My Near Miss Taught Me Summer Tyres Should Be Illegal In Snow
As I write this I’ve just got back from a photoshoot with a new car in North Wales. It was just me, today; my drivers for the tracking shots went home last night, which meant I was driving the factory-fresh 67-plater.
Those of you who live in the UK but not underground will know it’s been snowing a bit in that part of the world. Quite a lot, actually, at least in British terms. The roof of my own car had about five inches of the stuff on its roof when I came to swap back to that.
Don’t worry, this is going somewhere: the local council or councils had gritted the roads, but not enough. Nowhere near enough. The A5, for God’s sake, the main A-road into North Wales, was thick with snow and ice.
I haven’t driven with summer tyres on snow since the time I slid a regulation-shod Nissan GT-R around the ice-racing track Top Gear once used in the French ski resort of Val Thorens. They wanted to keep our speed down, the instructors said. Well, it was my decision this time. I’d been going slowly enough anyway, or so I thought, but when I attempted to stop (gently), I found myself skidding towards the back of a Mitsubishi Outlander. I wasn’t going to stop in time.
Sheepishly trying to brush off the fact that you’ve just got it badly wrong is not a good look. When I stopped I was on the wrong side of the road, level with Mr Outlander having very obviously just steered out of disaster’s icy grip. ABS-related code brown isn’t ideal, either.
The next few miles passed by in a terrifying realisation of just how little grip those ice-bottomed, slush-topped surfaces actually had. Repeatedly I’d brake to test the grip levels, and every damn time the summer tyres would instantly lose grip, the wheels locking as soon as pad bit disc. It took a whole heap of repeat tests to convince myself that it really was as bad as it seemed.
When it snows, summer tyres suck. Hard. The car I was photographing (and driving) was a big 4x4. You definitely notice the extra traction, but braking grip? None. It was like trying to stop yourself sliding down a massive water slide only to find it’s been greased.
There I was, slipping down the road like a buttered otter. And now here I am, hopefully warning at least one person before an accident happens. I saw at least 10 near-misses on one two-hour drive. How many hits were there? Enough to keep insurance companies busy, I reckon.
Those tyres were so unfathomably woeful on snow that I can only reach one conclusion. Summer tyres should be illegal in sub-zero temperatures, or at least on ice or snow. If you ever find yourself on a surface with the friction coefficient of a wet cat coated in lard and there’s a 7.5-tonne truck six inches off your bumper, you’ll think so too. Sure, everyone on summer tyres could just drive at 15mph a quarter of a mile off the car in front, but, err, no?
Winter rubber is already a legal requirement in parts of Europe, and it’s a heavily encouraged one in others. In Germany there’s the ‘von O bis O’ rule, or ‘from October until Easter.’ It’s recommended that drivers switch to winter tyres for that whole period, and if you’re caught without them in icy or snowy conditions then it’s fine-time for you, miladdo.
Compare the summer-booted press car with my own, later that day. My workhorse wears Michelin CrossClimates (bought at retail price, before you suspect a press blag). I cleared the inches of snow off and made sizeable ridges on all sides of the car, which was facing uphill. The front-wheel drive car, in first gear, pulled itself up and out of its snowy boundary without so much as a quick slip of a front wheel. If it could have become a meme it would have turned to me and sprouted a joint and sunglasses.
Do the world a favour. If you live somewhere where it snows, even occasionally, think about winter tyres or a best of both worlds compromise like the Michelins. If you don’t, one day you might end up getting a very close look at the back end of a Mitsubishi.
Comments
Not only you risk your own life but if you did crash you could kill someone… Stoping distance is a lot longer and tire is designed for cold temperatures. It’s amazing how people risk life for like 100 euros
A lot of summer tires say specifically to not use them in sub-freezing temperatures because apparently the compund in the tire can harden and crack.
Yeah, I’m doomed when it starts to snow…
Summer tires in winter has been illegal in finland as long as i remember.
Me living in Canada I often seen people running all season and summer tires in the winter and it gives me a cringe attack every time
I now live in South Wales and it’s rare for snow ( near Cardiff cost ) but honestly how often do we get snow thick enough to say I need winter tyres in the uk? We usually get a pathetic drop of snow and next day it’s gone when it’s like this we either should only drive when needed or get a 4WD car worst case scenario keep snow chains in your boot
driving a 4wd car on summer tires will get you in to bigger problems, as you accelerate and dont notice any slip but then when you need to hit the brake it becomes a sled that somehow accelerate without the need of a engine xD
4WD/AWD does not increase grip, though
Legal requirement to travel on highways here in British Columbia. We obviously get quite a bit more snow than the UK though. I’m never without a quality set of snow tires for any of my vehicles, as I’m an avid skiier who wouldn’t be able to get up to half of my local resorts without them :p It also gives you an excuse to buy a second set of rims to have your tires permanently mounted on to make the changeover in your own garage. Now my winter wheels look better than my summer set! (Evo 10 Enkeis on my Elantra Sport Turbo)
I’ve never owned winter tires. Living in New Mexico there was just never really any need for them except once or twice a year. Same for Arizona. There was time I wish I had a set, though. Was coming back from fall break in my M3 and passed through Flagstaff during heavy snow. The car had rather snow-insufficient all-seasons on. That was a tail happy hour of 20mph traffic. The DSC and ABS did its job, though. That was also when my fuel pump started to fail on me…
We’re fine.. Just fine..
You have not experienced true fear until you’ve been forced to drive a car with tires this bald in a blizzard…
Or a customers car (3-Series BMW) with near as bald summer tires, a big turbo diesel engine and non of the assists working at temps around 2°C and rain. So no ABS, no tracktion control, no steering assist and a bloody automatic.