commonrail:
Never actually seen a “summer tyre”
Do you mean those semi slick type things…fitted to performance cars?
I’ve got something along the lines of this tread pattern on just a Zafira. 
From what iv seen, the infrastructre(sp). Is almost there.
Now to me it looks like the trained personnel is not, chucking bob in a snow plow/gritter, who normally picks litter 250 days a year, is not the ansewr.
There is no excuse for main roads(motorways) being in the state they are.
As already said by muckles, lower then 7 degrees winter tyres perform better then summer tyres.
And can be run all year round, although noise and economy are affected.
For a set of decent winter tyres and steel rims your looking at 500 ish. What does a accident cost you, or loss of earnings?
And anyway…the roads are carnage,whatever the weather.
But why are the powerlines down?
Concretejim:
From what iv seen, the infrastructre(sp). Is almost there.Now to me it looks like the trained personnel is not, chucking bob in a snow plow/gritter, who normally picks litter 250 days a year, is not the ansewr.
There is no excuse for main roads(motorways) being in the state they are.
As already said by muckles, lower then 7 degrees winter tyres perform better then summer tyres.
And can be run all year round, although noise and economy are affected.
More importantly braking performance of winter tyres at summer temperatures is nowhere as good as standard tyres, so in the same way a winter tyre should stop you quicker of a cold road, snow or not, a summer tyre will stop you on a warm road far quicker.
I’ve treated myself to a set of Michelin cross climate tyres.
I’ve been quite impressed with them so far and the car did need 4 new tyres so wasn’t that much more expensive.
I’m currently sat on a bay at Morrisons Bridgwater watching the traffic at a crawl M5 n/b. There was snow around Leicestershire and Gloucestershire on my way down, but here it’s dry and sunny. The major problem is that around 10am the “hobby drivers” venture out and spread carnage. Up until that time my journey was fine and dandy despite the snow.
I have been using the cheapest economy tyres I can get, for the best part of 20 years. Getting winter tyres in this country is absolute snobbery. The problems on the road are not caused by a lack of ‘proper’ tyres. They are caused by numbskulls who can’t drive. Cheap tyres with good threads are fine in all but the most extreme circumstances.
I’ve got a Quattro ,tyres make no difference,it snows up here when it’s raining 2 miles down the road in town ,I can be almost cut off on days when the rest of the county doesn’t even know it’s snowed .
Juddian:
The usual makers such as Goodyear and Michelin are quite late newcomers onto the genuine all season tyre sceneThose Uniroyals you use Commonrail (Rain Expert or Rainsport) would probably fly past the snowflake tests so good are they in adverse conditions,
Michelin own BF GOODRICH and UNIROYAL so they arent strangers to offroad/ all season tyres
I have a bog statndard set of Michelins, wouldnt have anything else really, theyre all year round tyres, and work in all conditions…so none of the all singing all dancing flash ones for me…its how you drive that matters, not whats touching the road.
All car forums I’m on have this debate about winter tyres but as has been said how you drive is the main difference. That said anyone under 30 will never have experienced snowfall of significant depth that they will have had to drive in . There is a generation that drives relying on the computer aids their car has rather than using there eyes and senses as a generation of us have had to . How many people on the roads know to use a higher gear and let the engine torque do its work ? How many know about opposite lock ? And how many can feel the steering getting light etc ?
How do you teach these skills when all around we are being told to buy winter tyres at this time of year ?
Admittedly not all of the older generation possess the skills to deal with adverse conditions but the younger generation added to them means that millimetres of snow and everything grinds to a halt winter tyres or not .
I will probably have to drive from South Wales to Nuneaton by car tomorrow. Anyone around that route can tell me what it’s like, please? I can put off the trip until Friday if necessary. Cheers
emmerson2:
I will probably have to drive from South Wales to Nuneaton by car tomorrow. Anyone around that route can tell me what it’s like, please? I can put off the trip until Friday if necessary. Cheers
Main roads are fine now. Minor roads are still a bit questionable but are far better than they were. I live at M6 J1 and Nuneaton is J3 but I’ve been doing Palletline work (joyous!) around Nuneaton/Coventry all day and even the space of two junctions there’s a huge difference in snow levels and North of J2 seems to have got a lot less than J1
People cannot drive in hot sunny weather, through in some snow and its chaos!
Came upto Durham from Reading,bit snow ‘darn sarf’,car on fire hard shoulder M1 generally traffic not bad no serious delays,can’t see what all the fuss,?
Gillberry:
And how many can feel the steering getting light etc ?
How do you teach these skills when all around we are being told to buy winter tyres at this time of year ?
Admittedly not all of the older generation possess the skills to deal with adverse conditions but the younger generation added to them means that millimetres of snow and everything grinds to a halt winter tyres or not .
Opposite lock isn’t generally going to be an option or even the answer when a modern fwd heap on its silly longitudinal cut ‘tread’ and the rest effectively slick tyres loses traction at the front wheels then swings out the back when the power is cut.Or even let’s go at both ends at once.Leaving the only option ( hope ) of power under steer not reaching unmanageable levels to the point of no steer which it inevitably does with the things.Which is why the ■■■■■■ Mk 1/2 was one of the best rally cars in history.IE older generation car control generally goes with rwd.While in the case of fwd all bets are off. 
muckles:
Concretejim:
From what iv seen, the infrastructre(sp). Is almost there.Now to me it looks like the trained personnel is not, chucking bob in a snow plow/gritter, who normally picks litter 250 days a year, is not the ansewr.
There is no excuse for main roads(motorways) being in the state they are.
As already said by muckles, lower then 7 degrees winter tyres perform better then summer tyres.
And can be run all year round, although noise and economy are affected.More importantly braking performance of winter tyres at summer temperatures is nowhere as good as standard tyres, so in the same way a winter tyre should stop you quicker of a cold road, snow or not, a summer tyre will stop you on a warm road far quicker.
Winter tyres will also wear much quicker during warm weather. The best tyres for the UK will just be a standard all rounder as mentioned before the winters are nowhere near cold enough to warrant the extra cost and hassle of swopping them over.
AndrewG:
muckles:
Concretejim:
From what iv seen, the infrastructre(sp). Is almost there.Now to me it looks like the trained personnel is not, chucking bob in a snow plow/gritter, who normally picks litter 250 days a year, is not the ansewr.
There is no excuse for main roads(motorways) being in the state they are.
As already said by muckles, lower then 7 degrees winter tyres perform better then summer tyres.
And can be run all year round, although noise and economy are affected.More importantly braking performance of winter tyres at summer temperatures is nowhere as good as standard tyres, so in the same way a winter tyre should stop you quicker of a cold road, snow or not, a summer tyre will stop you on a warm road far quicker.
I would say whether somebody decides to swap in the UK is down to personal choice and weighing up the information.
But if you are doing high enough mileage, have somewhere to store the tyres, can keep them on rims and have the ability and can be asked to change the wheels, then the extra cost is only an initial set-up cost, as you don’t throw the tyres away each time you swap them.
Winter tyres are more effective than standard tyres below 7 degrees and there will be a few degrees above that where there isn’t much difference between winter and standard tyres, those temperatures aren’t that unusual in the UK during the winter, whether most drivers would feel that difference except in a full out emergency braking situation would be open to debate.
toonsy:
emmerson2:
I will probably have to drive from South Wales to Nuneaton by car tomorrow. Anyone around that route can tell me what it’s like, please? I can put off the trip until Friday if necessary. CheersMain roads are fine now. Minor roads are still a bit questionable but are far better than they were. I live at M6 J1 and Nuneaton is J3 but I’ve been doing Palletline work (joyous!) around Nuneaton/Coventry all day and even the space of two junctions there’s a huge difference in snow levels and North of J2 seems to have got a lot less than J1
Cheers, mate. I’ll check in the morning, but it looks like it’s a goer.
toonsy:
emmerson2:
I will probably have to drive from South Wales to Nuneaton by car tomorrow. Anyone around that route can tell me what it’s like, please? I can put off the trip until Friday if necessary. CheersI live at M6 J1 J1
and there was me thinking that Swindon is a ■■■■ hole.