Summer Tyres

[pow216]

13ºC today...

This was my first winter with winter tyres (Well, All Seasons - Vredestein Quatrac 5 and I was very pleased with them).

What is the consensus as to when to get the summer tyres back on?

 

[Harv3y]

I was always told after Easter for summer tyres!

 

[DaddyCool]

Im still to buy my winter wheels/tyres and I was going to use the gritters up here as my yard stick (or the clock changing like I do with the kids trampoline )

 

[asherwood]

Are Quatrac not all season tyres?
Would this not allow you to run them until the temp is always above the 8 degree. (Which is the usual switch point for winters / summers)

 

[exlatccatsa]

Always get snow in April in Aberdeenshire

 

[Tonybvi]

I have had snow tyres for over 10 years now on various cars. Always change them when the clocks change and never been caught out yet.

 

[pdk42]

I ran winter tyres on my last car (a BMW 335i touring). I put them on late Oct and removed them late Mar for 5 years - and only ever really thought I needed them once ("The Beast from the East"). And that was a RWD car. As a result, I've not bothered with the Tesla. I accept that winter tyres are a safety factor in winter driving, but I don't see them as essential in the UK.

 

[Cogarch]

Given the winter we've just had, I'm not sure it was worth the expense.

Then again I changed mine back a week ago - then two days later I had to make a sudden mercy dash to Edinburgh to retrieve daughter from uni, with temperatures down to 5 degrees..

..

 

[Adopado]

I was always told after Easter for summer tyres!

Not a very consistent guide... given that Easter can vary between 22nd March to 25th April!

 

[Harv3y]

Not a very consistent guide... given that Easter can vary between 22nd March to 25th April!

True....

 

[Adopado]

Given the winter we've just had, I'm not sure it was worth the expense.

Then again I changed mine back a week ago - then two days later I had to make a sudden mercy dash to Edinburgh to retrieve daughter from uni, with temperatures down to 5 degrees..

..

Yes, even here (Borders area and 800ft+ elevation) we've not had much snow, but plenty of cold temperatures and lots of cold rain ... the performance in the cold and wet is a real benefit. They've been a great reassurance when I had my concerns about a rear wheel drive car in winter conditions. My winter tyres have lots of sipes (as winter tyres do) and have been very effective at lifting wet mud off the roads ... and then spraying it over the sides and back of the car! One journey on the wet country roads round about here and the car is filthy. I'm now looking forward to getting the summers back on but recent winters seem to have featured late snowfall so I'll hold off for a bit yet.

 

[pow216]

Just fitted the summers.

My back isn't quite what it used to be

 

[x-rm]

Not a very consistent guide... given that Easter can vary between 22nd March to 25th April!

Maybe it is more to do with the amount of chocolate in the driver than ice on the road

I just switched mine back to summers and then woke up to frost. If you are not 'key working' and mainly staying at home then it should be possible to avoid the early starts before it all warms up. If you are having to go out first thing then maybe wait until this cold snap has past but we should (hopefully) not be looking at snow in most areas so if you have switched back early and it is cold then just drive that bit more cautiously, as someone else has already commented, winter tyres in the UK are less essential than a lot of the colder Northern/EU areas

 

[Adopado]

Maybe it is more to do with the amount of chocolate in the driver than ice on the road

I just switched mine back to summers and then woke up to frost. If you are not 'key working' and mainly staying at home then it should be possible to avoid the early starts before it all warms up. If you are having to go out first thing then maybe wait until this cold snap has past but we should (hopefully) not be looking at snow in most areas so if you have switched back early and it is cold then just drive that bit more cautiously, as someone else has already commented, winter tyres in the UK are less essential than a lot of the colder Northern/EU areas

I'm certainly concerned about chocolate availability and may need to do some stockpiling. Strangely, it's easier to get chocolate than milk and eggs in our nearest shops at present!

It doesn't really matter what tyres we're on at the moment ... not going very far! Given that winter tyres are so good in the wet you could argue that it's not such a bad an idea to keep them on all year in some parts of the UK (and some people actually do)! Anyway, I need garage services to do mine because they are on the original rims so I'll have to wait until the garage workshops are back in operation.

 

[AnthonyLR]

I ran winter tyres on my last car (a BMW 335i touring). I put them on late Oct and removed them late Mar for 5 years - and only ever really thought I needed them once ("The Beast from the East"). And that was a RWD car. As a result, I've not bothered with the Tesla. I accept that winter tyres are a safety factor in winter driving, but I don't see them as essential in the UK.

I live in London. I have TWICE had to abandon cars on main roads because of sudden, unexpected blizzards, and on a third occasion (another unexpected snowfall) I could not stop the car on a downhill road and shot straight out onto a main road (fortunately nothing was coming). So since then it has been snow tyres all the way for me and my wife.

 

[AnthonyLR]

Not a very consistent guide... given that Easter can vary between 22nd March to 25th April!

I have been on a golf trip to Dornoch in late April about 4 years ago and it was a blizzard! Winter rules had finished the day before...

 

[Adopado]

I have been on a golf trip to Dornoch in late April about 4 years ago and it was a blizzard! Winter rules had finished the day before...

Many years ago I had my first trip to Cornwall, at Easter ... it snowed! You should have seen the locals sliding around ... it was mayhem .. well, there WAS nearly half an inch of snow! It only lasted barely a day. (We had driven down from Edinburgh in a Mini 1275GT ... only stopped for petrol and ate in the car as we went ... )

 

[DaddyCool]

Many years ago I had my first trip to Cornwall, at Easter ... it snowed! You should have seen the locals sliding around ... it was mayhem .. well, there WAS nearly half an inch of snow! It only lasted barely a day. (We had driven down from Edinburgh in a Mini 1275GT ... only stopped for petrol and ate in the car as we went ... )

1275GT just going to my brother to finish from my Dad's last week