Golf Style Snow and ice issues

[Morggzy]

My dad has been buying Golfs for over 20 years. He has always loved these cars, he is disappointed with MK8 on a number of fronts but the biggest one at the moment is the performance on snow and ice. The car just doesn’t have any traction. I know it sits on Goodyear Eagle F1 255 45R17s which are summer tyres and one would argue to put winters on. However on every Golf he has owned previously he has never had any issues in snow and ice on summer tyres. Has VW changed something on the new Golf that is lacking from previous generations? Or are these tyres just rubbish? I must admit they have a rather oval shape compared to Conti’s that I buy.

[Jinxit]

I think it will be the width of the tyres that’s making it worse. I travel to the Alps a lot (well did before COVID) and use winter tyres. But what I have found is over the years as the tyres have got wider they offer less grip in poor conditions. I ran the same brand and style of tyre on an A car with 215 width tyres and a Car with 245 width tyres and the Thinner was miles better.

We always went thinner tyres when it got wet when I used to grass track race. If you look at ice racing cars they run really thin tyres.

[johnsimcox]

Tyre brands vary dramatically in how they perform in different conditions so you may find that another brand, Michelin or Bridgestone for instance- ot a recommnedation just an example, will deliver better performance and it is a bit of pot luck as to what brand you get on a specific car. Can't speak for Goodyear tyres as I do not have experience of them but one issue these days is that tyre manufacturers are increasingly being driven to deliver compounds that help improve economy (and hence CO2). Unfortunately tyres that deliver lower CO2 have lower rolling resistance and this translates into poorer traction in colder weather as the tyres are harder. Quite surprised to see the size of tyre fitted, did you mean 225 as that is the standard size for UK cars with 17" wheels? Also worth checking the tyre pressures as modern cars seem far more affected by tyre pressures than used to be the case