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MG MGB Technical - Winter tyres/chains

Given the current winter conditions in the UK and our legendary inability when it comes to being prepared for snow and ice, I wonder whether any of you in the UK in particular, fit winter tyres or carry snow chains. If so which ones and what are your experiences with them? For the record, I have a 1973 C/B MGB GT with wire wheels.
Thanks
Paul
PJ Eades

On the V8 Register BBS there has been a discussion on this very topic. Go here http://www.v8register.net/ click on "V8 Bulletin Board" and look for the thread "Winter Tyres Theme".
Mike Howlett

Son has just fitted winter tyres to his BMW, hasn't had a chance to evaluate them yet. I've seen claims of stopping 11 metres sooner from 30 on snow, and 8 metres sooner from 20 on ice. They'll keep you going when standard tyres won't, although will give up before chains will. However it is illegal to use chains on tarmac so you would have to take them off once you had got off the slippy stuff, and they are a fiddle. Winter tyres can be used all year round but will wear faster in summer. Snow socks can also be used to get you unstuck and are easier to fit and remove than chains but again it is illegal to use them on tarmac. Winter tyres will definitely be more convenient for marginal and urban conditions, but for the wild Welsh hills you may well need chains. With rear wheel drive it would pay to stick some extra weight in the back in any event.

Some insurance companies are apparently applying a surcharge if you tell them you are fitting winter tyres. The AA and the like say they shouldn't, especially where they are specified as an option by the manufacturer (modern cars), but if it means you will be using the car in worse driving conditions maybe they have a point. If you don't tell them and have to make a claim and they spot them they could well refuse to pay out.
PaulH Solihull

Paul,

I'm a big believer in winter tires, though I've not had them on an MG. I'm also a believer in studs, though they are not legal everywhere.

One tire to consider is a Bridgestone Blizzak WS60. I've not used them, I only know them by reading and reputation. I did just order a set for my sister. In a Tire Rack test, they out performed a studded tire on ice even though they are studless.

I strongly recommend putting them on all four wheels. Then, I suggest getting some heavy rope to carry with you. Because you have wire wheels, you can easily lace the wheels with the rope to get you going through deep snow. The rope wears okay as long as you stay on the snow. I used 1/2 inch rope when I did this to get over Donner Pass in California, and it worked fine, but smaller rope would help too and may be easier to handle.

Here are some links to testing of the WS60. I am only guessing that they are probably available in the UK.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=94

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=125

Charley
C R Huff

Reading the V8 Register posts, it seems that some insurers over here don't like winter tyres because they are often a lower speed rating than the summer tyre. But since we have a blanket 70 mph speed limit, I think that argument is false. If family cars weren't able to top 120 mph, there wouldn't be a problem. Why is it necessary in these restricted days for ordinary shopping cars to be so fast?
Mike Howlett

Chains work just fine on an MGB. My wife and I drove the back Sierra Nevada range from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe one December. Hit the chain control just out of Barstow and had the chains on for two days. This was in a 68 MGB with stock tires.

Thing about chains is assuring you have them tight and periodically checking to make sure they stay tight.
Bruce Cunha

"Why is it necessary in these restricted days for ordinary shopping cars to be so fast?"

Thank goodness they are, life would be very boring otherwise ...
PaulH Solihull

I had to laugh at Paul's comment "Some insurance companies are apparently applying a surcharge if you tell them you are fitting winter tyres." Here in Germany it is now the law that you HAVE to have winter tyres!

Until recently you had to have tyres suitable for the conditions. The insurance companies used to weasel their way out of paying up if you had an accident on snow driving on summer tyres but that wasn't enough. The tyre lobby has managed to force the law through. Now you have to have winter tyres or "all weather" tyres with a snowflake on the sidewall.

Because people want to drive fast on the Autobahn in winter too, you can get winter tyres with a high speed rating. The alternative is to have a sticker on your speedo to remind you not to go faster than the tyres will let you. No sticker? no TÜV (MoT).

Higher insurance because of winter tyres? Pmsl!

Mike

MGB on summer tyres, (dodgy)
Espace on "all weather" tyres (fine)
Mini on Blizzaks (Very good)
Mike

After two winters with significant ice and snow (and we are barely started with this winter yet!) there are noises to get winter tyres compulsory for the UK as well. One can understand it for many other parts of Europe where these conditions are the norm. But my grandchildren had hardly experienced any snow until a couple of years ago.
PaulH Solihull

People should take more note of the fact that modern winter tires give something like 50% more grip on a DRY road at temps below 45F, similar if wet, and astonishing on ice/snow. I find the difference amazing, and it is very dodgy to run two winters as in days of yore, esp on front of a FWD car. Snap oversteer like you will never catch! I've now used several brands of winters, and the only problem is that you have to REMEMBER that it IS slippery, because you can drive "normally" on glare ice without ever slipping a wheel - very easy to forget!

I had Viking SnowTech, made by Continental, but they are no longer to be found here, should be easy over the pond; best deal in the US is General Altimax Arctic (made by Conti also), top rated and half the price of Michelin/Bridgstone etc; some Arctic Claws or similar, made by Cooper/Avon and easier to find in Canada, and assorted others. I find the Altimax best, as are the corresponding Altimax HP summers.

FRM
FR Millmore

Winter tyres and all-year tyres are available in different speed ratings, just like summer tyres. There is also a difference between snow tyres (with studs) and winter tyres. If you match or exceed the speed rating specified by the car manufacturer, there is absolutely no justification for a surcharge. You would probably find they make a surcharge if you under-rate your tyres, whether summer, winter or snow.

It's pretty normal to have two sets of wheels here and to change between winter and summer tyres in the spring and at onset of winter (when all the garages are booked out for days).

That said I don't have winter tyres for the MG. If it's a day when they are necessary, it stays in the garage.
dominic clancy

A thought occurred to me when searching for new tyres for the GT. I specified to the tyre supplier that milage is not an issue, as I barely crack ten thousand kilometers a year. ( it is truly just a fun car to use at weekends. ) Anyway, so a nice grippy tyre, which does not last long is fine, maybe I should have gone for winter tyres here in Australia? Mike
J.M. Doust

No. The winter tires get greasy if used in hot temps - cold only. Some of them have winter compound about halfway down, then a compound more suitable for summer use, since they no longer have enough tread depth for effective snow use.

FRM
FR Millmore

Wow! Thanks FR Millmore. I did not know that. Takes me back when I went on a racing pit look-a-around,and stuck my finger into a slick tyre someone had discarded. Quite right it was very sticky, almost greasy, is that how winter tyres go in summer? Actually I settled for Yokohamas which so far seem to be ok. Mike
J.M. Doust

JM -
Rubber can be very strange stuff! Racing slicks are soft and sticky and grip like crazy at the right temperatures, but if they get too hot or cold they get greasy. The low end of this is why you see racers zigzagging to heat tires before the start, and cold rubber is a prime cause of first lap crashes. The modern winter compounds are kind of like that but at lower temps, and they too get slippery when pushed in warm temps or hard cornering. Good street summers also feel sticky, but not so much, and don't get slippery within any normal range of use, but they are no match for the winters in cold. My Altimax Arctic are noticeably sticky to the touch at "room" temp and below, while the HP are less so but still stickier than most "normal" rubber, but don't get slippery even pushed to the point of all 4 sliding even in summer.

FRM
FR Millmore

This thread was discussed between 15/12/2010 and 22/12/2010

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