Winter is on its way

[enuff_zed]

I was living in Minneapolis and Chicago when I owned the E85. For as long as the roads were plowed, I could drive on summer/performance tyres. No problem. Otherwise even the most imperceptible of inclines with a mere 5mm of snow would render the car useless. A technique of mine was to drive up those inclines in reverse. Worked every time.

If you want peace of mind, then you want winter tyres. If I lived in the snow belt again, I’d have winter tyres on their own special rims to make it easy to exchange at home.

They don't plough the roads here. Well, only major routes. Anything else forget it.

There are no major routes in Norfolk!
That said, I ran my old Capris through many a snowy winter on the normal summer tyres and never had any issues.
To be fair I wasn't worried about them falling of the road though: maybe that helped as I didn't pussy-foot about, just ploughed on regardless.
Only time I ever got stuck was in an old (proper) Mini, and that was on a single track road, when the sump ran up on the snow in the middle and basically lifted the front wheels off the road!

[Stevo1987]

I was living in Minneapolis and Chicago when I owned the E85. For as long as the roads were plowed, I could drive on summer/performance tyres. No problem. Otherwise even the most imperceptible of inclines with a mere 5mm of snow would render the car useless. A technique of mine was to drive up those inclines in reverse. Worked every time.

If you want peace of mind, then you want winter tyres. If I lived in the snow belt again, I’d have winter tyres on their own special rims to make it easy to exchange at home.

They don't plough the roads here. Well, only major routes. Anything else forget it.

There are no major routes in Norfolk!
That said, I ran my old Capris through many a snowy winter on the normal summer tyres and never had any issues.
To be fair I wasn't worried about them falling of the road though: maybe that helped as I didn't pussy-foot about, just ploughed on regardless.
Only time I ever got stuck was in an old (proper) Mini, and that was on a single track road, when the sump ran up on the snow in the middle and basically lifted the front wheels off the road!

I was talking UK wide to our American friend. You keep those Norfolk blinkers on.

[zxy]

Sitting here in the southern USA but have driven many kinds of vehicles in very snowy northern climates. Unless you are in true snow/ice climate winter tires are unnecessary.
I have never found a need for pure summer tires either. High performance summer tires don't last very long and I do not feel the need for a stickier tire. It is also happens that driving up mountain or even hilly roads can put you in sudden unexpected low temps where they do not work well.
My Z4 has had the all season oem runflats and now the Michelin Pilot AS 3+ which is considered by Tire Rack to be an "Ultra High Performance " all season.
If I lived in snow country or maybe even a harsh winter climate I would buy a winter car. A cheap front wheel drive car, with all seasons or "Snow tires". Probably run-flats to avoid changing a flat out in the cold. The last time I had a winter beater, I sold it later for a small profit. The primary reason was actually to avoid tracking icy, snowy, salty sandy, slush into the interior of the other car. I hated that!
If you do drive the Z4 all winter in the UK, look into all seasons that work well in actual winter conditions. The Tire Rack website has ratings for that. Any tire that fits the BMW rim sizes should have decent summer performance as well. If you ski in Europe, Rent a VW before you get to the Alps.

[Marcoose]

I owned a 1995 Ford Escort estate winter beater back in Minneapolis. Great investment.