Snowsocks for cars - not for bikes

daniel_b

Hiya all,

just found this mentioned on a car forum, and thought some peeps on here might be interested too.

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/national ... ck/1328893

As far as I am aware that is not a referral link, certainly not from me at any rate, but irrespective I just bought a voucher for a pair of the heavy duty ones, and plan to keep them in the boot when the snow comes rolling in, and if we get some proper heavy snow might be going out especially to try them out :twisted:

lost_in_thought

Good shout - I wanted some of these last year, but by the time I found out about them I'd already been snowed in a week and they cost a million pounds.

Purchased!

daniel_b

lost_in_thought wrote:

Good shout - I wanted some of these last year, but by the time I found out about them I'd already been snowed in a week and they cost a million pounds.

Purchased!

Exactly the same here, and then was toying with the idea of getting some earlier this year for the £50 or so they cost normally, but for £32/£36 I thought it has to be worth a shot, especially for those of us who live out in the *wilds......

*May or may not be the case

Only debate I now have to have is whether to get some for the front wheel drive car or rear wheel drive - common sense says fwd of course - and I read somewhere that they recommend getting all 4 tyres covered if your planning on using it on rwd also, so twice the expense

Kieran_Burns

Tempting... but I have 4WD which means I will need 2 pairs.

Still....

daniel_b

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Tempting... but I have 4WD which means I will need 2 pairs.

Still....

If you've got 4WD, go hardcore and just get some chains :twisted:

I gather costco are knocking some out for 50 notes.

meanredspider

Full-blown winter tyres here. Shoved them on the E-Class Merc (the poster-child for crap cars in the snow) last winter and they were utterly superb. Despite loads of snow up here, in Glasgow and the A9 through the Cairngorms, I never once felt like I couldn't go exactly where I wanted to. Now have them on both cars as they out-perform standard ("summer") tyres at temps below 7C. In snow, though, they are incredible.

Kieran_Burns

Daniel B wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Tempting... but I have 4WD which means I will need 2 pairs.

Still....

If you've got 4WD, go hardcore and just get some chains :twisted:

I gather costco are knocking some out for 50 notes.

Audi A4 - not a 'proper' 4WD (as my mate with the Disco 3 KEEPS telling me )

roger_merriman

got a wee cheap family car, so fairly light with fairly narrow tyres etc.

It was fine for winter in the Brecon Beacons in the past, and has been fine for flat SE england!

lots of folks did get stuck but the problem was lack of experience as best as I could see, plenty of big 4x4's stuck for the very reason.

mudcow007

ahh i loves playing in the snow in cars

we have a massive car park around the corner form work which turned into an "drift contest" easy peasy to drift an mx5 in the snow 8)

ice isnt good though, there is a hump back bridge not far from my house that has ice like glass when ever it freezes, going up is ok....down is the issue you normally have to bump along the kerb to stop

roger_merriman

mudcow007 wrote:

ahh i loves playing in the snow in cars

we have a massive car park around the corner form work which turned into an "drift contest" easy peasy to drift an mx5 in the snow 8)

ice isnt good though, there is a hump back bridge not far from my house that has ice like glass when ever it freezes, going up is ok....down is the issue you normally have to bump along the kerb to stop

yup i'll go up steep hills but I'll want to know what they are like before going down. if possible if not roll down with engine braking if the car allows.

asprilla

roger merriman wrote:

got a wee cheap family car, so fairly light with fairly narrow tyres etc.

If we ever need a second car I've got my eye on a Fiat Panda 4x4 for this very reason.

veronese68

Years ago I sold cars at Radbourne Racing in Wimbledon. I was taking a Panda 4x4 in part ex against a Renault 5. Woman lived in a big house outside Roehampton Gate. I was to deliver the car and return in the Panda. As I was driving from Robin Hood gate to Roehampton Gate I saw my lovely part exchange stuffed into a tree off to the side of the road, about 50 yards off the side of the road. How the hell she managed that I'll never know. Fairly straight bit of road and it was dry as a bone.
Shame, it was quite a nice little car.

jonnyboy77

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Daniel B wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Tempting... but I have 4WD which means I will need 2 pairs.

Still....

If you've got 4WD, go hardcore and just get some chains :twisted:

I gather costco are knocking some out for 50 notes.

Audi A4 - not a 'proper' 4WD (as my mate with the Disco 3 KEEPS telling me )

It's no Landy but driven right the A4 quattro will handle snow better than most people think (mostly because it is proper all wheel drive unlike some '4x4 systems).

looked at halfords snow socks and winter tyre/wheel options ... still cogitating, which will no doubt result in neither!

- Jon

sketchley

I keep miss-reading the subject of this thread. :oops: :oops: :oops:

iPete

To be honest, if I had a car and the space, I'd just run two sets of wheels, Winter tyres might save your ass in the cold/wet/damn not just those really bad days when you need snowsocks!

bails87

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/20 ... e-Test.htm

At near freezing temperatures the Dunlop and Continental winter tyres out performed the summer tyre during the wet braking test. At 7+c this result was reversed, but in both tests the results were extremely close

I'm still umming and aahing over what to do tyre wise for the winter.

iPete

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s

Its a bit boring but you get the point... anyway like ice bike tyres, they sell out quickly come freezing weather..

bails87

iPete wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlYEMH10Z4s

Its a bit boring but you get the point... anyway like ice bike tyres, they sell out quickly come freezing weather..

I need two new tyres anyway, I'll be doing it next week. Currently got two worn ones on the back and two new, but cheap ones on the front.

So I'm going to be spending money on it anyway, and I like not crashing into stuff...... Unfortunately it's also approaching insurance time and I'm only a whippersnapper so £££££

meanredspider

bails87 wrote:

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2010-Auto-Express-Winter-Tyre-Test.htm

At near freezing temperatures the Dunlop and Continental winter tyres out performed the summer tyre during the wet braking test. At 7+c this result was reversed, but in both tests the results were extremely close

I'm still umming and aahing over what to do tyre wise for the winter.

The tyre test was interesting though didn't include the Michelin Alpin which seems to come top in a lot of the winter tyre reviews I've seen. It also didn't say what summer tyre they were comparing it with.

Real life experience I have is that winter tyres are great.

rjsterry

Sketchley wrote:

I keep miss-reading the subject of this thread. :oops: :oops: :oops:

I think you are still in innuendo mode from yesterday.

(Me too)

nicklouse

are you guys expecting it to be so bad in the UK this winter?

bails87

Don't know! That's the problem.

If you read the Daily Express then yes, we'll all be freezing to death while our pensions collapse and house prices rise. It's something to do with Diana.

unixnerd

I live in Aviemore so I'm on snow tyres half the year, my commute to Aberdeen rises to 2100 feet at the Lecht ski centre. Snow tyres ARE worth it even if you don't see snow. They grip better in cold or very wet weather and save wear on your summer tyres so in the long run they're not expensive. They will stop in a much shorter distance than summer tyres when it's cold. Get a set of used alloys from ebay and stick the snows on them.

A lot of cars now have sports tyres with a solid rubber area in the middle. These just will not grip in snow and often have harder rubber which is inflexible in cold weather.

We've already had quite a bit of snow down to 1800 feet but it's melted back now.

One of the biggest problems in the last two winters is folk travelling when they should have stayed at home. It's not worth the risk. If in doubt don't travel. A few days off work is cheaper than the excess on your insurance policy if you have a prang.

If you're unsure what the road's like test the brakes on a straight section when there's nobody behind you. If it's slippy adjust your speed accordingly.

daniel_b

bails87 wrote:

Don't know! That's the problem.

If you read the Daily Express then yes, we'll all be freezing to death while our pensions collapse and house prices rise. It's something to do with Diana.

And I expect the gay immigrants will be killing our swans too.

On a more serious note, I do not think it will be that bad at all, the last couple of years when the weather has been fairly bad, both myself and my gf can either walk into work, or continue on the bike (A mountain bike with low pressure wide knobbly tyres is a fine commuting vehicle IMHO) so there have only been the odd day when we could have used the car for something, and or there was no other option.

Still, it's nice to have another option to try should a road become undrivable - althoguh of course if every other bugger has abanonded their car, then you'll have no way through anyway :roll:

I agree with a post further up, it's all about how you drive it - remember last year on the high street, small bridge, covered in slush, lady pensioner in a nissan micra, just mashing the accelerator into the floor, and lo and behold spinning the wheels up and just about managing to get up the bridge - amazing how a bit of snow falls and people lose what ability they had to drive.

I find smooth and steady is the way to do it, and careful use of the clutch helps a whols lot.

Also, I found that taking your car to an empty car park, and making it lose traction helps a huge amount, as you then know what to do should it happen on the road.

bails87

it's all about how you drive it - remember last year on the high street, small bridge, covered in slush, lady pensioner in a nissan micra, just mashing the accelerator into the floor, and lo and behold spinning the wheels up and just about managing to get up the bridge

I saw exactly the same thing! Some poor little car being revved to death by an incompetent driver!

Wrath Rob

Some more interesting feedback here, and not complimentary to the socks.

Kieran_Burns

unixnerd wrote:

If you're unsure what the road's like test the brakes on a straight section when there's nobody behind you. If it's slippy adjust your speed accordingly.

Slightly anal of me I know, but I ALWAYS do this in poor weather...

estampida

seen those socks but never used them, if the weather is that bad you might do the 200k or whatever the distance life of them are in a month

these do not protect your alloy wheels either, you might clip a kerb............and how much is a new alloy with a new tyre ?

I would recommend a set of snow and mud tyres and steel wheels, cheapish and reliable

chains work great in the alps, but they resurface the roads every year, so ploughing up you own street may not be the best choice considering council budgets at the moment

also chains can get into a knot if your not careful about packing them and if you have to take them off and on twice a day.........

bails87

Typical cyclists, someone shares a link for £36 snow socks, and within a coupl eof hours I'm looking at spending £600 on winter tyres and new wheels :oops:

nicklouse

estampida wrote:

seen those socks but never used them, if the weather is that bad you might do the 200k or whatever the distance life of them are in a month

these do not protect your alloy wheels either, you might clip a kerb............and how much is a new alloy with a new tyre ?

I would recommend a set of snow and mud tyres and steel wheels, cheapish and reliable

chains work great in the alps, but they resurface the roads every year, so ploughing up you own street may not be the best choice considering council budgets at the moment

also chains can get into a knot if your not careful about packing them and if you have to take them off and on twice a day.........

socks are not for continuous use they are a get me out of a slippy bit.

estampida

no

second hand rims from a breakers yard £50

small local tyre specialist tyres will be between £25 & 35, these dont have to be uk branded just the correct temperature range (no name)

clip a kerb -

new alloy wheel £150, new pirelli p6000 £195 (ouch)
maybe new track arm £30
or a bushing that will cost £400 for the lot