Winter Tyres (1 Viewer)

gibbon

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Hopefully off to mainland Europe around the end of September for our first ever over the channel sun chasing adventure.
I was wondering about winter tyres & the law in France & Germany. I have normal general use camping tyres and have no desire to splash out .
We will be wanting to avoid winter conditions in any case and will be aiming for the warm bits. I just wondered if there's a genuine requirement to carry snow chains or socks anywhere over there?
All advice greatly appreciated:Smile:
 

Ridgeway

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At end of Sept you'll need to be above 2500m to find snow and even then they'll be nothing on the roads, for that you need to be at 3500m and I doubt your Camper will manage that as there are only a few roads at that altitude and they aint for camping cars…..

You'd be extremely unlucky to get caught out but just to be safe avoid the mountain passes and chase the sun.

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cmcardle75

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Hopefully off to mainland Europe around the end of September for our first ever over the channel sun chasing adventure.
I was wondering about winter tyres & the law in France & Germany. I have normal general use camping tyres and have no desire to splash out .
We will be wanting to avoid winter conditions in any case and will be aiming for the warm bits. I just wondered if there's a genuine requirement to carry snow chains or socks anywhere over there?
All advice greatly appreciated:Smile:

You won't need them in September. However, next time you replace them, consider running a winter tyre all year round. You don't do this on a car, because they wear the tread quicker, especially at high speed. However, on a motorhome usually driven at 60mph or less, you tend to replace due to sidewall cracking, not tread wear. A softer winter compound tyre will more likely last 10 years on the sidewall than 6. And it still won't have worn out the tread...

As for the law, these things change all the time, but I think German law is based on conditions. i.e. you must have winter tyres when it is snowy, frosty or icy. In France, it is only in the mountains. In Austria, between November and April...
 

Ridgeway

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You won't need them in September. However, next time you replace them, consider running a winter tyre all year round. You don't do this on a car, because they wear the tread quicker, especially at high speed. However, on a motorhome usually driven at 60mph or less, you tend to replace due to sidewall cracking, not tread wear. A softer winter compound tyre will more likely last 10 years on the sidewall than 6. And it still won't have worn out the tread...

As for the law, these things change all the time, but I think German law is based on conditions. i.e. you must have winter tyres when it is snowy, frosty or icy. In France, it is only in the mountains. In Austria, between November and April...

I'd would disagree with this.

2yrs ago the van I bought was delivered with Vanco Winters on, the dealer said they would be fine, the 38 degree South of France roads had other ideas…. they wore out extremely quickly and when we got back I contacted Continental who advised not to run true winter tires all year round. We took the tires and the email back to the dealer and they agreed to replace them.

It's correct that the lower speeds have less impact but unless you can find 4 season tires then I wouldn't recommend it. I run 4 seasons on my car and they are OK although not fantastic, my wife prefers true winters and she's probably just smarter than me:Doh:
 

vwalan

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ideally all season tyres are the key here.
mind i put summer tyres on mine as i usualy only do winters in warm climates .

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Jun 30, 2011
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I'd would disagree with this.

2yrs ago the van I bought was delivered with Vanco Winters on, the dealer said they would be fine, the 38 degree South of France roads had other ideas…. they wore out extremely quickly and when we got back I contacted Continental who advised not to run true winter tires all year round. We took the tires and the email back to the dealer and they agreed to replace them.

It's correct that the lower speeds have less impact but unless you can find 4 season tires then I wouldn't recommend it. I run 4 seasons on my car and they are OK although not fantastic, my wife prefers true winters and she's probably just smarter than me:Doh:

We had continental vanco winters on and ran all year round, found them wonderful tyres, they do wear a little quicker than other winters, according to reports. Better wearing winters are Bridgestone Blizzak w800, Toyo H09 and Vredstein comtrac.

We have used the Bridgestone w800, Toyo H09 and vanco winter 2, the Toyo and Bridgestone are much better for wear, I suppose though in the temps you are talking about they could wear a little more.

Paul.
 

cmcardle75

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ideally all season tyres are the key here.
mind i put summer tyres on mine as i usualy only do winters in warm climates .

Yes, I was meaning all season M&S tyres, rather than the full mountain snowflake, especially if you're heading for the desert!
 

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