[Keith]

I couldnt see any other spun cars.

That's because all other cars had winter tires on, I assume.

Huge assumption... but a reasonable one, I still think people with winter tyres on think they work magic. They dont, essentially they give a shorter braking distance in temperatures below 7degrees C. But if ya fool around on them they will still bite ya ass!

[meehalych]

Summer tires and slow speed


summer vs winter tires on snow

[Keith]

In the 1st video thats about as much snow as we had, the car in front looked like it was RWD. They are rubbish in those conditions no matter what tyres are fitted.

Roads round by me were littered (well almost) with RWD cars that just couldnt hack it...

For the second video we have to take things at face value dont we.

If we substituted "Winter" & "Summer" on the side of the cars for "Shell" & "Esso" what might we think? Then there are potential differences in the way the drivers drove the cars to make an Advertisers point. But I dont have facts Micha... just an opinion ;-)

[bumpkin]

I guess you have never had a real winter

Whilst we may not quite get the Russian Winter, I can assure you that winter in Scotland can be very snowy.  In my 24 years of driving, I have driven 20 miles to work and back through snow which is higher than the roof of the car, last Winter was one of the worst the UK has had in some years, yet I was driving about on unploughed roads amongst 2-3 feet of snow in my i30 with no problems.  We frequently have black ice in the winter, ie the type that looks like it isn't there then bites your ass.  Have a look on a map and you will see that Kolpino is only little further North than Aberdeen (3 degrees lat) so we will have very similar weather.

Your assertion that the lack of winter tyres caused death in these accidents is impossible for me to believe, lack of respect for conditions causes death, not the rubber on the four corners.  Whilst there is mileage in the lower hardening point of rubber being used in Winter, you still have to respect the conditions you are driving in, the point I was making is that many people think that winter tyres will save them, they won't, they will stop you quicker on wet surfaces in the colder months, they will bite the snow a little more aggressively than their summer counterparts but they will also slide you off the road into a ditch, wall or other motorist without you being able to do a damn thing about it on ice.

[bumpkin]

OK, so in the winter tyres slow speed video we have many assumptions.  Who says it is on summer tyres??  Rear wheel drive in snow is traditionally poor, we all know that and the driver in this video appears to have forgotten he has more gears than one, there is hardly any snow yet he is fish tailing which indicates to me that he has too many revs and too low a gear.

The BMW one is a hoot really, they are proud to show the winter tyres are Pirelli Sottozero, they only show us the size of the summer ones, they could be a set of used remoulds for all we know.  If I was an executive at BMW I would be embarrassed to show a video which goes to prove what all the motoring press have always stated about the X-series, that is that they are rubbish at being 4WD vehicles, my Imprezas on mid range summer tyres did hill starts everyday of the week in Winter when I lived on an 8 degree incline and they all just went, no drama!

[meehalych]

As I told I had driven in snow with summer tires (the speed was low) and I can conclude that winter tires work much more better.
Either summer or winter tires wouldn't work at all on clear ice, that is no doubt, but in snow condition one has to use winter tires.
In fact it is mandatory in Finland to have winter tires on from December, otherwise one wouldn't be allowed to enter the country (I mean while passing through the border).

[meehalych]

Well, winter tires may help on ice

[bumpkin]

I have not disagreed that winter tyres are better in snow and I am aware that they are mandatory in certain countries.

The point I was making is that for many years we did not have winter tyres and we managed to get around without them ( or AWD, ESP etc etc). An example in the BMW vid showed them taking corners at speeds which the normal driver aware of his surroundings would not attempt, these videos are made in controlled conditions with test drivers, then posted on YouTube, giving Joe Average Driver the mistaken assumption that by fitting slightly stickier rubber to his 250 bhp motor, he can just go for it.

I will say again, I have never used winter tyres, driving in many feet of unploughed snow over many years and never had any problems.

I have no problem with using all the help we can get on modern vehicles to ensure our safety, but all the gadgets in the world does not make us invincible.

[diablo]

I've never had winter tyres and I doubt if I'll be getting any now. The reason I was wondering about getting some was that I used to go round to my mother's house two or three times a day as she relied on me to cook her meals and get supplies etc. So if I couldn't get through in the car then she'd starve! Though early last year the social sevices insisted I put her into a home to get 24 hour care so the need has gone.

Many years ago we had a pretty bad winter and fortunately I had some snow chains for my Morris Marina. I'd give lifts to work for colleagues whose own cars had got stuck somewhere.  Winter tyres wouldn't have been as good as chains of course (I'm not sure I'd ever heard of them at the time actually) but surely would have been better than summer tyres.

[accim]

Of course you can drive with summer tires in winter (okay not in Slovenia, because you must have winter tires on from 15h Nov. till 15th March) and as some of you have said, people used to drive with "summer" (only) tires all the time (even in snow), but I think we can all agree, that winter tires are better in snow or on ice. If you hardly climb up some hill with decent winter tires, then there is no chance you will climb the same hill with summer (also decent) ones. It's different with ice, I agree, but there still is some difference in favor of winter tires.

diablo: Good thing you did cooking for her and getting the supplies