Winter/all season tyres

Kurtis_Blue

Running winter in summer is not a good idea due to the diminished performance, better to just buy a spare set of cheap steel wheels for the winter tyres as they do in the alps etc..
Driving on proper winter tyres in the right conditions is superb the difference is massive.

Edit: just read the post RE:insurance charges for swapping wheels, thats just shocking.

Yogibear

I got tyres you use winter and summer on my 4wd online[blackcircles ?] you buy them from them and they arrange a garage local to you, to fit them

AdrianHi

Yogibear wrote: »

I got tyres you use winter and summer on my 4wd online[blackcircles ?] you buy them from them and they arrange a garage local to you, to fit them

All season tyres are a half way house between the 2 in every way, tread life and ice / winter performance (a video on youtube demonstrates this). If you really cannot manage 2 sets of wheels better than summer tyres all year round.
I found Continental Premium Contact 2's to be excellent in snow / slush considering they are not a winter tyre. I then find they are regarded as an all season tyre. They lasted 20,000 miles on a car that will go 25,000+ on say Michelin Pilot Primacy HP's which are very good but strictly a summer tyre as they are completely hopeless in slush / wet snow.

DCFC79

Never knew you could get winter tyres, are they worth it ? whats the difference

anewman

DCFC79 wrote: »

Never knew you could get winter tyres, are they worth it ? whats the difference

Normal tyres need to be warm to grip. Like in F1 where they do a warm up lap and have to keep the tyres hot etc (they keep them heated in a jacket thing before going out on the track). So a little bit of snow, your tyres cool down and won't grip so well. Winter tyres grip at colder temperatures and have a softer compound. They are common in many other European countries, particularly ones with more harsh winters. Few in the UK seems to know or care about them.

They are worth it if you want improved grip in cold conditions

neilmcl

anewman wrote: »

Few in the UK seems to know or care about them.

Because we rarely have winters long or sever enough to make them useful enough to have.

focae

AdrianHi wrote: »

What about getting around the insurance company problem by getting a second set of identical wheels?

Price up a set of standard Ford alloys and you'll know why:eek:

anewman

focae wrote: »

Price up a set of standard Ford alloys and you'll know why:eek:

If your car is suitably old they may be available from a scrap yard.

focae

58 reg - and getting four good ones the same from a scrappy probably difficult

vaio

7 degrees is generally reckoned to be the change over point, mine go on in nov or dec and come off in feb or march.

The extra grip in the cold is really noticeable and the extra grip in the slush & snow is really really noticeable. The big downside is our winters are -1 one day and 10 or 11 the next, once the temp gets up towards 9-10 degree point they seem to “squirm” particularly under braking and don’t grip as well as my summer tyres.

I think the wear thing sort of evens out with both lasting two years ish, I do 13-15k miles a year and do tend to change them well before the minimum tread limit as well as buying tyres from the grippy end of the market