Tyres New Ones Twice Year or Pay for Storage

Herzlos

Most tyre places will store the tyres for you for a few quid. Even if you move away you're probably still cheaper travelling back to get them unless you're moving hundreds of miles each time.

Failing that, go for all season.

Gloomendoom

AdrianC wrote: »

Easier said than done. There are VERY, very few all-season tyres available in the UK. Almost every tyre available here is a summer tyre, although winter tyres are way ahead of all-seasons.

It really isn't that hard if you are prepared to use mail order.

I managed to find them for all our vehicles.

missile

"It really isn't that hard if you are prepared to use mail order."
Bit of a pain having to wait for delivery, them take them to be fitted.


"There are VERY, very few all-season tyres available in the UK."
Any tyre fitting service will order whatever tyres you want.

zaax

What about all season tyres?
Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3

getmore4less

If the op travel to some places over winter they need to check local regs.

Iceweasel

zaax wrote: »

What about all season tyres?
Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3

Interesting - according to Michelin that's a high performance winter tyre?

I've only seen test results for 4 different all-season tyres in snow conditions.

Hawks all-season A200 rated 'sufficient'
Vredestein Quadrac rated 'sufficient'
Kumho Solus rated 'poor'
UniRoyal All-Season Expert rated 'poor'

That's exactly what I would expect - no tyre is going to be outstanding in all conditions

All-season tyres are a compromise - if you want to have consistently mediocre grip (or less) all year round then fine.

Otherwise you need 2 sets of tyres and wheels.

What price safety?

Having summer tyres only, means hassle in the snow and ice in the UK, and possible fines for being illegal in several European countries - even when there is no snow on the ground. You need tyres marked M+S and/or with the 'Snowflake on the Mountain' symbol.

Two sets of tyres without extra rims is completely false economy as you have to pay for fitting and balancing twice a year. That's likely to cost £80 a year so at least £300 for the life of the winters.

You can find a set of decent alloys for that and get some cash back when you sell them on if you change to a car with different size wheels.

if you really can't store 4 extra wheels or can't afford it then the answer is to run winter tyres all year round.

The disadvantages of winter tyres in the summer are nothing compared to the problems of having summer tyres in winter.

Don't listen to those who say that summer temperatures will wear out the winter tyres fast. They will wear a little faster but in the UK even summer temperatures are not that high.

The real drawback of winters in the summer is that the absolute limit of adhesion is less - but that will only show up when driven very 'enthusiastically' on twisty roads.

Gloomendoom

Interesting read here...

http://www.tyrepress.com/2014/11/auto-express-test-a-strong-endorsement-for-winter-tyres/

And for all-season enthusiasts...

And what of the all-season and summer tyres? The first of these represents a product group of growing interest to UK motorists; Auto Express tested the Vredestein Quatrac Lite and found that while specialist winter tyres are better on snow, the all-season product was “only around seven per cent off the winner.” A similar difference was experienced in the wet, and Adams reports that the Quatrac Lite tended to slide around a little more than its winter rivals in low temperatures. He concludes that “if cold weather rubber isn’t an option, all-season tyres provide a bigger overall safety margin in all conditions than a summer design.”

AdrianC

Iceweasel wrote: »

Interesting - according to Michelin that's a high performance winter tyre?

And Michelin's UK website only has two categories - summer and winter tyres.

Go to a US supplier, though, and all-seasons are common.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/types/hpas.jsp

Iceweasel

Yes tyrepress is a good source of info.

The ADAC tests are good too.

If you use google chrome it's automatically translated.

All-Season tyres in German is Ganzjahresreifen.

Enjoy:

http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/reifen/winterreifen/2014_ganzjahresreifen_195_65_r15.aspx?ComponentId=216895&SourcePageId=31821

gilbert_and_sullivan

One of my winters set on second set of wheels has just gone on for, i think, the 5th or possibly 6th winter, now down to 5mm all round so probably their last winter season as 4mm is the minimum depth for winter specifications.

Might flog 'em on as part worns in the spring and get a new set during the spring when prices drop, not a crack or any other fault to be seen, Nokians.