Quote:
Originally Posted by Tannaton
I've just rotated the tyres on my XC60 tonight (41k and still on the original Continentals that are between 3.5 and 4mm). Noticed that they now have wear indicators at 4mm as well as 1.6mm.
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You need to have a minimum of 4 mm and snow flake rated winter tyres (The mountain symbol ones are better) to be legal in Switzerland and Austria during the winter. The tread depth makes no real difference in ice, but sure does in snow. That's probably why they have wear indicators at 4 mm.
Some all weather tyres are snow flake rated.
Oddly enough a lot of drivers forget that how good the tyres are makes very little difference to a cars performance when cornering, it mostly effects braking distance figures (They relate directly to how good the grip is) and to some extent handling.
Winter tyres are not much better than summer tyres on black ice, although they are better on dry ice (Below about minus 15c). At present there is no EU standard for braking tests on ice, due to the EU failing to define which type of ice should be used.
When selecting tyres, the only manufacturers worth considering are Continental, Dunlop, Goodyear and Michellin. If you use winter tyres, Nokian are also worth checking.
Not much difference between the performance of any of the major brand top of the range tyres, although Michellins seem to last slightly longer and on average Continentals have the best braking distance figures.