Winter tyres... worth the price?

Iceweasel

fivetide wrote: »

Correct. There are no winter tyres.

That isn't going to fit on a FireBlade. Nice try but again, I've managed for ten years without them.

That's interesting - me not being a biker, I hadn't even thought of winters not being available for a wide range of machines.

I wasn't trying to be a smart-*ss, I can understand you don't feel the need for them, even if they were available.

I would need stabilizers. LOL

womble12345

I am also tempted by winter tyres as well, my local tyre fitter charges £12.50 to change each tyre so that is £50 every year in November and £50 again in March. Therefore it only seems to make sense if you also buy new wheels which adds to the costs. It must depend a lot on how long you plan on keeping the car. I am still in 2 minds......

fivetide

Dude, I can tell you love your winter wheels, not denying that. Starting to wonder if you are on commission though!

Iceweasel wrote: »

Well GolfBravo did say almost zero.

True

My calculation goes like this.

Buy a set of 2nd hand or re-furbed alloys. Mine cost £300.

I use the winter tyres for 6 months of the year - changing them over when the clocks change and I don't want the look of my car spoiled by having crappy old or black steel wheels.

I bought a set of state of the art winter tyres for £500.

So we've just dropped £800 on a set of tyres we could have had for £250 ?? You have to think, that's a significant outlay for anyone.

I appreciate you can flog the wheels again but still the upfront cost is very high.

Forget the cost of the tyres as you are not using the summer tyres.

Interesting point but you are still using two sets so if your miles stay the same, your wear will not be much different. Also, summer tyres, good ones, can be had for less than winter ones too.

Finally, winter tyres do impact MPG so there is a cost there.

No change over costs twice a year and no wear&tear/damage to the summer alloys. £10 a wheel x 4 = £40 x 2 = £80
The winter tyres should last at least 3 years so that's a saving of £240 perhaps £320 if they last 4 years.

No wear to your alloys is fine but if you say 'ignore the cost of the tyres' you can't then include not paying to swap them over as a cost saving as the cost of keeping the others on is also -£320 over three years.

sums don't add up chap.

If I change car and the winter alloys don't fit then I can sell them on eBay.

So nearly zero cost.

But not as outlined above. Your 'saving' is in having winter tyres on a rim and swapping them yourself when actuially you wouldn't have any cost for swapping if you didn't have winter tyres

But of course I have to store tham and at any given time I won 8 wheels so I have money tied up.

Good point and relates to the initial huge outlay as i said at the start.

Good for you having a garage. What if you live in a second floor flat in central london with no garden and on street parking only?

You can't assume everyone else:

1. has the upfront funds to do this
2. Has the ability/space to store wheels
3. Is mobile enough to change the tyres/wheels themselves

But how much does even a little bump over the winter cost?

Or lost earnings?

For me it's a no brainer.

Don't know. Never had one but then I'm a safe driver. IT is everyone else running about with a inflated sense of safety and bravado on winter tyres I worry about

Seriously though. I don't doubt their benefits. As I said, I had some so for Argrinnall

Anyone who rubbishes winter tyres hasn't used them when the appropriate conditions apply.

I can tell you I have. On a Subaru Impreza, In Scotland. Through some very harsh winters and yes, I sold the alloys when I got rid of the car for what I bought them for but did I notice a massive difference? Not really because I still drove to the road conditions which is why I never bothered to have them fitted to the rear wheel drive mercedes and didn't have a slide/get stuck in three years.

londonTiger

depends on how much you drive and if they're going above a certain speed.

If you drive very little in Winter (or generally do low miles anyway) and it's mainly city driving you should be fine with all season

fivetide

Iceweasel wrote: »

That's interesting - me not being a biker, I hadn't even thought of winters not being available for a wide range of machines.

I wasn't trying to be a smart-*ss, I can understand you don't feel the need for them, even if they were available.

I would need stabilizers. LOL

to be honest, if they were available for the front of the bike, I would be interested but sadly that isn't the case. The big worry isn't the rear sliding out, it is the front collapsing on a slick surface (like fuel spills on roundabouts)

I just think like a lot of things, stability control etc, winter tyres are something that if their properties are needed, then the driver was already travelling too fast for the conditions.

I totally agree they have their place and can be useful, I just didn't feel the benefit in the car.

:beer:

neilmcl

londonTiger wrote: »

depends on how much you drive and if they're going above a certain speed.

If you drive very little in Winter (or generally do low miles anyway) and it's mainly city driving you should be fine with all season

TBH if you do very little winter driving and it's generally in the city then forget all-seasons and just stick to public transport on the odd day its a bit much for you.

fivetide

neilmcl wrote: »

TBH if you do very little winter driving and it's generally in the city then forget all-seasons and just stick to public transport on the odd day its a bit much for you.

This. Especially in London with the tube/trains.

Audi did a great advert a few years ago banging on about how if you had 4x4 you wouldn't get stuck - whilst casually ignoring that a road blocked by numpties is blocked even if you are driving a half track.

That and it only actually snows across most of the UK for like two days a year.

Makes a big difference to those in areas where snow and cold temps are more prevalent. If I was in the Highlands for example, I think I would have winter tyres as a matter of course.

bigjl

Iceweasel wrote: »

There are no winter tyres???????

See here:

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?dsco=110&Cookie=froogle&details=Ordern&typ=MOTO-R-247571&ranzahl=4&nichtweiter=1&pk_campaign=froogle&wt_ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egoogle%2Eco%2Euk%2Faclk%3Fsa%3Dl%26ai%3DCM_4aiV6LUtnqDO_V7AbJxIDABMWGxYMElbrdqW3hyNiw0wEIBRACKAVQ8O2L2Pn_____AWC7zsqD3AqgAcyD9-4DyAEHqQJ1Qgb3pay2PqoEJE_QBjUWUGtsuloyETJ6N4s99qEJOKifIxXmBmvwfUgA_iF1osAFBaAGJoAHq_GcApAHAeASiobQovqdyfhT%26sig%3DAOD64_1P5xlb6XKGD1ZX7xSFk6inDRScxQ%26ctype%3D5%26rct%3Dj%26q%3Dmotorcycle%2Bwinter%2Btyres%26ved%3D0CDUQwg8%26adurl%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eadtraxx%2Ede%2Fwo%2FWebObjects%2Edll%2FVisitTracker%2Ewoa%2Fwa%2Ftrack%253Fid%253D16173356%2526target%253Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eadtraxx%2Ede%2Fwo%2FWebObjects%2Edll%2FVisitTracker%2Ewoa%2Fwa%2Ftrack%25253Fid%25253D14895192%252526unencodedDeep%25253D1%252526deep%25253DMOTO-R-247571&ID=froogle&wt_t=1384865520000

I had looked into winter tyres for a scooter

But living on the outskirts of London means that the benefits are minimal for the use of winter tyres really.

Never used them in Scotland and i drove from West to East in snow storms with ungritted roads many times and never got stuck.

I think we will eventually start to see gradually more use of them but when i had them on my V50 i don't feel they gsve good return on investment.

30/40% dearer than normal tyres.

Had them on LAS vehicles and don't think they made much difference. I never got stuck in the snow previously. And always drove to the conditions as i was trained to.

If you have the money spare and room to store them then go for it.

scheming_gypsy

By the time you've splashed out on new tyres and alloys, you might as well just get a decent set of all weather / season tyres.

Iceweasel

No, no - there is only real one solution to always having the correct tyres for the prevailing road conditions.

You have a service crew following along with a van and roof-rack carrying at least 5 sets of wheels equipped with road-legal slicks, intermediates, wets, etc. etc. ........

It worked for Roger Clark .....