Fitting winter tyres

Fitting winter tyres

In Germany, it has been a requirement to use winter tyres in black ice, packed snow, slush, ice or frost since 4 December 2010.

All M+S / all-year tyres are valid as winter tyres; these are designated by an M+S symbol, partly in connection with the mountain pictogram with snowflakes (Alpine Symbol).

In principle, all tyres sizes given in the approval document (vehicle record) can be used as winter tyres. The permitted tyre sizes are given in the TÜV Hessen database "Standard Tyres for OPEL Vehicles": http://www.opel.de/besitzer/zubehoer/raeder-reifen/serienreifenkatalog.html.

The only exception is if the registration document or owner's manual for the vehicle includes an express limitation on a tyre size for summer use only.

Winter tyres are usually subject to a speed restriction, i.e. the maximum permitted speed for the tyres does not match that of the vehicle. If the top speed of the winter tyres is less than that of the vehicle, a corresponding speed sticker must be applied in the driver's field of vision, stating the maximum speed for the winter tyres (legal requirement).

In Austria, winter tyres that have a tread depth of less than 4 mm are not legally acceptable as winter tyres on cars.