Tyres

[mark61]

As I posted on another thread, my experience on the same 4x4 vehicle in mud ice and snow, is with summer tyres, CrossClimates on one axle, CrossClimates on both axles.
It came with Conti summer tyres all round, was just about adequate for my needs in mud (it's no mud plugger), in ice and snow it was sort of ok for traction and engine braking, cornering was similar to any 2wd.
Late spring one year I had CrossClimates fitted to the rear which replaced two of the worn out summer tyres, and the two summer tyres which had plenty of tread fitted to front, my thinking was I would replace the summer tyres the next winter after getting some more mileage out of them, note in 2wd it only drives front wheels which wear out faster. I did notice that in wet muddy conditions with 4wd selected the fronts would loose grip much earlier than rears, in fact I'm not sure the rears ever did loose grip.
Well late autumn we had an early fall of snow, the car was a real handful to drive, the rears just gripped the road, be that drive, braking or cornering, but the fronts where understeering much worse than when driving on summer tyres all-round, the next day I was straight on the phone ordering another pair of tyres. Since then I've driven on ice (and some snow) with 4 CrossClimates and been very pleased with them, but I'll not ever try with them one one axle again, I'd rather use summer tyres on ice and have 4 wheel drift which is easy to control.
CrossClimates on a FWD vehicle might be a bit better, but that video would indicate not, and the back end coming around doesn't surprise me at all. BTW if you watch his other videos you will see him driving with AllSeason and Winter tyres on both axles and not spinning out anywhere near as badly.

Interesting stuff, wonder if the fact it was a 4x4 made any difference, guess it depends on the system used.

Many 4x4's it's recommended to change all tyres at once, they really don't like tyres of different sizes front to rear, again depending on how the 4x4 works. Manually selectable 4x4's like old school Land Rovers will live with it probably for ever. Modern permanent 4x4's with centre differentials won't like it at all and auto selectable 4x4's with what ever system they use will be driven mental, early Freelanders some Volvo's and a few other makes are damaged in surprisingly few miles if you don't fit a complete set of new tyres.

 

[caledonia]

Interesting stuff, wonder if the fact it was a 4x4 made any difference, guess it depends on the system used.

Many 4x4's it's recommended to change all tyres at once, they really don't like tyres of different sizes front to rear, again depending on how the 4x4 works. Manually selectable 4x4's like old school Land Rovers will live with it probably for ever. Modern permanent 4x4's with centre differentials won't like it at all and auto selectable 4x4's with what ever system they use will be driven mental, early Freelanders some Volvo's and a few other makes are damaged in surprisingly few miles if you don't fit a complete set of new tyres.

Just like some 4x4s can’t be brake tested on a rolling road and a Decelerometer has to be used as it can result in differential damage.

 

[colinm]

Interesting stuff, wonder if the fact it was a 4x4 made any difference, guess it depends on the system used.

Many 4x4's it's recommended to change all tyres at once, they really don't like tyres of different sizes front to rear, again depending on how the 4x4 works. Manually selectable 4x4's like old school Land Rovers will live with it probably for ever. Modern permanent 4x4's with centre differentials won't like it at all and auto selectable 4x4's with what ever system they use will be driven mental, early Freelanders some Volvo's and a few other makes are damaged in surprisingly few miles if you don't fit a complete set of new tyres.

Your post got me to thinking.
Over the years I have owned, driven, and worked on, many different 4WD vehicles, at present I own vehicles with 3 different systems. The one I was using that day had a fairly simple electronic centre diff and no 'fancy' traction control to get confused, I would hazard a guess that of the 3 different types, having CrossClimates on the rear of either of the others (one similar to series land rover, other permanent AWD) would have been even worse, i.e at least I was able to switch off drive to rear axle, which left me with large amounts of understeer as the rears gripped like s*** to a blanket while the fronts had reduced grip, switching on 4wd increased understeer to ridiculas levels, I've previously driven the car on snow with summer tyres all round and not been unduly concerned, I now have CrossClimates all round and it's great on ice or snow.
And for those who might like to know, I've previously driven my 200hp Lotus Seven style car with summer tyres all round on snow and had great fun.

 

[caledonia]

Your post got me to thinking.
Over the years I have owned, driven, and worked on, many different 4WD vehicles, at present I own vehicles with 3 different systems. The one I was using that day had a fairly simple electronic centre diff and no 'fancy' traction control to get confused, I would hazard a guess that of the 3 different types, having CrossClimates on the rear of either of the others (one similar to series land rover, other permanent AWD) would have been even worse, i.e at least I was able to switch off drive to rear axle, which left me with large amounts of understeer as the rears gripped like s*** to a blanket while the fronts had reduced grip, switching on 4wd increased understeer to ridiculas levels, I've previously driven the car on snow with summer tyres all round and not been unduly concerned, I now have CrossClimates all round and it's great on ice or snow.
And for those who might like to know, I've previously driven my 200hp Lotus Seven style car with summer tyres all round on snow and had great fun.

Which vehicle were you driving when you could switch off drive to the rear axle?”

 

[colinm]

Which vehicle were you driving when you could switch off drive to the rear axle?”

A Suzi SX4

 

[gasgas]

Yes, I have a tyre preference. The black ones which are round and preferably not flat at the bottom.