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For once they were right on the weather!


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To be brutally honest Matt, the XDrive models really ain't that much cop either. The snow we had just before Christmas I rescued 3 in one day with the Ranger (with heated screen Alan lol).

The wide low profile tyres are the killer, any four wheel drive system struggles when the manufacturer fits the wrong type of wheels! 

I think my next purchase for coming winters will be a set of snow chains, I do have a knack of finding roads that stretch even winter tyres, and when I invariably end up pulling everyone else out I could do with the extra grip.

Most fortunately, right now I am anchored at Long Beach, California so get to watch all the current events from sunshine! Amusingly, the locals have been complaining about the cold the last few days. And it really is awful, the temps are only in the mid teens (Celsius)!! (Awful because it is just slightly too nippy for sunbathing lol)

Cheers

Phil

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It's easier when there's more of it and it last longer - it becomes worthwhile acquiring a set of winter rubber.

The only risk is becoming too confident with them - we had drifting flurries yesterday at about -12/-14degC and the Dunlop WinterSports on the A6 were superb at 170kph on a long m'way run.

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My winter tyres didnt help much yesterday, mainly as they are in the summerhouse not on the car !

have ordered a spare set of wheels to fit the Michelin Alpins to, but they’ve not arrived in time.

so yesterday took the D4 out for 20 mile round trip on its summer tyres

once i made it out of my local road and onto the main road it was actually fine

cant match Paul’s speed though, more like 17mph than 170kph :-)

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Winter tyres do make a big difference.  I've been tempted to buy them a number of times just because they'd probably be beneficial most of the time in a typical British "summer" too......

Staying home today.  We've got about 4" (100mm) average.  It's got a 10mm crust on it because we've had freezing rain in the night...... enough to hold a medium size dog, and enough to make it a pain to walk on.  Also very bad for snowman making......

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You can just about see the icy sheen on the snow.........  It's annoying the birds as they keep slipping over!

The conservatory windows are normally clear........

Apparently there are 100 motorists stranded on the A303 west of Ilminster - about 8 miles from here.  That's the Blackdown hills so likely more snow and drifted snow at that.

We are threatened more snow this afternoon though less than they were suggesting yesterday.

Nick

 

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Hello All 

               Flew in to heathrow last night from Morroco!!!!!!!!!! 

Snow not bad down there but got worse as we go to midlands (1 lane on m40 and then no lanes!)

But we have a yet I 4x4 but there must be better drivers than me because they were passing me at 50 to 70 mph?(lorry in ditch on m40!)

Yet I felt solid as a rock and put her in 4x4 to come down our lane (1steep and drifts but worked ok)

Roger

Ps cottage was bloody freezing

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Well decided that its about time to pray to the pagan gods of summer, so have organised a Paella and Sangria party for a large group of friends this evening and a fleet of 4x4 volunteers to ferry those who don't own one (which is a low percentage around here)

Learn't in my late teens/early 20's what a difference tyres make. Used to do a number of production car trials in the Vitesse back then, and convinced AVON to let me have a set of Arctic Steels at a knock down price, when it snowed (which I'm sure it did a lot more back then) they were fantastic even with rear wheel and a few bags of sand in the boot!  as long as the snow didn't get deep enough to jamb under the front valance I seemed to be able to get anywhere, but hey wasn't worried about getting stuck at that age!

Run two sets of Wheels on the Ranger, a Summer and Winter set, Winter Set of KHUMO MT's are really for Mud when shooting as getting stuck in muddy fields is very bad for ones ego!  but they seem excellent in the Snow.

Re BMW 4x4's they do seem very fragile, if you go to the big 4x4 auctions at Leominster there is always a gaggle of them in the auction, nearly all with broken transmissions, and they go cheap. Seems they are so expensive to repair that fleets let them go early when they break, as the most effective repair is apparently to find another one that has been accident damaged and written off to use as a donor. I suspect its because they all just get thrashed on motorways in 4x4 mode on dry tarmac when there isn't enough wheel slippage to keep the load off the transmission.

Enjoy the snow, Wheely Bin Snowman today?

Alan  

 

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Xdrive works surprisingly well considering, its never going to beat a land rover but better than rear wheel drive, i was driving one up in Aviemore last month, its the ground clearance that's the biggest problem. 

I beached my rwd up there for 3 days, all 4 wheels off the ground by an inch lol

Hopefully we're done, in shattered after getting up at silly o'clock the last 3 days ferrying nurses into the hospital (she better appreciate it!)

I was driving a Yeti the last few days, surprised be with its abilities, nice car, could do with more clearance again though.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Winter tyres do make a big difference.  I've been tempted to buy them a number of times just because they'd probably be beneficial most of the time in a typical British "summer" too......

Nick

 

 

I’d like to know what the temperature cuttoff for winter tyres is, ie what is too hot?

have read that 7C is the cutover point, but for local journeys i’m thinking anythin below 10 or even 15c the winter’s will still be good as they wont get too hot.

Thoughts?

 

steve

 

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Steve

I too understand the cut-off to be +7degC, but usually end up swapping them too late in the season (= driving it on summers to the agent through several cms of snow) and leaving it far too late into the spring to change them back.  That said, I've worn out more summer tyres over my twenty-odd years here than winters.

I nearly got through a set of winters on the A5 quattro, which was great for four-wheel drifting through fresh early-morning powder, but the A6 just won't let go...

Paul

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Take care out there, Steve.

I remember that, in the dim and distant when I lived up above Moreton-in-Marsh, we had a prolonged period of frost and then rain, which froze on contact with the ground.  The back roads were unmitigated (and ungritted) ice rinks.  I had a plastic fantastic Citroen BX at the time, which slide sideways down the hill from Blockley and did a rather impressive pirouette down towards Northwick Park.  The BX was so light that it glanced off a couple of roadside trees with barely a scrape to the bumpers.  The only real damage was to the driving seat fabric :blink:

Paul

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4 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

I'd have stayed in Morocco.......

Nick

Hello Nick

                 I wish I had!

I think the Yeti can stay were it is for now! perhaps get Spitty out instead?

The snow drifts are the bridle path past our cottage no snow left on the field!

Roger

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20 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

That's impressive drifting.  Nothing like that near here.  Just an icy crust over 4 - 6" which makes walking quite hard.

Nick

Hello Nick

                  The way out if? we wan,t to drive!

We have plenty of Wood and LPG and Batteries are fully charged with all this wind(the one was howling last night)

And food in pantry and freezer.

Roger

ps and about 4 dozen bottles of wine !!!!!!!!

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I drove my MX5 up and down to Aberdeen and back all year round with snow tyres, they do make a big difference in the wet too, i didn't really notice any greater wear on snow tyres to normal, but the grip in the dry summer was awful, which in turn was fun in an MX5.

I got sent this picture today from a friend in North Berwick near where i work, this is one of the main roads..

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The UK doesn't have the infrastructure to deal with snow like this and arguably rightly too, it doesn't happen often enough.

I spent 3 hours today clearing drives and paths, 1 hour driving nurses into the hospital and then another hour hunting for milk which has run out in every supermarket in Edinburgh, dropped off some to my elderly neighbours and now im collapsed broken.

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@ Roger.  Nearly fully equipped for a siege then Roger, though are you sure you have enough wine?

@ Matt.  That's alot of snow.  Agree with you on the infrastructure, especially down south.  I'm sure your neighbour appreciate you very much!

Nick

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2 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

@ Roger.  Nearly fully equipped for a siege then Roger, though are you sure you have enough wine?

@ Matt.  That's alot of snow.  Agree with you on the infrastructure, especially down south.  I'm sure your neighbour appreciate you very much!

Nick

I am getting a bit twitchy about the wine!

Roger

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