Visiting France in the winter, by car?
Winter Tyres
- Thread starter Redboots
- Start date
Certainly required where we go (Chamonix) in the Alps. October to April winter tyres required as are chains.
Depends on location if you want to switch tyres.
Otherwise, as advised above, you legally have to keep equipment with you.
Unlike Germany, France doesn't require winter tyres as long as you have winter equipment with you. That is snowchains or snow socks.
Over the last 15+ years I crossed regularly France over winter with a few different cars and, so far, never used specific winter (or all season) tyres, but decent "summer" tyres and never had an issue.
Been on snow-ish (at lower altitudes) a couple of times (remember when the Eurostar did get stuck in the tunnels many years ago???). Won't advise it, but got to destination correctly.
Current car is on sporty tyres (and you can feel the difference when temps drop) and I'm going to buy a second set of wheels and keep all year tyres on one set. Said that, I'm leaving next week and haven't sorted that out for this year.
Couple of years ago I drove down on Michelin Pilot Super Sports and it was... interesting
Too long, didn't read: if you do not climb in very high locations/snowy places, you'll be ok with decent tyres without having to necessarily switch to winter ones. Bring chains/socks, that is.
Said all that: I wouldn't travel to sky locations without proper tyres set regardless of what is legally required.
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Years ago I got caught out driving on the A3 over the Taunus in my 911. It snowed. It was interesting
Always have a set of winter wheels/tyres now. Summer tyres are not good in the cold (<7c).
Yep. Apart from the recent vehicle with sport-y tyres, on all my previous bog standard estate cars I had Pirelli Cinturato P7 and never had any issues over the years.
My usual route crosses around Frejus/Monte Bianco sticking to motorway.
Same with the SUV I had three years ago, but forgot what tyre (OEM) it came with. Bridgestone.
Again: depends a lot on location. France is large and with a wide range of temperatures.
My usual route crosses around Frejus/Monte Bianco sticking to motorway.
Same with the SUV I had three years ago, but forgot what tyre (OEM) it came with. Bridgestone.
Again: depends a lot on location. France is large and with a wide range of temperatures.
For the first time ever I’ve got all-season tyres on both our cars, Michelin Cross Climate and Vredestein Quadrac, both have the 3PMSF marking so comply with the winter driving regs (?). So far I’m very impressed with them.
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My 850 Mini survived just fine. Feck only knows what the tyres were. Probably mix’n’match.
The biggest problem? Snow building up under the front and lifting the wheels off the road. That and damp in the distributor.
Hot tip: Never touch a Mini spark plug lead, when you suspect a short. The jolt hurts, but much less than cracking your head on the raised bonnet as you are thrown back.
The biggest problem? Snow building up under the front and lifting the wheels off the road. That and damp in the distributor.
Hot tip: Never touch a Mini spark plug lead, when you suspect a short. The jolt hurts, but much less than cracking your head on the raised bonnet as you are thrown back.
My mum’s mini 850 traveller suffered the same damp problem. Cutting the finger ends off a rubber glove and fitting it over the leads helped a lot.
The rubber glove was indeed the cure.
We have fitted Michelin Cross Climates to our previous and current car. Unless you really need a performance summer tyre such as a Porsche etc for fast road driving (be honest, few do), these are really good all year as a compromise and especially in autumn/winter. As said, 3PMSF rating is great, I also have some snow socks in the boot but doubt they will ever be needed.
After watching some YouTube tyre reviews of FWD on all-season tyres and winter tyres versus 4WD on summer tyres it was no contest, the 4WD was just embarrassing on summer tyres. (Obviously a winter tyre will win over an all season tyre in snow.)
The following video is an education…….Imagine yourself or your partner driving down a snowy mountain hairpin road or a snowy French motorway and needing to brake and steer suddenly.
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This is also a surprising result
I have Michelin Cross climate 2 on my car ATM and have previously used Goodyear Vectors. The difference in snow and ice grip compared to summer tyres is astonishing. The biggest worry is having to brake and finding a summer tyre shod car crashing into you. I started using m&s tyres in the 80's when I wrote off a Renault 5 in Jan 86 after an snow induced unplanned interface with a tree
I recall we paid only £10 more per corner for her Michelin “Cross Climate SUV” tyres at Costco on her Peugeot 3008GT than the equivalent Michelin summer tyres.
It was a no brainer IMO, another £40 to cover all weathers.
(Her car has a fancy traction control mode dial which might also help keep her out of the hedgerows and ditches if it snows.)
It was a no brainer IMO, another £40 to cover all weathers.
(Her car has a fancy traction control mode dial which might also help keep her out of the hedgerows and ditches if it snows.)
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We’ve got Michelin CrossClimate’s on a 2WD Skoda Karoq, we’ve taken it Skiing 3 years now and the Grip is phenomenal on alpine roads, we were in Lech last year and the hotel we were booked in was up a completely white hill with compacted snow/ice on it - I thought I’d give it a go before I chucked the chains on - it flew up there - walking down an hour later was very unpleasant.
There are some passes where snow chains / winter tyres are compulsory. That said, for most of the country, it’s ’position normal’.
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I had a set of Conti Winter Sport tyres mounted on steel wheels for my then BMW 320d RWD auto. I had them stored at the dealer and had them changed over in late November and summer tyres back on in April They were fantastic, I was very surprised at how well they worked. They got us up and down all sorts of hills in the Forest of Bowland and the Yorkshire Dales
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I live in a department where they are required by law (loi montagne) so I have 2 sets of wheels for summer and winter
Wifey has a company car so that’s taken care of by her firm
Winter tyres do make a huge difference
Wifey has a company car so that’s taken care of by her firm
Winter tyres do make a huge difference
anybody used these Falken Euroall Season AS210?
www.welshpooltyres.co.uk
local tyre depot sells loads to the cheapskates around here
Falken Euroall Season AS210 215/45R16 90V XL AS - 4250427419992
Falken Euroall Season AS210 215/45R16 90V XL AS (EAN: 4250427419992) fully fitted for £116.04 at Jacks Tyres Limited
Never tried them yet
I did put some Michelin Cross Climate2 on my CRV AWD in the summer though
Hoping to try them this winter (no snow yet)
I did put some Michelin Cross Climate2 on my CRV AWD in the summer though
Hoping to try them this winter (no snow yet)
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