Winter tyres. Discuss.

Dominic · Post by **Dominic** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 12:08 pm

BigD wrote:
I have overtaken 4x4's up slight inclines with them so they can't be bad.

Winter tyres must be worth it for that smug feeling alone!

SAJ · Post by **SAJ** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:09 pm

Personally I need my tyres to work in all winter conditions, good winters well in dry and wet conditions, not just when it snows or when it is quite cold. It rains in Scotland most of winter and we get a couple of weeks snow at most, given that my winter tyres are on from October to April the sensible choice in my opinion is to cover over the conditions which will be the case 90% of the time which happens to be cold and wet.

All winter tyres are going to grip to some extent in snow otherwise they wouldn't get the M+S marking.

I'd also not agree that the winter tyre tests in magazines are not that representative as they test in the popular size and not always on a high performance car. Here's an example:
http://www.evo.co.uk/features/features/ ... tyres.html and see at the bottom what is said about budget option:

"A winter tyre – even an inexpensive one – will keep you moving in snowy conditions well after a summer tyre has slithered to a halt. Our lowest scoring winter, the Linglong, substantially outperforms our summer tyre on the white stuff. Our test results showed that it’s not a great performer when the roads are wet and cold, or dry, and its feel is poor too, being described as ‘floaty’ in snow, ‘treacherous’ in the wet and ‘sloppy’ and ‘slow-witted’ in the dry."

So given our roads are mostly wet and cold during the winter I'll be keeping away from the budgets. Don't get me wrong we all have a budget we have to keep to and I'm not made of money but this is just how I prioritise where I spend the cash.

Doc883 · Post by **Doc883** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 3:46 pm

Just swapped the wheels/tyres on our S-Max yesterday (Toyo Snowprox S953 bought last year from www.mytyres.co.uk) in readiness for Snowmageddon

Also need to get the S3 in to the garage to fit the Yokohama w drives sometime this week.

Post by **campbell** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 3:49 pm

Trust me, Saj, were I running an Evora or indeed my S1 as an all-weather vehicle, I'd invest harder

Like Mark and D, I will see how they go and report back. The bottom line is - during sub-8-degree weather, they are set to outperform the summer tyres. Those will go back on a bit swiftly when the obvious "winter" weather has passed in late Feb etc. I'm not looking for "performance", or even "feel". Just VFM A-to-B ability to keep me mobile this winter, as my income depends upon it now (it didn't used to, for the last 20 winters!).

Stay tuned

ClarkyBoy · Post by **ClarkyBoy** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 4:10 pm

SAJ,

I totally get your point when it comes to the likes of the Evora, when I had the E92 M3, I used wintrac extreme tyres for the winter and they were a great tyre, but as Campbell has said, when it comes to something like the fiesta, VFM and A-B is all im looking for!

and.. had it been my car, I wouldn't actually bother with winters, but seeing as its the misses, i'd rather be safe in the knowledge she shouldn't be stuck.

SAJ · Post by **SAJ** » Mon Nov 18, 2013 6:10 pm

I guess I'm in the minority then as I just put the best I can get at the time regardless of what car it is, my 14 year old Audi worth about £1.5k had Dunlop Winter Sport 4D all round. It just sits in the back of my mind things like braking performance which is most likely the thing I'm going to need in such conditions, a few meters can be the difference between and accident and avoiding one which is mainly where I see the benefit especially when the Mrs is driving, she needs all the extra help she can get

Stu160 · Post by **Stu160** » Wed Nov 20, 2013 11:23 pm

Hi All

Just ordered a set of Nokian winter tyres for her Volvo, 245 40 18,s £130 each, so will be interesting to see how they compare to the Vredesteins that we have been using the last couple of years. Still have them on the Touareg, but never really seen much action last year.
The Nokian gets a very good writeup, finishing top 5 in most tests....we will soon find out.

Stu

Sanjøy · Post by **Sanjøy** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 8:36 am

Pirelli Scorpions are the only m+s in the household this winter.
Annoyingly refreshed the winters on the old panzer earlier in the year. £1500 if anyone is interested in them.

Free panzer.

Scottish Scrutineer · Post by **Scottish Scrutineer** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:14 am

I had Nokiansoin the 1-Series for a couple of winters. Great tyres, surprised many fwd drivers as a BMW passed whilst they were spinning their wheels going nowhere.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Renny

Dark · Post by **Dark** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:05 pm

Have used winter tyres on both cars for the last 3-4 years and found them to be a great benefit.

However never fully appreciate just how amazing they are! After spending the last few days driving from Horseheads, NY to Ottawa, Canada and back again I'm even more impressed!

In 600 miles of driving, our Toyota RAV4 still averaged 50mph over snow covered roads and through some awesome lake effect blizzards.

How many accidents did we see? One, and it was a minor bump!

20140127_152657.jpg

20140127_151916.jpg

rossybee · Post by **rossybee** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 3:59 pm

According to latest weather reports, we might actually soon have this winter's first opportunities for smugness - been understeering for nearly 2 months now

Lazydonkey · Post by **Lazydonkey** » Thu Jan 30, 2014 4:10 pm

Although my tyres (Conti 825s) are really good when it's absolutely soaking so they've been ok lately.

A wee bit of snow to justify the expense would be good though

Post by **C7Steve** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:41 pm

Concept but very cool

http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2014/2/20/0 ... s-7718720/

Steve.

rossybee · Post by **rossybee** » Fri Feb 21, 2014 9:37 pm

Indeed.

My winters haven't been needed this year....

/not so smug as December

graeme · Post by **graeme** » Sat Feb 22, 2014 10:08 am

I've had Nokian WR-D3s on the Golf for a couple of months now. Couldn't be arsed with hours of research over tyres for a VW Boredom Estate, so picked a random auto-rag test winner, and Nokian D3 was it, so just ordered them on some cheap rims. Instantly very good in the cold and wet compared to the summer Contis. If we ever see any snow I'll report back. Not a brand that was on my radar, but definitely not to be dismissed as a budget ditch-finder.

Scottish Elises