SNOW.

[zippy]

Same old story it's snowing, and this is England...

This means little help on clearing the snow from roads, Airports come to a standstill, Trains, have even more of an excuse to be delayed and late.

Motorists, will be sliding into each other, and getting stranded, stuck, crash and sliding about. due to not slowing down, and more importantly not fitting winter tyres to their cars like other country's.

In France, Germany, Swiss, Austria.... it is Law to fit snow tires or, all season type tyres to their Vehicles, although not in England, us Brits would rather get stuck in the snow or crash into etch other rather than fit winter tyres... silly really. In England we all know fine well we get floods, dreadful rain and snow... all season, winter tyres would save a lot of Accidents on the roads and less unnecessary call- outs to the AA, green flag ect. due to cars not prepared for winter weather.

The foreigners must laugh at us lot.

[Katzenjammer]

Same old story it's snowing, and this is England...

This means little help on clearing the snow from roads, Airports come to a standstill, Trains, have even more of an excuse to be delayed and late.

Motorists, will be sliding into each other, and getting stranded, stuck, crash and sliding about. due to not slowing down, and more importantly not fitting winter tyres to their cars like other country's.

In France, Germany, Swiss, Austria.... it is Law to fit snow tires or, all season type tyres to their Vehicles, although not in England, us Brits would rather get stuck in the snow or crash into etch other rather than fit winter tyres... silly really. In England we all know fine well we get floods, dreadful rain and snow... all season, winter tyres would save a lot of Accidents on the roads and less unnecessary call- outs to the AA, green flag ect. due to cars not prepared for winter weather.

The foreigners must laugh at us lot.

You got your winter tyres on then zippy as an advocate of them? What you running on make wise? What size tyre your motor take - must be lowish profiles? Mine are 215/65R 16 98H. This time I've gone for a Yokohama Geolander all season mud and snow tyre. Performed well on the farm and on the roads round the range and the permission.

[Pat g]

Same old story it's snowing, and this is England...

This means little help on clearing the snow from roads, Airports come to a standstill, Trains, have even more of an excuse to be delayed and late.

Motorists, will be sliding into each other, and getting stranded, stuck, crash and sliding about. due to not slowing down, and more importantly not fitting winter tyres to their cars like other country's.

In France, Germany, Swiss, Austria.... it is Law to fit snow tires or, all season type tyres to their Vehicles, although not in England, us Brits would rather get stuck in the snow or crash into etch other rather than fit winter tyres... silly really. In England we all know fine well we get floods, dreadful rain and snow... all season, winter tyres would save a lot of Accidents on the roads and less unnecessary call- outs to the AA, green flag ect. due to cars not prepared for winter weather.

The foreigners must laugh at us lot.

Yup a fine example of this was yesterday morning. My mate and i set off for the Scottish Borders as we have done many times before for a Driven Shoot. The journey involves travelling up the A1 and leaving at Morpeth to join the A697 through Coldstream and then on to Lauder. As soon as we left the A1 the A697 was like a death trap!! to say the least! Black ice for over 35 miles with traffic crawling along, HGV'S pulled into laybys etc. Eventually, as we had thought(it was only a matter of time) an artic "Jack Knifed" and that was the road closed. Everyone was getting out of their vehicles and to highlight how bad it was the three guys in front in a transit van got out and one of them instantly slipped on his "arris" literally like a skating rink. The guy behind in a Isuzu D Max said he has driven this road for 26 years and never seen it as bad. At the thought of losing a days shooting i turned around and headed back the way we had come and took a detour to by pass the jack knifed lorry. This involved a lot of "b" roads . I stopped a farm hand coming the other way and asked him the best way back onto the A697 and he gave me directions which involved crossing a Ford which he did say had been in flood. "brilliant we thought thinking that it would be impassable. When we got to the Ford it had indeed been in flood but had subsided. Now i know the wading depth of my 4x4 shooting truck is around 21" so selecting the low ratio box and putting the Diff Locks on we went for it and produced an impressive bow wave and then through and up we made it no problems but certainly not for you family car winter tyres or not!! anyway we made it to the shoot arriving at 9.40 am and one hour behind our normal schedule.
Anyway back to tyres i run my shooting truck on 50/50 all terrain Yokohama Geolander tyres and i've never been stuck yet or slipped and skidded all over but i do think that on normal cars the addition of winter tyres should be mandatory but having said that particularly if the car is rear wheel drive, as is Mrs G's it makes little difference. The bloody thing is still lethal in bad weather and tbh we don't use it in snow and ice even with winter tyres fitted. Front wheel drive is better but a lot of modern cars are S**** in bad weather and i think it may have something to do with the fact that cars are so light these days. Added to the fact that some drivers just don't know how to drive in snow or forget until the next snow falls come and indeed many young and newly qualified drivers may have never even driven in snow!!
But to add to Zippys original post i agree that the fitting of snow tyres is no bad thing and should be considered but it does'nt make your family car invincible and means you can go anywhere because you simply can't. It just means you get a little more grip with the winter tyre being softer compound
Drive safe !!!!
ATB,
Pat

[Katzenjammer]

Pat a reason why a lot of modern cars don't drive well in snow is down to the driver and inexperience in bad conditions as you say. I learnt to drive in snow all over the North York Moors and took my test in a snowy winter. Modern cars cocoon people too much and all these modern gadgets and safety devices are relied on far too much. In the old cars you had to "drive" them and be alert and not rely on some beeper or abs etc to warn you or save you.

Added to that modern cars are too responsive on the gas or geared differently. Also the BHP is higher now and produces too much instantaneous power to the drive wheels and that in itself causes wheelspin because there is no grip. Lower profile wider tyres often don't help. You can spread the load too much. I remember driving on crossplys - very much easier as they were narrower.

If you are driving purely on snow you can actually wrap rope around the tyre to provide extra grip. It works surprisingly well but must be removed once you hit clear tarmac. You must avoid wrapping it near the valve and leave a big gap either side as the rope may shift and rip the valve out of its housing thus deflating your tyre. There are You Tube videos on this - I leave it to the readers to search unless zippy can oblige

Good post zippy btw - I meant to say that if people invest in snow tyres they may also wish to buy a set of rims as it makes it easier and in the long run cheaper to swop them about. Incidentally for most insurance companies you must inform them of the change in tyre spec and rating from that originally fitted. I used to with the winter tyres and again in Spring when I changed back but with these all season all terrain I didn't need to they said. It's a modification see as is a towbar for eg and they will use any excuse not to pay even though in the case of winter tyres it is proven they are safer!

[zippy]

Same old story it's snowing, and this is England...

This means little help on clearing the snow from roads, Airports come to a standstill, Trains, have even more of an excuse to be delayed and late.

Motorists, will be sliding into each other, and getting stranded, stuck, crash and sliding about. due to not slowing down, and more importantly not fitting winter tyres to their cars like other country's.

In France, Germany, Swiss, Austria.... it is Law to fit snow tires or, all season type tyres to their Vehicles, although not in England, us Brits would rather get stuck in the snow or crash into etch other rather than fit winter tyres... silly really. In England we all know fine well we get floods, dreadful rain and snow... all season, winter tyres would save a lot of Accidents on the roads and less unnecessary call- outs to the AA, green flag ect. due to cars not prepared for winter weather.

The foreigners must laugh at us lot.

Yup a fine example of this was yesterday morning. My mate and i set off for the Scottish Borders as we have done many times before for a Driven Shoot. The journey involves travelling up the A1 and leaving at Morpeth to join the A697 through Coldstream and then on to Lauder. As soon as we left the A1 the A697 was like a death trap!! to say the least! Black ice for over 35 miles with traffic crawling along, HGV'S pulled into laybys etc. Eventually, as we had thought(it was only a matter of time) an artic "Jack Knifed" and that was the road closed. Everyone was getting out of their vehicles and to highlight how bad it was the three guys in front in a transit van got out and one of them instantly slipped on his "arris" literally like a skating rink. The guy behind in a Isuzu D Max said he has driven this road for 26 years and never seen it as bad. At the thought of losing a days shooting i turned around and headed back the way we had come and took a detour to by pass the jack knifed lorry. This involved a lot of "b" roads . I stopped a farm hand coming the other way and asked him the best way back onto the A697 and he gave me directions which involved crossing a Ford which he did say had been in flood. "brilliant we thought thinking that it would be impassable. When we got to the Ford it had indeed been in flood but had subsided. Now i know the wading depth of my 4x4 shooting truck is around 21" so selecting the low ratio box and putting the Diff Locks on we went for it and produced an impressive bow wave and then through and up we made it no problems but certainly not for you family car winter tyres or not!! anyway we made it to the shoot arriving at 9.40 am and one hour behind our normal schedule.
Anyway back to tyres i run my shooting truck on 50/50 all terrain Yokohama Geolander tyres and i've never been stuck yet or slipped and skidded all over but i do think that on normal cars the addition of winter tyres should be mandatory but having said that particularly if the car is rear wheel drive, as is Mrs G's it makes little difference. The bloody thing is still lethal in bad weather and tbh we don't use it in snow and ice even with winter tyres fitted. Front wheel drive is better but a lot of modern cars are S**** in bad weather and i think it may have something to do with the fact that cars are so light these days. Added to the fact that some drivers just don't know how to drive in snow or forget until the next snow falls come and indeed many young and newly qualified drivers may have never even driven in snow!!
But to add to Zippys original post i agree that the fitting of snow tyres is no bad thing and should be considered but it does'nt make your family car invincible and means you can go anywhere because you simply can't. It just means you get a little more grip with the winter tyre being softer compound
Drive safe !!!!
ATB,
Pat

Superb wright up Pat, and I totally agree.

I myself drive probably the worst type of car in winter conditions a Rear-wheel drive BMW, Although, had the sense to fit the car with all season type tyers with snow symbol endorsed on the side of the tyre. Not perfect though, although, I think good choice due to wet weather and snowiness conditions and also the benefit to leave the same tyres on the car all year round due to been all season tyres no change over required.

Having asked numerous people at work, friends ect,,, if they had prepared their cars for Bad winter weather eg,,,, Ant-freeze, general servicing and most important winter type tyres... ((their answer was No!,)) in fact they had no idea about winter tyers or Anti-Freeze ect... Madness.

It is good practice, to service you Vehicle, check Anti-Freeze strength a good 50/50 Mix recommended. fit appropriate tyres for the winter conditions carry some old carpet to help you out if wheels get stuck in snow, a shovel, toe rope, water, Blanket, warm coat, torch, Mobile phone... and suitable foot wear like good boots... you may need to walk home. and AA, green flag cover.

and please slow down

[Pat g]

Yup all good advice there Mick. Amazing how many people don't prepare their vehicles for winter though like you say. If planning to go any distance as well its worth taking some food and a hot drink in a vacuum flask. I always do whenever i'm shooting in Scotland or "Darn Sarf"
ATB,
pat

[Katzenjammer]

Superb wright up Pat, and I totally agree.

I myself drive probably the worst type of car in winter conditions a Rear-wheel drive BMW, Although, had the sense to fit the car with all season type tyers with snow symbol endorsed on the side of the tyre. Not perfect though, although, I think good choice due to wet weather and snowiness conditions and also the benefit to leave the same tyres on the car all year round due to been all season tyres no change over required.

Having asked numerous people at work, friends ect,,, if they had prepared their cars for Bad winter weather eg,,,, Ant-freeze, general servicing and most important winter type tyres... ((their answer was No!,)) in fact they had no idea about winter tyers or Anti-Freeze ect... Madness.

It is good practice, to service you Vehicle, check Anti-Freeze strength a good 50/50 Mix recommended. fit appropriate tyres for the winter conditions carry some old carpet to help you out if wheels get stuck in snow, a shovel, toe rope, water, Blanket, warm coat, torch, Mobile phone... and suitable foot wear like good boots... you may need to walk home. and AA, green flag cover.

and please slow down

Good points there zippy - the boots one in particular - no point in stepping out in smooth soled sling backs when you are going to need all terrain boots with a good grip. I've had to walk out from a slide off the road in snow in 1976/77 when my Vauxhall Firenza waltzed off the road - rear wheel drive!!! Glad I had my walking boots on and my Russian Army greatcoat and my pipe. 7 miles down into Helmsley!

[Mason]

I can remember studded tyres being used in exceptionally bad weather, but you can not seem to get them in the UK any more.

[Katzenjammer]

I can remember studded tyres being used in exceptionally bad weather, but you can not seem to get them in the UK any more.

I think you can still buy them but they can only be used off road or in a situation such as icy roads. However as it is illegal to use any tyre which may damage or tear up the road surface you cannot drive them on a metalled public road (as with snow chains). I think there are also rubber studded tyres available.

[Katzenjammer]

Snow chains made from rope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpJKU-zO4hk

There are other videos which show a loop construction. I have used rope chains on one memorable drive on a closed road from Helmsley to Stokesley in 1976. They were still intact at the end of the journey having only been used on packed snow or virgin snow. This included a steep pull out of Helmsley past Rievaulx Abbey, a long winding drive which included Newgate Bank through Chop Gate and up and down Clay bank on the Cleveland Hills, through Great Broughton and on to Stokesley circa 20 miles