Five metres that can save your life - winter tyres provide a clear safety advantage!
As an indication of the effectiveness of winter tyres, the British Tyre Manufacturers' Association found that a car braking at 60mph on a wet road at a temperature of 5°C stopped five metres shorter, equivalent to more than one car length, when fitted with winter tyres.
"The perception that winter tyres only give benefits on snow or ice is years out of date. Modern rubber compound technology and advances in tread pattern design mean that the modern day winter tyre also provides higher levels of road safety on cold and damp road surfaces too.
Ambient temperature is a deciding factor on which tyre type provides the highest safety for road users.
On damp or wet roads, tyres grip differently - and the braking distance is substantially longer. Which means the question of the right tyres and the temperature is even more important.
Over 7°C - between April and October - traditional summer tyres are truly in their element. Between October and April - winter tyres show distinct safety advantages."*
*Source: www.btmauk.com/data/files/Why_fit_winter_tyres_31_May_2011.pdf
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>> Over 7°C - between April and October - traditional summer tyres are truly in their
>> element.
Any idea what the difference in braking distances is ie. is using winter tyres in summer as bad as using summers in winter?
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>>Any idea what the difference in braking distances is ie. is using winter tyres in summer as bad as using summers in winter?<<
These check out well in most road conditions Sahib ~ www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Goodyear/UltraGrip-8.htm
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>> >>Any idea what the difference in braking distances is ie. is using winter tyres in
>> summer as bad as using summers in winter?<<
>>
>> These check out well in most road conditions Sahib ~ www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Goodyear/UltraGrip-8.htm
Thanks Dog - IIRC they've been recommended before in another winter tyre thread? Will definitely consider them next time I change.
I would still be interested to see the equivalent stopping distance figures though.
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>>I would still be interested to see the equivalent stopping distance figures though.
2 - 5m. See page two of Dog's link.
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>> >>I would still be interested to see the equivalent stopping distance figures though.
>>
>> 2 - 5m. See page two of Dog's link.
I know I'm being dense, but where's page 2?
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Err, after page one.
Just keep scrolling down and you'll see some bar charts listing stopping distances at 5C and 20C on wet and dry roads.
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>> Just keep scrolling down
That's the same page then!
>> and you'll see some bar charts listing stopping distances at 5C
>> and 20C on wet and dry roads
No, I don't. Strange.
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Interestingly what the charts do show is that in dry conditions, which even in winter are the norm in the UK, summer tyres have shorter stopping distance than their winter cousins.
Only in cold wet conditions are winter tyres the better bet.
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Or just drive a bit more slowly when it is cold...
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I still think for most UK winter driving, winter tyres are not needed....
The last two winter we have had periods where there has been ice/snow on the road and winter tyres could help a lot. I think if it was my car over 3-4 years I'd have a spare set. But it's not.
Luckily if I had an accident it's not me paying for it. Although it could affect premiums on private insurance I might take out in future.
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>>Luckily if I had an accident it's not me paying for it.
That's right - noone ever suffered injury or death having an accident ;-)
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Edit - Dog beat me to it!! re Ultragrip 8! - Bah!
Last edited by: devonite on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 01:24
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On dry roads at 5 deg C summer tyres are able to stop quicker, it is in these circumstances that traffic is travelling at normal speed and without extra care an attention hence the shorter stopping distance orovided by summer tyres is an advantage.
On wet roads at 5 deg C and below and icy roads then extra care an attention is due which negates to some extent the advantage of winter tyres.
In snow and below 0 deg C then winter tyres come into their own.
However for, say, a December 300 mile round trip most of it is likely to be on dry roads and a good few degrees above freezing in which case summer tyres perhaps offer the best compromise.
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>> Or just drive a bit more slowly when it is cold...
>>
I wonder how much more slowly you need to drive to gain 5 metres stopping distance at 60 mph? 58 perhaps?
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=elP_34ltdWI
From Autoexpress - the wet/cold weather testing is around 3.00minutes in.
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>> www.youtube.com/watch?v=elP_34ltdWI
Thanks RP. To what extent are 'all season' tyres the best/worst of both worlds? Because TBH I can't see us swapping tyres around twice a year.
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Stopping distance at 50 is 175 feet and at 60 is 240 feet so the answer is not much - say 2mph.
Therefore we can have a definitive answer to the question what tyres are the best compromise.
It is:
Summer tyres are safer all year round as long as you drive 2mph slower than usual when its cold and wet.
No more winter tyre threads needed. ;-)
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>>No more winter tyre threads needed. ;-)
+1. :)
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I can appreciate the fact that most car owners see winter tyres as being quite unnecessary in the UK,
A minority of car owners live in areas of the UK that would benefit from having winter tyres fitted to their cars IMO,
This is the lane outside my Quintessential Cornish Country Estate after last nights torrential rain which is not unusual in upland areas, soon that lane will become icy (so I'm informed) and I shall feel a whole lot more confident driving in such conditions, than I would with summer tyres.
flic.kr/p/aNFoS4
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What do you neighbours who live across the otherside of the road think about winter tyres ? :-)
Last edited by: henry k on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 09:51
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Most of em (well all actually) are dead, b'cos there is a medieval Chapel & graveyard behind that old shack :(
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Could do with a bit of hardcore at that junction, Doggo.
There will be some fearful potholes there once the frost gets into it.
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It's run-off from the moor Iffy - can't be stopped so one learns to live with it up here ;)
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>> It's run-off from the moor Iffy -
That's going to be a problem then, every time the gritter goes by.:-)...the run off will wash the salt away.
That's the sort of neighbours we want D, quiet except on halloween maybe?
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>>flic.kr/p/aNFoS4
4WD if I lived there, Dog. Maybe winter tyres, too!
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...4WD if I lived there...
I'd have one of these to chug about on:
tinyurl.com/cpdhg3q
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The case for 4x4 and winter tyres is made for us. We live in the sticks as well, last winter the car was effectively grounded for days because we couldn't get from the main road to the house (about 400 meters) Pulling out of the lane was a challenge because of the "clip" which was iced over for weeks. What is the point of a 4x4 on city slicker tyres ? Add winter tyres and it becomes an usuable vehicle.
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Apart from tyres with heavy tread blocks, 'Jeep tyres', for soggy off-road going - and we all know that in real mud they don't make all that much difference -, surely the only serious winter tyres, the only ones worth having, are studded ones for seriously icy conditions, polished refrozen packed snow and the like?
Such conditions don't usually last long here. Could have done with a set for about a week last winter. But you would have to be well heeled indeed to buy these very expensive tyres and a spare set of wheels for a few days in the year.
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>> Stopping distance at 50 is 175 feet and at 60 is 240 feet so the answer is not much - say 2mph.
AFAIR
Old school stopping distances are worked out as ((speed in mph) squared) divided by 20
so 55 mph is 151.25 feet
The 175 feet at 50mph is 125feet stopping plus 50 feet thinking (thinking distance in feet = speed in mph)
Obviously modern brakes and tyres are better, but the V squared thing is still valid.
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still comes out at about 2mph
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 13:45
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>> still comes out at about 2mph
Yes, a gnats less than 2.8 mph (having bothered to work it out).
Might as well do 60 indicated speed.
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When we moved here 6 months ago, I knew from previously having lived in Warleggan up on Bodmin Moor some years ago what to expect in the ice age, I did consider 4x4 but I decided on some alf decent winter tyres for the Lancer and will see how we get on with them,
The source of all (local) knowledge is the postman and he says he couldn't get up here at times last winter in his Transit Connect (fitted with carp tyres!)
So we'll see, we've all been lucky so far with the wev and temps but winter hasn't even started yet!
I'm orf to light my multi-fuel stove now which was here when we moved in, I did enquire about replacing it with a Charnwood but, having banked the critter up twice this week with Taybrite I reckon the stove is a goer at £500 www.capitalsw.co.uk/stoves/cottager.htm
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Isn't Cornwall one of the mildest parts of the country with snow and frost rare in most winters?
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More often than not - yes CG, especially down West Cornwall way and what 'they' call The Roseland Peninsular,
But, Moorland is Moorland and it's 8.7c outside at 2.30pm, I must get that damn fire a'going!
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>> it's 8.7c outside at 2.30pm, I must get that damn fire a'going!
It's always chillier up here in Coalville than down in Leicester - I watched the car temp display fall from 10C to 6C driving home an hour ago. Now a heady 4.4C in the garden at sunset.
My view on winter tyres? I've managed OK without 'em for the last 22 years, and I'll keep driving to the conditions on my normal ones. When I was a youngster I spent plenty of time pirouetting around deserted carparks in the snow, getting stuck and getting going again, until I mastered the techniques. The only time I got stuck in last year's snow was when a group of people were pushing cars up a hill one at a time and I had to stop halfway up so as not to run the blighters over :/ At least they pushed me the rest of the way up...
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Our Alhambra will need tyres soon (Bu88er).
Size is 215 X 55 X 16 X H or W.
Budget is limited (poor pensioner).
I think Barums might do - any other ideas?
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...I think Barums might do...
I have Barums on the CC3 and they are wearing less quickly than whatever Ford put on as original equipment.
Handling, grip and noise seem fine to me.
One puncture, but that was a knife blade which I don't think any tyre would withstand.
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Here's a selection of tyres Roger, fitting can be arranged in your area, if you want summer tyres just change the details ~
ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl
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>>My view on winter tyres? I've managed OK without 'em for the last 22 years<<
I've managed for 38 years without em Dave, including driving Bedford TK's around the home counties,
But I'm over concerned maybe (age?) about not being able to get out, due to ice more than anything,
Silly really b'cos SWMBO says it'd be great fun being snowed in here :D
7.5c at 4.30pm
Last edited by: Dog on Thu 1 Dec 11 at 16:37
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>> 4.7c @ 7.15pm :(
3.3C @ 8.40pm, forecast to get down to 1C overnight :/
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>> Tenerife is the place to be ~
Definitely. 2.4C as I go up to bed :(
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From 4.7c @ 7.15pm it's now soared to 6.6 @ 10.15pm - I must be heating the sky!
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I think I'm heating your sky as well Dog... -1.5C here this morning. Only the third frost of the season.
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I do wirh you'd all talk in English:)
It's 34 degrees here, but the car windscreen was frozen.
Pat
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>>I do wirh you'd all talk in English:)
From Wiki: Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit.
Jawohl!
;>)
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my weather station says 21.5c indoors and 2.1c outside.
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>>my weather station says 21.5c indoors and 2.1c outside.<<
6.2c out - 18.6c in ... 21.5 sounds like Tenerife!
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Now look here Tubby Tommy, you're supposed to be on my side, you're old enough to be on my side, so I'm going off to flounce now:)
Pat
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Had to scrape ice off my wife's car this morning prior to the school run. Car saying +1C when she got in it apparently. She's just got back safely astonishingly enough despite having summer tyres. Amazing eh?
:-)
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>>She's just got back safely astonishingly enough despite having summer tyres<<
Would that be a 4x4 QQ then!
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>> >>She's just got back safely astonishingly enough despite having summer tyres<<
>>
>> Would that be a 4x4 QQ then!
No - Humph was a tight wad, he bought her the cheapo 2 wheel drive version.
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Absolutely reckless. I suppose no survival kit and rations either.
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>> >>I do wirh you'd all talk in English:)
>>
>> From Wiki: Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the
>> German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit.
>>
>> Jawohl!
>> ;>)
From Wiki
Celsius (formerly centigrade) is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death. The degree Celsius (°C) can refer to a specific temperature on the Celsius scale as well as a unit to indicate a temperature interval, a difference between two temperatures or an uncertainty. The unit was known until 1948 as "centigrade" from the Latin "centum" translated as 100 and "gradus" translated as "steps".
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>>>> No more winter tyre threads needed. ;-)
>>
You try telling that to hat man in the other place!
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Here he goes again, keeping on about those blimming winter tyres, and that,
This photo shows that lane, which gets steeper further on up,
Ya get water run off from fields in upland areas which freezes overnight, + the lanes are never gritted :)
www.flickr.com/photos/43576259@N04/6441500045/
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Five metres that can save your life ... - Focusless
