2018 winter to be rough!

[cowboyjon]

Read some reports that December through February this year is projected to be even worse than last years winter.

This will be my first winter with the z4 and I've just moved to Carluke in Central Scotland, which is known for receiving the brunt of the bad weather as it sits pretty high up.

I've never bought winter tyres before but I'm proper cracking my pants at the prospect of being stuck on a snowy hill with a 6° incline!

I understand winter tyres will be a big step up in ability in the snow but is driving up and down hills in a z4 asking too much of them?

I ask because now that it comes to it (well, in another month) I'm starting to wonder if I should ditch the winter tyre idea and pick up an old cheap 4x4 to get me through to March.

Stuck in two minds and would appreciate advice.

[Zed Baron]

Hi Im over in Hamilton, I got caught out a couple of years ago with a sudden heavy snow fall and just managed to get mine home with the aid of the neighbours pushing me up the street! I went and bought a cheap small car (with front wheel drive) and it is brilliant in the snow, the Z now hibernates in the garage when the weather gets bad

[greg81]

Over in Musselburgh here

I don't bother with winter tyres after moving to Rainsports, but keep a set of snow socks in the boot incase of any sticky situations

[Nictrix]

I cant comment on how the Z4 is while driving on snow as we didn't take it out when it was lying heavily even though it had winter tyres on it but the winter tyres on the X6 are absolutely superb. Driving along roads that had almost a foot of snow as if there was nothing there with almost zero wheelspin.
The road outside my house is a slight slope but seems to be difficult for people to get up when its icy and a lot of people get stuck and have to be pushed. With the winter tyres on the Z4 from a standstill you could easily pull away with little wheelspin. Hopefully its similar in the snow.

[djstan]

Were those reports in one of the tabloids? If so, they wheel out the same story every year - I guess they've got 50/50 chance of it being correct!

[djstan]

For what it's worth, I drove around the Alps in my Z4 last year on winter tyres and the car didn't miss a beat. Obviously you're going to get differing opinions now, but in my opinion winters are definitely the way to go - why go to the expense of buying another car?!

[chasBMW]

Hi Im over in Hamilton, I got caught out a couple of years ago with a sudden heavy snow fall and just managed to get mine home with the aid of the neighbours pushing me up the street! I went and bought a cheap small car (with front wheel drive) and it is brilliant in the snow, the Z now hibernates in the garage when the weather gets bad

This sort of , I hired a toyota aygo for 3 weeks , rear wheel drive powerful cars & snow not really a good mix , if snow was around for longer would probaly buy one

[cowboyjon]

Hi Im over in Hamilton, I got caught out a couple of years ago with a sudden heavy snow fall and just managed to get mine home with the aid of the neighbours pushing me up the street! I went and bought a cheap small car (with front wheel drive) and it is brilliant in the snow, the Z now hibernates in the garage when the weather gets bad

Did you have winter tyres on the zed when it went tits up?

[brillomaster]

if the story is from the daily mail, or the mirror, or the sun, or basically any newspaper, then its the same old tripe wheeled out every year.

however, that said, if I had moved to central Scotland where snow is practically guaranteed, I'd definitely switch to winters - or perhaps winter biased all seasons, something like a vredestein quatrac.

look at the recent vids from tyrereviews, namely these ones:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU4O3ulin80

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe-gkTCOs7E&t=311s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlzvY3Ld8Es

[Zed Baron]

Hi Im over in Hamilton, I got caught out a couple of years ago with a sudden heavy snow fall and just managed to get mine home with the aid of the neighbours pushing me up the street! I went and bought a cheap small car (with front wheel drive) and it is brilliant in the snow, the Z now hibernates in the garage when the weather gets bad

Did you have winter tyres on the zed when it went tits up?

No just the Pirelli Pzeros, I had a 4wd also then so the plan was just to use the Z when the weather was good. The top of Hamilton has its own micro climate and it can be lethal up on the back roads.

[brillomaster]

lest we forget the effectiveness of winters compared to summers, even on powerful rwd vehicles...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOv2g5qTpvA

[Tinker15]

I live near Holmfirth in West Yorkshire and we get snow in this Pennine region most Winters together with lots of salt on the roads. Our Jaguar XF isn’t great in the snow so we have a Daihatsu Terios with winter tyres for when the conditions are bad. The e89 will be tucked up in the garage!

[cowboyjon]

Don't think I want to stretch to a winter beater.

Looks like it'll be winter tyres after all. I'll throw some 20kg weight plates in the boot too.

[JimsZ]

Sat here reading this thread thinking OMG all im worried about is an 80 mile commute from Hampshire to London in my Z4 in winter... As a result of the risk of winter impacting the commute we decided to dump one of the cars and go down the more capable car (BMW X3) route so now having a car with some ability to cope with the winter months things definitely feel a lot better.

Can only imagine what its going to be like where you are living...

[john-e89]

£500-1000 will get you a 2.0 Rav 4 with electronic diff lock, with winter knobblys on these little things are awesome in snow....I share one with a friend, we only tax and insure it through winter, well worth having and you can keep on top of jobs in the nice summer time.