All season tyres...where's the downside (for daily use)?

[Kawasicki]

Ozzie Osmond said:

IMO for the majority of people living in UK there's little to be gained by having multiple sets of wheels/tyres. The climate here is, for the most part, not extreme in either the hot or cold/snowy direction and the arrival of the few weeks of extreme heat or extreme cold is very unpredictable.

Personally I'd avoid "summer" tyres - I like my wet grip when it's cold and raining at the end of June. "Winters" are all very well for those living off the beaten track but I certainly wouldn't want them on all year round.

"Wet grip" is my key requirement for tyres, without faffing around with multiple sets of wheels, tyre pressure sensors etc.

But summer tyres are designed to be driven on cool wet roads. Wet grip is usually the top priority for summer tyre development.

[jon-]

The CrossClimates do work on snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cgtmmtsqFA

In my educated opinion, they're the only real option for year round running in the south of the UK. I wouldn't advise driving them to the Alps, but that's exactly what I'm going to do in a few weeks!

Tyres like the Nokian WeatherProof are just winter tyres with a different name. Look at the latest Auto Express winter tyre test, I'd rather be on the Continental WinterContact TS860 year round over the Nokian looking at the balance of performance.

[anonymous-user]

'2015 Auto Express All Season Tyre Test

Conclusion: Nokian Weatherproof tyres are an excellent compromise for all season use, and so are Michelin Cross Climate.'

Don't know about latest review.

The only thing about nokian i find is that they have supplied custom bespoke tyres to tests in the past, so a bit underhanded.

[V8mate]

If anyone is interested in comprehensive winter tyre reviews, Motor-Talk (German motoring forum, like PH, but good) publishes aggregated results of tests carried out by motoring organisations and publishers.

Just click on the little tables and they enlarge. They do them by wheel size; look for 'winterreifen' if you want winter-specific tests or 'Ganzjahresreifen' for all year tyres (like the CrossClimate)

http://www.motor-talk.de/news/die-besten-winterrei...

[0836whimper]

jon- said:

The CrossClimates do work on snow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cgtmmtsqFA

In my educated opinion, they're the only real option for year round running in the south of the UK. I wouldn't advise driving them to the Alps, but that's exactly what I'm going to do in a few weeks!

Tyres like the Nokian WeatherProof are just winter tyres with a different name. Look at the latest Auto Express winter tyre test, I'd rather be on the Continental WinterContact TS860 year round over the Nokian looking at the balance of performance.

The cross climates are great, they feel like a summer tyre but great in the wet and good traction in snow. They are 3PMSF rated and I used them in very heavy snow last Feb (gendarmes only letting winter tyres through if not on chains) and they were excellent.

https://youtu.be/wc7EloJ9DI0

Admittedly on a 4WD, but it's a great combo for all year, really no need for two sets of wheels.
I will be putting them straight on any FWD non sports car we get. If everyone did similar, the roads would keep moving in the event of snow.

[RobM77]

Kawasicki said:

Ozzie Osmond said:

IMO for the majority of people living in UK there's little to be gained by having multiple sets of wheels/tyres. The climate here is, for the most part, not extreme in either the hot or cold/snowy direction and the arrival of the few weeks of extreme heat or extreme cold is very unpredictable.

Personally I'd avoid "summer" tyres - I like my wet grip when it's cold and raining at the end of June. "Winters" are all very well for those living off the beaten track but I certainly wouldn't want them on all year round.

"Wet grip" is my key requirement for tyres, without faffing around with multiple sets of wheels, tyre pressure sensors etc.

But summer tyres are designed to be driven on cool wet roads. Wet grip is usually the top priority for summer tyre development.

I disagree with Ozzie O on this one. My winter tyres are dreadful for ride and handling, but they allow almost magical progress in the snow and in cold conditions. I grew up in the countryside and have driven all sorts of cars in winter conditions: my Elise, my 4WD Celica Carlos Sainz, various 6 cyl BMWs, MR2 etc, and to go from those experiences to my current 3 series on winters is a revelation. There's no way I'd want anything remotely like them in summer though, rain or shine

[Glade]

I once had a free VW passat that got spared scrappage scheme.
I threw Nangkang all seasons on for £50 a corner. They were great in snow and because the car was bargy anyway, no worse in summer.

Infact on Pirelli P6000's I always thought the ABS was over sensitive, on the stty Nangkangs it never kicked in again.

So for a winter barge runabout I couldn't fault the cheap tyres, so i am sure Vedestrians or Michelin would be really good.