Having managed to got halfway home in the XE the other day in the snow, all was going rather well until with no major issues starting/stopping/cornering until I had to stop at some traffic lights at a double humpback bridge near home. Despite multiple attempts using my lightest right foot (AND I still had all-surface progress control and snow/ice mode engaged), I couldn't get up the final slope. I gave up and decided to reverse back down to the nearby pub car park but started to skid sideways as well and ended up stuck very near a wall/fence on the wrong side of the road! I tried everything to get it moving even slightly (even got the rear mats out!) but it was no use... Fortuitously I was right next to a pub and the kind landlord came and towed me out... (was very nervous about traffic coming over the bridge the other way too fast and into my car!) For reference, the towing eyes are LEFT HAND THREAD! Car abandoned in pub car park and collected by visiting Brother-in-law in Disco Sport... In conclusion, while it managed ok on slight inclines and general driving on virgin snow, on compacted slushy snow and any sort of decent incline it was pretty useless (NB I have driven both my RWD XKR and various FWD cars in snow before and had a lot less trouble!), basically despite all the fancy new technology/modes, I can only conclude that all-season or winter tyres are very much necessary in these conditions.
ALL GOING WELL
GOING NOT SO WELL (TYRE TRACKS ON FAR RIGHT ARE MINE!!)
As it's forecast to be a cold/snowy/icy few months and having loved our set of Conti WinterContact tyres I bought for our Octavia for winter 2010/11 (I since discovered they don't fit the vRS though - so straight on EBay!), I decided to get some for the XE as I need to be able to get to work late and night and early in the morning, without fear of ending up in a ditch. I'd already been less than impressed at the lack of grip on cold/wet mornings, so decided to hunt down some wheels and tyres. In the end I got a bargain set of used (but pretty much perfect) front and rear 19" XE S wheels off EBay, a set of TPMS sensors and some new Pirelli Sottozero tyres (wanted Michelin PA4s but they went up £100 EACH overnight!)... All now fitted and ready to rock...
So the question is what pressure should they be inflated too... Jaguar manual is utterly useless on the subject:
http://www.ownerinfo.jaguar.com/document/4N/2017/T19987/20731_en_GBR/proc/G1877932
Found this random Topix document (looks like it is for an older model of Jag, not sure what) which recommends 32 psi -
https://topix.jaguar.jlrext.com/topix/service/procedure/538455/PDF/cb40813c-9a0f-4222-9f03-2d1444dc159a/en_GB?
Text is the same as the XE manual but the critical table on pressures is missing in the XE manual...
Conventional wisdom is that winter tyres should be inflated to about 0.2 bar/3 psi above summer pressures so have gone for 40 psi as a starter for ten... (37 is the standard)... anyone else got any actual information about what pressure they should be (bearing in mind Sottozero's are OEM fit!)
WINTER WHEELS
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE! (#DUNLOP SLICKS!)
ALL GOING WELL
GOING NOT SO WELL (TYRE TRACKS ON FAR RIGHT ARE MINE!!)
As it's forecast to be a cold/snowy/icy few months and having loved our set of Conti WinterContact tyres I bought for our Octavia for winter 2010/11 (I since discovered they don't fit the vRS though - so straight on EBay!), I decided to get some for the XE as I need to be able to get to work late and night and early in the morning, without fear of ending up in a ditch. I'd already been less than impressed at the lack of grip on cold/wet mornings, so decided to hunt down some wheels and tyres. In the end I got a bargain set of used (but pretty much perfect) front and rear 19" XE S wheels off EBay, a set of TPMS sensors and some new Pirelli Sottozero tyres (wanted Michelin PA4s but they went up £100 EACH overnight!)... All now fitted and ready to rock...
So the question is what pressure should they be inflated too... Jaguar manual is utterly useless on the subject:
http://www.ownerinfo.jaguar.com/document/4N/2017/T19987/20731_en_GBR/proc/G1877932
Found this random Topix document (looks like it is for an older model of Jag, not sure what) which recommends 32 psi -
https://topix.jaguar.jlrext.com/topix/service/procedure/538455/PDF/cb40813c-9a0f-4222-9f03-2d1444dc159a/en_GB?
Text is the same as the XE manual but the critical table on pressures is missing in the XE manual...
Conventional wisdom is that winter tyres should be inflated to about 0.2 bar/3 psi above summer pressures so have gone for 40 psi as a starter for ten... (37 is the standard)... anyone else got any actual information about what pressure they should be (bearing in mind Sottozero's are OEM fit!)
WINTER WHEELS
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE! (#DUNLOP SLICKS!)