The Panda Nut said:

My Bravo was on high profile tyres and was specifically selected with this in mind. It still had the same wheels as the low profile shod cars but the ride and steering were so much better to live with.

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Aye, high profile tyres are far more of a comfort ride, more cushioning effect with extra hight. My Coupe has 45 low profile on, and if I’m honest my daily is a more comfortable ride But the Coupe makes up for it in other ways….

My first car was a 1275 MG Midget. I remember struggling down the A1 at 30 mph behind a long queue. Fair enough, that's how it is in snow, but the little car could not make its mind up which tyre rut to use. It literally skipped left and right and was frankly pretty scary.
I realised after a while that fresh snow was ok to drive on, so (heart in mouth) pulled into the empty "fast lane". 30mph was little better because wet snow wedged under the tyres but around 45 the car behaved just fine. Snow and slush were thrown aside and I could drive safely.

No doubt there was much tutting and complaining going on from those I overtook. Even today people deliberately drive in the existing ruts so the roads become railways. Then when when it freezes we are all stuffed.

The car had ordinary tyres. Nothing fancy (there were nothing fancy in the early 1980s).

jimboy said:

Heading to work to an oil yard winter time, heavy snow back in the 80s, a mate driving, Triumph Acclaim, He ditched it, hit a fence, car was toast. We managed to cadge a lift from another oil worker, who was driving a Citroen Dyane . Conditions were not great, this was early in the morning and roads were slippery.

Skinny tyres on the Citroen which performed very well and held the road without missing a beat. Ever since then I’ve had a soft spot for these cars. One of those moments you don’t forget.

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The Triumph Acclaim had quite wide tyres for its meagre weight, so was always quite poor in snow. Quite useful really, as most owners were old and slow, so keeping them off snow-covered roads was a bonus.

For a while, Mum had a Mk2 Cortina, 1600, on 165 radials. Girlfriend's mum had a Mk2 Cortina 1300, on narrower crossplies. One snowy day, both cars together, same journey to do, the 1300 drove fine, got home, we abandoned the 1600 and walked the last 500yds.
Later I had a Marina 1700 auto, on 155/80 13s, normal for medium cars of the seventies, same as now on the Panda and considered small. This was Ok on snow, but the rear wheel drive and no weight on the back made the hills difficult. Replaced with a Fiat 131 Mirafiori, 1600 auto, about the same size and weight, but wearing 165 13s. Would not go anywhere on any snow.

DaveMcT said:

My first car was a 1275 MG Midget. I remember struggling down the A1 at 30 mph behind a long queue. Fair enough, that's how it is in snow, but the little car could not make its mind up which tyre rut to use. It literally skipped left and right and was frankly pretty scary.
I realised after a while that fresh snow was ok to drive on, so (heart in mouth) pulled into the empty "fast lane". 30mph was little better because wet snow wedged under the tyres but around 45 the car behaved just fine. Snow and slush were thrown aside and I could drive safely.

No doubt there was much tutting and complaining going on from those I overtook. Even today people deliberately drive in the existing ruts so the roads become railways. Then when when it freezes we are all stuffed.

The car had ordinary tyres. Nothing fancy (there were nothing fancy in the early 1980s).

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Went to London one snowy day, using an Ausitn Maxi (new car then so late 70s). They were always good in snow, as long as it wasn't the top model with fatter tyres. The M3 was moving slowly in lanes 1 & 2, (35-40mph) with lane 3 covered in slush. Bored with the slow queue, clever dick here gently moved into lane 3 and increased speed very slowly, and trundled past the rest, probably 10mph faster.
The a guy with an Audi 80, new and posh then, decided he could do that too, swerved out behind me and hit the gas. Pirouetted three times, hitting the central barrier with both ends of the car. Oops!

I had two Triumph Acclaims back in the day. Cheap transport, not exactly bangers but they were just used for back and forward for work. Dependable Honda engine twin carbs, at the time they were quite nippy. Classed as badge motoring. First one suffered from rust eventually, but my second I sold on, still with a lot of life left.

The great thing about snow is that when you do lose grip, you’re generally not going fast enough to do any real damage. It’s an accident in slow motion.

I learnt the hard way in an X3 that tyres are the thing that makes the biggest difference. It had 4 wheel drive, but being on wide 18” sports tyres ensured the 4wd system could never cope with snow.

Can still remember the long walk to the front door of the house where I had just flattened their garden wall.

The X3 barely had a scratch and they’re were very understanding.

It was winter tyres for me each year after that embarrassment.

Amazingly I've never crashed on snow. Not even on the bike! But ice is a totally different issue. Tyres that can cope on sheet ice would be great but (other than rally studs), I suspect they don't exist.

I hit sheet ice in a diesel Sharan/Galaxy moving on tickover. My passenger said you're doing well. I said, "Hmm, there's a bend coming up". I came off the power in plenty of time (yeah right) and speed continued unabated. Brakes doing full on ABS to no effect and I hit the kerb smashing up the wheel & suspension.

When we got out of the car, the road was like a skating rink. Kids & dogs were slipping about.

Aye sheet ice, a familiar thing up here in the valley. Four of us shared cars to Nigg oil yard back in the day, eighty mile round trip. One night shift in the middle of winter, I was dropped off at my car at four AM. Parked overnight in a wee car park. I was fast asleep in the back of my co workers car, and was wakened up with a jolt, right Jim, that’s you. I got out of the car half asleep and fell on my arse, couldn’t stand for sheet ice. Pitch black I practically crawled to my parked car. Locks were frozen stiff. What do you do, you **** on the lock, ah happy days.

Looks like the long term forecast for November is much like last year; Wet, with higher than average temperatures.

So not yet.

I will be mounting my winter tires next month. What is a good alternative to Pirelli Winter 210? I'm planning to get a new set of tires during the Black Friday sale and I'm checking random stores like 4wheelonline for options.

I always stick to the premium brands and tend to focus on the wet grip rating because it tends to rain more than snow here.

Have a look at the tyres reviews website they've recently posted a 2021 winter tyre and 2021 all season tyre test videos.

They do full testing with wet/dry and snow so you can pick the one that works best for what you get most of.

Try these..




I run the Goodyear that comes 4th in the second video.

It looks like this Saturday is the day to fit Winter Tyres.

Temperatures are forecast to drop on Sunday, while Saturday remains relatively warm.

My record is just over 40 minutes for swapping over all 4, but I’m sure I can do it in under 30.

Managed to coat the whole roof in Fabsil in that wonderful Autumn sunshine on Tuesday.

I noticed in August the local ambulance service on driver training was running on all seasons so asked if they were all fitted like that & was advised they had changed all the ambulances to run on them.

The 500c has been running on Pirelli Cinturato All Season tyres for a couple of years now. Unfortunately, I can’t say how good they are in comparison to the winter tyres because I always swap over to the full winter tyres before we have any snow.

I thought I’d go to all seasons, but then realised that one of the main benefits to running winter tyres is that it saves your Alloys.

Only difference we noticed when we fitted the Pirelli’s was an increase in ‘tyre roar’ compared to the Goodyear’s that were previously fitted. I have no idea if the all season element is the cause, or if Pirelli’s are just noisier than the Goodyears. It could just be a different note that is more noticeable.

When I shop for tyres next time I will pay more attention to the noise label.

Troubles with 500c said:

When I shop for tyres next time I will pay more attention to the noise label.

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It's less important than you'd imagine as it's drive by noise.

The amount of noise you perceive in the cabin will depend on the frequency and tone of the noise generated and the car you're in.

Due to the sipes etc. they will have more rolling noise than a summer shouldn't be worse than a winter though unless it's a poor design.

All seasons then switching to winters does seem rather like the worst of both worlds. None of the benefits all of the drawbacks.

Troubles with 500c said:

The 500c has been running on Pirelli Cinturato All Season tyres for a couple of years now. Unfortunately, I can’t say how good they are in comparison to the winter tyres because I always swap over to the full winter tyres before we have any snow.

I thought I’d go to all seasons, but then realised that one of the main benefits to running winter tyres is that it saves your Alloys.

Only difference we noticed when we fitted the Pirelli’s was an increase in ‘tyre roar’ compared to the Goodyear’s that were previously fitted. I have no idea if the all season element is the cause, or if Pirelli’s are just noisier than the Goodyears. It could just be a different note that is more noticeable.

When I shop for tyres next time I will pay more attention to the noise label.

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The labels are rather pointless


All the Tests are in house by the manufacturer themselves
And tyre noise is for noise generated externally to the car and not inside the cabin

StevenRB45 said:

All seasons then switching to winters does seem rather like the worst of both worlds. None of the benefits all of the drawbacks.

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Not really. The 500 is not a Porsche and my Wife doesn’t drive like Sterling Moss, so the compromise of all season tyres is not that important.

It also gives me the option not to swap if it’s a mild winter, but this is not why I bought them. It was because at the time there was an offer on and it was cheaper to buy the all season tyres than a replacement set of Goodyears. So I thought we’d give them a try.

As discussed earlier, I tend to swap over to winter tyres because it saves the alloys and the ride on 14” steel wheels is so much better than on the 15” alloys; and you never know it may snow and they get used as they were intended

Troubles with 500c said:

Not really. The 500 is not a Porsche and my Wife doesn’t drive like Sterling Moss, so the compromise of all season tyres is not that important.

It also gives me the option not to swap if it’s a mild winter, but this is not why I bought them. It was because at the time there was an offer on and it was cheaper to buy the all season tyres than a replacement set of Goodyears. So I thought we’d give them a try.

As discussed earlier, I tend to swap over to winter tyres because it saves the alloys and the ride on 14” steel wheels is so much better than on the 15” alloys; and you never know it may snow and they get used as they were intended

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This does however mean you’ve got two sets of wheels knocking about, to store and maintain, potentially the rubber on winter tyres deteriorating long before the tyres wear out, maybe not even using the winter tyres some years, all for the sake of a few days every year or two that we get snow.

Also doesn’t really save the alloys if you’re running around on all seasons for Most of the time that grit and salt is still on the road.

Seems more sensible to just drive with caution on the few times there is actually laying snow on the road surface, let’s face it, even when it does snow, with ploughing and gritting the surface snow or ice is usually gone in a few hours and if there is a sudden down pour at work leaving off time you’re still stuck in the same traffic as everyone who never changes there tyres.

The tyres on my car are not even all seasons but I still see little need to change them when it snows. I find for the few times there is snow, the cost of being more careful is far less than the cost of having sets of tyres and spare wheels in storage all year

36 minutes to swap over this time.

It’s kinda the point of this thread that winter tyres make less and less sense these days.

My tyres are stored in a garage out of the sunlight so this prevents them from degrading as quickly as if they were exposed to UV all the time. The cost differential of running 2 sets of tyres is mainly down to buying a spare set of steel wheels.

I do agree that having all season tyres will mean that your alloys end up being exposed to salt and potholes. Having always used the winter tyres it is really noticeable how it’s preserved the alloys. They are 11 years old and look pretty much the same as when we got the car. However, on the flip side you can restore the alloys for probably less than a good set of winter tyres now.

I love it when it snows and people on normal tyres who are ‘driving with caution’ need pulling out of hedges and ditches. We have a very steep hill near us that people need to use to reach the town Centre. When it snows everyone ends up in the garden of the house at the bottom of the hill.