Picked up 4 Yokohama Ice Guard Stud (the tyres, not me) on steelies today- 195/55-15 with about 6 or 7mm tread left, most of the studs still in place, and full of air.
All for the bargain price of 1400SEK or £150 of your funny money.
I had a look for test results, but they are few and far between on account of this model tyre was only sold in Scandinavia and Russia with a better compound for colder weather, not your wimpy continental european winters. The ones I've found placed them about middle ranking - below the Nokias, but above the Sunny Wing Wang Wongs Snow Queens.
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>> 4 Yokohama Ice Guard Stud (the tyres, not me) on steelies today-
At last! Proper grown-up winter tyres, the only ones really worth having I am convinced. But if you don't live up there in the Arctic circle it's hard to justify the cost for the one or two days a year (it takes a hard winter indeed for there to be a week or more) when they might help to keep you out of the ditch.
They are said to chew up road surfaces and sustain expensive damage themselves if used when the ice and snow coating has melted. I guess if you were a very well-heeled motorist with an Audi RS thingy and a heated garage with an air spanner and cradle jacks you might think it worthwhile just for fun.
Is there substantially more snow and ice in Scotland than down here by the Cinque Ports? I wonder if Lygonos would need studded tyres to carry out Dr Finlay-style duties in all weathers. I doubt it somehow.
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>>Is there substantially more snow and ice in Scotland than down here by the Cinque Ports? I wonder if Lygonos would need studded tyres to carry out Dr Finlay-style duties in all weathers. I doubt it somehow.
I think a major difference is the sustained low temps in Scandinavia - there salt is not effective once the temperature is staying around -10c. Here such a low temperature occurs uncommonly but is rarely sustained so roads can be cleared and kept clear a bit more sucessfully.
Back in the 09/10 winter of doom I was chugging around quite happily in my Forester with standard Yokohama Geolanders (all-season type tyre without the fine sipes you see on true winter/snow tyres) - got stuck once when I bottomed out in nearly 2 feet of virgin snow - the shovel in the boot came in handy.
For about 2 weeks solid most of the housing estates were impassable to regular cars.
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>> I think a major difference is the sustained low temps in Scandinavia - there salt
>> is not effective once the temperature is staying around -10c. Here such a low temperature
>> occurs uncommonly but is rarely sustained so roads can be cleared and kept clear a
>> bit more successfully.
Am I wrong to have half-remembered that hard-packed snow at that sort of temperature is almost as grippy as tarmac? The lethal thing is warm ice, which gets a layer of water on the top of it, I think?
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>>
>> Am I wrong to have half-remembered that hard-packed snow at that sort of temperature is
>> almost as grippy as tarmac? The lethal thing is warm ice, which gets a layer
>> of water on the top of it, I think?
>>
No, you are correct. Cold hard packed snow is very grippy with good tyres, as is cold ice that's been roughed up by other vehicles with studded tyres.
Wet warm ice is very slippery, even with good tyres, as is slush/fresh wet snow.
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Received an email from mytyres today mentioning Debica Frigo 2 winter tyres and I thought WTF!
So I checks em out and they're Polish apparently but, I wouldn't swop my Runway Enduros for them:
www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Debica/Frigo-2.htm
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Renault Megane - Got me new (to me) winter tyres - Armel Coussine
