 Poster: A snowHead
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@ousekjarr, Thanks, might be handy for the next car. Of course I might then have to find somewhere to store them as the guy who changes them over includes storage in the price. #nosuchthingasafreelunch! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@mooney058, @under a new name, Sorry, Yes I did mean +7 degrees!
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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?
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Small front wheel drive cars even with normal (summer) tyres can tackle amazingly bad conditions and just keep going, the crucial point is not to stop on a hill but to plug on steadily ideally in third gear and to hope that there is no one stuck ahead (in particular larger car with rear wheel drive) or if there is to go around it if there is no one coming down!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@FFIRMIN, ...and if you try this technique perhaps the other crucial point is to avoid the police in Germany, and the Gendamerie in Usine and on the roads up to Les Arc, and make sure that you don't have even a small incident in CH, ... and avoid going downhill from Nax, Vercorin, Saas Fee, Montana, anywhere around Martigny and up to Les Marecottes....oh...and don't drive through Austria either.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Record temperature just reported for Gosport. You really don't need winters today. 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Take your point valais2 but worked a treat on approach to Horsham (West Sussex) at midnight a few years back and also many years ago on the hill going up to Luton airport when everyone else was stationary (no gain however as the flight was delayed 12 hours but at least we got to the departure loung while there were still seats available! Wouldnt dream of driving to the mountains in Europe in winter without chainsm cant count how many unused sets I have swapped for different ones as my cars have changed, its an expensive business but safety first.
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| Gordyjh wrote: |
I have found it costs me £60 to get my tyres changed over and stored, so £120 per annum. I can’t seem to find a set of wheels for a Mazda CX5 cheap enough to make it worth having the winter tyres permanently mounted so I just swap wheels. Does anyone here know where I can get some? I have tried Googling 2ndhand wheels, fleabay & Amazon & it looks like it would set me back a lot more than it will cost me to continue with my current arrangement over the expected lifetime of the car. |
Have you tried contacting local salvage yards? The other thing you can do (if you haven't already), is set the wheel specification you need as a saved search on eBay so you get automatic emails if anyone posts an ad using that spec.
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@FFIRMIN, is Horsham Alpine? So much for global warming! 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Horsham en alpe!! Well there is a tricky [in snow] hill approaching the town by pass from the West (from the direction of Epsom)!
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I drove to Lake Tahoe recently with a friend. At certain points on the road where the gradient ahead is severe there are checkpoints and you must either fit chains at that point or have a 4x4 with winter tyres fitted. Was a bit of a pain in that it created a choke point and a bit of a jam - but not that bad - and the good thing was that enterprising local folks turned up at the checkpoint and offered to install chains for you (and sell you a set if you didn’t have any). Seemed to be a pretty sensible solution overall I have to say.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Blackblade, the chain fitting thing nominally ought to happen like that in France, minus the entrepreneurship, but has singularly failed for whatever reason.
CH, DE, AT have is much more sensible whereby you have good reason to have Winters, which will keep you moving in all but the worst conditions. In 11 winters, with AWD + winters I have never had a problem, despite a few really quite extreme conditions.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@FFIRMIN, ...agreed it is a good technique in the contexts you describe. In the 1990s I had a very basic VW 1200cc Beetle on ridiculously narrow tyres, and that would chug up everything on the snow if you anticipated things in the way you describe. I drove from Brighton to deepest Kent in 8 inches of fresh, and passed cars on their roofs in the ditch, huge backlogs on hills where people had slid backwards into each other, and various collisions - just kept my head, stayed chugging in third and that was fine....
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valais2 - exactly our experience en route to Horsham en Alpe, on that occasion I was actually the passenger beside a rather nervous owner/driver who hadnt drive on snow before and ...... yes ....... her car was a [newish] VW Beetle. I kept encouraging her to just "keep going, keep going, you are doing fine, keep your foot steady on the accelerater and in third gear, keep going" and lo and behold we got to the top of the hill and on into town and home, the alternative is unthinkable with us both in "party frocks" and "tilly tarts trotters" on our way back from our office party (no we werent over the top on alcohol) from an evening which was dry and clear in the early part and then the snow came at about 10.00 pm and completely caught us all out.
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You know it makes sense.
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| snow name wrote: |
| Gordyjh wrote: |
I have found it costs me £60 to get my tyres changed over and stored, so £120 per annum. I can’t seem to find a set of wheels for a Mazda CX5 cheap enough to make it worth having the winter tyres permanently mounted so I just swap wheels. Does anyone here know where I can get some? I have tried Googling 2ndhand wheels, fleabay & Amazon & it looks like it would set me back a lot more than it will cost me to continue with my current arrangement over the expected lifetime of the car. |
Have you tried contacting local salvage yards? The other thing you can do (if you haven't already), is set the wheel specification you need as a saved search on eBay so you get automatic emails if anyone posts an ad using that spec. |
Gordon, there's a very useful wheel fitment comparison at wheel-size.com. I can't recall how old your truck is, but it tells me the recent CX5s have a 5x114.3 PCD which you can then see is shared with https://www.wheel-size.com/pcd/5x114.3/
You need to pay some heed to offsets (I always get them the wrong way around), less heed to rim width (usually smaller than standard is fine) and diameter (small is better and compensate with higher tyre profile). I bet you'll find a set for a Dacia Duster for less than Mazda, or perhaps the Aston rims for a bit of winter bling?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Thanks Andrew. I didn’t know it was so complicated!
I have searched on Breakerlink.com but not got anything sensible price-wise.
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Poster: A snowHead
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So the wheel size website gives me a whole lot of information that needs translating. The rim is 7Jx19ET50. If I go to the wheel size tab it doesn’t seem to ask about these measurements. Is it possible to get wheels of this size from a cheaper car and would they be ok on my car? I assume CB is centre bore. What is THD or offset? Are they critical?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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?
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I always smile when I see the "avalanche area" signs or the road sign with the falling rocks, I suppose it is good to know what hit you when it does but for getting from A to B there is often no choice but to risk it!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Maybe it's a helpful reminder not to drive fast round blind bends in case rocks have fallen? That road seems to be closed as often as it's open. It's an interesting drive, but not the spot for a roadside picnic....
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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funny
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@foxtrotzulu 'We all know that winters are superior in cold conditions (-7 or below).'
There are two key temperatures re winter vs summers. As mentioned, winter compounds start to be better as the temperature drops below +7ºC. In 2015-16 the average UK winter temperature was 5.5ºC and lower during the commute periods. So you may well feel that even just because it's colder, winters are justified. And add to that the deeper and more numerous drainage grooves in a winter, you may feel that swings it for a typical wet UK winter too.
The -7ºC figure is the point at which some manufacturers (like Michelin) disclaim all responsibility for summer tyre reliability in the cold i.e. they've issued official disclaimers to say they are not liable for any degradation in the tyre or accident consequences when a summer tyre is used at -7ºC or below.
Now, most of us don't see below -7ºC in the UK, but if you are taking your car to the Alps, it's much more likely. If you're on summer tyres and have an accident because your Michelins were left out in the cold overnight repeatedly below that, and then they shredded (as they do) then you have no comeback - you've been warned.
Most performance car owner forums have long debates each year about whether winter tyres are a necessity in the UK, especially in English lowlands. I'd admit it's a hard one to judge for many owners. But once you take your car to the Alps - even just once a year - I think that massively swings the decision in favour of at least all-seasons, and for any performance car, winters. It's basically made for you in terms of simply being able to handle bad Alpine conditions effectively.
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| This is fun |
Right 
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As an aside, anyone seen that new car tyre advert (Michelin primacy I think), which goes along the lines of.
"Our new tyres are now safe when new and safe when worn"
WTF is that about, are they saying that once I've driven on a set of tyres for a few miles they are no longer safe?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I think it means the 'performance' doesn't degrade much over the life of the tread-depth.
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@martinm, agreed, but an interesting marketing strategy in play given it's never been pushed that way before given 1.6mm limit etc.
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