Any opinions on winter tyres?
 

Hi all I would like some advice on winter tyres.

I have just bought a second hand set of alloys 205/50/16's for my turbo 2000 wagon.

I have found these:-
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.p...110&sowigan=Wi

Should I go for the cheapest, as they will only get used for a short while.

But bearing in mind I have to buy 2 new sport tyres too.

Going to be a pricey month!

Anyone have any experience of snow tyres last winter?

What do you use?

Was chatting about this to my mate last night who is from Norway, so I guessed he`d have more of a clue than me about this type of thing.

And he said BEST tyres are Nokians, he used studded ones, but illegal here iirc, and next he said another Nokian tyre, but also that his mother bought Nankang Winter tyres and they were really good.

He also said once the temp goes above 7 degrees, they are next to useless, over 10+ and can get dangerous. He also said if you store them in the dark and treat them (special stuff) they will last for a good few years.

Why don`t we get told about these things and get real snow??

Hi. From my experience I can say that second hand/part worn winter tyres are much better than the best summer tyres. Personally I wouldn't go for expensive winter tyres, especially in this country. The winters are not that strong.

I was hoping someone from the euro zone would have some advice :) as like you say Jimbob they get proper snow!

I just had a look at Nokain tyres they don't do a tyre my size. Guess it was meant to be to get a cheaper option!

Like you say ScoobyForLife27 we don't get a full on snow fall for long only a week or so.

Bet you this year we don't get any snow!

Believe me, I'm from Poland and I know about proper Winters :-)

It's all about the rubber compound the tyre is made from. Winter tyres are much softer than summer ones, that's why they perform that good in cold, snow and icy conditions. As Jimbob said, they're rubbish and might be even dangerous in normal, warm conditions above +7 degrees. Most people think that they should put winter tyres on only because of snow which is not exactly true. Temperature is the key.

I have been seeing that magic number 7 deg C alot.

Like you say it's a soft rubber!

I have decided to go for the cheap ones I found.

I have to have a thermometer stuck to the car so I know when to take them off :)

Thanks guys for you input!

:notworthy

New issue of EVO has a review of winter tyres.

I put a set of Nankan's on the wife's Impreza last winter and they were excellent value for money!

I had Nokians on my Impreza last winter, it was unstopable, went anywhere and everywhere through deep snow, icey roads, slush and muck all no problem.

I will be fitting them on again probably next month.

As for using winter tyres when above 7 deg C, I have a set on my work van, from last November, they've been on all year and are great. They have not melted or worn away to nothing and are far, far better than the cheap tyres that were fitted to it when I bought it. I suspect your Norwegian mate was talking about his studded tyres on normal roads being lethal, rather than a quality winter optimised tyre being lethal in temps above 10 Deg C.

Guys you forgot on one thing,Winter tyres don't work only when is outside snow,they're working too if temp outside are bellow 5-7c or if outside is icy conditions,when all weather/summer tyres will not work properly.

Wish you have here law which this will require,will be lot less crashes and lot less claims and possibly your premium will not go up every year


Jura

Thanks Jura.
That's exactly what I said. Read post #6 :-)

You also put wrong/misleading info there, about winter tyres being dangerous in temps above 7 deg C.

I'm just trying to sort out a set of spare alloys myself, so I can get some winter tyres fitted to them. The last two winters have been pretty severe up here in the North East and I didn't enjoy going to work in 12-18" of snow last winter with Potenza RE070s fitted, especially since I work shifts and am often one of the first cars to use the roads on a morning... It's a shame the wife has an S2000 and needs my Stilo when it's icy/snowy, otherwise the Scoob wouldn't leave the garage on those days!

There's a company on e-bay that sells a wide range of partworn winter tyres in lots of different sizes. I'm thinking about getting mine from there, as I won't do a lot of miles on them. You can get a set of premium brand ones for about £175, which is a big saving on new.

Trogg,
By saying above 7, I mean in normal conditions, such as sunny, dry and warm day for example +10. If you want you can do a simple braking test on winter and summer tyres in temperature around +10 and tell me the difference. Winter tyres are too soft to use in above temperatures. And saying "dangerous" I didn't mean to say that they'll kill you or something, but they might not stop you or makes you turn in time you want them to. They just not as good as summer tyre.

And TBH with You, I don't believe that you were satisfied from handling/performance when running on winter tyres all year. Are you sure they were proper winter tyres Not a "All season tyres" ? Because that make a big difference.

Also, +7 doesn't mean the first day when temperature dropped to this low. It means the average temperature during a day. I'm just telling this from my experience with winter tyres, and I'm pretty sure I'm right. You can always ask some specialist and see what they will tell you.

Any links to cheap winter tyres??

Think we should get a deal if a few of us are looking to get tyres.

Best two websites selling tyres I know are:
www.Camskill.co.uk and www.mytyres.co.uk

Have look on this website

http://www.clickontyres.com/wintertyres


Jura

If you look at my first post you can see where I got mine from.

http://www.mytyres.co.uk

I found them to be the cheapest as we may have another harsh winter I want to be prepared, especially as my misses is due our second child at the end of november I didn't want to take the risk.
I heard that we were in for a cold snap end of october and wanted to get ready for it.

Last year I hit a kerb in the snow (My drive slopes down hill) damage to wish bone, bent alloy, wheel bearing went not long after.

Wow, didn't realise this would cause such a debate!

But like what ScoobyForLife has said, I have read that using winter tyres in ambient temperatures above 7 deg C can be unsuitable for the rubber as it is a softer compound to enable the tyre to grip in colder conditions.

Using a winter tyre in temperatures above 7 deg C, I would imagine would cause the tyre to wear out quicker and would not behave as well as a summer/all weather tyre.

Not that I'm an expert this is just what I have found out while researching into winter/snow tyres.

They are 'proper' winter studless tyres.

Hankook Winter RW06.

They tyres originally fitted were a mixture of budget brands, the best of which was a GT Radial Maxmiler.

I have just looked at Tyretest.com and the Hankook has a better overall average score than the GT, that includes wet and dry handling and braking.

The low scores for the Hankook are for mileage, I'm not overly surprised by that, but I am happy with the wear rate which in my opinion is not excessive for the use I have had (and still will have) from the tyres.

The original tyres would make the traction control intervene when pulling away from junctions in the damp, I have not seen the traction control light come on/activate since the last of the snow with the new tyres.

My intention was to change the tyres back and I was looking for a spare set of wheels to put the old tyres onto, but since there was no drop off in performance and they were performing better than the originals, I never bothered changing back or buying new wheels etc.

Now I'm not saying that against a premium brand tyre that the winters would still perfomr better, I'm not saying the Hankooks are the best winter tyre, I'm not saying I would advise anyone to run the Hankooks in place of Gt Radials or any other tyre, I'm just highlighting the fact that (some) winter tyres can perform perfectly well throughout the year (and in my case better than a normal/summer tyre). And that using them in temps over 7 or even 10 Deg C is not necissarily lethal/dangerous/likely to result in a fireball.

As for advice about when to change onto winter tyres I would say it depends on each individual and their circumstances/use of vehicle.
If you use your car primarily for commuting in the morning and evening then I would discount the daytime average temperature and look at the specific average tempratures for the time of day you use your car, these will generally be lower than the all day average, so when the morning/evening average is nearing or below 7C then that is the time to look at changing, though the daytime average may well be nearer 10C.
Hope that make sense.

I bought some rally pirelli forest/gravel tyres for my 15 alloys, were cheap and can imagine they'll be lethal in the snow, will hoy them on when the snow lands

is it not worth considering snow socks? they have some great reviews, cheaper than snow tyres and you dont have to knob about with another set of alloys......

Snow Socks are good only for Snow, winter tyres cope better with other low temperature issues, the main one being the summer tyres are too hard in low temperatures and dont create enough "gripping corners"

https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-...ml#post9756060

search is your friend.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19.../photo3-25.jpg

these are my new winter tyres, 16" £50 each fitted

jake

What are they and where from?

there a remold, but a few work collegues used them on works vans and really rated them,

there from rossendale vulcanising

Do most local tyre places do remoulds? I wouldnt even know who to ask for them.

I understand the need for winter tyres when there,s snow/slush/ice on the ground but seriously if people have a problem with there normal all weather tyres not working below 7 degrees then they should look at their driving judgement

I take if you have never had Bridgestone RE070's fitted? ;)

Winter tyres may become the norm soon, our winters go through cycles and the last few years have been cold.
Winter tyres on dry roads in the cold will stop considerably quicker than a summer tyre because a summer tyre needs heat in it to make it perform at its best, winter tyres, being of a softer compound, dont need as much heat so they perform better in the cold.

Its not just marketing bs, they do out perform summer tyres considerably in the cold.

Tony:)