Snow socks and tyres

Deer Hunter DL

yourpics wrote: »

Last year I used Federal which I will admit aren't the best tyres but are good in the snow. Zetum are also very good but once the weather improves the tread wears very fast. I would stay well clear of Wanli, very little grip. I drive a FWD vehicle with fairly narrow tyres and very little weight at the back. I live at 300m AOD on untreated roads.
I would be particularly nervous driving in snow so I think if I can manage it most others should aswell.

having this kind of set up will enable you to drive where most would be stuck with non winter tyres , but everyone doesn't have that kind of set up i am guessing you have a car maybe like a toyota starlet with maybe 155-165 wide 14inch and that will cut into the snow fairly good alrite , but if someone were to have well say a Toyota avensis with 205 wide tyres 16inch wheels or like some of the bigger BMW's with up to maybe 255 this is hopeless in the snow unless its a winter tyre , also the thread pattern makes a big difference too as some tyres like the uniroyle rainsport 2 no matter how new or narrow will not work in snow very well at all, i will post a few pics and explain

This is a tire does its job very well but very bad in snow


Heres probably not to far away from the pattern you have on your car,
and see those little fine lines out at the edge well those are called sips i'll explain them next , this tire as long as its not to wide will preform ok not safly but ok in the snow if your very carefull


here is a winter tire and you will see highlighted in yellow the sips tyre siping is of up most importance in a winter tyre as they act like 100's of little fingers,also in a winter tyre the rubber is far different to a non winter tyre the rubber will stay softer at lower temp and that also is very important because if all those little sips got hard they cant move and grip


and here are some more well siped winter tyres




and yourpics you say you would be particularly nervous driving in snow well if you had winter tyres on your little car you would feel much safer and be a much more confident driver on the snow too

Cee-Jay-Cee

For anyone looking for winter tyres, Tully Tyres on the lifford road from letterkenny sell Insa Turbo remoulds.

The prices are

€35 for 13"
€40 for 14"
€45 for 15"

I had a spare set of 15" alloys and got two tyres fitted for my wifes car. The tyres are studdible if required but i dont think anyone should really need to get them studded, but if you do bring the tyres back to them and they will fit the studs for €20.

On a side note i see that postman from Finntown has now predicted that our winter wont be anything like the last 2 years, he says we may get a few days snow but nothing on the scale of last year. I wouldnt put to much emphasis on what he says though as he seems to be worng most of the time and only gets things correct in the very short term.

Deer Hunter DL

i used the Insa Turbo remoulds on the carina last year myself and found them to be very good for a cheap winter tyre i could go almost every where the land rover could go , tullys are out of 14's at the minute but should be back in stock next week

yourpics

Deer Hunter DL wrote: »

having this kind of set up will enable you to drive where most would be stuck with non winter tyres , but everyone doesn't have that kind of set up i am guessing you have a car maybe like a toyota starlet with maybe 155-165 wide 14inch and that will cut into the snow fairly good alrite , but if someone were to have well say a Toyota avensis with 205 wide tyres 16inch wheels or like some of the bigger BMW's with up to maybe 255 this is hopeless in the snow unless its a winter tyre , also the thread pattern makes a big difference too as some tyres like the uniroyle rainsport 2 no matter how new or narrow will not work in snow very well at all, i will post a few pics and explain

This is a tire does its job very well but very bad in snow


Heres probably not to far away from the pattern you have on your car,
and see those little fine lines out at the edge well those are called sips i'll explain them next , this tire as long as its not to wide will preform ok not safly but ok in the snow if your very carefull


here is a winter tire and you will see highlighted in yellow the sips tyre siping is of up most importance in a winter tyre as they act like 100's of little fingers,also in a winter tyre the rubber is far different to a non winter tyre the rubber will stay softer at lower temp and that also is very important because if all those little sips got hard they cant move and grip


and here are some more well siped winter tyres




and yourpics you say you would be particularly nervous driving in snow well if you had winter tyres on your little car you would feel much safer and be a much more confident driver on the snow too

Yeah the second photo you posted is almost identical to my tyres.

unknownlegend

muckish wrote: »

Did you get your Vredesteins? I got 2x Kleber krisalps hp2 last year for the front of the car and was amazed at how good they were. I got 2 cheap sunny SN3860 for the rear wheels this year, so bring on the white stuff. Last year I was looking for a spare set of steel rims for an Avensis 205/55/R16. Couldn't get them anywhere. Hopefully get better luck this year. Must start ringing around again.

Sorry for the delay only checking back on this now!

Yes I got the Verdstein snowtrac3 - 4 of them 175-65-R14 I think, sitting in the shed since. Also got 4 steel rims from a breakers for 60 notes. I thought that was a pretty good deal (!) so I'm putting that out there for anyone else who wants to compare against. It was 5euro a corner to get them put on the rims.

Soil temperatures starting to get into the single digits (see http://www.met.ie/latest/agricultural.asp) so might be switching over to them before long. best of luck :cool:

ootbitb

I bought three rims and used the spare for the fourth.

cost me e7.5 each to fit.