It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time...

Back in the beginning of November I bought some Winter Tyres for my Yaris. It was one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time. I was very happy with how they improved the car's handling and, if we did get heavy snow, I would be well prepared for it. Now we have had heavy snow and I can make some sort of comparison as to how they actually behave on ice and snow. According to Continental:

Winter tyres are made from specially developed compound with more natural rubber so they don’t harden when it’s cold, which means increased grip on the road and greater safety

and

The innovative honeycomb structure of this tyre creates more gripping edges for outstanding traction on snow and excellent cornering performance!

There's not really much real technical detail there and I have been trying to fathom the laws pf physics that actually enable these things to work. I have come to the conclusion that they actually work by Voodoo. It's really quite surreal that what looks like a treacherous piece of snow covered road can be traversed as if it is just some slightly bumpy bit of dirt track - to be honest, I don't entirely trust it but it's rather satisfying to be able to drive around quite normally whilst everyone else is messing around with snow shovels and shoves to the rear to get moving.

In fact, I was so impressed with the tyres' performance in cool dry conditions that I bought a set for my wife's car. I had pre-ordered them for the 1st December so I could stick them on to next month's credit card bill - not the brightest of ideas as it turned out - but it did give me opportunity to do a direct comparison between one of ADAC's most highly recommended Summer tyres with their most highly recommended Winter tyres. In fact, it's hard to compare them in the snow because the Winter tyres worked and the Summer ones didn't. Once on to cleared road the Summer Tyres (Michelin Primacy HPs) actually worked reasonably well, particularly when warmed up, but it is still noticeable how much better the Winter Tyres handle in less extreme conditions. Also, if anything, the Winter Tyres felt smoother and quieter - they have come a long way from the knobbly Nordic tyres that I've used in the past.

I think anyone who isn't sold on the concept of seasonal tyres really needs to experience them first hand to realise that the difference is huge. Some credit has to go to Kwik Fit for making the effort of promoting these but it's rather nice that one of my whims that "seemed like a good idea at the time" actually was.