Alternative to winter tyres & snow-chains

[matthewb]

Hello chaps

I came across this site thanks to Honest John's column in the Motoring section of the Saturday Telegraph. He swears by them. (I have no connection).

He recommends Auto Socks for icy driving conditions - http://www.autosock.co.uk/ - I must say, they do seem a good idea to get you from home to a main (gritted) road.

I drive a 993 Carrera 4S - tyre sizes are 18" 225/40 and 285/30. I'm OK on the fronts but they don't make socks for the rears. Most other 993s will be catered for, although there do seem to be a few exceptions - see http://www.autosock.co.uk/ASsize.php . I'm going to email them and ask what the deal is with getting some socks for my rears - bigger.tyres@autosock.co.uk

Incidentally, the manual says that snow-chains should only be fitted to the rear wheels (?) but I think you could fit these things to all four wheels, which I imagine would be handy seeing as I've got four-wheel drive - any thoughts?


M

 

[hythe]

I'm very curious to see how the 993 drives in ice and snow. I was driving my BMW X5 (a 4.8 with big wide tyres, not ideal for ice) this winter, and it was "interesting" on a few occasions. One thing I did find useful about the 4WD on that car was that, as I pulled to a halt in traffic, the nose would drift down the camber of the road towards the parked cars at the side, a tendency which the driven front wheels usefully counteracted.

I'm rather hoping that the light nose of a 911 tends to reduce this phenomenon, now that I'm in a rear-driver!

Definitely planning to get myself a set of 17s with winter tyres, though - I've heard good things about the performance of the tyre socks in extreme conditions, but the fact remains that, once the temperature drops below 5-7 degrees for an extended period, winter tyres are going to work better, regardless of whether it's icy or just wet.

 

[matthewb]

Brave man.

I'm sure you're right about the superiority of winter tyres - however, I'm firmly of the opinion that although I might be able to steer or stop my car safely, I'm not sure that others will be able to, so I tend to drive only my cr@p-car (an old Honda Civic, narrow tyres, front wheel drive) when it's icy, and only then when local and absolutely necessary.

I believe, therefore, that the benefit of Auto Socks for me would be if I were to find myself away from home and caught-out by an unexpected snow-fall.

Cheers
M