When should I put my winter tyres on?

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Sun 23 Sep 2012 13:41
When should I put my winter tyres on? - gord115

I have a set of winter tyres for our car.

When is the best time to fit them ,I was thinking the 1st week in November,until the 1st week in April.

Any thoughts?

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Sun 23 Sep 2012 14:02
When should I put my winter tyres on? - gordonbennet

I wait until the weather looks like its going to break, invariably towards the back end of Nov.

Think i took them off towards the end of March.

I commute early mornings though so judge on the likelihood of freezing rain etc, try not to put them on too early, more expensive than summer set and wear quickly if the roads are still warm.

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Sun 23 Sep 2012 17:46
When should I put my winter tyres on? - quizman

I've just looked out of the window...................................................NOW

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Sun 23 Sep 2012 17:49
When should I put my winter tyres on? - madf

We get a lot of snow : but only for a few days a year.


Not worth while buyinmg winter tyres imo.

Put on whne the long range forecast shows temperatures below 7C - which is when the benefits of the wiinter rubber is felt.

And remove when the forecast shows prolonged temperatures over 7C.

i.e weekly. :-)

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Sun 23 Sep 2012 18:57
When should I put my winter tyres on? - unthrottled

Not worth while buyinmg winter tyres imo.

I'm of that opinion-but then I do live in a mild corner of the country. There's definitely a benefit below ~7C, but the extra cost/hassle of keeping a spare set of wheels and or tyres isn't justified for me. I just take things a bit easier when the roads are slimy. Braking distance from 40mph with summer tyres is probably still less than braking distance from 50mph with winter tyres.

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Sun 23 Sep 2012 23:17
When should I put my winter tyres on? - Mike H

Not worth while buyinmg winter tyres imo.

I'm of that opinion-but then I do live in a mild corner of the country. There's definitely a benefit below ~7C, but the extra cost/hassle of keeping a spare set of wheels and or tyres isn't justified for me. I just take things a bit easier when the roads are slimy. Braking distance from 40mph with summer tyres is probably still less than braking distance from 50mph with winter tyres.

Irrelevant to the OP, he already has them.

As has been said, they perform best below 7°C, so you need to work out the best times to fit & remove them. This will obviously depend on where you live. You may need them for a day or two in Cornwall, or for 11 months in the north of Scotland ;-)

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 02:12
When should I put my winter tyres on? - SteveLee

I'm of that opinion-but then I do live in a mild corner of the country. There's definitely a benefit below ~7C.

+1, the average ambiant temp of 7C is the magic changeover period - unless you do a lot of night driving then you'd change over at a higher average temps as it's colder at night.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 00:40
When should I put my winter tyres on? - Smileyman

I'm not sure that comment is accurate - winter tyres are supposed to give a shorter stopping distance than summer tyres when the temperature falls below 7 C - although while probably this figure will change for different brand and quality of tyre the general theme still stands.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 01:14
When should I put my winter tyres on? - unthrottled

The kinetic energy of a vehicle scales to speed squared so at 50mph you have more than 50% extra kinetic energy to dissipate than you would at 40. Differences in rubber compound can't make up for that discrepency.

That's not to argue that winter tyres don't work-they do.

But it's worth weighing up the if the extra cost is worth it.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 14:42
When should I put my winter tyres on? - primeradriver

The kinetic energy of a vehicle scales to speed squared so at 50mph you have more than 50% extra kinetic energy to dissipate than you would at 40. Differences in rubber compound can't make up for that discrepency.

Doesn't this imply that there isn't much worth in buying premium tyres over budget ones?

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 14:47
When should I put my winter tyres on? - unthrottled

I suppose in a sense, yes. But there are more days in the year when you get the benefit from premium tyres than winter tyres.

I'm not 'anti' winter tyres by any means. I like what they do. If warm weather longevity improved, I'd probably fit them all year round instead of summer tyres.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 15:19
When should I put my winter tyres on? - thunderbird

First fitted winter tyres in the late 80's when my daily commute was 75 miles, they were well worth it but when my commute reduced in about 2002 I decided to save money by not buying a second set of wheels for the new car. Should add that upto that point I had run 3 Golfs and used the same tin wheels on all 3.

When my circumstances changed again 2 years ago I bought a set of wheels off e-bay for £120 and a set of winter tyres for another £300. OK £420 is a lot of money but it was much less than a set of summer tyres. So far I have covered about 8000 miles on the tyres and the wear on them is minimal, I would estimate they have another 25,000 miles left on them to the TWI's.

The winter tyres are no noisier than the "premium" tyres I use in summer and the car feels exactly the same on the road. I use them from early November to late March. My insurer (Aviva) charges me no additional premium.

I expect to keep the car another 2 years and subject to punctures I do not expect to have to buy anymore tyres for the car. Without the winter tyres I would need to buy a set of summer tyres which as I said above would have cost me more than the winters and wheels. When I swap the wheels will go back on e-bay if they are no good to me at which point i would have saved money.

Its personal choice but for me they do not cost me money in the long term and help ensure I can get home when the weather turns bad, we live at over 600ft and the snow can get pretty bad on our street which never gets cleared.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 16:29
When should I put my winter tyres on? - TeeCee

I'm not 'anti' winter tyres by any means. I like what they do. If warm weather longevity improved, I'd probably fit them all year round instead of summer tyres.

Already happened, "all season" tyres. The Kleber Quadraxers on my car are every bit as good in the ice and snow as the dedicated winter boots the company car gets in winter. They also behave nicely in the warmer weather and so far, seem to be wearing well too.

You'll always get slightly less out of 'em than "summer" tyres though, as the recommendation (and legal minimum in places that enforce them) is to change winters and all-seasons once down to 3mm of tread. Then again, you'd be absolutely barking to go out in the winter on summer tyres worn below that.

You can eat your cake and have it. Who knew?

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 17:14
When should I put my winter tyres on? - unthrottled

I've been intrigued by" all seasons"; they're popular in the US but seem to attract a lot of scorn as being a jack of all trades and master of none. I don't see this as a problem-I can probably live with a slight loss of dry grip since lack of it is seldom an issue.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 17:28
When should I put my winter tyres on? - TeeCee

Well, on the Zafira I have 'em fitted to they are as good, or even better, in terms of handling and grip in summer than the Michelins that preceeded them.

Jack and master of all trades in my book.

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Mon 24 Sep 2012 17:29
When should I put my winter tyres on? - MikeTorque

What about some calculations for summer and winter tyres for loss of grip going around sharp corners ?

Around here the locals know about the sharp bends and the odd steep hill, alas visitors to the area get caught every winter as soon as the rain, salt, snow and ice arrives. So what speed is safe to go around a 75 degree (or more) corner ? On the dry 20 mph is the limit, when wet 15 mph and you risk sliding, salt covered 12 mph, on snow 5 mph, on ice 2 mph otherwise you're off the road and into the ditch or head-on into another vehicle.

Winter tyres are not just for helping with straight line grip and braking but help a lot with cornering grip, summer tyres are hopeless on sharp corners with broken road surfaces coated with rain, salt, snow, ice etc.

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 02:07
When should I put my winter tyres on? - SteveLee

I've been intrigued by" all seasons"; they're popular in the US but seem to attract a lot of scorn as being a jack of all trades and master of none. I don't see this as a problem-I can probably live with a slight loss of dry grip since lack of it is seldom an issue.

I ran budget "chinese rubbish" all season tyres on my C5 - towed a four wheel drive Audi on sporty tyres out of the car park when it snowed - the Audi was uselessly spinning all four wheels - I had plenty of traction. Fitted the same budget all-seasons to my misses's C3, in last year's snow - it was brilliant.

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 08:58
When should I put my winter tyres on? - the_bandit

You should change based on your typical driving pattern and temps for the area.

For me, 75% of my driving is done either late in the evening or the early morning and temps are now seasonal average of 7DegC, so mine are now on.

I expect to remove them around clock change in March but will have a better idea closer to the time.

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Tue 25 Sep 2012 11:01
When should I put my winter tyres on? - skidpan

Put Kleber Quadraxer on a set of e-bay wheels on the wifes car last winter, brilliant. She has a 40 mile commute and the old folks home she works at is at the top of an unsalted estate, getting stuck is not an option. Will fit them late October/early November and leave them on until March/April time. After 5000 miles last winter there was very little wear even though its fair to say it was not a terrible winter.

Best part about them was the cost, £70 a corner fitted, the standard Michelin Primacy tyres are £120 a corner. Add to that the facts that the car drives no differently and is quieter especially on bad tarmac I would have no hestitation running them all year round if we did less mileage and did not have a second set of rims. May fit them to my car when tyres are due if I can get them in the right size.

The other tyres we looked at were Hankook Optimo 4S, all season like the Kleber, about the same price but they did get a slightly better review rating. Downside was none were available.

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Honest John's Guide To Winter Tyres