Winter tyres vol 2

[defblade]

Just ordered a set of cross-climates for my E39... ignoring they cost a third of the price of the car!! It's important to me to keep moving through the winter and God knows big auto BMs are not top of the list for that; and I don't want to be swapping wheels/tyres regularly. These seem to be the ideal answer to me, so thought I'd give 'em a go

[tenohfive]

benjj said:

Seems I can get four Toyo Snowprox S953 fitted for £200. Love the little Fiat, so cheap for everything!

My missus has those on her runabout. She's yet to see snow in them but I can vouch for their wear rates; they've been run year round for 18 months with no difference in wear to the Avon summers they replaced. And she's not noticed any difference in grip.

And as you say, cheap as chips.

[littleredrooster]

Just won an Ebay auction for 4 almost-new (7mm) Dunlops for the Jaaag. £175 for 4 tyres is a bargain regardless of what they are!

Waiting for the first sub-zero mornings to have them fitted and guarantee my trips oop North to friends and family won't be traumatic.

[andyps]

littleredrooster said:

Just won an Ebay auction for 4 almost-new (7mm) Dunlops for the Jaaag. £175 for 4 tyres is a bargain regardless of what they are!

Waiting for the first sub-zero mornings to have them fitted and guarantee my trips oop North to friends and family won't be traumatic.

That was a good buy, I'm waiting for delivery of some for my Jag that cost a lot more. Quite a delay though as they are coming from Germany for the rears as no one in the UK was selling a pair in the right size. Also 7mm tread on Dunlops so should last a couple of winters fairly easily.

[drivin_me_nuts]

I run a jazz all year with winter tyres. They are Dunlop winter response 2s. They've covered 10k so far and are down to 6mm at the front and the probably the same at the back. It's hardly a car to test the laws of physics dynamically, but I see little reason to swap to summer tyres come the spring. currently 60 odd quid a corner at the moment for 185/15 on mytyres.

[vit4]

Checking in as I'm going to have to fit winters to my shed this year, due to a planned drive down to Germany in December. It's a bit of an odd criteria, but any recommendations as to what's a quiet tyre from inside the car?? The car is an Avensis with (I think, need to double check) 195/55/15 tyres.

After a set of Rainsport2s made horrendous cabin road noise on a Mondeo I fitted them to, this is probably my #1 criteria on tyres, but the only set I've fitted since were PS3s to my GTA - very good but not exactly winter tyres

[Jamesgt]

Convert said:

Will be fitting the winters to the wife's A2 this weekend, and then there's always the Range Rover on General Grabber AT2's if the snow gets really deep.

Have you tried the General Grabber AT2s in snow?

[loskie]

VIT4

try Vredestein Quatracs.
Technically all season tyres but do have the mountain snowflake symbol so will be legal where winters are reqd by law.
I have run them in various conditions including through a frozen(-15) forest rally stage in an Octavia estate and they have preformed better than some wintertyres I have run.

[sly fox]

vit4 said:

Checking in as I'm going to have to fit winters to my shed this year, due to a planned drive down to Germany in December. It's a bit of an odd criteria, but any recommendations as to what's a quiet tyre from inside the car?? The car is an Avensis with (I think, need to double check) 195/55/15 tyres.

After a set of Rainsport2s made horrendous cabin road noise on a Mondeo I fitted them to, this is probably my #1 criteria on tyres, but the only set I've fitted since were PS3s to my GTA - very good but not exactly winter tyres

Nokians. Very quiet tyre, i used to look forward to fitting them for this reason alone!
Have used both WR G2 and WR A3 versions, very comfy quiet ride.

[monthefish]

loskie said:

VIT4

try Vredestein Quatracs.
Technically all season tyres but do have the mountain snowflake symbol so will be legal where winters are reqd by law.
I have run them in various conditions including through a frozen(-15) forest rally stage in an Octavia estate and they have preformed better than some wintertyres I have run.

Agreed.

I used them as my main winter tyres for 3 separate winters and they are fantastic for the variable winters we get in the UK.

[Convert]

Jamesgt said:

Have you tried the General Grabber AT2s in snow?

Great. handled over 8 inches of the white stuff last winter.

We live off a steep hill (Quarry hill), and last boxing day there were 3 4x4's struggling to get up it (X5, M class and a Disco 2 on street rubber). I sailed past all of them with no problem. Disco eventually got up, other 2 abandoned at the bottom of the hill.

[jon-]

Here are my thoughts on the CrossClimate vs the best in category all season and winter tyres. Sorry it's a bit long winded!

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Is-there-a-tr...

[jagnet]

That makes for a very interesting read, especially the wet handling results.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks Jon, that's very useful and it's nice to see a comparison making the point that what's "best" depends on individual circumstances as much as other factors.

It's the last piece of the puzzle for me and as I'm based in the south of England I'll be running a set of 17" CC's as "winter" tyres alongside the 19" PSS I currently have as my summer set.

[defblade]

jon- said:

Here are my thoughts on the CrossClimate vs the best in category all season and winter tyres. Sorry it's a bit long winded!

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Is-there-a-tr...

Glad I ordered them now, your summing up there is pretty much exactly where I am - I want to be able to get down the minor roads on the few occasions it does snow; in the meantime I just need a tyre that works OK.

[RammyMP]

Goodyear Ultragrips came out top in a recent Auto Express test. The Nokians did well, came in third, I might opt for them this winter!

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/930...

[TurboHatchback]

I've just ordered a set of Goodyear Ultragrip Performance Gen-1 to go on my new winter rims. They'll be going on as soon as they arrive as even though it's still too warm they'll be better than the crap Acceleras (came with the car) that are on there currently. Hopefully they should get me up the Alps in January!

[Sheepshanks]

jon- said:

Here are my thoughts on the CrossClimate vs the best in category all season and winter tyres. Sorry it's a bit long winded!

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Is-there-a-tr...

Why did you go for 94 (XL) tyres - presumably the standard spec for load index on that car would be 91?

[jon-]

Sheepshanks said:

jon- said:

Here are my thoughts on the CrossClimate vs the best in category all season and winter tyres. Sorry it's a bit long winded!

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Is-there-a-tr...

Why did you go for 94 (XL) tyres - presumably the standard spec for load index on that car would be 91?

Availability. 91H would have been my preference.

[Sheepshanks]

jon- said:

Availability. 91H would have been my preference.

I know it was a brief and specifically focused test, but did you discern any issues in terms of ride and handling with the XL tyres, and did you have to adjust the tyre pressures as for any given pressure the load that standard and XL tyres carry is quite a bit different.

I was looking at putting Cross Climate on the fairly basic Golf we have in the family and don't want to mess it up!