Budget Winter Tyres

[Slow]

Bought a used set of 16" alloys for just £50 with tyres that have ok tread, Cant afford a full set of winter tyres. Just bought new summer tyres for my 17"s.

Are budget winter tyres just pointless? Was going to pick up 2 for the rear wheels of my bmw e46 320ci.

[rallycross]

Try and get 4 decent brand, part worn winter tyres from your local purveyor of "quality used tyres" my local guy gets his in from Germany .

[andy-xr]

Not pointless, but part worn can often be cheaper. I got a set of Pirelli Sottozeros with 6mm tread on a year and a half ago, still on now but dont do many miles. They're supposed to be alright. The Mrs car, I found a garage locally was selling off 4 part worn Bridgestone Blizzaks that I got for £35 for the set, again around 6mm tread on and they've been good, got us out of Buxton when it snowed heavily last weekend with no probs

[PoleDriver]

I bought a set of part-worn winter tyres 2 years ago. They work perfectly, not had any snow or ice since!

[TooMany2cvs]

rallycross said:

Try and get 4 decent brand, part worn winter tyres from your local purveyor of "quality used tyres" my local guy gets his in from Germany .

Who are flogging 'em because they've reached the minimum depth at which they count as winters.

[7mike]

I guess, unlike summer tyres, there are a lot of decent sets of winters/wheels available on classifieds as people change cars and want to recoup some of their cost to spend on a set for the new motor. When I put my last lot up I didn't think they would sell when I realised who much choice was available.

[rallycross]

TooMany2cvs said:

Who are flogging 'em because they've reached the minimum depth at which they count as winters.

Co rrect but you can pick up some nice part worns for very little money, I've had some with 6mm (Conti's/Bridgestones/Goodyears) and they still work well in the cold at 4mm (far better than a summer tyre will work at 4mm in the winter).

So, if you can afford to splash out on a nice new set do it, but nothing wrong with low mileage use on some premium brand part worns, each to their own.

[bleepy]

Been running winter tyres on our Audi A6 quattro for last 5 a bit years. The grip on snow with fresh winter rubber is incredible. Once down to about 4mm, the performance drop is very obvious and it is time to change. I'm not convinced about buying part worn tyres unless you can get some with at least 6mm on a really good discounted price.

[Podie]

Bloke in the office has just bought 4x Hankooks on 16s for a shade over £200 by shopping around.

[Calza]

What's the accepted limit of winter tyres, 4mm?

Surely a winter tyre with 4.5mm of tread (or even 4) is always going to out perform a summer tyre with 4-5mm of tread (in wintery conditions).

[Slow]

So bought them and had them fitted to the alloys, will put on car and test tonight. We've got 6inches of snow at the moment.
Edit: they are general altimax winter plus tyres, just on the rear end

Edited by Slow on Wednesday 28th January 15:24

[TooMany2cvs]

Slow said:

just on the rear end

Because, obviously, getting moving is so much more important than changing direction or stopping.

[Slow]

TooMany2cvs said:

Slow said:

just on the rear end

Because, obviously, getting moving is so much more important than changing direction or stopping.

Because living in the highlands of Scotland theres a lot of hills to go up. Traction to go up at 3mph is enough for me.

[trickywoo]

Kleber Quadraxers are pretty handy.

They are branded as being all season but they are good in the snow and have decent cold / wet road performance.

[TooMany2cvs]

Slow said:

Because living in the highlands of Scotland theres a lot of hills to go up. Traction to go up at 3mph is enough for me.

Do these hills never require coming down?

[Slow]

TooMany2cvs said:

Slow said:

Because living in the highlands of Scotland theres a lot of hills to go up. Traction to go up at 3mph is enough for me.

Do these hills never require coming down?

Yes they do require going down funnily enough, I get towed when I get stuck and don't crash. I just can't go uphill unless I hit the hill on a single track lane at 50mph. I can however safely go down it at 3mph and not crash and die.

[rallycross]

Slow said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Slow said:

Because living in the highlands of Scotland theres a lot of hills to go up. Traction to go up at 3mph is enough for me.

Do these hills never require coming down?

Yes they do require going down funnily enough, I get towed when I get stuck and don't crash. I just can't go uphill unless I hit the hill on a single track lane at 50mph. I can however safely go down it at 3mph and not crash and die.

You will never get through to this guy he thinks having winter tyres on the front only of a front wheel drive car will result in disaster (which it wont).
I do get what you are saying ie the point of having them is so you can get up the hill from a standing start, (one of the main reasons we use winter is the steep hill before farm and not getting stuck). However for the sake of stopping an steering I'd be putting some on the front as well.
Last summer I left winter tyres on the rear of our 335i and normal summer tyres on the front it had very little effect in normal wet and dry conditions but in the snow I'd want all 4 winters on a RWD car.

[Slow]

As per my first post, can't afford a full set of winters. The front summer tyres are however almost new with under 1000 miles on them.
I'm not a big rich bloke with spare cash to just throw at my car.

[Slow]

Got a good use of them tonight, managed the 15 mile drive over snowy single track lanes.

Couldn't get up the first hill on my summer tyres.

Really feel stupid for not buying them earlier.

[feef]

Running some Nankang winter tyres on the C6 and I'm pleasantly surprised. Marginally noisier but I've not yet found the limits of grip yet, not that I do that often in the C6