Tyres in the nct?

ok i have two snow tyres on the front of my car ( front wheel drive car)
i have two ordinary tyres on the rear.

i didnt ask for these, just happened to be a cheap place i got them.
the place that serviced my car few weeksago told me the car will fail the nct with snow tyres.

i looked at nct website, cant see anything about snow tyres.
im thinking maybe its because front and rear tyres are different?
i need to get new rear tyres before the nct, if i got snow tyres would it pass nct?
do they just need to be all the same or are snow tyres a no no?

nct tester

snow tyres are ok as long as they are same size on each axle.

slimjimmc

I assume by snow tyres you mean winter tyres with a mud & snow (M+S) tread, not studded tyres.
If the former then it's fine if they're on the same axle (i.e both on front or both on rear), you won't fail for that reason, however studded tyres are not permitted on public roads here so that could cause you to fail.

It's better to put a full set of snow/winter tyres on but if you can only afford 2 it's recommended to move them to the rear axle as the extra grip up front could result in the back end stepping out under heavy braking or cornering especially in wet or snow conditions.

turbostan

"It's better to put a full set of snow/winter tyres on but if you can only afford 2 it's recommended to move them to the rear axle as the extra grip up front could result in the back end stepping out under heavy braking or cornering especially in wet or snow conditions."

Unless the car is RWD I would prefer to have the winter tyres on the front axle as they'll be more beneficial on the driven wheels for obvious reasons.

Stoolbend

Make sure the tyres have an e Mark on them.

turbostan

turbostan wrote: »

"It's better to put a full set of snow/winter tyres on but if you can only afford 2 it's recommended to move them to the rear axle as the extra grip up front could result in the back end stepping out under heavy braking or cornering especially in wet or snow conditions."

Unless the car is RWD I would prefer to have the winter tyres on the front axle as they'll be more beneficial on the driven wheels for obvious reasons.

That's very dangerous advice.

Stella Virgo

slimjimmc wrote: »

I assume by snow tyres you mean winter tyres with a mud & snow (M+S) tread, not studded tyres.
If the former then it's fine if they're on the same axle (i.e both on front or both on rear), you won't fail for that reason, however studded tyres are not permitted on public roads here so that could cause you to fail.

It's better to put a full set of snow/winter tyres on but if you can only afford 2 it's recommended to move them to the rear axle as the extra grip up front could result in the back end stepping out under heavy braking or cornering especially in wet or snow conditions.

totally wrong advise.....:eek:

djimi

What would be the point in putting snow tires on the back of a FWD car? In the bad weather we had a couple of years ago it was the front wheels of my car that needed more traction, not the rear. Having grip at the back is not going to be much use if your front tires cant grip, corner, brake and take off...

turbostan

samih wrote: »

That's very dangerous advice.

that's exactly what I said, it was the wrong advice.
I was replying to slimjim, NOT MY ADVICE
I said to put them on the driven wheels!!

Mr.David

Here we go again.....:rolleyes:

turbostan

turbostan wrote: »

that's exactly what I said, it was the wrong advice.
I was replying to slimjim, NOT MY ADVICE
I said to put them on the driven wheels!!

Which is very dangerous advice. It will lead the rear end of the car wanting to overtake the front whenever you brake or corner on slippery conditions after getting up to high speeds due to to good traction during acceleration.

In dry weather you'd be safer though as the winter tyres normally have worse grip than summer tyres. But you should always have either 4 summer or 4 winter tyres but not a mixed set.

GTE

djimi wrote: »

What would be the point in putting snow tires on the back of a FWD car? In the bad weather we had a couple of years ago it was the front wheels of my car that needed more traction, not the rear. Having grip at the back is not going to be much use if your front tires cant grip, corner, brake and take off...

Yeah, that is basically it though I think that advice could be an extension (and a wrong one at that) of how to deal with 4 tyres of the same type but different tread depths in relation to keeping greater tread depth on the rear for wet conditions.

By that I mean, in a standing water situation the greater depth at the rear will help stop an oversteer while the front can do what it needs to do with braking (legal and health tread depth assumed).

So that snow tyre advice is to keep you from losing the rear end but as you say, you wont get moving in a front wheel drive car in that case. Well intentioned but just, wrong. I say that as I would have thought, if anyone is going to even bother with 2 tyres for snow use, they just want to get the car moving out of tough situations.

It does remind me that I need two new snowflake tyres soon enough Damn money.

djimi

samih wrote: »

Which is very dangerous advice. It will lead the rear end of the car wanting to overtake the front whenever you brake or corner on slippery conditions after getting up to high speeds due to to good traction during acceleration.

In dry weather you'd be safer though as the winter tyres normally have worse grip than summer tyres. But you should always have either 4 summer or 4 winter tyres but not a mixed set.

Why would you be doing anything approaching high speeds in conditions that woikd actually warrant snow tires?

Oversteer should not be a problem if you are driving at the correct speed. However, front wheel traction would be an issue at any speed (again as I found out the last time it snowed).

GTE

djimi wrote: »

Oversteer should not be a problem if you are driving at the correct speed. .

Well that is a bit simplistic to be fair, even a hint of sheet ice at low speeds can get the rear sliding around dangerously if the tyres aren't winter models. That raises a question of why bother with two winter tyres. People are just sacrificing get the car moving or stability depending on where they put the two winter tyres.

djimi

djimi wrote: »

Why would you be doing anything approaching high speeds in conditions that woikd actually warrant snow tires?

Oversteer should not be a problem if you are driving at the correct speed. However, front wheel traction would be an issue at any speed (again as I found out the last time it snowed).

Define high speed and correct speed? With snow tyres you can legally drive up to 100 km/h in snowy countries and it is the normal thing to do. The built-up areas have normally 50/60 km/h speed limits winter/summer. I doubt you could corner at snowy surface at 50 km/h with winter fronts/summer rears combo without losing control whereas it is very easy with the correct tyres.

Edit: And this applies to any mixed set. Driving with 4 summers in snow or ice is safer than driving with 2+2 combo.

turbostan

samih wrote: »

Define high speed and correct speed? With snow tyres you can legally drive up to 100 km/h in snowy countries and it is the normal thing to do. The built-up areas have normally 50/60 km/h speed limits winter/summer. I doubt you could corner at snowy surface at 50 km/h with winter fronts/summer rears combo without losing control whereas it is very easy with the correct tyres.

Edit: And this applies to any mixed set. Driving with 4 summers in snow or ice is safer than driving with 2+2 combo.

Bottom line:
He has two winter tyres.
The car is front wheel drive.
The best place for these would be on the front wheels. This will allow for the driven wheels to have maximum grip, for example when taking off in snowy conditions. And will help stop the car better as roughly 70% of the braking will be applied to the front wheels.
Nobody said 2 is better than 4, but the fact that he has two only is the basis of my answer. In this case having them on the back axle would not be of any benefit.
Slightly off track but there'll be snow socks on sale again soon. These are sold to help traction in snow, and are fitted to the driven wheels for exactly the same reasons that I've mentioned above.
Its physics, nothing else

wexie

slimjimmc wrote: »

I assume by snow tyres you mean winter tyres with a mud & snow (M+S) tread, not studded tyres.
If the former then it's fine if they're on the same axle (i.e both on front or both on rear), you won't fail for that reason, however studded tyres are not permitted on public roads here so that could cause you to fail.

It's better to put a full set of snow/winter tyres on but if you can only afford 2 it's recommended to move them to the rear axle as the extra grip up front could result in the back end stepping out under heavy braking or cornering especially in wet or snow conditions.

Incorrect :

Again, there are no specific Irish Road Traffic Regulations mandating or prohibiting the use of snow chains, snow socks or studded tyres as our relatively low annual snowfall has not warranted the introduction of such regulations.
However, Irish Road Traffic regulations prohibit a driver from using a vehicle on Irish roads if their control over the vehicle has been reduced and if the vehicle presents a danger to other road users. This is important with respect to traction aid devices and studded tyres. While such devices may increase a vehicle’s grip where the road is uniformly covered in snow and ice, they will have reduced performance compared to a correctly maintained tyre on dry road surfaces.

I think there was a thread on this a few years ago. The whole thing centers on the underlined bit. It very much depends on the type of stud the conditions etc. etc.

Nothing prohibiting the use of them anyway. Having said that, I woulndn't want to have the argument with the guy in the NCT center

slimjimmc

Stella Virgo wrote: »

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totally wrong advise.....:eek:

turbostan wrote: »

that's exactly what I said, it was the wrong advice.
I was replying to slimjim, NOT MY ADVICE
I said to put them on the driven wheels!!

Please explain what is so totally wrong with the advice, but before you do perhaps you should review some recommendations.
Putting on the driven wheels is best for propulsion grip, but the widespread recommendation is that it is much safer to put 4 tyres on or 2 on the back than putting 2 on the front only (the OP's car is front wheel drive).

turbostan

slimjimmc wrote: »

Please explain what is so totally wrong with the advice, but before you do perhaps you should review some recommendations.
Putting on the driven wheels is best for propulsion grip, but the widespread recommendation is that it is much safer to put 4 tyres on or 2 on the back than putting 2 on the front only (the OP's car is front wheel drive).

Did you not read my previous post?