Tyre Types

kadison

After my head being practically caved in (mentally not physically!), by my accident repair shop re tyre types (one person knowing most of this, the rest knowing nothing and the internet filling in the rest) I think I have finally gleaned that there are four tyre types......

SUMMER - Harder rubber so might split in very cold weather, often used year-round in this country but don't have the best grip in icy or snowy conditions. Can easily be recognised for the lack of sipes (squiggles in tyre as below - all-season tyres with sipes are on the left)

http://www.oponeo.co.uk/gfx/Articles/zagraniczne/summer%20or%20all%20season.jpg

ALL-SEASON - Softer rubber, often sold as Winter tyres in this country, might wear out quicker (though mine have lasted longer than the summer ones on my old car), noisier but better road holding at lower temperatures.

WINTER - Soft rubber, for bare roads at cold temperatures and in snow and ice and can't be used in temps above 7 degrees so good for alpine driving etc (Not used in this country as a general rule, so 'winter' tyres sold in this country are normally 'all-season')

STUDDED TYRES - Not sold in UK and only for the deep, compacted ice/snow you get in Canada, Eastern Europe etc.

I hope this helps someone, I've felt like I'm going mad these past couple of days trying to sort out why summer tyres were put on my car to replace the 'winter' ones, when the 'winter' ones were in fact all-season and I wanted all-season not summer, it's a long story but my gorgeous golf will shortly have its proper tyres back on soon!

AdrianC

Normal tyres in this country _are_ "summer" tyres. All-seasons are all but unknown here.

Winters have been getting better known over the last few years - they grip better even on dry tarmac once the temperature gets below about 5degC, but ride harsher and use more fuel. They certainly can be used all year - but they'll not grip so well in warm weather, and will wear quicker.

The main difference between the three is the rubber compound, rather than the tread pattern which, on summer tyres, is more down to styling than anything else.

Iceweasel

That's not bad kadison - but there are a few points in your post I can't agree with.

Here's my brief take on it.

Summer tyres - fitted to most new cars in the UK - useless in snow and ice.

All-Season tyres - fitted to most 4x4 off-road capable vehicles in the UK, but NOT on RangeRover Sports, BMW X3/X5, M-Benz ML types, and Audi Quattros - as they are designed primarily as fast road-going machines. Often with M7S markings - Mud and Snow.

Winter tyres - true winter tyres have the 'Snowflake on the Mountain' symbol on them - can be used all year round by folks who only want to have one set of tyres/wheels. Better to have Winter tyres in Summer than Summer tyres inWinter.

Studded tyres - can only be used on snow covered roads - so not much use in the UK where we seem to prefer to rely on salt and grit to create snow free patches on asphalt here and there when it snows - so we have no long sections of totally snow covered roads. It would be difficult if not impossible to use studded tyres in the UK for almost any journey and meet the legal requirement of not damaging the road surface

See here for some info regarding winter tyres, studded tyres etc. in Europe which might help:

http://conti-central.co.uk/winter-tyres/winter-driving-laws-across-western-europe/

Iceweasel

Yes it's a generalization - as I wanted to keep it brief Adrian.

It's a huge subject any many tyres just do not fit into the usual neat categories.

I'm sure we could both write a book on it.

But who would read it? LOL

gilbert_and_sullivan

Good quality genuine all season tyres ARE snowflake/mountain marked, lots of these about and in the best cases (Goodyear 4 Seasons and Vredestein Quatrac to name but two) are very good.

M&S marking is misleading to many, it has no reference to tread compounds, which are desperately important, but refer solely to the tread patterns.

forgotmyname

Summer tyres dont split when cold. Unless your talking at least -50 or colder.

They can freeze with a flat spot though. But soon goes away when driven and warm them slightly.

kadison

Iceweasel wrote: »

That's not bad kadison - but there are a few points in your post I can't agree with.

Here's my brief take on it.

Summer tyres - fitted to most new cars in the UK - useless in snow and ice.

I wouldn't say they're useless, up until last year I drove on summer tyres year-round and while they certainly weren't brilliant, they did get me safely out of the ice rink that my close turned into.

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Good quality genuine all season tyres ARE snowflake/mountain marked, lots of these about and in the best cases (Goodyear 4 Seasons and Vredestein Quatrac to name but two) are very good.

M&S marking is misleading to many, it has no reference to tread compounds, which are desperately important, but refer solely to the tread patterns.

I have Kleber Quadraxers on my car (well I will once the garage sort themselves out!), I think they have literally all those markings on them and are brilliant in all weathers.

forgotmyname wrote: »

Summer tyres dont split when cold. Unless your talking at least -50 or colder.

They can freeze with a flat spot though. But soon goes away when driven and warm them slightly.

When I say split, I mean the little cracks and splits you get, not a huge blow-out split, I personally have had that problem in the past, it's the same sort of splitting/cracking you get when your tyre is very old and the rubber is deteriorating. Though this was with cheaper tyres, I haven't had any problems in the last decade as I used Pirelli and now Kleber, not the rubbish budget ones I used to use.

Iceweasel

I would agree with your choice of all-season tyre there, kadison.

The Kleber Quadraxer is a damn good all-round tyre.

I'm pleased that Michelin didn't dump the Kleber brand - it has a huge loyal following - in France especially of course.

They were the rally tyre in the early 80s.

kadison

Iceweasel wrote: »

I would agree with your choice of all-season tyre there, kadison.

The Kleber Quadraxer is a damn good all-round tyre.

I'm pleased that Michelin didn't dump the Kleber brand - it has a huge loyal following - in France especially of course.

They were the rally tyre in the early 80s.

Oh I didn't know about the rallying past!

I can't really take much credit, they were the tyres that were on my 18-month-old Golf when I bought it a year ago and after a year and around 8000-10000 miles, they are still at 7mm! Hoping they can replace the front ones, both were damaged, one had a bulge due to kerbing (oops, there's me swinging around corners too fast!) and one was wrapped around a buckled alloy :eek: but I do live in pothole city so I guess I should have seen it coming! Though the car was driving so well that the buckled alloy was only discovered during a routine service!

Iceweasel

Here you go -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mich%C3%A8le_Mouton

Same vintage as myself LOL.

French woman, French tyres - they even forgave her for driving a German car.

They loved her - and still do.

Iceweasel

Amazingly she has just been mentioned on BBC4 - Freeview Channel 9 right this very moment.