|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 14, 2021 20:15:20 GMT
I had to drive to Liverpool today (dog has broken the other cruciate  ) and the standard of driving in the snow was pretty shocking. Just past Leeds on the M62 there was a truck that, having realised he wouldn't make it up the slip road, decided to try to turn it around on the slip road resulting in a jack-knifed truck and a blocked motorway exit. The outside lane was inaccessible for most of the journey, although I did use it between junction 25 and 24 to clear a few miles of stationary traffic. Snow mode seems to dampen the throttle most noticeably, whatever the traction control was doing worked as it felt fine in it. What tyres do you have? |
|
|
|
Post by michael on Jan 14, 2021 20:25:47 GMT
Scorpian Verde AS!
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 14, 2021 20:39:17 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by LandieMark on Jan 14, 2021 21:07:54 GMT
Just had this sent to me, I assume it was on full winters rather than the Scorpion Verde AS. Apparently it was moving forward and pulling the bus, it wasn't broken!  Yeah, I keep getting sent these things too. I'm not wrecking my clutch and drive train pulling 20 tonne shit out the snow even if it looks cool. It will probably invalidate insurance if it goes tits up as well. |
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Jan 15, 2021 9:30:43 GMT
In the old days didn't plod use their Range Rovers to un-jacknife lorries on the motorway?
|
|
|
|
Post by LandieMark on Jan 15, 2021 9:55:35 GMT
I believe so.
|
|
|
|
Post by PG on Jan 15, 2021 12:52:12 GMT
In the old days didn't plod use their Range Rovers to un-jacknife lorries on the motorway? Yes, and Defenders too. Plus towing busted trucks off the motorway if they had to. Although rated to tow 3500kg, I think that is more the legal max you can tow rather than the actual in emergency limit as it were. I read an article many years ago which said that the police tried a few competitor vehicles and broke them all trying to tow an HGV. Only Range Rovers and Defenders took the punishment. |
|
|
|
Post by Roadsterstu on Jan 17, 2021 9:00:16 GMT
I knew an ex motorway cop and he said the Range Rovers were excellent for towing HGVs up motorway slip roads after they had broken down.
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 24, 2021 14:20:50 GMT
I don’t have winter tyres on the RR, so was interested to see how the all season (Scoprion Verde) coped with snow along with trying out snow mode. One of us needed to go to the Supermarket today, I was going late morning but it started to snow so I decided to leave it a while.....only because I thought the supermarket would be quieter if it stuck.  At the time I went out, we had 2-3” of snow at home and a bit more than that a couple of miles up the road. Some people had been struggling to get up the road, but I didn’t get any slip at all and I was able to do some additional testing on fresh and compacted snow in the Waitrose car park. No issues with the tyres at all, I managed to get a bit of slip by putting it into Comfort mode and setting off fairly quickly, but it was prefect in snow mode so it clearly works. It was interesting watching the 2 diff locks (the SDV8 gets a rear one) doing their thing. I also tried low traction launch (needs almost half throttle to get moving, also locks the rear diff), low range (moves off more quickly with no throttle) and hill descent control...all of which were completely unnecessary today, but was a good opportunity to try them out. Snow mode and low traction launch on, rear diff locked and ready to go!  If you put it into low range or one of the more extreme off road modes, you can also see the axle articulation  |
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 24, 2021 14:27:00 GMT
Not so easy on summer tyres / front wheel drive and he kindly sat at the end of my drive spinning the wheels as well before he got a push, so that will be nice and slippy when it freezes later.....  |
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 24, 2021 15:27:47 GMT
A neighbour has just got back from the supermarket and he’s now changing over to his winter wheels/tyres whilst parked at the side of the road!
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 24, 2021 15:56:41 GMT
Ah yes, snow mode, I remember it fondly from my Lexus IS days. It got you to places even 4x4s couldn't.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Jan 24, 2021 15:58:40 GMT
A neighbour has just got back from the supermarket and he’s now changing over to his winter wheels/tyres whilst parked at the side of the road! He'll be taking them off again in a month! Good to see he plans ahead. |
|
|
|
Post by bryan on Jan 24, 2021 16:01:33 GMT
I haven't put my winters on the Merc and was going to sell them as the change over is imminent....but I have a Drs appointment tomorrow afternoon so may have to put them on. Doesn't take long with the trolley jack, snow not withstanding
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 24, 2021 16:21:35 GMT
The trouble with this country is that the moment you think about putting winters on spring is round the corner.
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 24, 2021 16:36:19 GMT
The trouble with this country is that the moment you think about putting winters on spring is round the corner. That’s why I decided on AS tyres for the Golf, they work across a much wider temperature range so you can put them on in November and leave them until March and not worry about temperatures going above 10c. I’d probably run them all year round if it was a lower powered hatchback, but I’d still choose winters if I lived somewhere colder / where you get regular snow. |
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 24, 2021 16:47:47 GMT
Yes, I think all seasons in the mould of Crossclimates is the way to go.
|
|
|
|
Post by LandieMark on Jan 24, 2021 17:14:22 GMT
To be honest, people up here manage perfectly well with all season tyres.
I would want to swap to proper summers too if I had something high powered.
I am impressed by the Uniroyl Rainsports on the Mazda. It moved up the snow covered drive without a hint of wheelspin. The (albeit well worn) Pilot Sports couldn't do that.
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 24, 2021 17:28:05 GMT
A neighbour has just got back from the supermarket and he’s now changing over to his winter wheels/tyres whilst parked at the side of the road! He'll be taking them off again in a month! Good to see he plans ahead. He’s saved time by only swapping the fronts over..... |
|
|
|
Post by michael on Jan 24, 2021 21:42:40 GMT
I remember we had to push snow from the roof of the house in Minnesota as the weight threatened the structure of the building. The roads were fine.
|
|
|
|
Post by johnc on Jan 25, 2021 7:27:26 GMT
The vast majority of days up here have been sub 5 degrees or below freezing for about the last 8 weeks when I have been leaving the house in the morning and returning at night and I have complete confidence in the car in the cold and damp on the winters. I don't think anyone does all season tyres for an M5 and I am not sure they would be sensible in the summer if I was enjoying the performance but i'd happily put them on an everyday driver of more modest performance.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Jan 25, 2021 8:54:01 GMT
The vast majority of days up here have been sub 5 degrees or below freezing for about the last 8 weeks when I have been leaving the house in the morning and returning at night and I have complete confidence in the car in the cold and damp on the winters. I don't think anyone does all season tyres for an M5 and I am not sure they would be sensible in the summer if I was enjoying the performance but i'd happily put them on an everyday driver of more modest performance.I'm thinking of full winters for the new car simply because we live halfway up a hill and it's quite exposed so a strong chance of drifting when it does snow. Having said that the gritter came past on Saturday morning. I didn't realise they did single track roads that serve 8 houses! |
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 25, 2021 9:16:13 GMT
The vast majority of days up here have been sub 5 degrees or below freezing for about the last 8 weeks when I have been leaving the house in the morning and returning at night and I have complete confidence in the car in the cold and damp on the winters. I don't think anyone does all season tyres for an M5 and I am not sure they would be sensible in the summer if I was enjoying the performance but i'd happily put them on an everyday driver of more modest performance.I'm thinking of full winters for the new car simply because we live halfway up a hill and it's quite exposed so a strong chance of drifting when it does snow. Having said that the gritter came past on Saturday morning. I didn't realise they did single track roads that serve 8 houses! It will be cheaper to get winters as you’ll be able to buy a set rather than wheels and new AS tyres. |
|
|
|
Post by alf on Jan 25, 2021 16:11:36 GMT
My car got its annual "check winter tyres still work in snow" test on Sunday, and while brief, it reiterated just how amazing they are. When I had the BMW (and first got into the summer/winter tyres thing) there was some pretty epic snow most winters I had it, and I was all over the country then too. The last XFR only really did one proper session in deep snow, on winter rears nearing replacement, which got another big workout on this XFR 2 years ago and were good, but now I've put new ones of the same on (old pattern sottozeroes) it is really really good. Just driving cleanly away from a standstill in fresh snow in this sort of car is quite something, and the steering/braking grip and feel excellent.
This has been a cold winter even down here, despite little snow, and the tyres have felt superb - I really felt the summers drop off when it got colder. I don't need them (I could always just be totally scared of any snow in the forecast and go nowhere when it was likely) but I really enjoy having them, for safety all the time in winter, and the unique driving experience of driving in the snow in a RWD car...
|
|
|
|
Post by Roadsterstu on Jan 26, 2021 7:32:48 GMT
The trouble with this country is that the moment you think about putting winters on spring is round the corner. That’s why I decided on AS tyres for the Golf, they work across a much wider temperature range so you can put them on in November and leave them until March and not worry about temperatures going above 10c. I’d probably run them all year round if it was a lower powered hatchback, but I’d still choose winters if I lived somewhere colder / where you get regular snow. I have exactly the same approach. Crossclimates are on both of our cars. They stay on the Captur all year round and I have been using them as winters on the VRS, without the concern of them "going off" as temperatures increase above 8 or 9 degrees. Having spent all afternoon struggling in a work Astra on Goodyear Efficient Grip (so efficient that there wasn't any grip), the change into my car for the drive home in the snow demonstrated perfectly the difference that winter or AS tyres make to grip and safety. It was simply excellent, stress free and sure-footed. |
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Jan 26, 2021 9:30:11 GMT
I had to wait to go up the road outside my house this morning as a Corsa was reversing up the slope having made a right mess of trying to go up forwards. It was very icy, but no issues for me and I’m told the Golf went up without any slip as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 26, 2021 9:56:52 GMT
I had to wait to go up the road outside my house this morning as a Corsa was reversing up the slope having made a right mess of trying to go up forwards. It was very icy, but no issues for me and I’m told the Golf went up without any slip as well. I had a similar thing on Sat. A guy in a Leon was having to be pushed up a frozen car park ramp by a crowd of onlookers, wheels spinning furiously on the ice. The Qashqai (on summers) just breezed up without an issue. I've been impressed with how sure footed the BMW is with the Xdrive - even on summers. Whereas with my previous RWD it only took a slight flex of the right foot to prompt wheelspin and the tail stepping out, with this one you have to really work hard to get it to lose traction. |
|
|
|
Post by Tim on Jan 26, 2021 11:10:54 GMT
I found mine to be very good at going sideways at 5mph on the sloped corner at the top of the street. But it pulled away from a snowy junction much better than the Micra did.
|
|
|
|
Post by bryan on Feb 7, 2021 17:23:16 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by Martin on Feb 9, 2021 18:02:31 GMT
 Or is it Alf McQueef? 
|
|
) and the standard of driving in the snow was pretty shocking. Just past Leeds on the M62 there was a truck that, having realised he wouldn't make it up the slip road, decided to try to turn it around on the slip road resulting in a jack-knifed truck and a blocked motorway exit. 
