ABI Motor 2011: Insurers sign up to tyre scheme

Major motor insurers Axa, Aviva, Direct Line and RSA are among more than 50 companies that have agreed not to charge an additional premium to policyholders fitting winter tyres.  - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

Quite right too.

1 It's not really a modification, as such.
2 If it is a modification, it is one the enhances the safety of the vehicle.

If anything they should be offering a reduction in premiums for making the vehicle safer.

griff9of13 wrote:

Quite right too.

.
2 If it is a modification, it is one the enhances the safety of the vehicle.

Junior wrote:

griff9of13 wrote:

Quite right too.

.
2 If it is a modification, it is one the enhances the safety of the vehicle.

will only preform better than standard tyres on certain road conditions and at below 7oC

i.e. if we have a freakishly warm day in December when the temp is 15 oC and the road is dry then being on winter tyres will be detrimental.

Pegleg wrote:

Junior wrote:

griff9of13 wrote:

Quite right too.

.
2 If it is a modification, it is one the enhances the safety of the vehicle.

will only preform better than standard tyres on certain road conditions and at below 7oC

i.e. if we have a freakishly warm day in December when the temp is 15 oC and the road is dry then being on winter tyres will be detrimental.

By the same token, standard road tyres will be detrimental for the rest of the winter

YES In certain circumstances, I was merely disagreeing with a sweeping statement, winter tyres are for certain road conditions which we dont always have during UK winters, however 2 out of our 3 cars have Winter wheels and tyres ready to fit when the weather deteriorates sufficiently. Due to me living in a secluded lake district village this is essential.
I have read about some members already fitting winter/snow tyres which is a bad idea on two accounts, 1) They are wearing out when they are not needed as with any treaded tyyre they perform better with more tread. and 2) They aren't designed for current weather conditions and normal tyres will preform better by and large.

Junior,
Know what you mean
I've put all season Nokian WR GR2's on mine; not an all out winter tyre but good in the slushy wet stuff, rain and snow. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

I fail to see why a insurance company can justify charging for the fitting of winter tyres or why they feel they should be notified. If your decent Michelin's or Good Years needs replacing and you replace them with some low cost bargain basement tyre no one bothers telling the insurance company, nor do they seem to care, but if you fit a decent set of Continetal's for the winter they show an interest just because they can extract another couple of quid.
I did mention to my insurance last year, they weren't bothered what I fitted as long as they were not a lesser rated tyre to what LR specify from the factory.

Junior, still not fitted them for this year, waiting another couple of weeks at least for the temperature to drop a bit

It seems that this happens more with insurance at the lower end where they are scrimping and scraping to get business, another sneaky trick they are pulling is limiting the size of what you can tow, ie max trailer length.

ad210358 wrote:

I did mention to my insurance last year, they weren't bothered what I fitted as long as they were not a lesser rated tyre to what LR specify from the factory.

No problem with your comments Junior but mine are on because in Leeds the temperature in the last weeks was borderline on the starting temp for winter tyres of 7 deg's (Just got in from being a chauffeur to my daughter ) and it's currently 4.7 deg's outside.

I've had my set of 4 Avon Ranger Ice sat waiting in the shed. Fitted them tonight - bring it on! 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

ref ambient temperatures also consider that the average bloke ( or bloke-ess) drives work /school runs a.m and pm when the temperatures are lowest During 2010 up here in the frozen north, the auto start stop feature on my Beemer was basicaly useless from the first snows in late November untill nearly April and that system turns off at 3 degrees C so using a winter tyre now may be a smart move. I very much doubt if using a winter tyre all year round will compramise much in the way of handling or braking what it may compramise is tyre wear characteristics leading to a higher costs per mile

( Strangely people with cars want high mileage as a priority , people with sports bikes are performance orientated quite happy to pay for high silica content softer compound tyres at £200 quid a pop that will only last 2000 miles max ).

I think 2 succesive harsh winters coupled with ( up here at least) local authorities failing to grit anything other than A roads has led to people being very tyre concious , 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

I believe that part of the problem is that (certainly in the south) the weather is so variable, one day its 12 degrees, and Winter tyres wil not be as good, the next its two degrees, and winter tyres are much better.
So far in London we have had not had any frost and its been way above ten degrees, if the advice had been followed we would have fitted winter tryes in October when it was twenty degrees.

Hmnnn ... the performance between winter & summer tyres above 7c is relatively marginal. The difference between summer & winter tyres in winter is scary ... http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/videos/featur...tyres.html

good video. you can clearly see the "sipes" cut into the blocks on the snow tyres, On my new Scorpion ATRs i've noticed that some of the blocks are siped, not as many or as much as on a full on winter tyre, but obviously an attempt to make a real all season tyre, I'm sure friends who live in the USA have told me that there are people there who offer a " Sipe-ing" service for truck tyres, and wonder if there is a UK alternative ?

The major problem up here last year was the fact that the B roads were not gritted and after a few days of traffic the roads were polished sheet ice, coupled with the hills, that made driving anything, on any tyres, especially driving downhill a major problem. 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

Good to see that at winter tyres are at last being taken seriously in Britain and that video certainly demonstrates to the sceptics the advantages of using winter tyres when required.

FYI
However there are different types of winter tyre to consider and as MartynB mentioned, some have more "sipes" as he calls them (thin regular cuts in the tread pattern) than others. To clarify this a little - Generally there is two types of "non-studded" winter tyres, one with best properties for wet and (slushy) snow conditions and one for dry snow and ice conditions. Both presumably will have similar rubber properties but the tread pattern is often quite different. Tread patterns with the most "sipes" similar to the Continentals in the video are the best type for use in dry snow and icy road conditions and it is this type that is sold in Norway. The type with less or no "sipes" are not sold here and presumably more suited to wet and slushy snow conditions. However that is not to say that winter tyres similar to the ones in the video are not suitable for wet snow as well - we also get plenty of that during spring and autumn.

As mentioned in an earlier post, in Scandinavia it is not allowed to drive with summer tyres during winter and the main topic of discussion here is the benefits of studded verses non-studded winter tyres. Studded tyres are best in mountainous areas or where there is likely to be most thick icy conditions, but they are noisy and uncomfortable on asphalt and cause much road wear creating ruts in the road surface. The non-studded type are best liked by politicians and most used for urban driving although my last set have been used numerous times in the mountains and also in icy conditions with never a problem.

It should be mentioned also that in Scandinavia at least the minimum legal tread depth for a winter tyre is 3mm although Continental reccomends 4mm minimum. 2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.