Winter tyres vol 2
Discussion
Cross Climates do seem to make a great deal of sense in this country.
However I do think people get too strung up about this temperature business. I once picked up a hire car in France in August. It was 25 degrees and it had winters on the front and summers on the back. I had it for a fortnight and it drove fine. A "normal person"
wouldn't even have noticed.
The thing is, winters keep working when it's sunny, summers don't do so well when it's snowy.
However I do think people get too strung up about this temperature business. I once picked up a hire car in France in August. It was 25 degrees and it had winters on the front and summers on the back. I had it for a fortnight and it drove fine. A "normal person"
wouldn't even have noticed. The thing is, winters keep working when it's sunny, summers don't do so well when it's snowy.
RicksAlfas said:
Cross Climates do seem to make a great deal of sense in this country.
However I do think people get too strung up about this temperature business. I once picked up a hire car in France in August. It was 25 degrees and it had winters on the front and summers on the back. I had it for a fortnight and it drove fine. A "normal person" wouldn't even have noticed.
The thing is, winters keep working when it's sunny, summers don't do so well when it's snowy.
Not in my experience - winters in the sun went very soft and wore out very fast. Scary to drive on. (I know lots have no issues but this is my experience)However I do think people get too strung up about this temperature business. I once picked up a hire car in France in August. It was 25 degrees and it had winters on the front and summers on the back. I had it for a fortnight and it drove fine. A "normal person"
wouldn't even have noticed. The thing is, winters keep working when it's sunny, summers don't do so well when it's snowy.
johnwilliams77 said:
Not in my experience - winters in the sun went very soft and wore out very fast. Scary to drive on. (I know lots have no issues but this is my experience)
Interesting. I wonder if they were they a Nordic type? They're a different compound to the European type we should be getting. Those crazy Germans tend to fit winters between October and Easter. They don't get freezing weather for six months, so they are obviously happy to run them in "mixed weathers".RicksAlfas said:
johnwilliams77 said:
Not in my experience - winters in the sun went very soft and wore out very fast. Scary to drive on. (I know lots have no issues but this is my experience)
Interesting. I wonder if they were they a Nordic type? They're a different compound to the European type we should be getting. Those crazy Germans tend to fit winters between October and Easter. They don't get freezing weather for six months, so they are obviously happy to run them in "mixed weathers".Davie said:
I find it fascinating that people are watching temperature displays... I have visions of numerous southerners dropping their cornflakes and rushing out to hastily fit their winter tyres as soon as the display hits 7degs. Then rushing to swap over again three days later when it reaches 8degs. Is it really that exact or is this just going too far now?
0deg this morning at 6.45am on the Sussex Coast. -2 20mn later on the Surrey border. Michelin PSS past their optimum; time to get the torque wrench out this weekend. The beauty of the winters is that the temperature overlap is quite big with summers : about 10 deg or so. For me the overlap is 2 to 12 where both tyres work acceptably. And that fits my early morning / late afternoon mileage quite nicely indeed, even in the South. Snow/ice mobility is only a bonus.Here's a question: At the moment my Octavia runs on 225/45 R17's, which are easy to get all seasons/Cross Climates for. Despite my current use of Michelin Alpin A4's, I have to concede that having moved to the South East, they're massively over the top for what I now need.
I'm looking at replacement cars, many of which have 18 inch wheels. (A typical size would be 240/35 R18) CrossClimates don't come in sizes that big, and I'd be looking for an All Season tyre so I wouldn't have to fiddle around with tyres in summer and winter.
Anyone running All Season tyres on wheel sizes bigger than 17 inches? If so, where did you get them from?
I'm looking at replacement cars, many of which have 18 inch wheels. (A typical size would be 240/35 R18) CrossClimates don't come in sizes that big, and I'd be looking for an All Season tyre so I wouldn't have to fiddle around with tyres in summer and winter.
Anyone running All Season tyres on wheel sizes bigger than 17 inches? If so, where did you get them from?
blearyeyedboy said:
Here's a question: At the moment my Octavia runs on 225/45 R17's, which are easy to get all seasons/Cross Climates for. Despite my current use of Michelin Alpin A4's, I have to concede that having moved to the South East, they're massively over the top for what I now need.
I'm looking at replacement cars, many of which have 18 inch wheels. (A typical size would be 240/35 R18) CrossClimates don't come in sizes that big, and I'd be looking for an All Season tyre so I wouldn't have to fiddle around with tyres in summer and winter.
Anyone running All Season tyres on wheel sizes bigger than 17 inches? If so, where did you get them from?
Nokian Weatherproof come in 225/40R18 92 V XL in the passenger car range.I'm looking at replacement cars, many of which have 18 inch wheels. (A typical size would be 240/35 R18) CrossClimates don't come in sizes that big, and I'd be looking for an All Season tyre so I wouldn't have to fiddle around with tyres in summer and winter.
Anyone running All Season tyres on wheel sizes bigger than 17 inches? If so, where did you get them from?
More sizes in the SUV range but profiles not suitable I'd guess eg 55/60s on that sort of width.
I have cross climates fitted and from my experience they are a very good summer/wet weather tyre, which is what the weather has been so far.
I drive on a mix of a and b roads, around 1k a month, done about 3k on them and they are very good. But I have usually had mid level tyres so might be that they are just better.
Not sure I would buy again thou considering the premium I might just get a good summer tyre that is good in wet weather as that is what the weather is like here. Combined with a can of liquid snow solves a lot of potential problems.
I drive on a mix of a and b roads, around 1k a month, done about 3k on them and they are very good. But I have usually had mid level tyres so might be that they are just better.
Not sure I would buy again thou considering the premium I might just get a good summer tyre that is good in wet weather as that is what the weather is like here. Combined with a can of liquid snow solves a lot of potential problems.
On a more mundane note I've just fitted four Bridgestone A001 175/65 R14 tyres onto the wife's Toyota Yaris and have to say they do make the car feel a lot more stable when cornering than the Maxxis A307 tyres that were on the car when we bought it, the ride seems to have improved along with less road noise which is an added bonus.
Have to say that they do feel far more sure footed when driven in the rain, and for that matter on dry roads at the moment, so will be very interesting to see how they perform if it snows. The tread pattern certainly looks like it is designed to cut through water and snow.
The Bridgestone A001 came 2nd in the tyre reviews for the Yaris and at less than £50 each I thought it a wise investment bearing in mind these four small pieces of rubber are the only things sticking the car to the road.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyres_For/Toyota/Yari...
Have to say that they do feel far more sure footed when driven in the rain, and for that matter on dry roads at the moment, so will be very interesting to see how they perform if it snows. The tread pattern certainly looks like it is designed to cut through water and snow.
The Bridgestone A001 came 2nd in the tyre reviews for the Yaris and at less than £50 each I thought it a wise investment bearing in mind these four small pieces of rubber are the only things sticking the car to the road.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyres_For/Toyota/Yari...
Just replaced Kleber Krispalps on my V50 with Nokian Weatherproof. Have done lot of wet weather driving this week!!!.
Klebers easily lost traction in the wet from new(I dont rate them at all), a huge improvement with the Nokian including sharpness of turn in and very hard for the tcl to come on when exiting roundabouts etc.
Klebers easily lost traction in the wet from new(I dont rate them at all), a huge improvement with the Nokian including sharpness of turn in and very hard for the tcl to come on when exiting roundabouts etc.
theboss said:
i can report that Dunlop Wintersport 5 on the Golf R (fitted to 18" OEM) are superb, biting hard even in the milder wet weather and also noticeably quieter than the OE Potenza S001 with about 6mm remaining.
Seconded. Fitted a set to my Focus ST last month. Am running a slightly detuned map over what I would run with a summer tyre however they are coping very well in all conditions. Basically makes driving in winter conditions a pleasure. Not a bad thing to say about them. Highly recommended.Last winter had a set of Kumho KW27 on the same car. Had them removed and thrown away after only a few thousand miles before winter was out. Terrible tyre.
I think M+S rating is US only and is meaningless in Europe. I have some Yokis SUV that are M+S but in reality are sold here as summers, not even All season.
For a family car, all seasons make sense. For a performance car, for me they don't as you're never on optimised tyres. 2 changes of wheels a year at most (and sometimes none at all) is no hassle for me and the cost insignificant if you buy the set in summer and sell in winter.
For a family car, all seasons make sense. For a performance car, for me they don't as you're never on optimised tyres. 2 changes of wheels a year at most (and sometimes none at all) is no hassle for me and the cost insignificant if you buy the set in summer and sell in winter.
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