 Poster: A snowHead
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Setting off in few days for 8 weeks in Alps.
Never bothered with snow tyres before as just drive there then park up.
But following a bricker of a drive from Tash to Visp a few weeks ago am going to get some now.
V scary, just slidding down the hill towards the edge and only stopping when hit the snowplow pile at the edge
Seen em in most tyre shops but any advice would be good as have no idea about whats good and whats not.
But where is the best place ?
Or does a  own a tyre shop around North Manchester and can do me a good deal ?
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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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| Samerberg Sue wrote: |
| do you really want to bomb along at those speeds on frozen roads anyway? |
Really do need to whizz along, as will be motorway driving all the way - so the types need to be as "normall" as poss but stop me sliding if nes. Have snow chains (of course) but most times there ain't enough snow for the chains but what happens when there is too much for UK road tyres
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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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Wayne, I have used www.camskill.co.uk as few times and they have been v good. I found a cheap set of second hand alloys off ebay, but steel wheels are probably better as they are not affected by salt etc so badly. Winter tyres work better than summer tyres in temps under 7 degrees, so you leave them on in british winter. The wintertracs i had on my last car were excellent all year round, except when it got v hot and the wear was not good.
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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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Was looking for something around here really (Manchester). Cumbria is a bit far.
Thought I would just take the old bangger into a shop and they would swop the old ones for the winter ones.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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mytyres.co.uk
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I used mytyres.co.uk, cost £500 for a full set of winter tyres, Goodyear UltraGrip (but normal tyres would have cost £400 anyway). It all took a while (much longer than black circles) because they suddenly decided after payment by CC that they wanted more documentation (bill for proof of address IIRC) & needed it immediately & being in Italy was no excuse for not being able to provide it within 48hrs!
Then they delivered the tyres to the wrong address. Some fun conversations with German ladies saying ' it must be correct, it is on zee database' & me saying 'I have phoned the bloke, that address is wrong, this is his address, please send the tyres there'. It was all very trying because I was doing minimal driving on minimal tread all this time. Once the tyres actually arrived at the right address, they got fitted v promptly. I ordered mid-oct & didn't actually get them fitted until mid-nov - after the snow had been & gone, which was a bit annoying. Whole thing took way more than a few days.
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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 got mine through mytyres.co.uk also had to provide a proof of address but had no trouble with them they arrived at my local garage in under a week.
Phoned around a few local tyre comapanys and mytyres was by far the cheapest...
Kwik fit Inverness told me that they don't make "winter tyres" for 4x4's 
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The delay was caused by my fitter changing address from X to Y & mytyres sending the tyres in 2 batches. Batch A were sent to X who helpfully redirected them to Y, Batch B turned up at X the next day but, less helpfully, were sent back to mytyres in Germany.
None of the mytyres call centre operators nor the fitter seemed interested in engaging brain to think why this happened & how to rectify it. Luckily I noticed the fitters phone no had a different code to what I expected from the address and worked my way back from there. Persuading the Germans to send Batch B to address Y not address X took 3 attempts ('but zee tyres haff arrived, zis address must be correct' was uttered many, many times) & I was not confident it would all work out. But it did, eventually 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Wayne,
Before my SO drove to the Alps last month I got onto a really good local garage and explained what we were was doing and where we were going. They then phoned round their suppliers and got what we needed. They were very apologetic that it took as much as 24 hours because their local supplier didn't have them in stock! Can't remember exactly what it cost, as I had an MOT and various bits done at the same time, but I wasn't shocked. So if I were you I'd find a trustworthy local garage.
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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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Thanks to all
I have the list from the MyTyres site that should give me a guide as to what it should cost.
Will call around the town in the morning and see what they all say.
Will also try the ford garage as it's new 58 so they may have something they can do.
Thanks again
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Camskill are great
Just got 4 Vredestein Wintrac Extreme for only £409 a set !! Mytyres were £100 more...
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You know it makes sense.
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Most major tyre manufacturer would offer Winter tyres, Michelin, Pirelli.................. so it pays to check out your size first.
Low profile tyres will be a problem and can be very expensive if you can get it. Vredestein is one of the major winter tyre specialist. You can get winter tyres in UK tyre dealers. Should take no more than a day for normal profile.
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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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Wayne, I just phoned my small local tyre fitter, asked for a quote for winter tyres with a snowflake symbol - he got onto his supplier and came back with a price ( £75 each for 215/65 x 15) which was not much different to summer tyres, and slightly cheaper than the same ones on MyTyres.co.uk. He got them in within a couple of days.
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Poster: A snowHead
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If you're after a get-you-home solution that is much cheaper and apparently at least as effective as winter tyres then you could take a set of autosocks with you (www.autosock.co.uk) - they're German TUV approved and work well I understand (I've never had to use mine). However they are intended as a temporary measure not permanent fitment, so if you will be doing daily snowbound driving during your 8 week trip then they might not be up your street.
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FAQ
