Gen 4 Tyre upgrade

I have a gen 4 and am thinking about upgrading the tyres for a bit more grip in the Winter. The main reason is for a bit more grip on icey roads where using the 4x4 system is not ipossible. I don't do much on the off road side of things and wondered if anyone had any recomendations as what would be best, such as if to go for all season tyres as opposed to off road tyres. I not really fussed about a larger size being fit unless it had any benefits. Any advice appreciated.

If you are driving on icy roads then 4 wheel drive is a must. After all you only have to move the second g/lever and you don't stop to do it.
The contents of your string would indicate that you are not comfortable with the use of 4 wheel drive and as we don't know where you are, any recommendations would need to be widespread, so my questions are, where are you and how much snow and ice are we talking about?

Roger

If you drive in snow, wither tires are the best option by far, much better than all seasons tires and much much better than off road tires.

I'm in Lincolnshire. I do use 4X4 when conditions dictate but i am a bit paranoid about transmission wind up on the tarmac. I worry mainly when the Mrs is driving it on ice as it's easy to lose the back end. If the road is white i use 4x4. It's more a case of a bit of ice rather than snow.

Axholme Lion wrote: I have a gen 4 and am thinking about upgrading the tyres for a bit more grip in the Winter. The main reason is for a bit more grip on icey roads where using the 4x4 system is not ipossible. I don't do much on the off road side of things and wondered if anyone had any recomendations as what would be best, such as if to go for all season tyres as opposed to off road tyres. I not really fussed about a larger size being fit unless it had any benefits. Any advice appreciated.

How hard do you drive normally?

If you are quite gentle in the bends (summer/dry roads). Then I'd suggest running a proper winter tyre all year round. They will be fine. But if you hoon about in dry/warm conditions you'll just tear them up and wear them quickly. Any winter tread is likely fine in the correct size.

If you are a more enthusiastic driver, then some N. American style all seasons will be a better bet. As they will handle the summer weather better. But still be good in winter. The trade off will be, the All Seasons are designed to work on snow and compacted snow better (they will have sipes). But the compound won't be as specialist as winters, so driving on ice won't be as good with them. But do you really drive on true 'icy' roads lots? Usually it is frost or if we've had snow, then slush and/or compacted snow.

I don't go mad in the Jimbo and the Mrs is steadier than i am, so the winter tyres may be the way to go.
Thanks for the replies everyone.

Axholme - I sympathise with your question and it sounds to me that you do indeed know how to use the 4x4 system hence your questions rather than sticking it in 4x4 at 1st sign of poor traction and ending up with transmission lock. I have been thinking about this over the last weekend as in the NE of scotland we have had quite a lot of snow over the last week. About 7 to 8 inches level snow around about where I stay. On Friday night the wind got up and started blowing the lying snow. So what I experienced on Saturday morning was side roads completley white with lots of snow and lots of drifts so 4H engaged. However on the main roads it was black tarmac apart where the snow was blowing over the road. So I was constantly changing from 2H to 4H as I enountered the snow. Was I too cautious could I have carried on in 4H for longer maybe? I like you are paranoid amount transmission windup. So quite often left it in 2H and only when came across significant areas of all white did I engage 4H. Now I have Toya Opencountry + AT tyres and they coped very well. Not as good as winter tyres. So I would very much consider 300BHP ideas of winter tyres all year round. Gives you the grip when you really need it in the winter and summer performance is still good. It's not as if we are speaking about a high performance sports car.

Roger refers to 4H being a must for icy roads which is different to my driving. Or at least depends on definiton of icy. Black roads at minus temps could be icy and could be slippy so having AWD would be preferable however giving those circumtances I am not going to engage 4WD in the Jimny.

Had a great time over the weekend delivering essential shopping and ploughing through drifts and traveling up farm roads impassable to most. Jimny very capable in the snow.

 

Am I right in thinking that, once you're underway and moving, 4h has little effect over 2h?  Doesn't help turning or braking, so only really need to engage 4h when pulling away or if struggling up a hill?  Assuming we're only talking about tarmac and intermittent snow/ice. 

You've hit the nail on the head. It's the times when roads are icey but not covered in any form of white stuff. It's good to get other peoples opinions who are driving the same vehicle. Looks like good fun up there. our other car is a Subaru XV which is a cracking all weather motor suitable for all conditions, but i do love the Jimny. I had a gen 3 before and was really sad to see it go despite all it's faults. there's just something about them i like.

Talking about car behaviour under certain conditions will only get you so far. You cant teach a person how to do it purely in a classroom, you have to get outside and show them how it behaves in the real world. Acceleration, cornering and braking, that's it in a nutshell, and it's all to do with traction. If you have the chance drive on snow - deserted car park is ideal - and try 2 wheel and then 4 wheel drive. In 2 wd when cornering you will spend more time going straight on where as in 4wd the now driven front wheels will work at pulling you through. I can tell you how it works but you need to get out there and try it for yourself. Same effect with braking, if you use the gears to slow you down you are using all 4 wheels and that has to be better than just 2. On a dry grippy road you will get feed back through the steering but this feed back reduces as tyre grip lessens and you need to read this reduction and act accordingly. As I said earlier engaging 4wd is a simple matter so use it.

Roger

4wd should drive a lot better than 2wd in slippery conditions. It isn't just about pulling away. You should have more control at everything, including turning, slowing and stopping.