Another pointless thread

Talking of up, the price of winter tyres has by about £25 each

I don't really understand why people would buy "winter tyres" for a 4x4. Just look for All Terrain tyres in whatever size you need next time you come to change them. I had the BF Goodrich ones for a while and they were brilliant on everything, be it 70mph on motorway or crawling up rocks at walking pace in the snow. Wear rate was no worse than a normal tyre and I didn't notice them being remotely skittish in the wet. You can keep the same set all year round with no ill effects and they'll give you a bit of an edge getting out of that soggy car park in summer as well as for snow.

Mine were for a 2x0 Skoda Octavia. According to the tyre sites, winter tyres work better than their summer counterparts when the road temperature drops below 7 deg C. I'm told this is due to the use of different rubber compounds.

yep, it's all true, too....
M&S are OK, but true winters have a snowflake on. And some of us *have to*

Bret

The rubber compounds are softer in true winter tyres, but I can't say I had any trouble. I'm waiting for tyre manufacturers to notice Geckos and attempt to copy their feet, as it'd have very interesting effects for rockcrawling!

I'll have the chance to try out the new tyres, it's snowing here.

I have winter tyres. They go on every November and stay on until March/April.

They are compulsory in Germany now, even for foreign vehicles, and there is talk of them being compulsory here too.

I read that as well. It was put down to the people in the company call center not being able to make informed judgments.

How does the insurance company know you have a set of winter tyres? Why would you tell them?

Very good questions!

Because if you don't tell them but then have an accident they will find out during the subsequent motor survey.

You are not supposed to modify your car away from the manufactures standard without telling the insurance company. Presumably someone was being honest, as winter tyres normally result in a lower speed rating for the tyre.

I doubt an insurance company could get away with enforcing that in a court of law, unless winter tyres were specifically listed as being considered a "modification" on the policy, Otherwise you would have to replace worn tyres with excatly the same brand fitted by the manufacturer because all tyres differ in one way or another, for instance if you bought a performace car it would be supplied with tyres designed for good road holding, what happens if you changed to tyres designed with better wear properties?

If I look up my registration on one of the tyre sites it gives me, wheel and tyre size, along with load and speed ratings for the car. but no manufacturer. Allowing you to fit anything made to that spec.

I doubt they'd really mind providing the tyres meet the relevant regulations, which are, after all, supposed to ensure that they meet a minimum standard to be safe for road use. You're more likely to have handling trouble with cheapies from your local garage chain than you are with the specific brand you've hunted down because you read they're the best fit for your car.

I want Kumho KL71s next time, slightly larger but will fit without modifying anything and won't throw the speedo out. Apparently they counter the fact that it reads low, so you end up with an indicated 60mph being a genuine 60 rather than 56-57!