Winter tyres vol 2
Discussion
Martyn76 said:
Slightly off topic...what are peoples thoughts on winter tyres on steel wheels rather than another set of alloys or a tyre swap (winters are smaller)?
In European countries where winter tyres are a legal requirement/otherwise normal, you'll struggle to see a car on non-steels during the winter months 
jon- said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/entries/756e...Oh, and from people who are less interested in dramatic headlines: http://www.metcheck.com/SEASONAL/winter_2015_2016_...
Edited by ecs0set on Wednesday 21st October 14:08
jon- said:
thebraketester said:
jon- said:
bertie said:
Yes...
That is 100% awesome.Most people would keep their money safely locked up in their garage.
Martyn76 said:
jon- said:
Just let the insurance company know
Even if it's manufacturers recommended tyre sizes? Is it the steel wheel part of the equation?If you're just changing to winter tyres of the same size on your existing wheels, that's fine.
So this winter tyres business gets very expensive when you opt to remain on 18's instead of going down a size!
I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
TroubledSoul said:
So this winter tyres business gets very expensive when you opt to remain on 18's instead of going down a size!
I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
At 6mm you've effectively missed out on over 50% of their "useful winter performance" (most winter tyres start around 9mm and lose snow and ice performance at 4mm).I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
They'd need to be significantly cheaper to make it worthwhile IMO.
jon- said:
thebraketester said:
jon- said:
bertie said:
Yes...
That is 100% awesome.Most people would keep their money safely locked up in their garage.
TroubledSoul said:
So this winter tyres business gets very expensive when you opt to remain on 18's instead of going down a size!
I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
Have you tried this lot ?(if going down a size, which manufacturers generally recommend for winter tyres):I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
http://www.mytyres.co.uk/Alloy_wheels_winter.html
Bill said:
jon- said:
You'd think, but VUFO did a study of 20,000 accidents around europe, and 70% of them happened on dry roads.
That's a surprise. Was there any analysis as to why?The full stats we were presented with are:
70% accidents happen on dry roads
60% accidents happen in urban areas at low speed
75% of accidents happen on straight roads
99% of accidents on wet roads happen when there's very little water depth
25% of accidents happen on bends, 50% of which happen when it's wet. While this is a relatively low percentage of the overall accidents, it is the group of accidents with the highest damage and most casualties
TroubledSoul said:
So this winter tyres business gets very expensive when you opt to remain on 18's instead of going down a size!
I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
I've gone down a size for winters to 18's!I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
Just got some "new" part worns for this winter. Whilst I am sure Jon is right about them losing effectiveness the ones I had on last year were probably down to 3mm or less when we actually had some snow - the grip wasn't great but I didn't get stuck at all, definitely better than summers! I've gone part worn this year because if things work out I will probably change the car next year so these will probably not be any use to me again. I got mine from eBay but the rears came from Germany as I couldn't find a decent matched pair in the UK, they arrived really quickly though.
andyps said:
I've gone down a size for winters to 18's!
Just got some "new" part worns for this winter. Whilst I am sure Jon is right about them losing effectiveness the ones I had on last year were probably down to 3mm or less when we actually had some snow - the grip wasn't great but I didn't get stuck at all, definitely better than summers! I've gone part worn this year because if things work out I will probably change the car next year so these will probably not be any use to me again. I got mine from eBay but the rears came from Germany as I couldn't find a decent matched pair in the UK, they arrived really quickly though.
I didn't realise they started at 9mm, but I knew they were not meant to be very good under 4mm. Seeing as last year I had some with 7mm on and found them fantastic, I am hoping for a similar result this time around!Just got some "new" part worns for this winter. Whilst I am sure Jon is right about them losing effectiveness the ones I had on last year were probably down to 3mm or less when we actually had some snow - the grip wasn't great but I didn't get stuck at all, definitely better than summers! I've gone part worn this year because if things work out I will probably change the car next year so these will probably not be any use to me again. I got mine from eBay but the rears came from Germany as I couldn't find a decent matched pair in the UK, they arrived really quickly though.
That thing with the alloys and tyres don't do my size. Going down a size isn't really said to be necessary anymore with more modern winter tyres. At least that's what I've read here and elsewhere.
I didn't go down a size for the winters specifically in relation to the general recommendation, mainly because there was much more choice of wheels in that size on eBay. My car (XK8) has optional 19s and I prefer a second set of wheels for the winter tyres so bought a set at the right price which dictated the tyre size. I could even go for 17s as they were the standard size but almost no choice of tyre in that size even for summers, it is the only size to which you can add chains apparently but that isn't something I'm looking for!
andyps said:
TroubledSoul said:
So this winter tyres business gets very expensive when you opt to remain on 18's instead of going down a size!
I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
I've gone down a size for winters to 18's!I'm in two minds what to do re: looking for 6mm+ part worns or going new. New is very expensive but the latest tyres sound like they are leaps and bounds ahead of what came before going on some of these test articles.
But part worn is obviously half the price an has suited me well in the past.
Hmm.... If going part worn, I think I will dig out a few of last year's tyre tests.
Just got some "new" part worns for this winter. Whilst I am sure Jon is right about them losing effectiveness the ones I had on last year were probably down to 3mm or less when we actually had some snow - the grip wasn't great but I didn't get stuck at all, definitely better than summers! I've gone part worn this year because if things work out I will probably change the car next year so these will probably not be any use to me again. I got mine from eBay but the rears came from Germany as I couldn't find a decent matched pair in the UK, they arrived really quickly though.
Had 2 winter tyres last year on the rear of my bmw and it was unstoppable. Current tyres are M+S rated but prefer proper winter tyres.
andyps said:
I didn't go down a size for the winters specifically in relation to the general recommendation, mainly because there was much more choice of wheels in that size on eBay. My car (XK8) has optional 19s and I prefer a second set of wheels for the winter tyres so bought a set at the right price which dictated the tyre size. I could even go for 17s as they were the standard size but almost no choice of tyre in that size even for summers, it is the only size to which you can add chains apparently but that isn't something I'm looking for!
Fair enough, I also have a second set again this year. I just bought them for a bit of a bargain price, albeit in the wrong colour but nevermind!I have a 2012 WRX STI and the offset on the wheels is different to the older cars where 17's were used. I could probably find a set from a hatch if I wait it out, but in all honesty these came up and I snapped them up rather than gamble and wait.
jon- said:
Yeah, I've also read about this El Nino thingy a few times recently. So I asked an expert...I used to work at an energy trading company. One of the commodities they trade (other than the usual coal, oil, gas, carbon etc) is weather. Seems like a strange concept, and I don't even begin to understand it... Anyway, these guys need to know - or at least have a good view of the long term forecast. Their job literally depends on it.
I was told that he had no indicators of a particularly harsh winter, and they were expecting temperatures and rain/snow fall to be similar to last year.
(Either that, or he insider info that he didn't want to spill)
Useless info, but I found it interesting...
Gassing Station | Suspension, Brakes & Tyres | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff