Discussion
My 2p.
Where I am situated a 15min drive has me several hundred feet above sea level and very often 10c in the town becomes 2-3c further up the hill.
This gives me a great opportunity to get a feel for the tyres with different temps in the one journey.
During a cold snap, heavy rain at the coast sometimes becomes blizzard conditions by the time I'm home up the mountain.
Over the last 3 winters I have used Ultragrip 8s on the snotter.
At 10c there is less grip off the line than my recently fitted (August swapped for winters November) Avon summer tyres, however the Ultragrips are vastly superior cutting through surface water, pulling up to a halt and are quieter with more comfort. They grip well into the corners and feel predictable and safe.
By the time temps are down to 4c they feel really planted almost glue like in the wet. Fantastic bits of rubber. They have been excellent in the snow and truly excellent in the cold wet rain.
I ran a set once into the summer months. Handling was fine if a little squirmy but they wore out very quickly. They still performed very well in the wet and never ever felt dangerous at all.
Where I am situated a 15min drive has me several hundred feet above sea level and very often 10c in the town becomes 2-3c further up the hill.
This gives me a great opportunity to get a feel for the tyres with different temps in the one journey.
During a cold snap, heavy rain at the coast sometimes becomes blizzard conditions by the time I'm home up the mountain.
Over the last 3 winters I have used Ultragrip 8s on the snotter.
At 10c there is less grip off the line than my recently fitted (August swapped for winters November) Avon summer tyres, however the Ultragrips are vastly superior cutting through surface water, pulling up to a halt and are quieter with more comfort. They grip well into the corners and feel predictable and safe.
By the time temps are down to 4c they feel really planted almost glue like in the wet. Fantastic bits of rubber. They have been excellent in the snow and truly excellent in the cold wet rain.
I ran a set once into the summer months. Handling was fine if a little squirmy but they wore out very quickly. They still performed very well in the wet and never ever felt dangerous at all.
FiF said:
People talk about the crossover temperature and 7C, which I reckon is a bit high these days but it all depends upon what is being compared with what and under which conditions.
No I think manufacturers talk about 7c and people repeat it ad nauseam. They never publish any details about how this 7c came about, conveniently, like what tyres they're comparing, in which condition, etc...The real threshold in my opinion / experience is closer to 2C. Which would be a far less convenient fact for manufacturers in marginal regions like ours...
drivin_me_nuts said:
does anyone have any idea how long it takes tyres to arrive from mytyres.
Mine came from somewhere near Hamburg, I ordered Sunday evening they were dispatched on Monday morning, two arrived Wednesday and the other two arrived on Thursday. They were delivered by DPD and were tracked from warehouse to my address.George111 said:
Has this been posted yet ?
Video from tyre manufacturer to make the case for winter tyres.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/...
Well that made me jump! Video from tyre manufacturer to make the case for winter tyres.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/...
wilbo83 said:
Just checked the 7 day forecast and its showing double digit temps every day, winter tyres are staying in the garage for now, maybe it will get colder toward the end of the month of in Jan / Feb but doesn't really seem any need for them yet.
No point in keeping them in the garage. Put them on now unless they are on the 4mm limit and you want to get another season out of them. They will save you wearing out the summers or having to throw them out after four years when the rubber's hardened and they are much less effective.I put mine on in oct for the fiesta and nov for golf because the summers were shot and it saved me buying two summer sets for Christmas. The golf winters only have 5mm so they will stay on through winter, spring and hopefully summer until worn out
may even mean I don't have to buy another set of summers for 18months 
Edited by tjlees on Sunday 8th December 09:31
wilbo83 said:
Just checked the 7 day forecast and its showing double digit temps every day, winter tyres are staying in the garage for now, maybe it will get colder toward the end of the month of in Jan / Feb but doesn't really seem any need for them yet.
I was doing the same, but then finding that the forecast was wrong and it was actually colder than predicted. So I put the winter wheels on the other day. Also I don't drive in the middle of the day; I drive at 7am and 4:30pm when the temperatures have dropped again.Any advice on keeping a tyre in good nick whilst in storage? I've got 4 x Goodyear Ultragrip 500s sat on wheels for my L200 sat in the garage - I always use Autoglym instant tyre dressing as it's less shiny than most on the sidewalls. Keep inflated etc?
Can't see me putting the wheels/tyres on for a while yet - the "summers" are doing just fine in the current weather as you'd expect.
Can't see me putting the wheels/tyres on for a while yet - the "summers" are doing just fine in the current weather as you'd expect.
dfen5 said:
Any advice on keeping a tyre in good nick whilst in storage? I've got 4 x Goodyear Ultragrip 500s sat on wheels for my L200 sat in the garage - I always use Autoglym instant tyre dressing as it's less shiny than most on the sidewalls. Keep inflated etc?
Can't see me putting the wheels/tyres on for a while yet - the "summers" are doing just fine in the current weather as you'd expect.
Officially you should hang them from the centres, inflate to 45psi (or max allowed) and keep them covered to stop the light causing the rubber to harden and any flat spots on the tyre. Can't see me putting the wheels/tyres on for a while yet - the "summers" are doing just fine in the current weather as you'd expect.
Personally I keep them inflated to 45psi and covered on a tyre rack. You do get marks on the tyre but with no significant problems.
You can dress them with whatever but its about keeping the light off them so just keep them covered.
I put winters on as did not want to wait until supplies were harder to get and the prices went up.
Does seem a bit early given the change in temperatures but I needed 2 fronts anyway so don't consider it a mistake.
A brief (and irregular these days) scoot up the motorway at 80-90 leptons showed a bit of a vague feel and a bit more noise that I thought from the tyres.
Put an extra 4 psi in over recommended pressures, now seems better.
Does seem a bit early given the change in temperatures but I needed 2 fronts anyway so don't consider it a mistake.
A brief (and irregular these days) scoot up the motorway at 80-90 leptons showed a bit of a vague feel and a bit more noise that I thought from the tyres.
Put an extra 4 psi in over recommended pressures, now seems better.
So far I regret neither of my winter tyre related decisions.
The Goodyear Ultragrip 8's are doing fine on the Mini. The way she drives it there has been zero grip related issues (Plus it has no power
) and she's enjoying the fact it rides and handles better than the awful Potenza RE050A 17" RFT's that were on it from the factory. I've also found no real issues with them either - they don't slip slide everywhere at 8c, they don't cause chronic understeer, etc etc. I suspect I could have acheived exactly the same thing by fitting some Goodyear summer tyres but the Ultragrips seem fine and were 50 odd quid each so really if the car is a long term purchase I can't see why you wouldn't stash a set away in the garage just in case. Perhaps with hindsight I'd not have fitted them quite yet.
The Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2's on mine are also doing fine with zero drama or issues but as is often the case in the British winter it's been into double figure temperatures quite a lot recently and looks forecast to remain so for some time!
So, really, I maintain my opinion that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to whether you should get winter tyres or not. It's totally down to what summer tyres you usually use, where you normally drive, how you drive and so on and so forth. For some people they are cheap enough that it's daft not to at least have a set kicking around in the garage. For some people the roads they drive on are treacherous enough that it's a very positive safety addition. For others they make little sense and bring no credible performance increase.
I don't think the tyre firms help anyone with this constant 7c myth they push. They give people false expectations, from this thread alone there are numerous people who seem to have fitted winter tyres and regret it or find the performance ot be less than they had before even below the silly 'magic number'. Perhaps if the marketing was a tad more honest about when and where they make the difference, these people might have had different expectations and been more satisfied with the purchases they elected to make.
I'm still really hoping there is a 'Snow event' or similar up country a bit because I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what the Ultragrips really can do when the weather gets wintry.
The Goodyear Ultragrip 8's are doing fine on the Mini. The way she drives it there has been zero grip related issues (Plus it has no power
) and she's enjoying the fact it rides and handles better than the awful Potenza RE050A 17" RFT's that were on it from the factory. I've also found no real issues with them either - they don't slip slide everywhere at 8c, they don't cause chronic understeer, etc etc. I suspect I could have acheived exactly the same thing by fitting some Goodyear summer tyres but the Ultragrips seem fine and were 50 odd quid each so really if the car is a long term purchase I can't see why you wouldn't stash a set away in the garage just in case. Perhaps with hindsight I'd not have fitted them quite yet.The Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2's on mine are also doing fine with zero drama or issues but as is often the case in the British winter it's been into double figure temperatures quite a lot recently and looks forecast to remain so for some time!
So, really, I maintain my opinion that there is no one-size-fits-all answer to whether you should get winter tyres or not. It's totally down to what summer tyres you usually use, where you normally drive, how you drive and so on and so forth. For some people they are cheap enough that it's daft not to at least have a set kicking around in the garage. For some people the roads they drive on are treacherous enough that it's a very positive safety addition. For others they make little sense and bring no credible performance increase.
I don't think the tyre firms help anyone with this constant 7c myth they push. They give people false expectations, from this thread alone there are numerous people who seem to have fitted winter tyres and regret it or find the performance ot be less than they had before even below the silly 'magic number'. Perhaps if the marketing was a tad more honest about when and where they make the difference, these people might have had different expectations and been more satisfied with the purchases they elected to make.
I'm still really hoping there is a 'Snow event' or similar up country a bit because I'm actually really looking forward to seeing what the Ultragrips really can do when the weather gets wintry.
It's always a judgement call as to when to put them on and take them off to get maximum benefit. Temperatures can go all over the place from week to week.
Mid-late November and Early March are my guidelines. This Winter seems to have been very mild so far, apart from a cold snap in early-mid November.
Mid-late November and Early March are my guidelines. This Winter seems to have been very mild so far, apart from a cold snap in early-mid November.
dfen5 said:
Any advice on keeping a tyre in good nick whilst in storage? I've got 4 x Goodyear Ultragrip 500s sat on wheels for my L200 sat in the garage - I always use Autoglym instant tyre dressing as it's less shiny than most on the sidewalls. Keep inflated etc?
As I recall I was advised to keep them covered, inflated and on their sides, I'd assume to prevent flat spots. Hanging from the centre would be better, but it's a lot more faff to arrange that. Mine usually sit in a stack in tyre bags, and don't seem to have suffered for it.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff