q

what a fantastic ride.

Nobody bothers, with either snow tyres, winter tyres or chains, unless you happen to live in the very far north of scotland.

We tend to only see any snow every two years, and heavy snow every 5-10. Mainly wet winters here, but people just slither off the road on all seasons instead of having even a set of M+S or standard winters ready, never mind studded snow tyres.

We get some everyyear, usually a resonableish amount. I'd imagine Russian people are more used to driving in the snow than most of the people in this country :)

They're an absolute bitch to obtain, IME.

Richard

Nope. Never known of anybody using winter tyres. I suspect people who run near slicks on their cars in the summer swap to some with more tread in the winter, but I've never heard of anyone selling winter tyres in the UK. A lot of it is people driving too quickly, and having no idea how to drive on snow and ice. You generally never get snow in England for very long. You get snow, then it gets warmer in the day, then it gets cold again at night and you end up with ice like you said.

A few people run M+S spec tyres (Mud and Snow), but not many.

I have a feeling they are illegal.

Or effectively so, I think you are ok so long as the studs aren't making contact with the road, or something, which means you can drive on some roads but have to change your tyres when you get onto the ones that have been deiced. To do with how snow tyres hack up the surface really quickly and make the government spend money resurfacing, rather than making us spend money on insurance claims / premiums when we don't have snow tyres.

Chains are allowed, but they damage the tyres a bit too easy for most people to want them.

But anyway, even on road tyres it's quite fun driving on snow when you know how, the problem is that every other driver doesn't have a clue and you basically spend your time just sitting there waiting for the traffic to inch on another few car lengths. Can't blame them, it's so rare to get decent snow here that they don't get the chance to learn how to slither about.

Hello!

My uncle used to put snow tyres on his cars in the winter (tyres with chunky tread - not studded tyres). I'm not sure if he still does, but he does live about seventy miles north of Inverness, they get snow more often and more seriously up there.

People here probably reckon a few days of disaster a year isnt worth the hassle. I'd be inclined to agree.

Douglas

Closest I got was a set of Colway M+S on an old Saab 99, they were pretty good...