So, snow then....
Given my last review berating the performance of my Goodyear Eagles in cold weather, and their tread design being mostly longitudinal grooves (no bloody use in snow), I ordered a pair of snowsocks on wednesday, as this winter is kicking in early and appears to be kicking in hard. Since we live up in the pennines on a sloped road which isn't gritted or plowed, this didn't seem outrageous expenditure.
Tuesday and Wednesday this week I was working from home, not even attempting to move the car in the eventual 8 inches of settled snow. However, an email received on wednesday night gently suggested that my presence was required in the lab on thursday come hell or high water (in this case frozen and in small flakes), it seemed like thursday I would have to venture out. I dug the car out and drove very slowly and carefully to work. During the day I got a phone call to let me know that the snow socks had arrived and were waiting for me at home. I drove similarly slowly home and got back to the village. I had a go at the hill up to the house but was totally unable to make any progress at all on our road. I turned around and got the car back down again, and came up to get the snowsocks.
First time fitting them took me about 10 minutes. To begin with I was concerned that they were going to come off, but once I had them fully on I gingerly turned the car around and headed back up the hill.
Snow socks are not for driving on tarmac and they're not for driving fast. They're for driving on snow, be it soft and slushy or hardpack, either way. With the snow socks on the car I turned into our road and carried on. Straight up the road to the top. Turned into the alley, backed up, came back down the road, stopped and then reverse parallel parked back up the hill. On snow. Without the slightest bit of drama or difficulty.
These things work.
I left them on the car and headed out to work this morning. Last night the temperatures were a long way negative (lowest I saw on my way to work after 8am this morning was -9C) and it was very icy. I trundled very gently down the hill and the car drifted sideways slightly a couple of times. I got down to the plowed and gritted road, and jumped out to take the socks off. Easier said then done... Any fears I had about them coming off in use were allayed, as I pulled them away from the wheels. It's possible to get them off, of course, but it's not easy.
This evening as I came home, again I tried to get up our road. This time as it had been partly cleared by hand I was able to get into the road. However, as soon as I was on to hardpack I ground to a halt with no hope of restarting. I got out and put the socks on. This time, having had a practice run yesterday and knowing what I did wrong, I was able to get them on the wheels in approx 2 minutes (only falling over once) and then drove straight up the hill, turned around and again parallel parked.
In turning into the top of the road to turn around, I did discover (at very low speed) that they don't really help steering at all. Going down the road this morning they do help braking, but you have to be very careful because only having them on the front wheels means that the rears have much less grip and the car may try to swap ends. Where they REALLY help is in traction - you can pull away up a hill gently in first gear. You can reverse up a hill.
Summary then... not a substitute for winter tyres, but a definite substitute for chains. These will get you up a slope or out of a snowed-in carpark or whatever. Well worth the £50 for me.
Given my last review berating the performance of my Goodyear Eagles in cold weather, and their tread design being mostly longitudinal grooves (no bloody use in snow), I ordered a pair of snowsocks on wednesday, as this winter is kicking in early and appears to be kicking in hard. Since we live up in the pennines on a sloped road which isn't gritted or plowed, this didn't seem outrageous expenditure.
Tuesday and Wednesday this week I was working from home, not even attempting to move the car in the eventual 8 inches of settled snow. However, an email received on wednesday night gently suggested that my presence was required in the lab on thursday come hell or high water (in this case frozen and in small flakes), it seemed like thursday I would have to venture out. I dug the car out and drove very slowly and carefully to work. During the day I got a phone call to let me know that the snow socks had arrived and were waiting for me at home. I drove similarly slowly home and got back to the village. I had a go at the hill up to the house but was totally unable to make any progress at all on our road. I turned around and got the car back down again, and came up to get the snowsocks.
First time fitting them took me about 10 minutes. To begin with I was concerned that they were going to come off, but once I had them fully on I gingerly turned the car around and headed back up the hill.
Snow socks are not for driving on tarmac and they're not for driving fast. They're for driving on snow, be it soft and slushy or hardpack, either way. With the snow socks on the car I turned into our road and carried on. Straight up the road to the top. Turned into the alley, backed up, came back down the road, stopped and then reverse parallel parked back up the hill. On snow. Without the slightest bit of drama or difficulty.
These things work.
I left them on the car and headed out to work this morning. Last night the temperatures were a long way negative (lowest I saw on my way to work after 8am this morning was -9C) and it was very icy. I trundled very gently down the hill and the car drifted sideways slightly a couple of times. I got down to the plowed and gritted road, and jumped out to take the socks off. Easier said then done... Any fears I had about them coming off in use were allayed, as I pulled them away from the wheels. It's possible to get them off, of course, but it's not easy.
This evening as I came home, again I tried to get up our road. This time as it had been partly cleared by hand I was able to get into the road. However, as soon as I was on to hardpack I ground to a halt with no hope of restarting. I got out and put the socks on. This time, having had a practice run yesterday and knowing what I did wrong, I was able to get them on the wheels in approx 2 minutes (only falling over once) and then drove straight up the hill, turned around and again parallel parked.
In turning into the top of the road to turn around, I did discover (at very low speed) that they don't really help steering at all. Going down the road this morning they do help braking, but you have to be very careful because only having them on the front wheels means that the rears have much less grip and the car may try to swap ends. Where they REALLY help is in traction - you can pull away up a hill gently in first gear. You can reverse up a hill.
Summary then... not a substitute for winter tyres, but a definite substitute for chains. These will get you up a slope or out of a snowed-in carpark or whatever. Well worth the £50 for me.
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