Winter tyres – is it worth it?
The last few winters in the UK have been a lot whiter than most people are used to and odds are most areas will see some white snow this winter to. In order to prepare themselves for hazardous driving conditions, more and more people are as a consequence of the colder and harsher winters buying an extra set of winter specific tyres for their new citroen cars.
Many people will probably still argue that it’s not really worth switching to winter tyres as the snow doesn’t seem to linger for very long, but motoring experts are now advising drivers to consider switching. A full set will probably cost you around £500 to buy and fit as you would need 4 tyres and a set of steel wheel hubs on which to mount the tyres. You would probably also have to pay to swap the tyres about although you could obviously do this yourself to save cost. But compare this to the cost of an accident in terms both of damage to your car and increased insurance premiums and the money might well be well spent.
It’s worth noting that winter tyres aren’t studded but have tread patterns designed to cope with slush and cold rain in addition to snow and ice. In addition to this they are also safer than a standard tyre in dry conditions below 7 Celsius so a swap in tyres will benefit you even if this is a snow free winter.
And it’s not only family cars such as the Citroen C4 which will benefit from having winter tyres fitted, a 4×4 will also become much safer and reliable with winter specific tyres on. People who live in colder parts of Europe have been swapping to winter tyres for decades and ten European countries have already introduced legislation in regards to this.
A comparison test between a regular winter tyre against a high performing summer tyre have shown that stopping distances in icy conditions varied enormously with the winter tyre needing 6.4 metres to stop at 10mph while a summer tyre needed 14 metres. And that’s at only 10mph so imaging the distance you would need to stop if driving at 30mph with summer tyres fitted. What this basically tells us is that regardless of whether you’re driving that Citroen C4, Kent or a Landrover in Scotland, fitting winter tyres is worth considering in order to reduce the risk of having an accident this winter.
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