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Thinking of getting some winter tyres for my astra estate as I do 30,000 miles a year. How many times in their life am I likely to be swapping them out? Is it worth a set of steel rims specifically for them? I've read suggestions that it's worth fitting narrower tyres if doing this. How much smaller than my 205 55 r16 should I go?
Cheers.
The idea is to get taller and narrower tyres as it helps with grip in snow.
55 profile tyres are pretty tall already though.
go to mytyres.co.uk they have a winter tyre selector that recommends the correct wheel and tyre size if you are buying tyres and wheel.
Tyres and wheels will be much less hassle assuming you have somewhere to store the wheels
just ordered tyres and wheels from mytyres. Cost was only about 15 quid a wheel more than just tyres from Kwik fit, etc.
Cheers guys.
Off to have a look at mytyres.
The only reason to replace wheels as well is to protect your summer wheels really. If there's A LOT of snow, then curbs can be hard to see making it more likely to curb the wheels parking etc.
I got winter wheels for my car but that was 'cos they were 18" and winter tyres that size were very expensive. It was cheaper to buy 17" wheels and tyres...
Depending on the car you have to be careful with smaller wheels that they don't foul the disk caliper. You'll also want to get the right ratio tyre so that your speedo reading is still accurate...
Winter tyres can be used all year round.
Summer tyres are OK for HOT summers.
We bought 4 Kuhmo Izens from MyTyres a couple of weeks ago and had them fitted to the existing steel wheels. The temperature has since been exceptionally mild, rarely below 7 degrees, but they still work fine. They come in 205 x 55 x 16 91V, as per summer tyres so there are no worries about speedo calibration or altering the overall spec of the car.
Due to an error on my part I have two brand new Toyo Snowprox for sale 215 55 17's. See for sale section for details
As you know, for winter tyres you want narrower ones than normal. Your 205/55 tyres, are 205mm wide, and the height is 55% of the width, so 113mm. You can normally go slightly narrower on your existing rims, or much narrower if you buy narrower steel wheels.
The point being, you should look for a height ratio that keeps your overall tyre circumference close to the original size, so your speedo reads correctly. There are tyre calculators if you google.
What sort of mileage do people get out of winter tyres if they drive like an old fart? Just wondering if I'll get two winters out of a set. If so, wheels makes sense as cost is off set against paying to have them fitted. If they have to come off because they're worn out, I might as well use the existing rims.
Just ordered a set for Mrs Gti's Citroen C1, we've used winter tyres on hire cars in the Alps and been amazed at how good they are. If she's out on business (she uses the car for work) and it snows at least she'll be confident of getting home and if we get a big dump I can use her car to go to work.
A question for the tyre experts...
My car has 205/55 R16 summer tyres. Mytyres lists winter tyre and wheel sets for my car either in the same size, or in 195/65 R15. The smaller ones are cheaper, but will they fit? It's a C-max 1.6 TDCI.
Thanks.
Is it worth going for "name" brands of winter tyre e.g. Nokian, Dunlop or are the comically named far eastern tyres any good?
Mytyres - still waiting on delivery of in stock tyres over 2 weeks after ordering them, just away to enquire about them again.
Winter tyres can be used all year round.
Summer tyres are OK for HOT summers
Winter tyres can be used all year round but they will wear out in absolutely no time in warm weather.
However summer tyres wear a lot in winter, so if you run two sets of tyres you'll get more than twice the mileage from them.
Personally I would not bother with narrower tyres because whilst that might help in deep soft snow, that's only a few days a year, whereas winter tyres help a lot on cold tarmac, black ice, mud, rain etc etc and for those I would think width would help.
Nokian winter tyres are probably the best for us as they are designed for snow but also rain, mud and slush in warmer climates with variable winter conditions. Also they are scilica compound (as are many other decent brands I think) which means they should last ages. Having done a winter on mine I think they are probably going to expire due to age rather than tread wear which would be 5 years or so. I drove to Germany, all round the Alps for 3 months and then back, and they still look new.
To answer the OP I haven't got spare wheels because they weren't cheap when I looked, but I will probably get some eventually. It'll help storing them because you are only supposed to stack uninflated tyres four high.
The only reason to replace wheels as well is to protect your summer wheels really.
I would say the main reason is convenience. You don't have to take it to the garage to get them changed over, you can do it in your drive.
What sort of mileage do people get out of winter tyres if they drive like an old fart? Just wondering if I'll get two winters out of a set.
Guy who has just fitted mine reckoned on maybe four seasons out of them but then I don't do a huge amount of miles or trash 'em.
If you do 30k per year I would suggest having seperate sets of tyres. My local dealer charges £8 per tyre to change them over so that is an extra £64 per year which may well pay for a set of rims. 195/65/15 is usually a good match to your current size however some people say they get clearance issues with the discs.
Event tyres had some great prices on four season tyres I use Hankook Optimo 4s and they are a fantastic compromise, I know from first hand experience that they outperform Kumho & Marshal's that I have used in the snow and without question in the wet. Fuel economy will take a very slight knock though.
You can leave a decent wearing winter tyre on the back and it will last for ages (Nokian wrg2 for example). My local garage sells your size of tyre for £80 fitted (Hankook w310) which is far cheaper than mytyres so do phone around. You should get two to three years at that mileage.
I'd add that I went from a typical 50mpg to a typical 53mpg when I swapped Dunlop Sports for Nokian WR G2 winter tyres. Very impressed.
molgrips - MemberI'd add that I went from a typical 50mpg to a typical 53mpg when I swapped Dunlop Sports for Nokian WR G2 winter tyres. Very impressed.
I would concur, the only time the Nokians seem to wear or effect fuel economy is when the temperature gets to mid 20's plus. They are a great UK tyre but they don't win ultimate snow competitions.
To Ransos -
My car has 205/55 R16 summer tyres. Mytyres lists winter tyre and wheel sets for my car either in the same size, or in 195/65 R15.
Mine too. If you put 'Tyre size calculator' into Google you can work it out as it tells you the size / circumference and so on. The sizes you mention are pretty much identical, although when your speedo says 60mph with your current tyres the real speed will be 60.2 so watch out for those speed cameras. I'm going for the 195s simply becasue they're about £10 cheaper, therefore £40 saving (and they're a bit narrower and taller)
Thanks Pieface. I was looking at the smaller wheels for the same reason - about a £100 saving for 4 wheels if comparing the same brand of tyre in both sizes.