On 20/11/2012 22:10, Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 20 Nov 2012 21:08:03 +0000, polygonum wrote:

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/l...ndex_36482.htm

Am I barking thinking they might help in changing the drive from
impossible to manageable?

aren't they a PITA to fit? and you have to take them off whenever you
get to tarmac, and then put them back on when you get to the snow?

Yep. Getting 'em is not pleasant unless you have a good coat, gloves etc,
don't forget it'll be cold, possibly dark, snowing and blowing. You
really should only use chains on deep snow or compacted snow, you risk
damaging the tyres on tarmac. So you can end up spending ages putting the
things on, taking them off.

Speed with chains is limited and they need to be a good fit and properly
fitted to the tyre. I have my doubts about a "one size fits all" set of
chains. A chain breaking will do the body work no favours and could
damage brake pipes or get caught around suspension components locking the
wheel up or bending bits...

I've heard that mud&snow or such winter tyres are wonderful.

Proper winter/snow tyres are very good on snow but it depends a little on
what you already have fitted how much improvement you will notice. The
current Discovery came with some "go faster" things, once it got cold and
wet you could notice the lack of grip. On snow they were useless, a
Discovery that couldn't get up a 1:30 covered with 4" of fresh snow WTF!
Currently have Pirelli Scorpian STR, they are pretty good but the
Vredestein Wintrac Extreme (in the garage) are better. The Wintracs will
allow the same car to go up a 1:7 on snow without any drama.

What really gives the grip on snow are the "snipes" the narrow slits
across the tread pattern, take a look at these images of the above tyres.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/images/...ac4extreme.jpg
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/images/...corpionSTR.jpg
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/images/..._ventus_st.jpg

I think the Hankooks were so crap on snow because of the combination of a
hard summer compound and lack of snipes. Of course even the best winter
tyre won't help if the driver doesn't know how to drive on snow...

it took me over nine hours to get about 12 miles home - and I had to
abandon car and walk up hill. And that is in the sarf!

You could have walked it in half that time, even on in snow.

And, as I said, more recently we simply got stuck here. The council had
decided not to grit the roads and the only cars going down from here
were literally sliding out from the kerb with no driver and carrying on
until they reached the crossroads at the bottom.

That sounds more like sheet ice rather than snow or compacted snow. Not a
lot will help on ice.

Too much time on eBay, Dave! Sipes, methinks.

But thanks - I am currently thinking I might go for them even if it is
only the half mile between here and (probably) relatively clear roads.

Yes - was hard-packed snow, freezing harder. I actually watched as a
couple of abandoned cars simply started sliding by themselves.

--
Rod