Tyres performed poorly in recent snow — get better summer ones or all-season?

DocQuincy

We have a 13 Ford Focus. I check the tread depth, tyres themselves and air pressure fairly regularly. Knowing nothing about car or tyres, when the time comes to replace them I tend to go for whatever it the first one offered above economy (summer tyres).

The current tyres all have at least 4.5mm left and I inflated them last week. We had to leave a place with other friends in their own cars in a place that had had a couple of cm of snow and one hill in particular was tricky. The other cars managed to get up the hill with relative ease. Ours did make it up but needed a bit of pushing and was sliding left to right a bit in spite of using higher gears and not breaking, as you would in the snow. This would have been difficult if no one else was there.

I have a couple of questions:

1. Any ideas why our car slid side-to-side so much when the other didn't? Our was the oldest car there, most other cars were 1–4 years old, ours nearly 10 years old. Do newer, better cars tend to have better handling properties built in or come with better tyres?

2. I am willing to spend more on a new set of tyres. A friend is always going on about how good winter tyres are but given how we hardly ever drive in the snow I do not want to expense and hassle of two sets of tyres. I have been reading about all-season ones though. After reading other posts on here they seem to vary in how they handle based on brand, etc. Given I live the the UK but not somewhere like the Scottish Highlands what would you recommend? If I was willing to spend more than I normally do and want more control in light snow and ice would all-season be better than just getting better quality summer tyres? In the spectrum of tyres in snow, do good all-season fall nearer to summer or winter tyres in how they drive in the snow?

I seem to remember my last tyres were around £60 each a couple of years back but I may be way off. I'm happy to spend a lot more than that if it means more control in winter.

Thanks in advance.

jimbo6977

Keep your tyres with their massive amount of remaining tread and buy some Michelin Easy Grip snow "chains" for the once-in-a-blue-moon occasion when you'll need them. 

daveyjp

I've had 4wd cars with all season tyres and summer tyres.  All season wins every time in snow, a 4wd with summer will spin all four wheels.

I've therefore just replaced our Yaris original Dunlop summer tyres with Toyo Celsius all seasons and even though we haven't had snow the car no longer loses traction on the surface we have had during this spell of cold weather with no rain.  Roads are covered in oil, diesel, leaf litter, mud, road salt mixture which can be like an ice rink.

Michelin Cross climate are well regarded, but they were too expensive for my budget on a car doing 3-4,000 miles of mainly town driving a year.  Toyos were £65 each, Michelin about £100.

Flight3287462

I run two of our three cars on Goodyear Vector 4 seasons Gen 3.  They handle pretty well in the snow and ice.  Our third car (2 years old) is on originals and doesn't.

I'm up in Scotland and I personally think for the vast majority winter tyres are and expensive overkill unless you are in Braemar or similar.

A decent set of all season tyres suit us fine and just give a we bit more stability.

As an aside slightly lower pressure in tyres in the snow is probably a bonus, you should get a little more grip.

[Deleted User]

I've gradually switched tyres on all my vehicles to Michelin Cross Climates (think I'm on fifth set overall). Yes they're expensive but they offer exceptional grip and I'm sure they last longer than any other tyre I've tried (especially winter tyres that can wear out within a few thousand miles).
I'm countryside, with lots of poor / muddy roads, driving approx 12k pa. I don't recall having a single slip or skid since switching.
In heavy rain there are probably better tyres for water dispersal but I think you'd need to be driving irresponsibly for it to become an issue.
I highly recommend them.

Herzlos

I also move to Michelin Cross Climates when replacing tyres, they seem to work pretty well.

It's worth noting that winter rated tyres aren't just for snow - they perform pretty well in the wet and at lower temperatures. IIRC summer tyres tend not to have as much grip under about 5oC.

I had a pair of cheap winter tyres on my AWD a few years ago, and as hard as I tried I couldn't make lose grip. Of course, with the best of winter tyres and drivetrains if the car in front of you is stuck then you've had it.

If it was a performance car I'd go for good summer and winter tyres are swap them about November and March. For something run of the mill I'd go for an all season with the winter rated logo on them.

Worth changing at 4.5mm? You're over half way through the wear which will accelerate as the tread reduces, so probably closer to 1/3rd of the life left. For peace of mind given you struggled already, it probably makes sense to replace them.

DocQuincy

Thanks everyone for the responses. When I was searching other threads the Michelin Cross Climates came up a few times and people seem to rate them.

Please bear with me as as you may have guessed I know nothing about this. Regarding the Cross Climates:

1. When I search for them they seem to range from 100 to 150. Are there different versions of them?

2. This may be a stupid question but can you get them in most wheel sizes? I.e. for my Focus.

3. Do they last as long as summer tyres? We only do 6k or 7k miles per year and normal tyres seem to last us for a very long time. I wouldn't want to have to be replacing them too often.

4. Do you always need to have the exact same tyres on? E.g. so if the front run down but the rear are still okay would I have to have all-season on the front and would they need to be Cross Climates too?

It sounds promising regarding the performance and well worth the cost in not having to worry about getting caught out.

Regarding chains, I did look at them I read they were fiddly to put on and could only be used in limited circumstances.

Car_54

Herzlos said:

Worth changing at 4.5mm? You're over half way through the wear which will accelerate as the tread reduces, so probably closer to 1/3rd of the life left. For peace of mind given you struggled already, it probably makes sense to replace them.

True, but not by very much. My somewhat rusty maths tells me that even 3mm less tread will only result in about 1% extra revolutions for a given distance. 

[Deleted User]

DocQuincy said:

Thanks everyone for the responses. When I was searching other threads the Michelin Cross Climates came up a few times and people seem to rate them.

Please bear with me as as you may have guessed I know nothing about this. Regarding the Cross Climates:

1. When I search for them they seem to range from 100 to 150. Are there different versions of them?
Yes, there are different versions, I think Cross Climate 2 are the latest

2. This may be a stupid question but can you get them in most wheel sizes? I.e. for my Focus.
Yes

3. Do they last as long as summer tyres? We only do 6k or 7k miles per year and normal tyres seem to last us for a very long time. I wouldn't want to have to be replacing them too often.
I've been getting 15 - 20,000 per front set. Better than Michelin Pilot Sport 3 and far better than Goodyear EfficientGrip

4. Do you always need to have the exact same tyres on? E.g. so if the front run down but the rear are still okay would I have to have all-season on the front and would they need to be Cross Climates too?
Same tyres on each axle

It sounds promising regarding the performance and well worth the cost in not having to worry about getting caught out.

Regarding chains, I did look at them I read they were fiddly to put on and could only be used in limited circumstances.

It's worth comparing online prices as suppliers often have various deals running. I've bought from Black Circles, Costco and even Kwik Fit (loathed to do so but considerably cheaper on one occasion). For a Focus, I'm guessing around £125 each?

Herzlos

I wouldn't mix different types of tyres across the axles either. If you have winter tyres on the front and summers on the back, then you're going to lose traction much faster at the back and spin.

So I'd definitely go for 4 all seasons or 4 summers.

I think the CrossClimate have a regular and an extra load variant as well which might explain the price difference. They should be available for most common sizes.

greyteam1959

Most of your problems most probably result from lack of experience in driving in snow rather than your tyres.