Guest pelmetman Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Thinking along the lines of this snow becoming a regular feature of our winters, I am considering buying some steel rims from a scrappy, putting on a set of winter tyres.....................first some questions (?) 1. Will the wheels fit a 1990 & 1999 transit. 2. If I have winter tyres, do I still need snow chains here or abroad to comply with their rules. 3. What are winter tyres like when there is no snow? If the answers to 1 is yes and 2 no and I go down this route, I expect the next time I am caught in snow I will be in the car *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 REAL winter tyres are studded, and they are great in packed snow, they use them a lot in Finland. BUT they make a mess of the road if the snow has been 'semi' cleared. The same goes for chains, but i like the idea of 'snow socks'. you can carry them in the van or the car and they are easy to put on, unlike chains. Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ris Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Heard on the Money Box programme yesterday that you should notify your insurers if you put on winter tyres as it is a change in the speck of the vehicle and in the event of an accident would cost insurers more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayjsj Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 How Blxxdy stupid, 'a change of spec' how ? tyres get changed every day, I would agree if 'oversized or undersized' tyres were fitted, but NO winter tyres.... what planet are these insurers on ? look out of your window ?? They SHOULD be insisting that we fit winter tyres !! What a crazy world we live in !! Ray :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 pelmetman - 2010-12-02 10:25 AM Thinking along the lines of this snow becoming a regular feature of our winters, I am considering buying some steel rims from a scrappy, putting on a set of winter tyres.....................first some questions (?) 1. Will the wheels fit a 1990 & 1999 transit. 2. If I have winter tyres, do I still need snow chains here or abroad to comply with their rules. 3. What are winter tyres like when there is no snow? If the answers to 1 is yes and 2 no and I go down this route, I expect the next time I am caught in snow I will be in the car *-) 1. Can't say I really understand this question. According to Michelin's data, Transits from 1991-2000 had 14" or 15" wheels according to the particular chassis involved and a variety of tyre sizes. (I don't know what the position was before 1991.) I'm also pretty sure that some wheels had 5-stud fixings and others used 6 studs. Obviously, if your 1990 Transit had 5-stud wheels and your 1999 Transit had 6-stud ones (or vice versa), there's no way they could be interchanged between the two vehicles. You'd need to bear all those factors in mind when seeking to obtain suitable Transit wheels from a scrapyard. 2. The UK has no regulations compelling drivers to fit 'winter' tyres or snow-chains. In European countries where there are snow-chain regulations (see link below), then, in situations where drivers must use snow-chains, just having winter tyres won't do. http://www.snowchains.co.uk/main/qanda.html 3. 'Winter' tyres won't provide the same performance as 'summer' tyres in hot weather, but they can be used all year round should you so wish. The downside of doing that would be the wear factor, as winter tyres need plenty of tread on them for maximum effectiveness on ice and snow. Winter tyres are designed to be equally at home on cold wet roads as on icy, snowy ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 I fitted a pair of these to the front of our previous Peugeot: http://www.camskill.co.uk/brands/vredestein_tyres_uk_-_winter-snow_van_-_vredestein_comtrac_winter_-_.php I had them fitted them because we camped a lot on music festival sites,so for us,they stayed on all year.They made a big difference when on muddy sites..and yet they still drove as well on the road as the original tyres(..and with none of the expected rapid wear or road noise either..) I did initially struggle finding something with the correct load rating,in my size..but my local,"independent",tyre centre made numerous phone calls and came up the Vredesteins.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Rayjsj - 2010-12-02 11:07 AM How Blxxdy stupid, 'a change of spec' how ? tyres get changed every day, I would agree if 'oversized or undersized' tyres were fitted, but NO winter tyres.... what planet are these insurers on ? look out of your window ?? They SHOULD be insisting that we fit winter tyres !! What a crazy world we live in !! Ray :-S I tend to agree. In fact, in those countries where fitting 'winter' tyres is mandatory during the winter months (or even just strongly advised) I understand that insurers are likely to penalise drivers involved in winter accidents who are found to have 'summer' tyres on their vehicles. What you might have to beware of in the UK insurance-wise is if you did not fit 'winter' tyres to all of your vehicle's wheels. Winter tyres can provide dramatically higher levels of grip on snow/ice compared to 'summer' tyres and fitting them to just, say, the vehicle's driven-axle could badly affect the vehicle's balance. It's also the case that some winter light-commercial vehicle tyres are directional (eg. Vredestein "Comtrac Winter") and, if you put those on the wrong way round, you'd very definitely screw up the vehicle's road behaviour. (While it would do no harm to explore this with an insurance provider, I really can't see them giving a hoot. It also has to be said that not everything claimed on the radio will have been properly researched or is accurate.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Derek Uzzell - 2010-12-02 11:10 AM 1. Can't say I really understand this question. According to Michelin's data, Transits from 1991-2000 had 14" or 15" wheels according to the particular chassis involved and a variety of tyre sizes. (I don't know what the position was before 1991.) My thinking was, that as I have 2 transits, I was hoping that rather than putting winter tyres on both, I could have one set which would spend most of the time on the delivery van and when we go away in the camper at Christmas for a month I could swap them over :D The alternative is the Auto Sock, but I am having trouble trying to find out the size of my Hankooks, as they are 195C14 RA08 and the Auto Sock web site asks for another number ie 195/?/14 :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Doesn't that "missing" digit refer to the profile?(..as a percentage of the width)... Ours' are 225/65/16..the 65 meaning that the profile is 65% of 225(mm) width.. I think...?!? edit-yep, here you go.. http://www.blackcircles.com/general/sidewall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 pelmetman - 2010-12-02 12:23 PM My thinking was, that as I have 2 transits, I was hoping that rather than putting winter tyres on both, I could have one set which would spend most of the time on the delivery van and when we go away in the camper at Christmas for a month I could swap them over :D The alternative is the Auto Sock, but I am having trouble trying to find out the size of my Hankooks, as they are 195C14 RA08 and the Auto Sock web site asks for another number ie 195/?/14 :-S figure The 'base' tyre profile is 80, but this won't be shown on the tyre or (normally) be used to describe an 80-profile tyre. Only when the profile (ie. the aspect ratio of a tyre's 'height' compared to its 'width') is less than 80 is it shown on the tyre-sidewall or normally used in the tyre's description. See http://www.etyres.co.uk/glossary-tyre-terms?term=aspect-ratio Your Hankook RA08 tyres have an 80 profile, so they will be marked and (normally) described as 195 R14C. They could be described as 195/80 R14C and, in fact, you'll see that description used on this webpage: http://www.camskill.co.uk/brands/hankook_ra08_van_tyres.php Any tyre with a profile below 80 (eg. my Hobby's 215/75 R16C tyres) are termed "low profile" by the tyre industry, though this term nowadays tends more to be used for tyres with a profile of 60 or below. Not related to motorhomes directly, but this may be of interest: http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/snow-tyres-for-the-car-worth-it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Thanks people, I knew this forum would be the best place to ask :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivys Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 We've just bought a spare set of rims and had winter tyres fitted. I used these two sites to find the right rims: http://www.alloyguide.com/ http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg4.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Ivys - 2010-12-02 9:12 PM We've just bought a spare set of rims and had winter tyres fitted. I used these two sites to find the right rims: http://www.alloyguide.com/ http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible_pg4.html Were the wheels/tyres for your motorhome, or for a car, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffers Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 can recommend vredestein - excellent grip you could also consider a compromise all-season tyres with mud+snow rating winter tyres should be mud+snow with a snowflake Noticed that our car - which has fancy all singing n dancing computer bits and bats - has a setting for 'winter tyres' but can't find just what effect turning the switch to 'yes' would have - any ideas anyone????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivys Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Derek Uzzell - 2010-12-03 7:15 AM Were the wheels/tyres for your motorhome, or for a car, please? They were for our Peugeot 107 toad. Rog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 I have ordered snow chains in the end, as the Auto Socks appear to be a bit of a grey area abroad. But of course they are out of stock at the moment *-) I have put the winter tyre option on the back burner, as apparantly I can not swap the wheels between the camper and the delivery van. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 duffers - 2010-12-03 9:13 AM can recommend vredestein - excellent grip you could also consider a compromise all-season tyres with mud+snow rating winter tyres should be mud+snow with a snowflake Noticed that our car - which has fancy all singing n dancing computer bits and bats - has a setting for 'winter tyres' but can't find just what effect turning the switch to 'yes' would have - any ideas anyone????? Come on, how about a bit of help from your end - like saying what the make/model/year of car is? It's possibe that selecting the 'winter tyres' option alters your car's traction-control/ESP settings and/or provides a softer power delivery. (I'd be very surprised if there's no explanation in your car's owners' manual.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffers Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Derek Uzzell - 2010-12-03 10:39 AM duffers - 2010-12-03 9:13 AM can recommend vredestein - excellent grip you could also consider a compromise all-season tyres with mud+snow rating winter tyres should be mud+snow with a snowflake Noticed that our car - which has fancy all singing n dancing computer bits and bats - has a setting for 'winter tyres' but can't find just what effect turning the switch to 'yes' would have - any ideas anyone????? Come on, how about a bit of help from your end - like saying what the make/model/year of car is? It's possibe that selecting the 'winter tyres' option alters your car's traction-control/ESP settings and/or provides a softer power delivery. (I'd be very surprised if there's no explanation in your car's owners' manual.) sorry Derek, it's a Seat Altea [golf lookalike] DSG and a whole raft of initials, including ESP, tried manual cover to cover - no joy but suspect I'd have more luck with a VW manual just don't like computers selecting options for me without my input or information on reasons [i feel a little like Ford Prefect in H2G2 - he kept counting up to 10 - just to prove that he still could - and to annoy the ships computer fitted with "Genuine People Personalities " courtesy of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Winter tyres often have a 'speed rating' well below that of summer tyres. Your SEAT's "winter tyre" switch apparently allows you to set a speed warning appropriate to the winter tyres fitted to the vehicle. Let's say you'd fitted winter tyres having a Speed Symbol of "P" (150km/h), you could set a warning for 120km/h that would show on your Altea's instrument-panel multi-function-display screen (MFD) and (I believe) sound a chime when you approached 120km/h. I understand that the switch function does nothing fancy (like playing around with the ESP or the motor) - it just allows you to warn yourself when you hit a certain speed. I think you may find something about this in the section of your SEAT's manual that describes how to access/change settings via the steering-column stalk(s) and the MFD readouts. I have a feeling your SEAT may also allow you to set audible warnings to guard against breaking speed limits. If that's correct, then you might find the "winter tyre" switch instructions in the part of the manual that covers the speed limit warning. (Of course, it might be that SEAT has just installed the switch for show and it doesn't actually do anything at all!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duffers Posted December 6, 2010 Share Posted December 6, 2010 thanks for that Derek it makes sense now there is an audible speed warning setting that we've never bothered with, although I use the one on the TomTom, since that [tries] to relate speed to road limits of course, it just be for show as you say :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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