Vredestrein Quadrac 3 All Seasons - I've had them on two cars, good in the snow, but longer braking distances in the wet than I was predicting, almost to the point of wondering whether I was going to stop in time.

Also they were noisy in the dry when cornering.

Glad to see that someone has started a 'winter tyres' thread early!

In certain parts of Canada the done thing is to have a couple tins of dog food in the car. That way you're never tempted to eat it unless you really need to.

Rob, a couple of sacks of grit might be useful as well - i) to improve traction and ii) to be used if you are on a sheet of ice.

Tell me if that idea sounds like pie in the sky.

It is a superb idea. England grinds to a halt not because of snow, or those without winter tyres, but because smooth tyred two wheel drive lorries can't get a grip. It should be mandatory for them to carry them in winter. Compared with the other costs of running an HGV a couple of hundred quid (I've just googled truck chains) is peanuts. A few stranded HGVs on the M11 and elsewhere must have cost the rest of us millions. The main argument against them is the damage to the road surface, but it can surely not be beyond the wit of the haulage industry to design a plastic variety or a form of wheel sock for short term use.

Lorries, getting stuck, chains, winter tyres, M11 carnage, i have a feeling this could be a long post so stop reading if you bore easily.

Chains, excellent idea so long as there's a fitter available to put them on, the days of old school drivers has long passed, the old schoolers (age has no influence on old school can do attitude) left do their best but increasingly the industry is managed by box tickers and layers upon layers of management who haven't a clue about the real world out there, if it's not on a spreadsheet it doesn't compute. Many of the large operators such as supermarkets the driver isn't even allowed to change a bulb, sorry but the idea of some of the new type of driver risking a broken nail fitting a set of lorry chains is a bad joke now, H&S would have a field day.

Very few operators specify vehicles for grip, those who go off road on landfill and similar work are a different design to the norm, designed to increase the weight massively on the drive axle(s) by lifting tag axles, the normal road vehicle has a mid lift third axle on a tractor unit, lifted this doesn't increase the weight imposed on the drive axle anything like the tag design, and believe it or not some new vehicles the driver has no control of any extra axles, if its down its staying down.

Then we have the real headache, the good old automated manual gearbox which is now in probably 90% of normal road vehicles and i reckon 100% of so called blue chip company fleets, these things are as much use as the proverbial chocolate teapot for doing any rocking or gentle engagement of drive, most vehicle you can at least manually override these boxes but on some really box ticking operations the manual input has been removed, brilliant, employ a few dozen more pointless suits.

Vehicles that go over the water, and i dare say some old school hauliers from Scotland and Wales still spec their vehicles properly, and their drivers generally will not be too precious to sling a set of chains on.

Winter tyres, i have never seen a set of winter drive axle tyres on a Brit regd lorry that didn't go abroad, i have mentioned where i work about contingency plans for winter drive axle rubber should we get a period of severe weather, doesn't compute, i asked.

M11 serious problems, yes i remember that day, roughly 2003/4 hmm might have been 2001/2, and January, i was struggling into Lowestoft with 3 Toyotas still to deliver and the snow was really heavy, by the time i'd dropped them off it must have been 6" deep and still falling, was on a slight incline outside the dealer and thought thats it i'm going nowhere, however i had an old design lorry still then, really long wheelbase prime mover (lorry and drag design) with a mid lift axle, with that axle raised it just dug in a went without so much as a slip.

Took me hours to get out of Suffolk, heard the M11 was bad so diverted down the A505 to Royston and intended to take the genuine A14 as was up towards Caxton Gibbet, got some way up that road behind another lorry and it was clear we were going nowhere, fresh deep snow ahead no tracks at all, the only vehicles attempting the hill ahead were genuine 4x4s and the like, so pulled up in the village to have think and map perusal.

Then when all seemed too much, as sometimes happens in life a guardian angel appeared, a lovely pretty and charming lady had seen our predicament and came out to us bearing a tray of coffee and biscuits, see they do still exist, we gratefully accepted this kindness.

Tea break over and tray and cups returned to that fine woman, i managed to turn around and don't ask me which way i went cos i still don't know, ended up on country roads, cars stuck everywhere, the few lorries who had chanced it had parked for the night where they stopped on hills, roughly 7pm by now, that lorry of mine refused to slide or spin it just kept going, by now running on 5 cylinders, injector failure, eventually i reached civilisation either Sandy or Biggleswade i couldn't honestly say which, rejoined the A1 and off home to Northants, roughly 7 hour journey.

There, if you're still reading this you must be as daft as i am, if perchance by a one in a million chance, someone recognises the good samaritan lady who brought some light into a hellish day, ma'am you have never been forgotten.

Edited by gordonbennet on 02/12/2016 at 18:27

Generally, the compounds used in winter tyres don't last as long - so I guess that would become a significant cost factor for hauliers.

Winter tyres may last longer in the wet as well - but I doubt that HGVs have the same summer compound as cars so wear is still an issue.

Winter tyres may last longer in the wet as well - but I doubt that HGVs have the same summer compound as cars so wear is still an issue.

Not in the least bit interested about HGV's. If they are unhappy get a different job.

The same logic should apply to Southern rail guards and drivers who have been disrupting travel for months.

And teachers, firemen --- name any other group striking/protesting about life's unfairness?

Bear in mind that 90% of life's essentials which you buy are at some point delivered by LGV. When these are stuck for hours on congested motorways closed due to incidents, I feel great sympathy for the drivers, it would stress me out coping day after day with the roads round here.

If they all left for a different job we would feel the effects within days.

I think, Galileo, that some are waiting hoping for a rapid evolution of autonomous lorries to take those nasty lorry drivers out the equation, and nice long line of perfectly placed vehicles on the inside lane of every motorway with ample travelling distance for others to change lanes willy nilly, pipe dream of course, we'll need 7 lane motorways by then to cater for the extra 20 million inhabitants of this tiny island.

If i live to 100, not a hope in hell, i'll order in huge supplies of popcorn (still delivered by lorry) and sit back and watch in amusement at the utter mayhem that the first real winter brings, especially entertaining because as full automation approaches the new driver 'aids' remove ever more necessary skilled input from the driver, by the time i'm 100 we'll have vegetated wheel operatives perching their ample behinds on the seat of responsibility, deskilling an entire industry may well have repercussions they haven't thought of yet.

By the way old friend, i have a feeling i have sussed out who you might be elsewhere too, those common sense and pertinent posts there have a ring of familiarity about them..:-)

I would generally concur with all the comments here.

I have a 3L Jaguar XF which is RWD and automatic, and coupled with me not being a very good driver, I bought a spare set of wheels and fitted Nokian WR3's about 3 years ago.

They have been noticeably better than the standard summer tyres, though if you do find yourself having to do an emergency stop on snow, you will still slide, but perhaps not as much as you otherwise might have done.

Grip is good, and I press the snowflake button on the car so that it uses higher gears that it otherwise would do, and ISTR uses 2nd for set off.

Unfortunately of course, even if you have winter tyres, not everyone else will and we have problems like this :

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21209619

I remember it on the news well, as I was tucked up in nice warm lounge about 5 miles away from the event looking at the snow coming down...

cheers

Stu

I have never had winter tyres. Last time we had a lot of snow, the roads were fukk of stuck cars the ditches full of 4x4s. The latter were due to owners neglecting to realsie 4wd is no good if you are on summer tyres- which many are - and/or you are on ice...