What with all this talk of winter tyres we thought we’d do our own little investigation while the snow is still around. So today we ventured down to our nearest snow bound test track to experiment with two RWD diesel BMWs. One with its regular summer tyres, the other fitted with a set of Continental Cold Weather tyres. 

This wasn’t a proper scientific test, in no small part down to the fact the two test cars were different models. BMW's press garage is snowed in, so we had to make do with what we already had at the office and a 118d, borrowed from Conti.So not exactly a fair test, but still we thought it might tell us something interesting.

Read more about winter tyres on Autocar

On a level icy surface our long-term 635d on summer tyres could just about get going, but introduce any sort of incline or angle and it just struggled massively. While the 1-Series with winter tyres still slipped around a bit, it found traction much more quickly and generally felt ten times more secure. It even managed to keep going through thick fresh snow. Conditions that had us pushing the 6-Series. 

Talking to the people at Conti here’s the really interesting thing -  winter tyres aren’t just for snow, they can be used on slush, ice, frost and even wet roads. In fact any time the temperature dips below +7deg you’re better off on winter tyres. Apparently.

Also there’s no real reason you can’t use winter tyres all year round in the UK. There is some trade off in dry braking in really hot conditions, but this balanced with better braking in the wet and cold.  Likewise the softer compound might wear more quickly in the summer, but this is balanced with better wear rates in the winter. 
So why aren’t winter tyres more widely used in the UK?  According to Conti, they account for just 0.5 per cent of UK sales.  Mostly it’s down to the fact that we just don’t have the culture or infrastructure here to encourage people to switch between summer and winter tyres. And in my opinion it’s about time that changed.

If for no other reason than it means you can continue to enjoy the benefits of rear wheel drive even when the roads get a bit snowy.

Read more about winter tyres on Autocar