Wheels/Tyres: Winter Tyres

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by harvey07

Stand by my comment that 2 are better than nowt on a 2wd car.

Tyre manufacturers, AA, RAC, Police etc all say it's dangerous. I've seen a post by someone who tried it and crashed backwards into a tree when the car spun. Here's a video of a test on a front wheel drive Toyota Yaris. Winter tyres on the front and All weather tyres on the back. It spins on corners and on braking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyiB...eature=related

[harvey07]

Fair enough, can only go by personnal experience, which was that two were fine on a V5 VW Bora for several years & that approach had been recommended by the local fitter we used at the time & also the AA guy that inspected the car on purchase.

I do understand the argument & have seen the video's etc.

I personally would now only fit 4, but circumstances are different - we can afford 4 etc etc, not everyone can.

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by harvey07

Fair enough, can only go by personnal experience, which was that two were fine on a V5 VW Bora for several years & that approach had been recommended by the local fitter we used at the time & also the AA guy that inspected the car on purchase.

I do understand the argument & have seen the video's etc.

I personally would now only fit 4, but circumstances are different - we can afford 4 etc etc, not everyone can.

I'm suprised that the AA guy would recomend it, as the official AA line is that it's dangerous and not recomended.

On the cost issue, is it worth the risk? Even a mild crash is going to cost a lot more than the extra cost of the tyres, and if it results in injury or death it's going to seem to have been really poor cost saving.

I'd say 4 winter tyres, or forget about the car if the weather is that bad, or look at getting a car that is affordable to run. Certainly not an XC90 because those big tyres are a lot more expensive than something like the ones on a Yaris.

[RoyMacDonald]

I just had a thought about the cost of tyres on the XC90 and it may be worth mentioning that the tyres for the 17" rims are a lot cheaper than the 18" ones. So if tyre cost is an issue it may be worth sourcing some second hand 17" rims.