Winter tyres

[Wes]

Has anybody made the change to winter tyres or even started to think about it?
I use the Pulsar daily but have never had a car through winter that has the performance this car does.
I realise that winter tyres have come along way over the last few years and was wondering if anybody has any experiences they could share?

Also I am currently using 205 40 17 on the car but have found little options for winter tyres from the premium brands in this size with the majority offering 205 45's

Has anybody had experience of fitting this larger sidewall tyre?

 

[PobodY]

Since it's AWD I don't normally bother with them; just launch it and let all four wheels spin until it gains traction. - I have just bought a set of rims with winter tyres on for the other car though.

I'm sure someone (probably VSS Irvine) uses winter tyres on his Sunny GTi and was saying the traction is good he was pulling other marques out of ditches with them.

Do you live somewhere that gets a lot of snow and/or ice to deal with? - It's probably not worth it if you don't.
For example, my uncle lives in Norfolk and says that because it's flat, even when it does snow heavily it doesn't cause many problems. I live on the top of a hill; hence buying the snow tyres for the other car.

 

[Wes]

Manchester, so generally just rain,
I tend to get winters at this time of year for the wife's MX5 as she has to go up into the Pennines for work , so naturally got me thinking about tyres for the pulsar.

 

[fubar andy]

I drove a hire car (for a couple of weeks) in Jan this year when my own car (not the GTiR) was in the garage having a new gearbox (yes I blew that one up too!)
This car had winter tires on oddly and I was genuinely interested to see the difference from normal "summer" tires.

In the dry there is no real difference, however on colder mornings I did notice they hardly broke traction "skid" when launching it from junctions.
I was also surprised that when I turned the traction control off for a certain roundabout I frequent in the wet, the car had very little under steer in the wet. Albeit if I really "pushed on" hard it would lose traction, but compared to what I normally expect it was much improved!

Is it worth it for the GTiR? It really depends if you think its worth it?
How hard do you push your car in the winter?
Is it going to be frosty this winter (icy roads)?
Do you have traction issues in the winter?
Have you got the cash for 4 new tires (and spare wheels)?

Summer tire rubber tends to harden at 10°C, all-season at -10°C and the winter tire at -30°C.
This means the spongy winter tire grips to the surface much better in colder weather and its deeper grooves and specially shaped treads bite into snow more aggressively.
I know some people in Scotland swear by them, but Manchester isn't Scotland so would it be worth it?

On the hire car I found them fine and the traction was better than the summer tires I currently use.

 

[Jon Olds]

LOL
Pulsar's in the snow and ice.
Who would have though they are useless.
Me neither.
I have rallied mine in snow and ice and have been slower than a 1.3 Micra
I kid you not.
They will not turn in, whatever you do.
And keep well away from boost.
I lost mine in 3rd gear in a straight line down the straight at croft, as soon as my enthusiasm got the better of me and I fed in the loud pedal.
Spun into the Armco gently.
It hasn't put me off, we will be back out in it at Xmas, snow, ice or not. "Just be careful out there guys" is all I'll say
Jon
Maybe a proper set of diffs is what it needs. Scoobies and evo's handle in snow/ice. My mk1 Golf used to dance past just about anything, at all sorts of strange angles, so I'm not scared of a bit of slipping and sliding.....

 

[PobodY]

I'll give you that Jon! - The only major damage I inflicted on the car on my own was trying to drift on ice, and as you say it didn't turn-in; it just slid into a kerb (and as I had the steering turned it smashed the alloy and bent the wishbone).
Obviously I'm not pushing as hard as you when I'm driving in the snow, so once I'd learnt that lesson I became very careful about not locking the brakes. I found it takes off quite quickly in snow that seems to stump 2wd cars, but maybe it's still not as good as more modern AWD cars.

I'm totally convinced by the value of winter tyres; I brought a hire car from 110km/h to a full stop without hitting a reindeer in Lapland. - I suppose what I'm not convinced about is whether it's worth it on British roads.

 

[campbellju]

I wouldn't disagree with anything said above. never personally had an issue with the R in the snow. You can't go crazy but traction isn't bad even in heavy snow. Main problem was the front bumper becoming a snow plough as the only other cars around were farmer's vehicles

I do fit winters to the m3 which turns it from a drift mobile into a sensible family wagon in the bad winters we've had. The last 2 years they've not really been needed. Will swap over again anyway in November.

 

[Fast Guy]

Mine's shite in the snow. Maybe it's the tyres, but it just wants to go straight on. Hardly have to look at the throttle to light the tyres up.

 

[Wes]

Thanks for all the input.
As I said I use the car daily to get work which I feel is enough of a reason to get them. if it was only a weekend car like I know a lot of people do with the pulsar then I can see the reasons for not shelling out on new tyres. Generally the I am on the road from 2.30am with a 25 mile drive to work. I work in logistics and we supply all the vans with snow chains so it would be pretty embarrassing if I was the only one who couldn't get in.

 

[PobodY]

In that case, buy them. - 02:30 is the kind of time when there's fallen snow that's setting as it freezes in the cold air, on a road that probably hasn't seen salt of grit (or won't see it again) for six hours.

...also better to have the right tyres instead of chains that flail your bodywork.

 

[Richard_Sideways]

Another vote for proper winter tyres. Never run them on the 'R but have on other vehicles and they're the business if you get it right. An old mate runs a tyre place down south and when we had heavy snow a few years back he had the local constabulary queuing out the yard to get them fitted as fast as possible as they were the only way they could get the area cars out and running. The difference is like going from slithering about with no grip to like driving on a normal wet road - over on the continent you're expected to have them in some countries, plus chains for when you need them.

 

[johnny gtir]

My P Reg Almera Gti was amazing in the snow abs kicked in braking and you could stop the car quick and where ever you pointed the steering wheel it went. Even in deep snow. Traction wise I kid you not out performed a Land Rover defender . (Maybe he was a shit driver) I could stop in deep snow on a hill it would still pull away. Got my R and thought happy days as long as I don't boost it should be better. WRONG unless as Pobody says you get all 4 spinning its shit even low speeds nearly hit curbs just getting out the estate.
A lot of fun in a big car park full of snow mind

 

[lakeview]

Wonder if it's set up on the gtir that makes it bad in the snow
The grey one I have was terrible in the snow (though I did overtake a Audi rs4 going sideways in the snow)as were a few subaru's I had
Two other gtirs were amazing in the snow only problem I had was having to get out every few miles to pull compacted snow from the arches
As for winter tyres they are worthwhile I'd say
noisy in the dry though

 

[fubar andy]

I think of it this way, if a WRC car was using tarmac tyres on a snow stage it's still going to have problems with traction regardless of it's clever differentials and engine management.

Even though our cars have four wheel drive, if the grip is not available, you're not going to go anywhere.

 

[Jon Olds]

even on snow tyres, they are useless tarmac rallying on snow/ice
Jon

 

[campbellju]

I thought of this thread driving in. Normally I switch the tyres on the M3 at the same time as the clocks but this year was so mild I thought I'd leave it for a bit. The temps this morning were 0 to 3deg C and the Michelin PSS fitted that were amazing in the summer were truly awful!

I'd best get it sorted before the PSS become ditch finders

 

[PobodY]

I was thinking something similar when I saw the frost. - I don't normally drive to work, so I can put it off until the weekend.

It could be interesting, because I don't even know if the rims I bought are going to fit.

 

[campbellju]

fingers crossed they do

 

[PobodY]

fingers crossed they do

They don't.

The front axle is scrubbing the brake calliper, and although I couldn't see it fouling anything the rear axle wouldn't turn with the wheels on.

The winter rims do seem thinner than the standard ones, so I suspect the bolts are actually going through and fouling the hub somewhere else.