven't needed them yet though so don't know how good they are, but the write up sounds good. standard 215/45 tyre is  group 77

[kentsmudger]

I bought  some of the muligrip socks in February after getting stuck (about £40 from ebay IIRC), haven't needed them yet though so don't know how good they are, but the write up sounds good. standard 215/45 tyre is  group 77

Might want to look here

[Ullevi]

Just to reply to my own post and for your information,I ordered 4x Nokian WR G2 tyres from mytyres.co.uk last Saturday.

Ordered them on the phone.Comfirmatory e-mail,package tracking immediately.Left warehouse in Germany on Monday,arrived Yesterday(Wednesday)-so 4 days from ordering-good service!

Had them fitted to the Aygo yesterday so will let you know how they compare to the OEM Continentals in the cold.

I am not touching the MR2 in this weather!

[Gif]

Had them fitted to the Aygo yesterday so will let you know how they compare to the OEM Continentals in the cold.

I have OEM contis on my son's Aygo.  Been driving to work everyday for the last two weeks some days through 8 inches of snow.  Why pay for the winter tyres?  Plus the spoiler makes a damn good snow plough for our road  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

[Ullevi]

Had them fitted to the Aygo yesterday so will let you know how they compare to the OEM Continentals in the cold.

I have OEM contis on my son's Aygo.  Been driving to work everyday for the last two weeks some days through 8 inches of snow.  Why pay for the winter tyres?  Plus the spoiler makes a damn good snow plough for our road  s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

I too have been driving my daughter's Aygo to work in this weather-no problems.

Just decided to get winters for extra reassurance for when my daughter takes the car out-she is an inexperienced driver.

I'll let you know if the Nokians make any difference compared with the Contis.

Otherwise,the Aygo has been great in this weather-lightweight,FWD,155 skinny tyres...

[Capvermell]

I have a July 2002 MR2 Roadster that I have owned since new and that came supplied with Yokohama A043s all round in 185/55 x15 at the front and 205/50 x 15 at the back.

When I first drove the car in some fast settling snow driving on the A25 towards Guildford in Jan 2003 I found the car to be a near deathtrap on these tyres in snow and it slewed wildly from right to left as power was applied, nearly taking me in to the path of oncoming traffic several times.  I also ran in to a kerb at some speed when trying to park the car in a side street due to the total lack of grip from the tyres despite using prudent snow driving type technique.

In this year's several periods of snow I have been amazed at how completely safe the car seems if driven moderately and sensibly (i.e. don't go too fast and brake early and moderately and do not apply power very heavily midway in to a bend) on the Toyo Proxes-T1R tyres I now have on the car.  I find the tyres bite through the snow well to the tarmac and there is none of the wild slewing fishtailing I got with the Yoko A43s.  Yet the Toyos are supposed to also be a summer only tyre.

Bottom line is that the car is hugely better in the snow on the Toyos, leaving aside that this is also an infinitely superior tyre to the A043 Yokos in any kind of wet road conditions.

Do any other members have experience of driving the same MR2 Roadster in snow on different summer tyre types and the difference to the handling in snow this has made?

[aaronjb]

Do any other members have experience of driving the same MR2 Roadster in snow on different summer tyre types and the difference to the handling in snow this has made?

Yes - I've driven the '2 in snow & ice on Toyos and as you've found, it behaves very well indeed.  Sure there are limits, but they are very decent tyres on the thick stuff and even sheet ice.

The Bridgestone RE040s, certainly when half worn like mine, are pretty poor on undriven areas (like my driveway!) with no grip at all to get moving or on settling snow on untreated roads as you found with the Yokos.

I've also driven very worn (er.. bald) Neovas (Yokohama Super Advan Neovas - stock fitment on S1 Elise) and they are simply awesome in the wet and slippery conditions, even with next to no tread. Standing water would have seen me fly off the road with no tread to clear the water, but the damp & rain was no problem. Not sure what they'd be like on snow & ice, though.

I've driven Goodyear F1 and Bridgestone erm.. S1? No longer produced, but they were both excellent on snow & ice on the back of my old Nissan 300ZX (engine at the front but still driving the rear wheels).

[kentsmudger]

Back to driving school for me then, I have Toyo T1-R and could barely keep the car facing forwards  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

[Capvermell]

Back to driving school for me then, I have Toyo T1-R and could barely keep the car facing forwards  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

You need to think drive like an old granny when fresh snow is on the road.  That is change early, be in the highest gear possible, brake early and in plenty of time.  Slow and gentle through the corners..........

[kentsmudger]

Back to driving school for me then, I have Toyo T1-R and could barely keep the car facing forwards  s:oops: :oops: s:oops:

You need to think drive like an old granny when fresh snow is on the road.  That is change early, be in the highest gear possible, brake early and in plenty of time.  Slow and gentle through the corners..........

I was trying! Here is my attempt at getting up an incline (so shallow that the car would barely roll down it if you just let go of the handbrake) on Toyos. The snow-socks were a bust so I just left it at home in the end.

I think it may be worth me getting some chunkier tyres for the winter months, but they do need to have realistic performance in cold but dry conditions or it will just ruin the characteristics of the car.