Tyres, The Black Art of the Round Black Things

I have just posted an article about getting your car checked over now winter has arrived in Wisbech & the two most acknowledged factors in being as safe as possible are avoiding breakdowns through mechanical failures & tyres.

With the terrible weather we've had over the last couple of years the spotlight has been on roads & traffic chaos as soon as there is any snow & this focus has highlighted information that can dispel assumptions that many people believe as facts.

It's often trumpeted that we brits are useless in the winter & that even an inch of snow sees us all at sea when the Europeans & Scandinavians cope perfectly well with far worse weather.  Lets knock these thoughts done by actually looking at the facts.  In Scandinavian countries where snow is on the roads for a good percentage of the year, they use spiked tyres  These are tyres with hundres of spikes that cut into the snow to give amazing grip.  We can't use them in this country, they are illegal!!  If we could then there would be no problems.  The second is tyre chains.  Now whilst they are available in limited quantities in the UK they are again illegal to use unless there is deep snow.  In most northern European countries these are a legal requirementto have in or on the car all year round.  Is it any wonder that the Finns, Swiss & Germans can drive ok whilst we can't.

The final factor is winter tyres.  These are tyres that use a different, grippier type of rubber & the effect is astonishing.  At an event a couple of years ago I tried a car on standard tyres & then on winter tyres & it might as well have been a different ca, the levels of grip were so much better.  Our European cousins generally have two sets of wheels, one with normal tyres fitted & the other with winter tyres fitted & at the onset of winter they pop to their local dealers & get them swapped over.  These dealers will also store the unused set for people who don't have the room.

So if you do a lot of driving, go & get a quote.  Last year these proved so popular that most of the country was sold out by November with sales up over 300%.  This year the tyre suppliers have got their act together so there should be wide availability,