Winter tyres?

bigjl

Once the average british driver gets over the alien concept of two sets of wheels then I think the idea of a set of winter tyres for Oct to Mar will catch on, I think it comes down to the average british mentality, or should I say specifically Londoner, as a lot of my relatives and mates north of the border are seriously looking into winter tyres, and see the advantage of having a more focussed set of tyres on your car.

The average britsh driver wants the tyres as cheap as possible, and to last as long as possible.

However where I come from people don't skimp on things like car maintenance and tyres, in fact there are only two tyre shops in the area, and neither stocks cheap tyres like LingLongs or similar, just Michelin, Continental, GoodYear though a fair few have the all weather Vredestien tyres, Vredestiens have been popular in my home town for the best part of twenty years.

I had never seen people take so little care of thier expensive cars until I moved to London, cheapest mineral oil available in a Subaru XT or Mercedes 420 SE, remoulds, mix and match sets of tyres, it was a real culture shock, for example my dad always bought his cars new, and when they needed tyres he would always replace like with like, or the improved version of the tyre if no longer made.

In London I have seen loads of cars with 4 mismatched tyres with one being a winter tyre, since most used tyres come from Germany that would explain the occasional winter tyre popping up, though you just can't imagine a German driver putting on cheap tyres can you?


I think a culture change towards specific sets of tyres more suited to the season will make the UK roads much safer. Though at the moment there is just a need to keep the roads from being gridlocked by pillocks that think a set of LingLongs with 2mm of tread is the best way to get around in the winter months.

Though I must admit the Avon ZV3's, fitted to the wifes Clio just before the snow, gripped really well in the snow, it had Continental Contacts on the front last year, brand new, and they where lethal, no traction atall, though it still has these on the rear, and the car feels well balanced, lateral grip isn't the issue, traction is, but the tread on the conti's is like 5 or 6 straight lines of rubber, a bit like the old F1 tyres, the Avons have a soft to touch compound, and a very aggressive assymetric tread pattern, I can only imagine how sure footed the car would be with a set of good quality winter tyres on it.

andy8442

As this is a money saving website, I'd just thought I'd add this piece of advice for anyone thinking of buying winter tyres.

Buy smaller tyres. Thats it!

Look at your car, then look at the cheapest spec version of said car and find out what wheels and tyres are on that. They will be smaller and cheaper probably. My 235/45 R17s would have cost 3 times the price with winter tryes, but 205/65 R16s with wheels off ebay for £50. Less than half the price.

Oh and buy 4, and buy the cheapest brand. You'll never get the benefit in this country of the premium brands.


Anyone who just puts 2 on......nutters!

sunshinetours

andy8442 wrote: »

As this is a money saving website, I'd just thought I'd add this piece of advice for anyone thinking of buying winter tyres.

Buy smaller tyres. Thats it!

Look at your car, then look at the cheapest spec version of said car and find out what wheels and tyres are on that. They will be smaller and cheaper probably. My 235/45 R17s would have cost 3 times the price with winter tryes, but 205/65 R16s with wheels off ebay for £50. Less than half the price.

Oh and buy 4, and buy the cheapest brand. You'll never get the benefit in this country of the premium brands.


Anyone who just puts 2 on......nutters!

And then slide off the road in the mainly wet winter conditions we have. Plenty of tests online showing the poor wet (and dry) performance of cheap Asian import makes of winter tyre. They are fine if you are mainly driving on snow and slush throughout the winter copmpared to summer tyres but not even close to premium winter tyre performance

If their summer tyres are rubbish why buy their winter tyres - certain things are not worth money saving (for all of our sakes not just yours!)

pineapple

Gosh I feel a real numpty as I never asked the garage the brand of tyre they were fitting. Both the Peugeot dealer and the village garage were quoting around £60 each including fitting. Plus they are 'directional tyres. Whatever that means!
Anyway I got some as I live in a rural spot and winters seem to be getting colder for longer. It's alright talking about staying off the roads in bad weather. Try telling your boss why you are not at work the third day in a row because you thought the weather looked dodgy. Plus you get days when it is fine at the start then....
A couple of weeks back I was the last car to make it back to my snowy home. Other cars were slipping and sliding. Money well spent.

Wammer

Looking to buy winter tyres online as I can't get my size locally.

I am leaning towards Cooper Weathermaster Snow XL from Reifen over Nankang Snow SV-2 from My Tyres. Any thoughts?

The question I really need help with is this, my tyres are 205/50/17 93W. The only tyres I can find that size only have a speed index of H. Will this make any difference?

mikey72

Wammer wrote: »

Looking to buy winter tyres online as I can't get my size locally.

I am leaning towards Cooper Weathermaster Snow XL from Reifen over Nankang Snow SV-2 from My Tyres. Any thoughts?

The question I really need help with is this, my tyres are 205/50/17 93W. The only tyres I can find that size only have a speed index of H. Will this make any difference?

As mytyres have a good range of V rated, you could be hard pushed to justify dropping to H rated ones if your oe spec is W.

Wammer

Thanks. I'm not keen on the Nankang tyres from MyTyres as I read that Asia tyres are not good in the wet. I tried to find reviews and the Coopers are classed as a mid-range tyre and the Nankangs are only classed as budget.

None of the tyre places I called even asked the speed index, only the size.

I have found Coopers from Reifen with a speed index of 93V. Would this be the better option? I don't want to go and order the wrong thing, but I would really like to order these today if possible as we have just had a ton of snow again yesterday and today and the tyres I have are useless.

jeferey

According to www.honestjohn.co.uk.......
Tyres approved by both car and tyre manufacturers for winter are sometimes of a lower speed rating than the standard tyres as they tend to run warmer owing to their special winter compound. This lower rating is appropriate for winter conditions. For example, the winter tyre fitment for a vehicle equipped with a "V" rated summer tyre (for sustained speeds of up to 150 mph) might be "H" rated (up to130 mph, almost double the UK national speed limit) in the equivalent winter pattern.

Rossy.

As said

"H" rated winter tyres is the most common from what i've seen

"H" is rate to 130mph which is more than enough for normal conditions let alone winter conditions. It's the load index that's more important to me for obvious reasons

mikey72

Wammer wrote: »

Thanks. I'm not keen on the Nankang tyres from MyTyres as I read that Asia tyres are not good in the wet. I tried to find reviews and the Coopers are classed as a mid-range tyre and the Nankangs are only classed as budget.

None of the tyre places I called even asked the speed index, only the size.

I have found Coopers from Reifen with a speed index of 93V. Would this be the better option? I don't want to go and order the wrong thing, but I would really like to order these today if possible as we have just had a ton of snow again yesterday and today and the tyres I have are useless.

The V is the better option.