So the old method of having winter tyres swapped over and bringing the summer ones home in the back with the seats folded down won’t work when I get the MX-5…
I’m interested to know what do others do. Use mobile fitting? Anyone use any of these places that offer to store the tyre for you? What are the costs like?
I think that most have a spare set of wheels with winter tyres on and juts swap them over themselves.
A set of secondhand rims not mint is say £150 plus your tyres.
The cost to swap over tyres and balance will be say £50 a time, therefore £100 a year. There are people on forums who will say they can get the local tyre fitter to do it for £10 but I do not any who will do that at that price.
You will be in pocket in the second year.
There are people who will want mint rims all year round in that case the pay back is longer.
There are people who live in flats therefore they have no tyre storage available at home.
Everyone I know has a second pair of rims for winters but very few people I know live in a flat.
Sorry you just have to look at your own situation and work out what is best.
No offence intended but it’s only since I joined the club that I’ve heard of anyone in this country who changes their wheels/tyres in winter. Apart from possibly the far north and Scotland we just don’t get the extremes of weather that would justify switching IMHO. In all the years I’ve driven in the UK I’ve never felt the need to switch nor have I felt the handling of any of my cars has noticeably changed such that I would contemplate changing tyres. Around 7 years ago I did a job in Lithuania and there they do have a distinct winter (as opposed to our usually lacklustre effort!) and IIRC they were required by law to change to winter tyres at the beginning of November. If you’ve ever been to Lithuania in mid-winter you’ll understand why.
I’m sure someone will be along shortly to tell me why it’s such a good idea in this country but I’m afraid I don’t get it.
I agree with you absolutely on this.
It’s very strange that despite my age and years of motoring it wasn’t until I bought my ND and joined the OC and browsed the forum I became aware of people actually changing to WINTER tyres in the UK. It was something confined to Northern European countries, and yes the North of Scotland. When we do get bad weather round here, South West Essex, the majority seem to struggle on with what is already fitted, some have chains, some stay at home, and that seems to be the norm. It wasn’t until I read the input from the club’s widely spread membership that to others in locations with vastly different winter weather conditions that it was necessary. Is the need for change mainly necessary because of the type of car, a lightweight RWD sports car, or has the ongoing development of tyres for specific conditions increased the necessity for change because I’m sure that in the not too distant past a tyre was a tyre was a tyre. Or is it a combination of both? Or some sort of “In House” mass hysteria? Please enlighten me! Thanks!
PS: Nobody I know round here, relatives, friends or neighbours changes their tyres with the season
PPS: I notice that in the time it’s taken me to type this several other posts with similar thoughts have been made, sorry for any duplications!!!
So my reasons for thinking this way are two-fold.
I grew up in a little town of Shotts in central Scotland, and it had a climate of its own. It snows there when there’s no snow in the next town. I live in Glasgow now and my daily commute is only 15 miles North, but I still go home there for Christmas.
Secondly, I currently run summer tyres, as opposed to all weather, and isn’t that standard fit on the MX-5? I found the difference between summer and all weather to be huge in snow and don’t really want to compromise tyre choice in the non-winter months.
I think until you have used winter tyres you won’t appreciate how good they are. I learned about forty years ago.
This was my car in the winter. The only other vehicle able to get up that road that day was the snowplough.
The mighty Spitfire.
The mighty Spitfire on suitable tyres for the conditions. That photo was taken some years ago but it was nowhere near as far north as Scotland (but certainly not as far south as Essex or Somerset, either)! It was actually in Derbyshire, not far from my parents’ house.
Over the past five years, two of my sons have been rescued by myself in my cars fitted with winter tyres when their own cars got stuck in the snow (because they were on summer tyres).
My youngest suffered the severe embarrassment of having to be taken and fetched home from work in my old Suzuki hatchback when his nice shiny BMW on summer tyres became stranded about ten yards from his own front door. He learned his lesson; he was round here at my place a week ago, using my tools to put his winter wheels on that same BMW 320D…
The other son already has a set of winter tyres on his BMW 120D. He lives the west side of the Pennines, we live on the east side (He also owns an MX-5 and his fault I’ve got one, after taking his Mum out for a drive in his).
He will happily recount how three or four years ago, after fitting the winter tyres off my old car, he was one of the few drivers to get home over those hills on the snow-bound M62. That was in his previous BMW - the same one that was undriveable on summer tyres.
Winter tyres - I love 'em. As soon as the temperature drops much below double figures, on they go! Already got a set of steels with Goodyear Ultragrip 9’s on my NB, parked outside. I’m just hoping I get to try them in the snow this year. Even if there’s no snow, they grip much nicer in the cold and wet than the Pirellis that were on the car when I bought it at the end of last winter.
Obviously, in the lovely warm flatlands of the south, they aren’t worth buying…
Although I was aware of some differences between summer/winter tyres this article may assist -
http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/cars/article/winter-tyres-and-snow-socks/should-i-buy-winter-tyres
I have a set of the Michelin Cross Climate tyres (mentioned in the article) on my Honda CRV, they are rated as M+S (mud and snow) which is helpful in our particular application as my wife uses the CRV to tow a horse trailer and frequently has to traverse muddy fields at competitions and such.
When I drive it, minus the trailer, I find the handling a bit woolly and it feels like it’s ‘walking’ on the tread blocks. That said the CRV’s not a track star so it’s not a problem but if that’s an indication of similar ‘new type’ tyres I won’t want to try them on the MX.
We also have a Toyota Yaris for which we have a pair of snow socks, as yet untried although I’ve seen various videos of their effectiveness on Youtube, and they’re not too expensive.
Hope this helps…
Here’s a good video to watch to see the difference in snow:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfuE00qdhLA
And another, some scary stuff about the lack of grip of summer tyres, even when there’s no snow:
In the winter of 1958/59 I spent three months ‘out in the sticks’ at a little town called Washago, about 65 miles North of Toronto. Went back to Toronto on Friday afternoons, and returned each Monday Morning.
Toronto has similar winter weather to the Midlands here - not much snow, except usually the last weekend in November, when it takes 2-3 hours to do a twenty minute trip. (Torontonians have no idea what snow is all about!) - much like here in the Midlands! Washago assumed a permanent white throughout the winter, and I’ve know the temperature drop to -25F.
Throughout those three months, I drove a 56 Chevvie station wagon (estate to anyone here) on the same tyres I used in the summer. Granted Canadian Highways Agencies are more on the ball than here - first sign of snow, the snow plows are out, so the main roads are kept relatively clear. While the main street in Washago is also cleared by the local Garage owner - as in many Canadian and American states - the side streets aren’t; plus you have to get off the main highway into the town before the road is clear.
Neverless, If the snow came thick and fast, you couldn’t plow all the roads at the same time, so I’ve driven in raw snow up to 6^ deep regularly, and on a couple of occasions at least 10" deep. Up there, they don’t worry about snow, but they dread freezing rain and black ice, as a post of mine a while ago showed what it’s like. Washago had no diner, other than a breakfast outlet, so for an evening meal we used to drive up to Gravesend - about 15 miles further North. On one memorable occasion, we drove up there - no problem, had a meal, came out, and the car was covered in ice, at least a 1/4" of it. Took us ages to open the doors, and clear the windscreen. The roads were tricky - to say the least. This was the first time I’d driven on ice, and it wasn’t pleasant. Snow tyres? You have to be kidding. Some Canadians do fit snow tyres, and I’ve seen them full of wet snow turned to ice, so where’s the fun in that? The bigger the blocks - the worse they get.
Turn the clock forward a few years, and before I met my present wife, I was seeing a girl in Melton Mowbray.
We went various places, but the favorite turned into an embarrassing episode for me. Had the Tiger at the time, with Michelin XAS tyres on. Came out the pub, and the road had about 4" of snow. Only quick way out was up a steep hill, so I announced proudly - “No problem - I’ll get up that in a hurry.” What I forgot was the torque from that V8 engine, so half way up she just span and span, so had to roll back down again. A guy in some non distinctive English family car passed me and went up and over that hill like it was dry. No torque problem. No idea if he had snow tyres on - I doubt it, no-one was expecting snow that night. The Chevvie straight six would have done it, but that was long gone. We went the long (flat) way back to her home.
Would snow tyres have helped? - not with that engine. (4.2 litre) Worst snow I’ve seen since moving here - 42 years ago - was about 2" - it thawed next day.
I stick Winter tyres on both my Mx-5 and my Audi Quattro.
It makes a massive difference in poor winter conditions, especially in snow.
One observation, I’ve heard loads of people saying “I don’t understand the need for winter tyres” and every time (so far) they’ve been people who a) either live in an area of benign winter conditions (i.e. Not needed) b) they’ve never driven on winter tyres on their own car to compare the difference.
I’ve yet to meet someone who has fitted winter tyres and doesn’t agree that they provide a major improvement in handling in winter conditions (heavy rain, cold conditions, snow).
The other argument I hear from people is the additional cost for tyres. But if you do miles in your car you will need tyres. It’s no more expensive to have a winter set and a summer set, and allows you to fit nice sticky rubber for the summer (when you can have a nice aggressive drive) as well as the right rubber and tread for poorer conditions in winter. In fact in my case it was CHEAPER to have the right tyres as the winter tyres were cheaper than summer ones. So two sets let’s you do 2X the miles = no additional cost over buying 2 summer sets (apart from changing over costs or additional rims). BUT it does mean you can use your car in bad conditions and have some fun at the same time.
And interesting timing for this post - I just stuck on my Winters on to my Audi A7 Quattro and looking forward to the snow!! The MX-5 will get the winter boots fitted later in the week.
I couldn’t have said that any better Kenny. Hit the nail on the head!!
Our DS4 had them fitted today, my 5…at the end of the week when my mate lets me have MY trolley jack back!!!
Gerryn,
Your profile says you are in Toton, Notts. If you want to see some snow, just move to the north end of the county! Only five or six years ago this came down overnight:
What looks like a hedge in the foreground is a flat wall, you can see the capping slab at the bottom of the snow. 18" of snow fell here in eight hours.
Scores of vehicles got stuck on the A57 north west of Worksop towards the M1 J31 a year or so later. Trapped drivers and passengers were put up overnight in South Anston village hall!
18" of snow? I doubt if even winter tyres could cope with that! You’d need something like a John Deere just to get ground clearance!
A second set of wheels!
Plus - you can get 2 wheels in the passenger seat if you are careful, with lots of rags to protect the seat and the dashboard, and drive so you don’t need to brake much!
The MX5 is the only car where I have felt it necessary to have Winter tyres, initially because my first journey home from work on an icy, snowy motorway all felt very scary (was OK in a selection of FWD Golfs, Calavaliers and Astras). I had to abandon the car 1/2 mile away from home because I couldn’t get up the hill to my house on the well-packed and polished ice - I couldn’t place the rear wheels onto the bit of road with a tiny bit of grip as well as I could the FWD car, I’d only had the MX5 for a week so hadn’t had much practice!
Then later I found the summer tyres simply didn’t like even cold, damp/frosty mornings (though the Uniroyal RS3’s seem OK).
But the (alloy) rims, being up to Mazda’s standard, don’t last long either without corrosion creeping into the rim under the tyre bead after a few weeks of salty roads.
