33 replies to this topic

[h4wx1e]

i crashed last year in the snow and am worried it might happen again so am wondering if thinner, smaller wheeks are better than my 13x7s in the snow? i have some 12x5.5s at home and what are the best tires fir the snow to? many many thanks in advance.

hawxie

[DAVEY_C]

the narrower wheels would be best alright because the tend to disperce the snow better from under the wheel better, i would say get snow/mud tyres but i find them not much better if the snow has compacted to ice.... maybe chains or socks might be better?

[h4wx1e]

thanks bud, will find some decent tires now then. im running yokos still and i dont feel very safe lol

[DAVEY_C]

try someone like these...

http://www.tyremonke....uk/tyres/rally ... index.html

[wardyxxx]

Thinner tires will have greater pressure on them per square inch compared to wider tires. You should be able to cut through snow better with them.

But on ice, just low revs, high gear ect.

[isjakar]

the narrower wheels would be best alright because the tend to disperce the snow better from under the wheel better, i would say get snow/mud tyres but i find them not much better if the snow has compacted to ice.... maybe chains or socks might be better?

Coming from a land of snow and ice, I can tell you that narrower, not smaller, is better. More sidewall and a narrow, heavily siped tread, not big blocks. It's about displacement of the water formed continually between the rubber and the ice as you drive. This forms a lubrication layer preventing the rubber from contacting the surface, therefore, no grip. Like the oil in your main bearings. Check the maniacs rallying on ice in Scandinavia, they put 300+ hp through 125 section tyres made by a Finnish bloke to order.
Modern winter road tyres have air bubbles built into the tread layer to suck up the water at the contact patch and get rid of it by centrifugal force as the wheel rotates. ready to mop up more water at the next contact. At the very least, sipes (cuts across the tread blocks) will help enormously, particularly if there is some snow. And of course, winter tyres have quite different mixtures of the traditional ingredients of rubber, oil and carbon to make the tread more sticky and conforming to any available corrugations on the micro scale.
So, if you are not getting a set of winter tyres, here is the short list:
Stay away from "all-season" tyres as they combine the bad from both, are useless in winter and very poor summer tyres
Get the narrowest tyre with the tallest sidewall and, if the tread blocks are solid, have them siped.
Choose a slippery day and an empty parking lot (Asda on a Sunday?) and drive too fast. Slip around until you have found the confidence to carefully steer and brake out of trouble should it arise!

[h4wx1e]

thanks for the advice mate

[Juju]

Thinner tires will have greater pressure on them per square inch compared to wider tires. You should be able to cut through snow better with them.

But on ice, just low revs, high gear ect.

LOW gear!

[h4wx1e]

isjakar, thanks thats sorted it then hope mini spares do tires like you explained, nice one

[Wil_h]

Thinner tires will have greater pressure on them per square inch compared to wider tires. You should be able to cut through snow better with them.

But on ice, just low revs, high gear ect.

LOW gear!

I think high gear is right as it reduced the torque on the wheels, thusreducing the chance of wheel spin.

[h4wx1e]

just another little queation lol what about ride height? im as low as possible at the mo and will have to raise her up anyways with smaller wheels so was just wondering if its worth going higher than i need to?

[chrisandsarah]

In the snow my mini seems to have no issue where newer Focus, Astra etc struggle just 12inch bog standard to my knowledge

[Juju]

But on ice, just low revs, high gear ect.

LOW gear!

I think high gear is right as it reduced the torque on the wheels, thusreducing the chance of wheel spin.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

[Pooky]

It's low gear when going down hill so that you're using engine braking instead of your usual brakes. But you use a high gear (2nd instead of 1st) for pulling away to avoid wheel spin.

Everyone's right!

[danoz24]

http://antsbasement....g/TireSpike.JPG