Only a week ago, I helped to push a stranded BMW driver out of the snow. The rear drive was giving him all manner of grief, as the nearside wheel was firmly wedged into the snow and wouldn’t budge. In the end, with a bit of lateral thinking (and quite a lot of brawn) we managed to shift the car. That got me thinking of whether winter tyres would actually help. The video above shows the findings of Autocar.
I have to say I changed my front tyres just before Christmas (I have a Mazda 6 Estate). I never gave winter / summer tyres a thought and just went for some good quality Goodyears. I haven’t had a moments problem in the snow this time, granted it’s a front wheel drive car so the drive wheels have the weight above them to gain traction, but I reckon changing my tyres did the trick.
I’m not sure I could afford to have 2 sets of tyres knocking around – but perhaps there could be a new niche market here for part worn tyres? Trade in your tyres at the end of autumn for winter ones, then again for summer ones at the end of spring.
Hi Ian,
There’s a few local firms that do ‘part worn’ tyres – for me, I wouldn’t touch them, for reasons that I won’t go into here. You can get all weather tyres – these may be a better option for most. I have these on my car, whilst my motorbike has tyres that are more suited to fine weather riding.