Drove down to Morzine last week for a very pleasant few days skiing. Very wet drive down but uneventful. Snowing quite heavily when we started climbing up to Morzine. Traffic came to a halt about three miles from the village as a van had broken down or got stuck. Spent 30 minutes watching the snow fall and contemplating my decision not to fit a set of winter tyres. A lot of people took the opportunity to put their chains on. Having spent eight years living in the Alps and buying three sets of chains that I never used, I have decided not to bother buying them anymore so it wasn't an option for me. Road eventually opened and we resumed our journey. Conditions weren't great as temperature had dropped and there was 3 inches of fresh snow on the road. A number of less fortunate people were struggling to get up the hill in their two wheel drive vehicles. The RR never twitched once. Having 5 adults and a boot full of gear probably helped but was still impressed how well the Scorpions coped with the snow. 2016 3.0 Vogue
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Last edited by BILLTU on 9th Jan 2014 5:15pm. Edited 2 times in total

You were lucky too - it's a legal requirement to have chains !

I've never used my chains in 8 trips, but have seen the local police pulling cars over and insisting people put them on - if you have no chains, they turn you around. I was stopped, allowed to continue only because I had winter tyres, so they didn't make me fit my chains - they wanted to see them though.

They will usually go for cars on GB plates as most don't have winter tyres and a good number don't have chains either.

Most M&S tyres are good on fresh snow - different story on the packed stuff though

Glad you had a good time

Reminds me of a time I went up to the Cairngorms in my Range Rover Classic (god, I loved that EFI V8 ).
It was early morning and the snow gates were closed. A queue of cars had built up. When the gates opened they were all stuck on the hill, no one was moving.... So I pulled out and overtook all 20 or so cars in front of me. Wtf is the point of having a go anywhere vehicle if you can't exploit it's main attributes when required!
Cars were sounding their horns at me as I passed... They were obviously frustrated at being stuck but jealous of me effortlessly cruising past them. I was first up to the carpark..
I was challenged by some who said I was out of order!
Did they really expect me to sit and wait when I was not stuck?? Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

 2020 Porsche Panamera Turbo Hybrid (V FAST)
2017 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 V8
2018 JCW Mini Cooper
2018 Skoda VRS

I take it that winters arent a legal requirement but having chains in the car is.......

I have a set for my 19" and am assuming that they will also fit the 20" and the 18" on the disco as the rolling diameter is the same and tyre width is also the same.

Chains on a 2wd are a neccesity as i found out on a trip to meribel a few years back. I went in mrs monkeys skoda with standard conti sports on, easily got to the resort on slightly snowy roads, but couldnt get near the chalet, as the side road was packed snow.

Fortunately the local shop had a set in the size i needed, the car was then go anywhere! Straight i up to the chalet and drive to the lift every morning. One of the chaps i was with had a qashqai with full winters. It was really solid in the snow without chains. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
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Quote:

I take it that winters arent a legal requirement but having chains in the car is.......

In germany winter tyres are a legal requirement after a certain date (Nov?) but not sure if that applies to foreign cars transiting (Angel?).

Other than that you only have to have a set of chains in the car. I bought a cheap set that would never go on the wheels for show only. But then I have never had any probs with M&S tyres, even in the most serous of snow.

The pre 2103 Spec Scorpions are not bad at all IMO , not as good as proper Vreds etc but ok , the 2013 on spec are crap i have been told but you can look at them and guess why they are likely to be rubbish

But as said above Chains are a must in the French alps or snow grippers etc, i have been stopped lower down the mountain and been made to fit chains at the barrier / check-points they setup. , think the Swiss are the same as well. Far to many gone...

Just back from hiring a car in Germany and it was a VW Tiguan Sport 4x4 with Goodyear All Season (Inc word Snow) printed on side. Not seen these in UK. For use all year round on the hire car.

I think it was these: Goodyear Vector 4Seasons

Obviously one of the best: http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2012-...e-Test.htm

Click image to enlarge

Hi
Tree years ago we had massive snow here I deceded to do a test.
The horsefield nexdoor was packed with 1 meter snow.
I had a go and the continetal Cross Contact preformed marvelesly no problem at all ( pretty sight snow up to the bonnet) After fooling around and finnaly got stuck I pulled out the Spike spiders ( on all 4 wheels) to my big supprise it was still stuck so the farmer came to pull me out.

Now i don't even bother to drag the spike spiders along ( on Ice you really need Spikes once the RR start sliding you just go to the lowest point no mather what you do.)

For anyone who has not seen it this video nicely highlights the difference winter tyres can make

tboner001 wrote:

The pre 2103 Spec Scorpions are not bad at all IMO , not as good as proper Vreds etc but ok , the 2013 on spec are crap i have been told but you can look at them and guess why they are likely to be rubbish

^ I still think the older Pirelli Scorpians are great all round Range Rover Tyres. I use them if buying for my own use.

If it has M&S on the side that is all you need legally in Germany, Switzerland etc, aside from some alpine areas where they insist on chains. All season tyres have M&S on them - doesn't make them great in snow though which is why I don't use them.

Scorpio zeros are still available........

The verde are a different tyre all together! Looking at the Pirelli website the tread pattern seems the same? I have a set of 2013 spec scorpions on my disco and they look pretty much the same as they always have as far as I can tell.... There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2021 Discovery 5 D300 MHEV commercial