[Closed] Winter Car/Van Tyres - real world experiences

Yes
All 4
Black circles website and read user reviews

Is it that time of year already?

They are very good in snow but buy 4. Been using them for five winters and wouldn't be without now.

Yes - not just in snow, cold and wet weather as well. When we had that appalling wet winter several roads near us were regularly awash, rather than properly flooded, and winter tyres made a huge difference

All 4

Lots of people on here recommend the online retailers, I ended up at the local Hi-Q with some dodgy sounding - but surprisingly effective - Chinese made "GoodRide" tyres.

Now, go and pop the kettle on while all the driving Gods assemble to tell you that if you were a real man you wouldn't need winter tyres. Because they are obviously all riding rigid, single speed, V- braked, semi slick tyres bicycles, aren't they?

They make a difference.

I reckon if you are carrying v light stuff in the back you might get away with 2 fronts if you drive sensibly.

I've had Nokian and verdestein that have lasted well, quiet and didn't notice any dip in the economy and starmaxx that were incredibly noisy.

Cannot comment on how good the starmaxx were because I got shunted side-on abou 3 weeks later before using much.

Yes,definitely worth it, even if like me,you are the best driver in the world.
Do all four.
Check them on www.mytyres.co.uk or www.pneusonline.com then try your locals.
I've run Vredestein (excellent) and Michelin Alpin (not so excellent) but Nokian have an excellent reputation and are relatively inexpensive.

Magic init!! mention winter tyres on here & an advert immediately pops up on the right for tyres 🙂

Edit: gone now.........

Most of the stuff our local 2nd hand place has is winter tyres from Germany, £25 a tyre, job done. Cheapos were rubbish on dry roundabouts, but all were good across fields on Mondeo and V50

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Have steel rims and Nokian WR D3's waiting in the garage.

Everyone here has an opinion; some have never used/tried them and insist you don't need them, some have and wouldn't be without when the temperature drops - I'm in the latter category.

All 4 unless when you brake hard you want to spin !

They transformed my 2.2d Honda civic
Had cheap Khumo izens , yokohama w drives
Got a new CRV and gone for Michelin Alpin
Based on mates experience with them over the ski season / euro hols

conti ts810's & vredersdein wintracs seem to
Be popular tyres at the ski centres

Tyres go on early nov, then back to normal tyres
Mid April

ymmv

All my cars run all season tyres, mainly from Tyreleader in Germany.

Delivery is quick and the tyres are cheap, my local ATS fits them at a tenner a tyre.

Just fitted four Michelin mud and snow tyres on my truck as they were ready for changing anyway.

Can't vouch for what they are like in snow but wipe the floor with the old AT3's off road and I'm getting another 30-40 miles a tank after fitting them.

Just harder to get sideways in the wet now 🙁

Looking forward to putting my winter wheels back on the van - taller sidewall profile, so better for dealing with the amount of potholes around here.....

Oh - and the grip in the damp is awesome, highly recommended.

It's the thread that keeps giving...

I never took my snowproxes off this year, because my normal wheels are too ugly. Not much downside in summer, absolutely gamechanging/potentially lifesaving/not neccesarily your life in winter. I'd be happy to just use sensible all season tyres too, I suppose, but I'm glad I don't have to

(and the "+7 to getting out of muddy race fields" special power is awesome too)

Oh yeah and I've done the 2 winters only thing, on a Focus, and it worked very well indeed- less good than 4 winters, much better than no winters. In collaboration with some sensible big treaded allseason thing on the back, and pathetic drumbrakes, to be fair.

My first experience of winter tyres was when we had that second bad winter a few years ago. I nearly didn't make it to work one Saturday morning so headed off for some new tyres. Only place open was a chain (not kwik fit or Hi-Q but similar) and they only had two (which turned out to be the wrong weight rating for my car, but still...). Like night and day. If I'd had them fitted before the snow came I would probably have thought they were ok but not hugely different but driving to the garage in the snow and away with the snow tyres I couldn't believe the difference. I've had them every year since and actually haven't taken them off this year.

I put winters on last year. I live in an area notorious for snow....and just as you would expect, we had one of the mildest winters I can remember.

That said, I genuinely found them great in the cold weather. Much improved grip in wet conditions. I was surprised. They'll be going back on soon.

Winter tyres are night and day better in snow or freezing cold or wet conditions. A 2 wheel drive car on decent winter tyres will be far more effective than a 4x4 on normal summer tyres.

Do fit them on all 4 corners unless you really want to have a crash.

As for brand recommendations, I've found Continental and Nokian to be very good, but all the well known brands offer decent Winter tyre options and in any case will be miles better than any summer tyre. All-season tyres are an option too, but inevitably a bit of a compromise. Personally I prefer running 2 sets of summer/winter tyres.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/66645/winter-tyres-test-reviews-and-prices-2014

If they dont work youve wasted 200quid. If they work youve saved your excess. You' wont know unless you can see the future though.

In my experience if you fit winter tyres then you can be assured of a mild dry winter.

My truck has Continental Cross Contacts M&S - obviously not off road tyres and not full on winter tyres, but how do M&S tyres compare in the grand scheme of things?

I've had 4x4's of different flavours for over 4 years now and never changed the tyres - had some god awful tyres in that time too - found Goodyear Wranglers to be ok, but please no-one ever buy Bridgestone Duellers

Fitted Lassa snow tyres to my Trafic van when we had a worthy amount of snow a couple of years back,what an eye opener!! The fitters recommend they are used below 7 degrees.

Do they get knackered on a long motorway commute?

Do they get knackered on a long motorway commute?

No. Theres a marginal wear penalty in warmer weather. The idea of swapping back and forth between winter and 'summer' tyres is a continental one, where winters are more starkly cold and summers are more starkly hot. In the UK we don't have the higher average temps in the summer so theres not really the need to swap back and forth

Winters will wear a bit faster in the warm, but you've got more tread depth to start with. However summer tyres, if you leave them on all year wear faster in the cold so it all evens out. Unless you do stella milage or use especially expensive or fashionable tyres, or drive a car that eats its tyres, then theres not much point in swapping back and forth.

I live quite north and quite high up so even in the summer its not that warm at the beginning and the end of the day when I do the majority of my driving so I leave winters on all year and theres no appreciable wear penalty - I get about 3 years out of a set

If they dont work youve wasted 200quid

I only had mine on the car for about 4 weeks last winter, but in the winter of 2012 they allowed me to get home (the bottom of a valley) repeatedly. On each and every journey, there were cars in ditches and hedges on both sides of the road on the way down into the valley bottom.

I'm driving a 1.8t BMW Touring.

Oh, and in my experience, they do ablate quite quickly during warm summer weather. They're also noisier and less fuel efficient, that's why I remove them once the temperature gets higher.

My truck has Continental Cross Contacts M&S - obviously not off road tyres and not full on winter tyres, but how do M&S tyres compare in the grand scheme of things?

I've had 4x4's of different flavours for over 4 years now and never changed the tyres - had some god awful tyres in that time too - found Goodyear Wranglers to be ok, but please no-one ever buy Bridgestone Duellers

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT

Pook if its the difference of hitting a kerb or worse spending hours in a car..

Get the all seasons conti? At the end of the day though if it snows hard a standard car will beach/be trapped.

Liking this thread 🙂
Selling our Scout 4x4 and getting a 2wd octavia est and are planning to put winter tyres on our Fabia which is the car we do most frequent journeys in (school run, shopping etc)Seem to remember someone on here saying that their Fabia with winter tyres on was better than a 4x4

Liking this thread
Seem to remember someone on here saying that their Fabia with winter tyres on was better than a 4x4

POSTED 42 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Winter tyres are completely unnecessary. At least that is what I thought until I tried some. I cannot emphasise how much better they are. Night and day job. Every vehicle I own has them now regardless of cost.

I swapped my van and 4wd Volvo to nokian a last year.
As you know last winter was very mild. Haven't really noticed much difference in the car but the van in the wet has a lot more traction.
Never got around to swapping back in summer and can't say I've noticed.
Hopefully we'll get some heavy snow to try them out properly this year.
Ps. The reason I swapped was losing the Volvo the winter before whilst braking and nearly rear ending a hearse, luckily it was empty at the time!

I've got a set of winter wheels and tyres. Definitely worth it for general grip, not just snow, in lower temps especially rwd. Also much better (higher sidewalks) than the stupid 30 profile Tyres, for winter potholes, than my car came with. Just deciding when to change.

Or, don't spend the money and just stay at home for all 4 days of the year you really need them.

I've had them before and they are good, but not really necessary.
I live in a city though so don't NEED to drive for anything, I can walk.

One day of work lost could cost me 4 new tyres. And the times when I've had a call for them (or been caught without them) its been more a case of being able to get home than choosing whether to leave the house.

Yourguitarhero we'd have missed family Christmas day dinner without em. 30miles driving past stranded and struggling cars = priceless. The car being a Forester also helped a wee bit..

yourguitarhero - Member

Or, don't spend the money and just stay at home for all 4 days of the year you really need them.

Works great til it starts snowing while you're not at home 😉 We had boringly little snow last year but the year before it made a big difference to me, not just when there was actually snow down, but when it threatened, you can carry on business as usual (as long as you don't live somewhere that'll instantly gridlock). So it's not just the actual days of snow, but the days where it might snow that your "don't go out" plan will also kick in

And o'course they're not just for snow, they help on early morning ice and in the wet.

I got caught in an unforecast snowstorm going across rannoch moor at night, I think last November, and having one less thing to worry about was just maybe what stopped me going catatonic 😆

Don't you people have mountain bikes?

Like I said, I live in a city centre and cycle or walk to work so not too typical.

What if you commute to work any distance in a car?

Those two bad winters..

Last winter fitting my winter tyres invoked sods law.

I have a mountain bike. Doesn't do very well on ice.

hora - Member

Last winter fitting my winter tyres invoked sods law.

I never took mine off, to try and avoid the No Snow Bad Touch this winter... as I recall we had an exceptionally snowy couple of days in April. When the car was broken down.

hora - Member
What if you commute to work any distance in a car?

Login and work from home. Even the best winter tyres and 4wd isn't going to stop some other tool crashing into me.

If it looks like snow during the day I pack up and go home. Login and work remotely when I get there.

Or I take the lowland route home that is ten miles longer and rarely gets blocked.

Goodpoint. No need to go into work. Just tell the boss you'll remote in..

Login and work from home.

Love mine. Conti Winter Contact 830s. Turning off a main road onto a side road last year in an inch or so of slush, car two in front under steered into the kerb, back and round the corner with much wheel spinning. Car in front of me did the same. I turned the corner as normal. Ace.

Great things. Bought some for my wife's 3 series and was like night and day in the snow. So good that when we swapped cars to a 4x4 I still bought a set of winters for it. Spare wheels and tyres from mytures co.uk at a good price and 1 hours time swapping them over usually in November.

Have a set of alloys and winters with about 7 mm on them (continentals) that I must put on eBay for the 3series.

Is it that time of year already? Time to post up my video (now 3 or 4 years old!). Everyone knows that BMWs are crap in the snow. Not with winter tyres they aren't 🙂

I got a set a few years ago, prior to the first of the two snowy winters the uk got. I thought they might make a slight difference but probably that much, but I had a spare set of steel wheels and was curious.

Still can't believe the difference, incredible. I drive a 1.2 Fiat Panda and a few days after the snow hit I got all packed and set up and went out in the middle of the night before the snowploughs had had a chance to clear it, with the aim of seeing just what they were capable of (without driving off the road, of course). Apart from chickening out of driving through a three foot drift, I drove about 150 miles through the wilds of Co Durham, up steep steep hills around Hamsterley, three inches of snow on the A68, nothing stopped me (and I had a lot of fun!)

I'll have winter tyres on in winter on every car I own until the day I die. Incredible. And as you swap them over it's not actually ended up costing me anything extra.

(Although as that car was written off with them on (non weather related accident) I'll have to buy a new set, but still)

Go for it.

I've had 4x4's of different flavours for over 4 years now and never changed the tyres - had some god awful tyres in that time too - found Goodyear Wranglers to be ok, but please no-one ever buy Bridgestone Duellers

I can fully endorse what 'the artist etc' said I have bought 3 vehicles with the bloody things on and swapped them off for all terrains at the earliest opportunity. They have the worst grip of any tyre ever made!

 

How did I manage to 'quote' my post but not the artists?

How come they have such abysmal EU ratings? Noise and fuel kinda make sense, but my normal tyres were A for efficiency and wet braking and 68db, winter tyres seem consistently Es and Fs for both and louder.

Another one for winter tyres - we stuck some on my wife's focus that bad winter a few years ago. Epic and pretty much unstoppable, I was amazed.

We've got some Michelin M+S2's on the old ridiculous 'murican truck we now drive and again they have been fantastic (plus you don't have to stop and put chains on in the winter at the highway patrol checkpoints).

Thisisnotaspoon, Grip pattern and the softer rubber on the winter tyres. It's only like looking at the difference between mountain bike and road bike tyres isn't it

Vredestein wintrac extremes. Can't remember really where I left my summer tyres. In winter and in the wet and up tracks I need to be able to get places. And they last well too.

All seasons and full winters here on two cars in Scotland here. As said, the main difference is on cold, wet days for me, when they noticeably grip better and for longer. When we do get extreme conditions, I know thy can help me bail out if get home. I spent the last 5 yeas commenting down 8 miles of singletrack, un gritted or ploughed road.
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Sadly I just bought a car with four good summer tyres on, so am reluctant to fork the cash for new winter tyres, but think I will....

Nokian WR G2 were much better on fuel and quieter than Dunlop sport. Good winters use silica compound which makes for low rolling resistance.

Tinas, I think I saw somewhere that the wet grip tests are done in warm weather which makes winters look really bad compared to summers. There's a video test of winters vs summers in 5 degree wet roads and it's a different story.

Re the extra cost- whilst your not using your normal tyres the wear is 'parked'/not happening so your extending the life of the tyre(s).

Its not just 'one or two days of snow'. WINTER weather is 3months. winter tyres are for cold temperatures. Tyres that work (i.e. grip) better when it gets colder.

This means it makes any marginal risk of loss of control less.

People associate winter tyres with 'snow'. No.

Road noise? Ever driven in rain, wet roads in winter? Aint exactly quite motoring as it is.

[b]All this means nothing to people who cut corners[/b] and run mixed ditchfinders on their car. The same people who will buy a Reverb dropper and new brakes for their bike and want the best mountain bike tyres. Bizarre because how many hours do you off road ride a week?

I wouldn't put my child in a car with mixed budgets.

I wouldn't be without them, I've had them on my last 3 cars and can testify to their effectiveness. Have had Continental, Goodyear and Pirelli and they've all worked well, fit them in November and keep them on till March(ish).
The only time I got stuck was due to lack of ground clearance when the snow was very deep!
They may not be very eco friendly, but I'd rather use a little more fuel that the alternative.

They may not be very eco friendly

Or they may be.

We run Michelin Alpins all year round on vehicles at work.

I went for all season Kleber, Quadraxers on our Berlingo.

I've heard people say 'I lost control due to ice'. Its more than likely you slid on snow. Ice is around but everytime I've seen snow coming down I've also seen people sideways countless times in that snow trying to make progress.

The funniest was on a ride- We saw a woman struggling in a snowy carpark so we pushed her and said 'gentle throttle' - she floored it and kept it floored 😯

I've heard people say 'I lost control due to ice'. Its more than likely you slid on snow.

There is plenty of ice around. I know because I've slid on it when there's no snow on the ground.

Also, snow and ice can go together on untreated roads. Our road isn't treated and every time we had snow in the last few years it partially melted in the sun and then froze solid, resulting in a persistent icy glaze.

I use vredestein W drive all year round on the Passat, mainly because with the mileage I do there's not enough tread left after one winter to be worth taking off and keeping for a second winter. A new set in about November lasts a year and saves the refitting and storage hassle for the other tyres.

For mileage that covers pretty much all of Scotland all year round I wouldn't be without them.

Yes Yes Yes. They are awesome in snow. They don't cost you anymore cash in the long run as they prolong the life of your normal tyres.

I first put them on my RWD Merc Vito and now a FWD Volvo, and I never got stuck in the worst road conditions we saw a few years ago. But more than their ability in snow and ice, is the grip and stability you get in the wet, particularly at speed on the motorway.

You won't regret it.

Blimey, how refreshing! The driving gods must still be doing 70 in a 30 zone on their way to work, knowing that its not speed that causes crashes - just other road users unable to predict their collective awesomeness...

When i went to ontario a couple of years ago, we noticed that nobody had any problems getting around (i believe winter tyres are law in ontario in the winter months) very few people used 4x4s, we noticed that too.
It wasnt a particularly snowy winter when i was there, but still the most snow ive seen in my life.
Conclusion: winter tyres make a difference.

Cb?

Of course, in Ontario the snow will be quite different...

Tinas, I think I saw somewhere that the wet grip tests are done in warm weather which makes winters look really bad compared to summers. There's a video test of winters vs summers in 5 degree wet roads and it's a different story.

Fair enough, that makes sense. Although, from the Michelin site, the tyres are tested under their supposedly best conditions.

How to measure braking on wet roads?
This test is done with a vehicle under standardised conditions defined by law: namely,
temperature, state of road surface, water depth, and speed.

The conditions of the tests, according to European legislation, are:

Winter tyres tested between 2° and 20°C
Summer tyres tested between 5° and 35°C
Water depth between 0.5 and 1.5 mm
Braking performed on 4 tyres with ABS between 80 and 20 km/h (approx. between 50 and 12 mph)

I don't use winter tyres, primeraly as I don't have garrage space to store them over the summer, seconldy a big dose of scepticism having survived so far just on normal tyres and driving sensibly the few times I've been caught out by the weather, and a few people on here saying they use them all year round as they can't quallatively see a difference in summer but can see a difference in winter, when the qantative results show their performance dropping off a cliff in summer (it could be a childs face, etc).

a big dose of scepticism

Why sceptical? Surely as an engineer you can understand the concept of suitable materials for the task?

I use them because it's nice in winter to not worry about getting stuck; and the cost outlay is pretty small when you consider that both sets of tyres last twice as long - so you're not getting through tyres any faster.

If you are unsure go down to your local independant tyre place and get some part worns on from Germany. They will be £25/£30 each fitted (always worth asking them for their best pair, refuse anything that looks crap, they always have more in the back but want to shift the junk first) and get a decent brand.

Once you have done this you will prob just run on winters all year as the loss of grip in the summer is way less than the equivalent gains in the winter.

Why sceptical? Surely as an engineer you can understand the concept of suitable materials for the task?

"As an engineer", half my job is spent telling prople they don't need superfluous stuff.

But yes, I do see the point, and would probably have them if I had garrage space to store them over the summer. I just wouldn't keep them over the summer as i'm far more likley to drive sensibly or not go out at all with summer tyres if it's snowing/icy, than I am to not go out on a hot day because I've go winter tyres.

Sceptism- so you are an engineer who specialises in road tyres and different compounds/temperatures?

Do you need an old MG? 🙂

thisisnotaspoon - Member

i'm far more likley to drive sensibly or not go out at all with summer tyres if it's snowing/icy, than I am to not go out on a hot day because I've go winter tyres.

Wait, you'd not drive on a hot day on winter tyres? That's... hmm.

The main thing about winter tyres in summer is that yes, they perform less well than a summer tyre in the hot and dry. But that's the time when you least need that performance- so it becomes about trading some performance in ideal conditions, against performance in less than ideal conditions. That doesn't seem like a hard decision.

And they [i]can[/i] still deliver good performance- mine are much better than the no-name pish that most folks seem happy with. I can ask more of them than they have, but not by accident.

I don't use winter tyres, primeraly as I don't have garrage space to store them over the summer,

Merit Tyre (south, south eastish independant) offer a free tyre hotel if you buy from them and pay a few quid to swap twice a year. Seems a good solution to me, compared with buying and storing spare wheels.

I don't use winter tyres, primeraly as I don't have garrage space to store them over the summer,

hora - these threads have always descended into ego fuelled debates about one's driving ability being able to negate the 'need' for winter tyres. That type of sanctimony isn't being aired today...yet.