Snow Reports
FAQ
Help!!
Log in to snowHeads to make it MUCH better!
Registration's totally free, of course, and makes snowHeads easier to use and to understand, gives better searching, filtering etc. as well as access to 'members only' forums, discounts and deals that U don't even know exist as a 'guest' user. (btw. 50,000+ snowHeads already know all this, making snowHeads the biggest, most active community of snow-heads in the UK, so you'll be in good company)..... When you register, you get our free weekly(-ish) snow report by email. It's rather good and not made up by tourist offices (or people that love the tourist office and want to marry it either)... We don't share your email address with anyone and we never send out any of those cheesy 'message from our partners' emails either. Anyway, snowHeads really is MUCH better when you're logged in - not least because you get to post your own messages complaining about things that annoy you like perhaps this banner which, incidentally, disappears when you log in :-)
Username:-
Password:
Remember me:
👁
durr, I forgot...
Or:
Register
(to be a proper snow-head, all official-like!)
Mercedes versus Mitsubishi
Page
Previous
1
,
2
snowHeads Forum Index
>>>
The Piste
Prev topic
::
Next topic
Poster:
A snowHead
Poster:
A snowHead
Quote:
What matters in snow and ice is traction! Weight affects car's handling and traction as well.
Er yes I know - the heavier the car is the more tractive force you need to create. Also the more grip you need to brake and resist cornering forces. ALl things being equal you are better off with a light vehicle when grip is at a premium.
Obviously
A snowHead
isn't a real person
Obviously
A snowHead
isn't a real person
Quote:
For some situations it would actualy be better having more weight on the axle that drives the car - to get more grip and traction in a deep snow for example
Put a couple of bags of sand or a paving slabs in the boot .
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
The weight, and hence momentum, can be a bit of a problem once the wheels have stopped going round.....
You need to
Login
to know who's really who.
You need to
Login
to know who's really who.
I'd recommend you get winter tyres. I have Pirelli Sottozero Serie II on my BMW 330d but I think these have been superceded by the Serie III. You still need chains for exceptionally bad conditions and to satisfy the police (to be fair, this isn't arbitrary - the police will insist on their use because the conditions demand it). My BMW dealer swaps and stores the unused set of wheels and tyres for £30/year, so you may find that your Mercedes dealer runs a similar scheme that saves your having to keep the unused set in your garage.
Check that the wheels on your model can actually take chains. On my particular 3 Series, chains are only certified on 16" and 17" wheels, not the 19" or 20". Ditto my previous Audi A3. The key metric is the 'J' value for the wheel (the wheel's rim width in inches) e.g. my A3 could take chains on the 7J wheel but not the 8J because on the latter, fitting chains left too little space between the tyre and the suspension. Be careful of chain suppliers who are vague about whether what they propose is certified for your wheel - they won't be there when the chain fouls the suspension on a hairpin in the snow and wraps itself around your wheel assembly.
Winter tyres are primarily beneficial because of their different compound, which remains much more supple (than summer tyres) under 7°C - so even in a typical British winter, you'll get the benefit if you use the car for the morning/evening commute (we're talking about 20%+ shorter stopping distances, as temperatures drop below this figure). In addition, the tread pattern is designed to trap snow so as to give better snow-on-snow traction which is obviously useful in actual snow. We have a second small car for our local commute etc. and actually leave the winter tyres on all year 'round.
Here are the Audi's winter (7Jx17) and summer (8Jx18) tyres.
As I said, the winters are on a narrower wheels, so they still leave a safe amount of space (about 40mm) between the tyre and drivetrain/suspension:
If I recall, these are Michelin Alpin Primacy winters. The space issue is even more critical with FWD cars like the A3, where the driven wheels are also steered. And whilst it's possible to get thinner chains (typically only 8mm-9mm thick) to help minimise the problem of space, I've heard at least two people I know complain last winter that their thin chains broke when cornering.
Terms and conditions
Privacy Policy
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
