[Closed] What winter tyres in a small van - Citroen relay

Unless you definitely NEED Winter tyres, I might be tempted to go for some all seasons. And I do swap between summer and winters on both our cars. In the future, if tyre replacements coincide, I may reconsider as All Seasons have come on leaps and bounds in the last few years.

If price is a concern I would look at the Black Circles Quality Choice in your size. They will tell you the minimum Fuel Efficiency and Wet Grip and Noise ratings that you will be supplied with.

I currently run Nexen Winguard WT1 on my Doblo They are 97/99 load rated. My pal has a Caddy LWB and has just had some 85 load rated tyres fitted by someone, but I think they are under rated.

If rather have winters to swap to normal in the weather's 3 what of the year lol

The Hankooks will be fine, if proper winters are what you need. Depends how far north you are. The further north, the better it is to have real winter tyres, not compromises. With respect to Trout's comments above, 4Seasons still have real limitations in proper snow & on very cold roads and will never match the grip of a dedicated winter tyre on a Scottish January morning! Further south, it's a balancing act.
On the Mrs' Fabia, she uses Hankook winters year round, as we prioritise outright grip over efficiency in a car that only does 7-8k annually.
On the big car, we have dedicated summer tyres on the original alloys and premium winters (Ultragrips) on a spare set of steel rims, swapping over November & April.

If rather have winters to swap to normal in the weather’s 3 what of the year lol

I speeka no engrish???

Anyway as TW said all seasons have come on leaps and bounds, I have specific winters for one car (Goodyears) and on my other car recently installed Goodyear Vector gen3 all seasons and in the recent snowy conditions there isn't that much difference.

Proper winters are better as proven in the tests but its marginal and the fact you don't have to swap the tyres over is a small blessing saving me an hour of my life each year. 😉

If you're after cheap winters though just look at review sites like - https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/The-Best-Winter-Tyres-for-2020.htm and take your pick from whats in your price range, folk can only recommend what they know of where as group tests done by review sites give a broader view.

Follows thread as I'm currently eyeing up Agilis Crossclimates.

Don't really want to swap tyres twice a year and live in Fife so with only sporadic outings on highland roads and even less driving on main untreated routes.

wife has crossclimates on the v70 and i have winters on the bus. i would go all seasons next time. the only downside is im convinced the crossclimates are worse for mpg than summers, in the summer

I can't speak for a van, but after moving down from Killin we've fitted all seasons.
I used to swap summer and winter.
Volvo is on Michelin Crossclimates which are smooth, long lasting and just feel 'normal'. Before that the Galaxy and Touran had Hankook 4s - quiet and smooth, but wore quicker.
We've just had a set of Kumho something or other all seasons on as a recommendation from the garage to the Ibiza. Eldest_oab commented (on the snowy & icy day) back from the garage how much better they were then the (worn out) Maxxis AP2's they replaced. The AP2's were noisy too.

Same here, conti van contacts on the Citan, they're still legal but about done, waiting til bonus time in march to treat the van to alloys so haven't replaced the tyres for that reason really (current steels are 15", be going 17")

I had cross climates before, they're brilliant, the little drop in mpg is worth it for the grip on cold wet days that we often get up here in 'summer'. I'll go that way probably, instead of dedicated winters.

Some vehicles are just poor in bad conditions though, so comparing across vehicles doesn't always work. I had to push a police transit last week on compacted snow on the newton stewart road, it was all over the place, had a look at his tyres and they looked like they offered far more grip than mine, but Citan just trundled on.

Have Michelin agelis cross climate commercials on the Caravelle - only use them in winter but if they made them in 18” I’d use them all year round. Quiet, grippy and don’t seem to wear at all. Quite spendy but ultimately worth it

wife has crossclimates on the v70 and i have winters on the bus. i would go all seasons next time. the only downside is im convinced the crossclimates are worse for mpg than summers, in the summer

You're "convinced" but is there any evidence?

FWIW I've seen no difference (mpg logged via onboard) between my full-on winter Pirelli's and summer tyres on my two BMW's over the last few years.

had a look at his tyres and they looked like they offered far more grip than mine

Tread pattern is only a small part of the equation, the compound makes a big difference which is one of the key aspects between winter and summers.

You can get all season "sports" tyres that look just like summer tyres in terms of the tread pattern having the central water channels as opposed to the V structure on most all seasons but the compound is different and there are small sipes on the edges. These aren't as good as normal all seasons but they still give more grip than summer tyres in winter conditions but are better in the summer months than normal all seasons.

I’ve been using Falken all seasons for several years now, and any inferiority in the snow to the Pirelli and Nokian winters I’ve had before is not noticeable at normal speeds. Falkens are about £85 a corner for me.

Tread pattern is only a small part of the equation, the compound makes a big difference which is one of the key aspects between winter and summers.

Yes, this I know, mine are hard as **** and shite in cold and wet, I'd factored this into my comparison! I'd like to think the polis are on decent rubber!

Bus (Citroen C8) is currently shod in Nexxen but I had to order them from Germany. Managed to get me up an iced up hill no bother last week.

Car has a mix of Cross Climate and Nokian All weather. The Nokians have a horrible habit of losing a lot of wet grip fast as the compound wears through although that could be a feature of the Mondeo.

Had winters before but gave up since I can't remember the last time we had snow to justify tread pattern, all seasons cover the compound base.

Car has a mix of Cross Climate and Nokian All weather. The Nokians have a horrible habit of losing a lot of wet grip fast as the compound wears through although that could be a feature of the Mondeo.

Possibly, my focus was horrendous in the wet for understeer once the tyres weren't pristine, made for a few arse clenching moments!

You’re “convinced” but is there any evidence?

when we got the car it had Membat Passion, smiling on the road, designed in italy made in india tyres on it. It seemed to do an easy 40 plus mpg. We struggle to get over 35 now on the michelins. It is possible the Membats were made out of PTFE as they didnt offer anything that one would recognise as grip, and presumably therefore had little rolling resistance. No data on a proper premium summer tyre.

Michelin Crossclimates on a Caddy Maxi here in Inverness. That's what it came with but I think that when they go I'll just replace with the same. I've driven quite a bit with them on snow already and they seem to be pretty good or at least good enough that I wouldn't bother with proper winter tyres. Even living in the highlands and going winter climbing / ski touring there aren't many days I think I'd want something grippier and I'm a lazy bastard so can't be bothered swapping summer and winter.

Absolutely my thinking Spin.

Nothing to add really, but just wanted to give another thumbs up for Michelin Cross Climate tyres. We’re in Aberdeenshire; my Caddy van came fitted with them and I was so impressed with them that when the tyres on my wife’s summer wheels needed changing in Aug we got Cross Climates fitted and just sold on the winter wheels and tyres. So far she’s happy with them too.

Got CrossClimates on our Tiguan 4motion and they were spot on in the snow and ice last weekend. Feel good in normal cold, wet conditions too, and have been fine on dry roads.

I would say though, the CrossClimate 2 is soon to be released in Europe/UK, so if you can then I'd wait for them as they now have a 60000 mile life warranty.

Ooft, 60000 is interesting!.