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      12-04-2010, 06:50 PM   #22
mario486
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Drives: X1 XDrive 2.0d, Mini Cooper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Cooper View Post
4 season / all season / "M+S" is not anykind of standard. Comparing to Nordic Winter tyres with or without studds they all are kind of summertyres (usually lower "speed class" than tyres without that mark). If you live in a country where you have quite often snow or ice on streets, I suggest using real Winter tyres. In Nordic countries we have to use them if we like to drive on winter (dec-jan-feb is a must and nov->apr You may use them here in Finland). I personally use Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 studded tyres in size 17" 225/50 RF.

btw. this company Nokian Tyres used to be part of Nokia which made mobile phones, computers, cables, tyres and rubberboots
Hi JC, unfortunately studded tyres are illegal in the UK. Basically here we have 3 options:

Summer tyres, which are a harder compound with a tread thats optimised for grip and water dispersion. Some are slicker than others.

All season tyres which generally have a slightly different tread pattern to allow for increased grip in more slippery conditions. Some (eg Pirelli) are also of a slightly softer compound.

And lastly we have winter tyres (also called Mud & Snow) which have a much higher silica content which allows them to remain softer at temperatures below 7C. This improves grip, braking etc and they generally have a tread pattern thats optimised for mud and snow traction. They are still quite rare here although I think that after this winter drivers will be taking them more seriously.

If conditions are bad enough, eg in ice, then we have to use chains in the UK which are also very rare, even up here in Scotland.
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