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Winter tyres or lack of them becomes an offence in Germany and austria in 06.If the weather requires winter tyres and you do not have them you cannot drive.A fixed penalty fine of 55? and car emponded till the weather clears and in the event of an accident you will beheld fully responsible.Winter skiiers beware
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shame it wont be made law here as well,recently had a look at some of the tyres just taken of cars at the local dealer ,it was scary knowing they could have been coming towards me at 60mph in bad conditions
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Why were they scary? Bald?
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Adam,please check out supermarket car parks.you will notice cars with badly worn tyres,this has surprised me for a while but as they seem to get away with it, what can you do..and yes they are scary due to what can happen with bald or near
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Steve
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tyres with no tread ,tyres worn badly one one side,one tyre very obvious out of round with a lump on the tread,reckon 40-50% should not have been on the road
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But Andy's on about having Winter tyres not unroadworthy ones. As I understand it, you could have brand new normal tyres in Germany but still be illegal.
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adam the fact that motorists would have to put snow tyres on at the start of winter or during snow would make people look at the tyres as a matter of course not just when they cant move
a lot of tyre tread designs are good powering forwards in wet or dry but under slush or snow conditions the tread does not clear under braking ,the differant compounds have been mentioned in previous threads
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I respectfully disagree.
The very fact you've seen so many cars with bald tyres proves that people have a lax attutude towards it. Whether winter tyres are better or not makes no difference. Making them the law would mean the people who don't care about normal tyres don't care about winter tyres either thefore they'd be breaking two laws rather than one.
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sorry Adam,its not law here yet,
winter tyres adam are similar to town and country,deeper tread with wider grooves and tyre is softer.IE tread is soft not hard,hard tread is unforgiving in that it wont grip,soft rubber will give on both snow/frost and the odd splash in the mud.
Just mentioning your post before last.
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Steve
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I can't imagine the common oiks changing wheels and tyres with the seasons, I expect we will see more all seasons tyres like those Vredestine make eg the new Wintrac Extreme.
What makes a winter tyre legally a winter tyre, is there an EU approval number?
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adam up to a point you are right as a number of people wont do it like tax or insurance but many just need a gentle push in the right direction,sitting in a line of traffic on the way to the slopes (or anywhere if conditions justify) with a police officer saying saying to some drivers they can go and others have to wait because their tyres are poor rather focuses the mind on your tyres .this has actualy happened on more than one occasion on the cairnwell road to the amusement of some who had invested wisely
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"many just need a gentle push in the right direction"
And some people just don't care. At a petrol station last week in Leeds a car was at the pump next to me with a nearly flat rear tyre - virtually running on the rim. When the bloke came out from paying I told him, he looked at the tyre and said "thanks mate, it is pretty flat" and promptly drove off (With child in front seat - without seat belt but with iPod) past the air pump and onto main road.
Mind you, yesterday, while waiting to cross at a pedestrian crossing the last car (an Escort)that went past me before lights changed to red had the driver, passenger with a child on her knee in the front, and 3 adults and 2 children in the back. As far as I could see, none of them had seat belts on. Car behind was a police car, after crossing I watched as the Escort turned left and the police car turned right.
Do you think either of these drivers would consider winter tyres? Or whether their tyres are in good nick?
Phil
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shame it wont be made law here as well,recently had a look at some of the tyres just taken of cars at the local dealer ,it was scary knowing they could have been coming towards me at 60mph in bad conditions
So, from your statement and reading further comments in this thread; does that mean winter tyres never wear out and become bald then?
Sorry, but I hope it doesn't become law in this country to have winter tyres. Politics aside (ie, anything the other european countries say, we have to follow suit) tyres to me are just that - tyres. If you have less grip, or you think there's less grip, then slow down a bit. Forcing people to use winter tyres will only make people drive faster because they think they are safer.
Makes you wonder how people managed to drive around 20 or 30 yrs ago when tyre technology wasn't as advanced as it is today.
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I agree with DD. Despite the intentions of the met office, winter tyres would only really be useful on perhaps 5 days a year. You also have the problem of storing your 'other' set of tyres. As a flat dweller I imagine I would have to pay someone to keep them for me - we don't all have garages you know.
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Winter tyres are not practical in the UK. You can trot out all the old rubbish about "aha they are not just good for the three snowy days a year we have, but they work better under 8c as well"
LAst week the temperature here was 10c. last week it hit 15c.
you lot would have me whipping off tyres twice a day.
Get a life, this the the temperate UK, not the depths of lapland! This is not Germany
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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If the gulf stream carries on moving away then it will probably become cold enough in the UK. Maybe it is a sneaky plot by tyre manufacturers to increase our use of tyres ;-)
teabelly
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Did a google last night for a bit more info as in 30 years of driving never heard of Winter tyre, M & S yes but not winter.
EVERY site I found had a tyre manufacturers link in so not independant & also did a search for the 944, they do winter tyres for the front but not the rear (driven ones!) so thats a non-starter anyway.
Jim
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What is the point about talking about UK laws when the existing ones are not enforced?
madf
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Winter tyres have a snow symbol on the wall ,M&S are also acceptable.Every tyremaker has winter tyres on offer in Germany and Austria and they nearly all have storage facilities.Also in mainland Europe the allowable tread depth is higher .But unlike the UK most driving laws are enforced in Germany its amazing to see how many police there are compared to the UK.
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If the gulf stream carries on moving away then it will probably become cold enough in the UK.
Have you got a link to some more info on this?
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This is about ocean currents in general www.firstscience.com/site/articles/gribbin.asp
There are a few articles on newscientist and the bbc about it.
www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg18825283.600 is the most recent.
teabelly
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Really silly question then, as i've never heard of winter tyres until this year.
What happens to winter tyres in the Spring (please don't say they fly north...)
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No they fly to the back of your garage or into store and the summer tyres come out of hibernation
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No they fly to the back of your garage or into store and the summer tyres come out of hibernation
OK i'll rephrase the question: why shouldn't you use winter tyres in summer? Do they not grip as well?
Please don't say because they're winter tyres....
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"Winter" tyres are for use below about 7deg.C. - not just on snow and ice. They are much softer and have wide water channels. It is worth noting that they are much used in the Netherlands and also sell in modest numbers in Scotland. I wouldn't be surprised if they don't start to become popular in England (probably excluding the SE).
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"They are much softer and have wide water channels."
Lovely, that's what i was looking for, thanks Aprilia
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because with being a softer compound they will wear out quicker
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No they fly to the back of your garage or into store and the summer tyres come out of hibernation
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As noted above, I do not have a garage -and nor do most people I know. Where are people supposed to store the unused tyres - under the bed?
Oh, sorry I get it - I PAY someone to store them. Great, thats all I need another unnecessary cost of motoring.
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Most tyre shops store them for free in Germany as long as you bought the tyres from them
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They do work phenomenally well though.
My summer tyres are currently stored neatly on wall mounted brackets (in the garage). Cost - ?8.
Whilst it´s big expense to get a set on 4 steel rims, it´s worth thinking about. People spend a huge amount on extras and aftermarket accessories, so why not a set of winters that´ll keep your family safer...? Sorry RF.
But at the end of the day if you drive too fast round corners in the winter you´ll crash. Winter tyres would just mean a higher exit speed off the road!!
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Most tyre shops store them for free in Germany as long as you bought the tyres from them
Nah, it's not free. I mean, sure, to you & me it probably is, but... it's not.
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I am the only Pole over here.
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