just thought i would share my findings with you all with regards to tyres in the snow,. my friend came round and we did a bit of tyres swaping and testing.

firstly tried my stock conti sport contact, 20" with 7mm tread.
worked a lot better than i expected, pulled up hills, cornering and stopping was fine, only thing was on roads where there were tracks down from other cars they did seem to "tramline" in to the rut very easily but for a summer tyre i dont think you would get stuck unless it was 2 foot deep.


secondly tried hankook ventus, 20" 7mm tread.
pulls well and stopping is slightly better than the contis but not as good as i thought for a m and s tyre. very sure footed in the corners.

thridly tried goodyear wrangler f1 19" 5mm tread
pulls ok and cornering is ok, A little more roll but i think that is the bigger side wall. stopping was a real disapointment though, every time i put my foot on the brakes, skid and abs followed in in places where even the contis were not sliding.

fourth was general grabber uhp 20" 6mm tread
pulling uphill, cornering, and stopping were all great, even went across some fields with 18" of untouched snow with no problems or scares, truly great when you consider they are half the price of the contis.

just on another point which i dont think is relevent but worth a mention, the contis a goodyear are y rated and the hankook and grabber are w rated and when returning the w rated tyres were warm to the touch, not hot but warm and the snow just dropped out of the grooves when standing which may be why they seemed to give better grip. no probems with overheating though as i went to london on thursday with the grabbers on and no prolems in normal driving without snow.

so as a quick summary for a good all year round tyre:

conti sport
suprisingly good but would not venture too far in to deep snow
hankook
very good and a good price
goodyear,
sorry wrong name should have been bad year, especialy as they are lr recommend tyre
general
best all round tyre and best price by far

hopes this helps if your looking
fraser

Ps apoliges if there is spelling mistakes as i cannot feel my fingers now

Good write up, nice to see others will face the getting stuck to help out!
Top Banana  2007 RRS TDV8 Stornaway Grey with lots of smiles..
2007 Audi A4 2.0T Cabriolet

Missing - 2008 Suzuki GSX-R 750

Brilliant review there mate.... Just shows how good an AT tyre is.

I have no experience on anything other than the conti's, but they've taken me places where I honestly didn't think they could have or should have.

Think my next tyres will be Cooper Leon LTZ's though - even more aggressive than the Grabbers! MY10 HSE 3.0 TDV6 : Santorini Black : Ebony Interior w/Anigre wood : Privacy Glass (total) : Sunroof : Sidesteps : Hybrid TV : Detachable Tow Kit : Spare Wheel Cover : 22" Dished Supersports

I have the Hankooks fitted and have had no problems at all up here in sunny Eberdeen!!

Great in summer months too

IMHO Now - MY11 RRS Autobiography TDV6, Orkney gray, tints, steps, daylight running lamps and allllll the toys!!!
Ex- RRS HSE TDV6 07 Java Black, bi xenon, corner lights, side steps, tints, cool box, smoke side repeats, chrome "sport" boot sill
Ex - Audi A4 Cab 3.0TDi Quattro
Ex - Freelander2 SE TD4
Ex - CRV Auto

yogibear wrote:

firstly tried my stock conti sport contact, 20" with 7mm tread.
worked a lot better than i expected, pulled up hills, cornering and stopping was fine, only thing was on roads where there were tracks down from other cars they did seem to "tramline"

I have just returned from a week long trip in Europe, including snow/ice alpine routes and skiddy motorways in Northern France. I agree with Yogibear, the stock Conti's were excellent and got me through everything, including deep snow (well, only tried up to about 12 inches deep) and the only issue to report was tramlining.

At one point in the Austrian Alps (heading for Switzerland) I ended up facing a steep twisty hill covered in compacted snow and ice and with no other option but a hundred KM detour. I was going to bottle it but SWMBO said to try it and blow me the RRS just trundled up it. The corners were taken very gingerly (especially the downhill ones) but at no point did the RRS struggle.

On the motorways regular cars were forced to slow to about 40 or 50 km/h at one point; after politely getting attention from people to shuffle over and make way for some proper 4x4 engineering, I found the RRS was poised easily to 70 or 80 KMH in the same snow (with admittedly extended braking distances but with plenty of snowy run off options) and probably faster if I had not feared for driver error. I would have missed the ferry if I still had the Jag (or been upside down on a mountainside more like it).

So Contis with transmission in Snow Mode gets a thumbs up from me. Not sure how they will behave when they have less tread.

Yogibear, thanks for this write up, very interesting.  L405 P400e Autobiography (MY2020)... Silicon Silver / Espresso
RRS TDV6 HSE Lux (MY2011)... Nara Bronze / Arabica - now gone!

Another good read ilard. I think up in Austria you might need the LR snow traction system (spike spyders) by law but good to hear the car could cope.
keep hearing conflicting reports about the contis,so worried last week, nearly phoned the dealer to see if i could spec a different tyre! Now hearing people saying how good they are. Really confused.

I broke several traffic laws on my trip. We only planned France, Belgium and Germany. But in fit of excitement we decided to do Austria, Italy, Switzerland Liechstenstien too. Picked up a 120 Euro fine for not displaying an autobahn vignette in Austria, but evaded the same in Switzerland by racing through the border at top speed and wipers on fast. I had Autosocks (not chains) but they are legal in most places.

Regards differing opinions re: Contis I think they could be due to: 1) tread wear(?), or 2) expectations. I went from a car that was lethal in the snow and ice to one that was markedly better than regular cars with winter tyres. Furthermore, it was doing it (in Snow Mode) itself, and making me look like a super star when really all I had to do was judge speed and steer it. L405 P400e Autobiography (MY2020)... Silicon Silver / Espresso
RRS TDV6 HSE Lux (MY2011)... Nara Bronze / Arabica - now gone!

I had 295/45/20 Grabber UHP's on my D3 and they were superb in last year's snowfall...

For a road tyre they had so much grip in the white stuff and great VFM

Wear was good too, with 15k on the clock and still 4mm all round RRS gone
Audi SQ5...Gone Audi Q7 S-Line 240 3.0TDI Gone
Audi A6 Allroad Sport 270 3.0TDI

Ha Ha i too have never brought the Vignette in Austria as you seem to be in and out so quickly. Going again the end of Jan. ilard did you use the snow socks? were thinking about these as they seem to have good write ups! Plos a lot cheaper than the spike spiders.

Found reviews of winter tyres here

http://www.reviewcentre.com/fi452-f1-2.html

and here

http://www.tyretest.com/wintercar_tyres/index.html

 Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

To add my 2 pennies worth, I currently live in Northern Germany and last night got back frm skiing in Austria. This included 7 hours of driving north on Route 7 in blizzard conditions, compacted snow and slush and the car was amazing......didnt put a tyre wrong.

Ive got 19" alloys with Pirelli Scorpian tyres, and they are sooooo much better than stock conti's; which were lethal over here..well worth the investment!!  Why wait till tomorrow, when today is already here!

Gone: MY 10 RRS HSE, MY 12 RRS AB, MY 13 RR Evoque
Coming: MY 17 RRS AB

FYI, I did not use the autosocks in the end as the car coped fine. On the toughest routes u saw other cars using autosocks and they were making great forward progress. But they are not legal alternatives to snow chains in all countries, check their website. L405 P400e Autobiography (MY2020)... Silicon Silver / Espresso
RRS TDV6 HSE Lux (MY2011)... Nara Bronze / Arabica - now gone!

ilard wrote:

FYI, I did not use the autosocks in the end as the car coped fine. On the toughest routes u saw other cars using autosocks and they were making great forward progress. But they are not legal alternatives to snow chains in all countries, check their website.

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/

Basically a mesh cover to give grip on snow/ice  Wanted a Series 2 LR since childhood but previously owned MY16 Disco Sport HSE TD4 Auto, MY13 RR Sport Black Edition TDV6 Auto, MY10 RR Sport HSE TDV6 Auto, 2007 Freelander 1 Freestyle TD4 Soft Top, 2009 Freelander 2 GS TD4 Auto, 2007 Freelander 2 GS TD4, 2004 Disco 2 Metropolis Auto, 2002 Disco 2 GS, 2000 Freelander 1 SE TD4 SW

Still hoping for a S2 one day!

muddywheels wrote:

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/car-snow-socks/

Basically a mesh cover to give grip on snow/ice

Cheers!  Why wait till tomorrow, when today is already here!

Gone: MY 10 RRS HSE, MY 12 RRS AB, MY 13 RR Evoque
Coming: MY 17 RRS AB