[JD6]

Over the last few winters the occasions when I’ve needed winter tyres have been getting fewer. I was beginning to think about ditching them, particularly since my BMW dealer has stopped offering the tyre hotel.

Today I took my son and a friend of his to the Grizedale car rally in South Lakes. A dusting of snow was forecast. Fortunately I took the Mini which switched to winters on Thursday. It took every last bit of grip and a fair old run up to get up the hills away from Hawkshead. With summers we’d have been stranded like many others tonight. With the 8 I’d have made a total arse of myself! Along with a small convoy of 4x4s we made it out before the roads became completely blocked.

[Wills2]

That must have been very sketchy at points, the roads up there are not built to handle a foot of snow in a few hours you were lucky not to get stranded, on the PH thread about it's full of driving Gods saying they could have tackled it in a RWD on summers, with no hint of irony.

[danb1979]

A friend of mine was in Bowness over the weekencd; Christmas doo that he & his wife made into a long weekend...

He's on Michelin cross climates and he said they had zero issues getting around (M140i) but said it was sketchy at times...

They live near Burnley in East Lancs and thay had snow there too but nowhere near what Cumbria had

Said Bowness and the main road out to Kendal etc was a car graveyard; so many abandoned cars etc...

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Wills2

That must have been very sketchy at points, the roads up there are not built to handle a foot of snow in a few hours you were lucky not to get stranded, on the PH thread about it's full of driving Gods saying they could have tackled it in a RWD on summers, with no hint of irony.

A foot of snow is pretty unusual up here, so it did descent into chaos pretty quickly. Not helped by the fact that an extra few thousand cars were there for the rally. As you say we were lucky to get out. We took a near 100 mile detour to get home, avoiding the worst affected areas.

Just had an email from the rally organisers saying that there are still lots of spectator cars stuck in Grizedale forest which won't be retrievable for another day or two.

One thing that struck me is that new style LR Defenders seemed to cope better than almost anything else in the snow. They made it look effortless while the rest of us, even some 4x4s, were struggling.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by danb1979

A friend of mine was in Bowness over the weekencd; Christmas doo that he & his wife made into a long weekend...

He's on Michelin cross climates and he said they had zero issues getting around (M140i) but said it was sketchy at times...

They live near Burnley in East Lancs and thay had snow there too but nowhere near what Cumbria had

Said Bowness and the main road out to Kendal etc was a car graveyard; so many abandoned cars etc...

I'd be interested to know how CrossClimates perform in winter conditions compared with proper winter tyres. They could be a lower hassle alternative now that BMW won't do their tyre hotel thing. I think the Bowness side had a fair bit less snow than Hawkshead/Coniston where the rally was which got around a foot. Plenty did get stuck though.

The Conti Winter Contacts on the Mini were pretty good.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by JD6

I'd be interested to know how CrossClimates perform in winter conditions compared with proper winter tyres. They could be a lower hassle alternative now that BMW won't do their tyre hotel thing. I think the Bowness side had a fair bit less snow than Hawkshead/Coniston where the rally was which got around a foot. Plenty did get stuck though.

The Conti Winter Contacts on the Mini were pretty good.

This was Bowness

Grizedale looked superb; I used go go there in the 80s with my Dad; 5am races in the pitch black; all you could see were headlights and glowing brake discs

Re the cross climates; my pals really rating them. First time he's run all seasons. Either stuck with summers or found cheap wheels with winters on and ran them on previous cars (E46s and F10s)

But he's only had his 140i since August; so got a cheap set of alloys (ex Mr Winter Wheels Borbets he said) and stuck the Michelin Cross Climates on them whilst they were still cheap; he's really glad he did!

They've moved recently from being close to the M65 to much further away; so his jaunt to Preston every day involves 15miles of B roads first and then the main road to the M65...

That's why he's gone for all seasons and like me he'll run them Oct to March and then back onto summers...

[pmgreenwood]

Originally Posted by JD6

I'd be interested to know how CrossClimates perform in winter conditions compared with proper winter tyres. They could be a lower hassle alternative now that BMW won't do their tyre hotel thing. I think the Bowness side had a fair bit less snow than Hawkshead/Coniston where the rally was which got around a foot. Plenty did get stuck though.

The Conti Winter Contacts on the Mini were pretty good.

I have a schoolfriend who lives in Bolton and runs a Skoda Yeti all year round on Cross climate 2's. He had had no issues when out with them in snow. His only adverse comment is that the handling with them is less precise i.e. softer than when the Yeti was on summers

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by JD6

A foot of snow is pretty unusual up here, so it did descent into chaos pretty quickly. Not helped by the fact that an extra few thousand cars were there for the rally. As you say we were lucky to get out. We took a near 100 mile detour to get home, avoiding the worst affected areas.

Just had an email from the rally organisers saying that there are still lots of spectator cars stuck in Grizedale forest which won't be retrievable for another day or two.

One thing that struck me is that new style LR Defenders seemed to cope better than almost anything else in the snow. They made it look effortless while the rest of us, even some 4x4s, were struggling.

Fog and drizzle being the prevailing weather

Some really tricky roads though aren't there once you get off the main Windermere to Keswick road it goes very single track and rural very quickly, wouldn't have wanted to be coming down or going up any of the passes like Wrynose or hardknotts, I'm guessing that's what would have cut some people off and stranded them on the wrong side.

Long steep hill down from Windermere to Bowness as well.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by pmgreenwood

I have a schoolfriend who lives in Bolton and runs a Skoda Yeti all year round on Cross climate 2's. He had had no issues when out with them in snow. His only adverse comment is that the handling with them is less precise i.e. softer than when the Yeti was on summers

Agree with that; both winters & all seasons do feel that bit more squidgy when the temps increase; then again that's when I move back to summers etc..

Lucky that I've the space to have 2 sets of wheels etc

[JD6]

Originally Posted by pmgreenwood

I have a schoolfriend who lives in Bolton and runs a Skoda Yeti all year round on Cross climate 2's. He had had no issues when out with them in snow. His only adverse comment is that the handling with them is less precise i.e. softer than when the Yeti was on summers

Interesting. I guess that might put me off having just those on the Mini. I enjoy chucking the car around on the summers, so it would be a shame to blunt the handling. Perhaps I’ll just have to keep swapping between summers (Michelin Primacy) and winters (Conti Winter Contact).

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Fog and drizzle being the prevailing weather

Some really tricky roads though aren't there once you get off the main Windermere to Keswick road it goes very single track and rural very quickly, wouldn't have wanted to be coming down or going up any of the passes like Wrynose or hardknotts, I'm guessing that's what would have cut some people off and stranded them on the wrong side.

Long steep hill down from Windermere to Bowness as well.

Some of the mountain passes are pretty wild. No way over Hardknott in those conditions - while they say it’s 33%, the inside edges of some corners have a crazy gradient, probably approaching 40%. I go over one of the less extreme ones a few times a week.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by JD6

Interesting. I guess that might put me off having just those on the Mini. I enjoy chucking the car around on the summers, so it would be a shame to blunt the handling. Perhaps I’ll just have to keep swapping between summers (Michelin Primacy) and winters (Conti Winter Contact).

I would personally, more so if you've the space for 2 sets of wheels etc...

I did drive quite a bit into the early summer on 16" Michelin Alpin A4 winters on a previous E39 530i Sport and the drive/handling was definitely affected... Overall the ride on long journeys was superb; like 4 balloons But anything spirited was dulled right back because of them

I'd lowered the E39 on D2 coilovers (only 40mm) but it was a shock going from 16" alloys & winter tyres to 19" alloys & summer tyres

[Hartside]

Our snow melted pretty quickly this morning over in Northumberland leaving streams flowing down the sides of roads, halfway out to the middle with some floods completely across and fairly deep.

Have people forgotten how to drive to the conditions? I’ve been driving for nearly 45 years now and today saw some of the worst driving I’ve seen in years with people well in excess of 70mph in some cases despite a huge amount of surface water/poor visibility and in other cases just ploughing through standing water, with no fear of aquaplaning or damaging their cars. I was glad to get back in the house!

[JD6]

Originally Posted by danb1979

I would personally, more so if you've the space for 2 sets of wheels etc...

I did drive quite a bit into the early summer on 16" Michelin Alpin A4 winters on a previous E39 530i Sport and the drive/handling was definitely affected... Overall the ride on long journeys was superb; like 4 balloons But anything spirited was dulled right back because of them

I'd lowered the E39 on D2 coilovers (only 40mm) but it was a shock going from 16" alloys & winter tyres to 19" alloys & summer tyres

40mm seems a pretty big drop to me! The E39 does look good though particularly on the larger wheels. I had a couple of E39s back in the day.

I do have the space for the wheels, just too lazy to swap them myself as it’s not a very pleasant job. Fortunately I have a local tyre place that does it for me for £20.

[ar68]

Today I took my son and a friend of his to the Grizedale car rally in South Lakes. A dusting of snow was forecast. Fortunately I took the Mini which switched to winters on Thursday. It took every last bit of grip and a fair old run up to get up the hills away from Hawkshead. With summers we’d have been stranded like many others tonight. With the 8 I’d have made a total arse of myself! Along with a small convoy of 4x4s we made it out before the roads became completely blocked.[/QUOTE]

We were marshalling in Grizedale North on Saturday and managed to get out via Coniston quite quickly after the rally was called off. Glad to hear you got out safely as quite a few people got stuck there over night with cars still stuck in the forest now and unable to be recovered until later on this week.

[danb1979]

Originally Posted by JD6

40mm seems a pretty big drop to me! The E39 does look good though particularly on the larger wheels. I had a couple of E39s back in the day.

I do have the space for the wheels, just too lazy to swap them myself as it’s not a very pleasant job. Fortunately I have a local tyre place that does it for me for £20.

I thought that but it was the perfect height; still a sensible wheel arch/tyre gap etc and absolutely no rubbing...

It also took the 19s really well (I was unsure at first); but they drove superbly. Then again my motorsport mechanic pal fitted them and dialled them in properly / fast road set up etc & the car drove/handled superbly

My Jap import E39 touring was lowered on Eibach pro-kit springs on Sachs Sport spec shocks; that was the perfect set up IMO, with all new Arnott SLS bags on the rear

This was it on its winters:



They got us through some heavy snow in the Highlands for me to get to the Dalwhinnie Stone

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7wLZ9B4KW9g

Dug that bugger out by hand

[JD6]

Originally Posted by ar68

We were marshalling in Grizedale North on Saturday and managed to get out via Coniston quite quickly after the rally was called off. Glad to hear you got out safely as quite a few people got stuck there over night with cars still stuck in the forest now and unable to be recovered until later on this week.

Interesting that you were marshalling. We were at High Cross (car park C) in the north of Grizedale for the morning session. Then went down to Hawkshead to get a bite to eat and warm up. We had planned to go back up to High Cross to watch the afternoon session, but while eating, saw on twitter that it was abandoned.

Interesting that it was easier to get out via Coniston. I think it’s small A road all the way down to the A590 that way. We hadn’t planned to leave, so Hawkshead seemed a good spot for lunch, but it did mean we had to take an undulating minor road perhaps 8 miles down to Newby Bridge. Probably only 10% gradients on the hills, but the conditions were slippery. We saw a couple of minor accidents happen. Routes north towards Ambleside were completely blocked by accidents I think.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by JD6

Some of the mountain passes are pretty wild. No way over Hardknott in those conditions - while they say it’s 33%, the inside edges of some corners have a crazy gradient, probably approaching 40%. I go over one of the less extreme ones a few times a week.

Indeed I've cycled all the main passes in the lakes and they are very steep mind you I was 17 and about 9 stone back then.

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Wills2

Indeed I've cycled all the main passes in the lakes and they are very steep mind you I was 17 and about 9 stone back then.

That sounds like hard work! Don’t suppose it was the Fred Whitton challenge- that route goes over every mountain pass I think. Crazy.

[Wills2]

Originally Posted by JD6

That sounds like hard work! Don’t suppose it was the Fred Whitton challenge- that route goes over every mountain pass I think. Crazy.

Ha! No just the "main" ones that we've all heard of like Hardnotts, Kirkstone, Wrynose and Honister and proabably some smaller ones that I forget.

It was a fantastic trip we cycled up from Skipton then spent the week touring the lakes staying in YHAs

[KRS_SN]

I had crossclimates and michelin primacy alternating every 6 months and ran this set up for 4 years same set over around 50k miles on the 320d rwd.
The crossclinates were much better than the primacy on snow.
Only time I came undone us when I attempted to go up a road up a hill which was around 45 degrees angle.
That's where I realised that xdrive plus crossclimates would be ideal.
Wrt handling think sneakers v trekking boots. Likely equally comfortable but not as nimble. Steering felt heavier on the crossclimates. Also they had more curved aquaplaning compared to the summer tyres.

[Allworth]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

Only time I came undone us when I attempted to go up a road up a hill which was around 45 degrees angle.
That's where I realised that xdrive plus crossclimates would be ideal.
Wrt handling think sneakers v trekking boots. Likely equally comfortable but not as nimble. Steering felt heavier on the crossclimates. Also they had more curved aquaplaning compared to the summer tyres.

I know that some 15% steep road feel like 45%
FYI Hardknott Pass is steepest in UK with 33%