When to put on your winter tyres?

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When to put on your winter tyres?

The fiat 500 traction control is completely rubbish in snow, cuts power so far that it stalls the engine! Only hope is to turn tractional control off.
No the tyres are rubbish in snow, the traction control is working with that what you give it and the inputs you make.

Had 4 different cars with TCS and they were all the same but there's 2 things to bear in mind with assistance systems. The first is the designed to work with consistent pedal pressure so if you release the throttle when you feel the wheel slip and it also reduces throttle and applies the brakes then yes it is going to stall. So point 1 either switch it off or keep your foot in and let the electronics deal with it second guessing them will stall the car.

Point 2, they can do things you can't like for example apply a single front brake. Why is that important?

Well imagine you find yourself on a single track hill with a blind corner half way up which is covered. You can't momentum run it because of the corner, even in dry conditions it's a 15mph job. But you've got your all seasons on so you're gonna give this a good go, up you go it's going well..but oh no someone else failed just after the corner and someone else failed slightly higher. You can't move out of their wheel tracks so you're going to have to take the single polished track their spinning wheel has created. You hit it all the power goes through the diff to the spinning wheel and momentum is bleeding off. At this point if you've switched TCS, you're done go home, slowly backwards down the ice covered hill. If you've got it switched on, keep your foot in, the computer will apply the brake to the spinning wheel which will act like one of those fancy E diffs and push power to the other wheel...and up you'll go.

Obviously physics are physics but learning to work with it and giving it some grip to work with tends to make them useful. Obviously if you're dead stuck...then yeah it's gonna kill power to the point of stall but otherwise better on than off.
 
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The fiat 500 traction control is completely rubbish in snow, cuts power so far that it stalls the engine! Only hope is to turn tractional control off.
With the fiat 500 the function that Steven describes above of braking the wheels if it detects one slipping is not something you can turn off. on cars where there is a button to turn off the electronic stability control this only partially turns off functions.

Electronic stability control was legislated to be fitted to all new cars in 2011, the idea being it prevents accidents and roll overs buy being able to do as described ”things that you can’t“ keeping the car in a straight line by vectoring the brakes.

If the wheel slips then the car will apply a brake to the slipping wheel To push the power to the wheel that has grip but if you kill the power yourself then you’re the one causing the stall. If both wheels are slipping it should reduce the engine output but it will not cause the engine to stall, worst case the car will sit spinning its wheels and the TCS will flash a warning light at you to say “I’ve given up, spin your wheels, see if i care”
 
The fiat 500 traction control is completely rubbish in snow, cuts power so far that it stalls the engine! Only hope is to turn tractional control off.
This is a common 'feature' of traction control, and for snow or ice, is the only reason the 'off' button is there. As Andy says, the 'off' button only turns off part of the function.
 
This is a common 'feature' of traction control, and for snow or ice, is the only reason the 'off' button is there. As Andy says, the 'off' button only turns off part of the function.
The off button is there for if you are stuck entirely and need to spin the wheels to get out..eg you've fitted a traction aid like chains.

Otherwise it's designed to be on in snow and ice. Remember watching a demo many years ago with a FWD X-type Jag fitted with winter tyres on an ice incline. TCS off it could get about 3 feet up the hill. TCS on and foot flat to the floor...it climbed the hill with barely any wheel slip as the computer regulated the throttle opening required. This was a very early system given the X-type was new at the time.

Stalling tends to be, you've backed off at the same moment as the computer backed off and killed it yourself.
 
I've had traction control on a lot of cars, and never has one stalled before when triying to pull away on snow.

With the TC turned off then the wheels spin as fast as I want. Which worked well enough to get the car moving when manually pushing at the same time.
It was my daughter driving it, and I thought she couldn't drive on snow, but the car was undrivable. The tyres weren't bad either, but put four new ones on in the spring. (No match to the navara in 4wd that I was driving)
 
I've had traction control on a lot of cars, and never has one stalled before when triying to pull away on snow.

With the TC turned off then the wheels spin as fast as I want. Which worked well enough to get the car moving when manually pushing at the same time.
It was my daughter driving it, and I thought she couldn't drive on snow, but the car was undrivable. The tyres weren't bad either, but put four new ones on in the spring. (No match to the navara in 4wd that I was driving)
Is it a Euro 6 1.2 out of interest? Seem to recall they famously stall if they encounter a stiff breeze/hill nevermind snow.
 
Could be it's 2015 1.2. Every time you'd try pull away on the snow or ice, the revs would drop as soon as the wheel slip as you'd expect with most traction contol, but this went to zero every time, then the autostart thing kicked in and restarted the engine. Slow moving wheels are useful when trying to get the car unstuck so you're not just pushing a deadweight.
 
The point to say on that is that people don't buy tires by the mile but by what's in their bank account and what they can afford at the time they need tires.

The Flip side of this is that if you did 20,000 miles on expensive tires it would make it 0.4p per mile per tire. which makes it massively cheaper to buy a more expensive tire for a car that does a higher mileage.

3p per mile on a car that maybe costs 16 - 17p a mile in fuel, is a very expensive tire, so I can understand wanting to keep that cost down. 6p per mile would be a third of your running costs*.




*excluding other things like insurance, tax and servicing, this is just based on tire and fuel use.
True. But that comment that the extra 3 feet of travel on cheaper tyres still makes the but the best you can afford very valid I usually consult Auto express tests and have found their results accurate and valid. Having been a 60 - 100K a year driver for 16 years I had the opportunity to try different brands back to back many many times. There is quite a big difference. The Auto express tests give a guide as to what might be best ofr each individual circumstance, and are available free online. If you can afford to but better quality I think it saves money overall. Not a luxury everyone can afford unfortunately.
 
This period is kinda demonstrating why I wouldn't bother with a dedicated winter.

Last week was absolutely winter tyre weather...this week is absolutely summer tyre window, next week depending on which forecast you look at is going to be either snow or rain and maybe or maybe not below 7 degrees.

I'm not particularly concerned on the basis the all seasons are happy regardless.
 
I've been driving 35 years without winter tyres and without issue, happy with just all year round tyres.
 
I’m still on the winter tyres.

Weather has turned cold again, but it’s the saving the alloys from all the potholes that really makes them worthwhile.
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I’m still on the winter tyres.

Weather has turned cold again, but it’s the saving the alloys from all the potholes that really makes them worthwhile.View attachment 419659
I usually keep my winter wheels on till around Easter depending on how early Easter falls. Needed 2 new tyres a couple of weeks ago. Bought 2 Michelin Alpin 6 on the back and swapped the rears to become the fronts.
 
Well today it completed what will likely be it's only trips on uncleared roads in a blizzard this year in Northumberland. Got my wife back from a swimming lesson with son in about an inch of wet snow.

Not entirely sure that's worth fitting a set of winter tyres for...or even all seasons if current weather trends continue I'm not entirely sure I'll bother.

Noticeably less snow than even 5 years ago when had our last proper snowfall. Can't remember the last time we had it on the ground for more than a few days in a volume that made any difference. Even seem to be getting fewer frosty mornings.
 
Well today it completed what will likely be it's only trips on uncleared roads in a blizzard this year in Northumberland. Got my wife back from a swimming lesson with son in about an inch of wet snow.

Not entirely sure that's worth fitting a set of winter tyres for...or even all seasons if current weather trends continue I'm not entirely sure I'll bother.

Noticeably less snow than even 5 years ago when had our last proper snowfall. Can't remember the last time we had it on the ground for more than a few days in a volume that made any difference. Even seem to be getting fewer frosty mornings.
We have had a frostier winter this year than any year barring 2018 for about 20 years. Ive had full vale from mine. Its a dilemma. I think my car feel much more secure on wet and muddy roads in the winter on the winter tyres, but im sure it varies from one car to another what benefits are felt.

You will cause an ice age if you stop using them!!
 
We have had a frostier winter this year than any year barring 2018 for about 20 years. Ive had full vale from mine. Its a dilemma. I think my car feel much more secure on wet and muddy roads in the winter on the winter tyres, but im sure it varies from one car to another what benefits are felt.

You will cause an ice age if you stop using them!!

I've not actually driven on standard tyres for about 3 years...so perhaps. Car is fairly regularly in wet fields/gravel roads/muddy roads and they are better if I remember correctly for that.

But this was 2018..note the snow is taller than the car, had about an inch or 2 at times if that this year.


Going through various photos seems last time we had snow that hadn't melted by next day was 2021 but we used to get it 4 or 5 times a year.

It's alright on current car given its like driving a sofa but if I ever get something a bit more pointy they are rather vague feeling.
 
Having said all that...there's currently a police van outside the house blocking the road as apparently the inch of slush we have at present represents a problem for someone.

Nice to have a larger safety when other people are going to be idiots.
 
More a question of when to take them off now. Another bloody car job.....
I normally aim to remove mine for Easter. My local tyre centre is well used to me. I drive in, set of wheels in boot. I always put the air to the right pressure at home so it's just a matter of one set off, other set on. They've never charged me more than a tenner. 😁
 
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