Matteeboy

Still not gone below 4 degrees; 6 at the moment but with a cold wind. Bodmin does get chillier than here.

New Geolanders on the Outback should cope with a Cornish Winter.

f1_fan

iTrader: (9)

No, it didn't happen It's a conspiracy I tell thee

wilkoca

Anyone going to bother this year - last winter was so mild I think i only scraped the windscreen 3 times.

scoobyskool

iTrader: (1)

i just got mine ready for "snowmageddon" :-) ,,, obviously not on a scoob though

Benji554

iTrader: (18)

Just put my Nokian WR's back on as the missus got a puncture on our summer wheels. First time I ever used winter tyres last year and although last year was mild I am converted. A perfect example: I watched my missus drive down the slight hill (icy) from our house into a 90 right no problem at all. 5 mins later a neighbours BMW travelled down the same little hill, failed to make the turn and ended up almost in someone's front room.

BoozyDave

iTrader: (8)

I will be putting my winters on in the next month or 2

Trix-wrx

I fully believe in winter tyres since I first put them about 5 years ago after crashing the year before. Got Yokohama w-drives ready for a month time or so. They don't make your car invincible in the snow but they do make a huge difference and I swear by them

GWJ

Got a new set of Dunlop Winter Sport 5, will probably put them on in the next week or two, want to get them scrubbed in before the Daily Fail "worst winter in 50 years" gets here.


My last set of Falken Eurowinters lasted 4 winters, pleased with that but they were totally shot after they came off earlier this year.


As an aside if you getting some winter boots, now is the time to get some, if you wait until November/December they will cost each £20 more for the same ones. If it snows, they will be each £40 more for the same ones

c_maguire

I bought some Winter tyres for my Astravan (215/45/17) last year as a test.
Yokohama 902s I think, £90 a corner.

Pretty unimpressed. Not exactly a harsh Winter, I don't remember any snow here, but it was wet frequently and down to as low as -4 a few times.

Down to freezing they were worse than the Eagle F1s I took off. Around freezing and lower they were probably much of a muchness.


This magic cloak aura surrounding Winter tyres just makes me wonder what sort of crap tyres people are running in the Summer.

December time they'll go on again as my tyres are nearly shagged, so I'll see if I feel the same second time around.

GWJ

Yokos did very poorly in the group test.


http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article...g-Overview.htm

Brun

I have the Yokos and kind of agree that they offer nothing extra in the wet or cold however, there is a significant improvement in ice conditions.
When it snows my car (330d) becomes downright dangerous if it does get going which is unlikely. I have been sat on a perfectly flat road in maybe 2" of snow and it simply wouldn't move an inch. I bobbed the winter tyres on when it snowed over Christmas last year and took it out to find a snowy hill just to see how well it did. I managed to get half way up the hill, stop and then set of again with little wheel spin and made it to the top of the hill.
Most importantly for me, the car feels safe in the snow whereas on the summer tyres I would simply be too scared to venture out!
Next time round I will buy some winters that are a bit further up the ratings table

c_maguire

Note though that they acknowledge that the unnamed Summer tyre used as a comparison was as good as their best Winter tyre in the wet braking test.
We don't know what that Summer tyre was, but I suspect it wasn't the best from their Summer tyre test, and had it been it would have beaten all the Winter tyres in wet braking.

I'm still of the opinion that, provided you use one of the better Summer tyres, that putting Winter tyres on is a pointless exercise unless you do this because snow is an issue for you.
The only other worry for us is ice, and as far as I'm concerned only spiked tyres would convince me I had decent grip in those conditions.

c_maguire

I expect that the effects are somewhat exaggerated on a RWD vehicle, I have only had FWD all AWD for ages.

Brun

c_maguire

I'm not entirely sure why you are making that point, as I doubt anyone is likely to dispute that Winter tyres are going to perform better in snow than Summer tyres.

However for most of us snow rarely ever happens, and if it does the salt or temperature usually means it is slush anyway.

For the sake of a handful of days for most of us, it makes more sense to drive more cautiously, particularly as even on those handful of days the benefits are likely to be questionable anyway.

Budget tyres are probably the biggest issue irrespective of conditions.

GWJ

Swapped mine over today





Shiny new set of Dunlop Winter Sport 5. On the right is a Michelin Primacy 3. Utterly and totally useless when the bad stuff lands

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I'll be fitting my winter tyres onto my Peugeot 208 when the temps drop a bit more, of course paying the cost of "budget v premium" makes a difference, my Conti's are great winter tyres, proven in Scotland last year, 3 cars, 2 had AWD of some form except my fwd pug.
Only 1 of the AWD cars had winter tyres (conti's also), the other didnt and ran on summer tyres.... the result was the awd with summer tyres was left behind and us winter tyre fitted cars were more than happy, even with the patch of ice we encountered

Anyone who thinks that its not worth fitting winter tyres over summer because of the lack of snow has no idea where the benefits of winter tyres come in, there are NOT Snow tyres, they are WINTER tyres and perform better in the cold weather and wet, giving better grip and braking ability.

c_maguire

Please just show me the wet braking test where your Winter tyres manage to outbrake the likes of Eagle F1s, ContiSportContact5s etc.
Don't post anything with ice or snow in it.

markjmd

iTrader: (11)

Wet braking at what temperature? Completely pointless test IMO unless it was done at 5C or thereabouts, the point at which the difference in compound in winter tyres is actually supposed to make a difference.


Edit:
I would want to see braking performance of both types of tyre in the wet at that temperature.

c_maguire

As I said, no ice or snow. There'll be no point in anyone comparing the wet braking of Winters and Summers at higher temps (above 5 degrees) as the Winters will get slaughtered. The 11 degrees claim is utter boll@cks. My experience is that premium Summer tyres outbrake Winter tyres in the wet full stop. It gets close at very cold temps under braking, but I found the cornering grip of the Summers to be better in the wet whatever the temp (braking allows the sipes of the Winters to bite into the surface due to the added movement in the 'rubber' but this effect is not as significant in cornering where the tyre isn't loaded as heavily).

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Sorry, complete bollocks, summer tyres wont perform as well in cold, wet temps as winter tyres do, its basic fact due to the tread pattern (not as good at clearing water as a winter tyre) and the compound.
If you want to see the results then just look at the tests done by the likes of autocar, adac etc which all show the benefits of winter tyres and the 3-5m better braking over premium summer tyres.

c_maguire

Strange that in that Autobild test GWJ linked the secret Summer tyre had a wet braking distance equal to the Winter winner.

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Amazingly all the ones ive seen and compared in cold temps show the winter tyres outperforming the summer tyres by miles in wet cold conditions.

c_maguire

That tread pattern/clearing water argument is total guff, Summer tyres have had that cracked for years. Any benefits Winter tyres have will be compound based only (sipes aside, but their benefits/disadvantages are elsewhere for the most part).

c_maguire

You'd best link some then like GWJ.

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

this proves it no snow here

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I don't need to put anything up, you have to prove it and it has to be shown that the temps are below the recommended for winter tyres as that is when they begin to perform.
Having driven on summer tyres (expensive premium ones) and winter tyres in winter, I will stick with my winter tyres thanks so when you need pulling out of the ditch because you lost traction on your summer tyres, I will just laugh and drive off (honestly if you really think summer tyres are better in winter then stick with them, only a fool would tbh, especially if you do any form of driving in area's that gets and stays cold over winter).

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

this one is even better even in just the wet/cold 7mtrs gets my vote

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

tony i converted about 4 years ago the difference is mental, i will take my winters over toyo t1rs all day long snow or no snow, they grip miles better in the cold/wet

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

They sure are its not just the figures though, its also the handling, virtually no aquaplaning where as the summers would a bit, braking ability on different surfaces etc, it is night and day