Winter tyres vol 2

[Countdown]

Thirsty33 said:

As for the "I've never had an issue with my summer tyres in winter" crowd or "I am a driving God I don't need them" crowd, do you see any F1 driver going "I am a driving God, put away those inters I'll stay on slicks thanks"? Better traction is better traction, however good the driver.

I would suggest that's because some drivers don't need to drive as fast as humanly possible even though the conditions suggest otherwise.

To use your example - an F1 driver will still be able to lap safely on slicks or intermediates if he drives at an appropriate speed.

[Countdown]

tenohfive said:

I should have been suspicious that the anti-winter tyre brigade haven't piped up for awhile. It seems they've been busy elsewhere:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-he...

If only it had been fitted with winter tyres.......

[andy-xr]

Fox- said:

But isn't the whole winter tyres thing something for us tyre snobs?

No, not really snobbery in my case, more that I've had some education on how winters perform against all season tyres, and I've felt the benefits of them by being able to get to work/somewhere I needed to be when others werent able to. The first time I tried winters was just on the fronts of a CMAX I had, to help me get across the Snake Pass to be home for Christmas. Did what I needed them to do. Next time, I put a set all round on a Rover I had to commute to work.

Fox- said:

Why make the concious decision that you care more about tyres than Mr Average, bother to get a set of winters for additional safety margin and then throw it all away by buying Nangkangs?

I think a reasonable winter tyre will give better results than an everyday all season. On the g/f's Ka were a set of Kumho Izen 23's, I took them off because when I went round a fast corner in them last week in the wet, I was over the opposite side of the road too quickly for my liking. They've been replaced by Bridgestone Blizzaks, that have been very surefooted, and we've not had real cold yet. Both the Kumho and the Bridgestone are part worns that each cost me £40 for the set. I'm fine with buying part work tyres

Fox- said:

If you are that not bothered about tyre performance save yourself some money and don't bother in the first place is surely the answer.

I dont think being exclusive about having winters is really the right approach. It's kind of saying 'you cant be in my gang'. There's no real reason behind it other than pushing your opinion onto someone else, then if they dont do it, getting uppity and taking your bat home with you. What for? Using your argument of someone who's at least looked at winters and decided to go get some will have more care, attention and focus towards driving, then having some form of better, more suited tyre would work well. It doesnt have to be the best of everything, it's not binary

[FiF]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

FiF said:

Any test reports on the WR SUV 3 yet?

My WR G2 SUV will see out this winter but just getting prepared in case need toget some replacements.

These look like the WR G3 SUV sold as all weather in North America/Canada.

I have WRSUV3s on my XC90 (along with half the Volvo forums it seems).

They are brilliant and I am nothing but impressed.

I run them all year round without complaint.... depending on who you ask and what blurb you read they are either a full winter tyre, or an all season with a winter bias - I dont care, all I know is that they are great





Oponeo are usually very well priced for Nokians.

Edited by kapiteinlangzaam on Wednesday 19th November 09:16

Thanks for that. Just what I was hoping to hear.

I've run the WR G2 SUV all year round on a Freelander2 and they've been excellent. The only time they have felt a little suspect is on those autumn days where the roads have that greasy film where no tyres perform that well. But then this is not a vehicle driven on the door handles.

[Fox-]

andy-xr said:

I think a reasonable winter tyre will give better results than an everyday all season.

I don't disagree but it would very much appear that the Nankang is NOT a 'reasonable' winter tyre, it is a poor winter tyre. IMHO the results speak for themselves. Why would you pick the tyre that came 29th in a winter tyre wet braking test? Probably the most relevant test for a British winter, especially given the forthcoming winter forecast.

[Bonefish Blues]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

I have WRSUV3s on my XC90 (along with half the Volvo forums it seems).

They are brilliant and I am nothing but impressed.

I run them all year round without complaint.... depending on who you ask and what blurb you read they are either a full winter tyre, or an all season with a winter bias - I dont care, all I know is that they are great

Oponeo are usually very well priced for Nokians.

Edited by kapiteinlangzaam on Wednesday 19th November 09:16

Thanks, mental note made.

[Pablo16v]

g3org3y said:

Tunku said:

Snow isn't required to exploit the tyres. Wait till the first time you hit a deep puddle faster than you'd like and see how the steering doen't react. In fact, cold rainy weather is probably my main reason for using them.

It'd be nice if it actually started to get cold to feel the benefit!

I was up in Scotland over the weekend and did the swap to winters a couple of days prior in preparation. Coldest temp I saw when driving was 7.5, typically around 9-10 with on/off rain.

At these temps the Hankook winters feel too soft. Turn in is vague and they do not inspire confidence at all which is a real shame given some of the very nice twisty roads through the Scottish Borders. To be honest, I'd have been better off keeping the Vreds on. Once the temp starts to get <5, I find the Hankooks notably better. Ride was very nice on the motorway with the downsize to 16s though!

Yeah, temps up here are in Aberdeenshire are still stubbornly hovering around 6-10 deg, but we have had a few frosty mornings, and the weekend before last snow was visible on the hills so hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m hooning around in the white stuff.

My Nokian WR A3’s are on their way from Germany. It’s been a few years since I last ran Nokians, WR G2’s on a Passat back in 2009/10, which were great, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the A3’s perform as the reviews all seem pretty favourable.

[jon-]

Forecasters are "almost certain" snow is coming next week. http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/537436/UK-wea...

WE'RE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMEEEDD

[Sonic]

"Forecasters have in the past few hours rallied to warn a freeze is now ALMOST CERTAIN..."

[jon-]

Finest forecasters in the newspaper printing industry.

[blueg33]

On the forecast this morning on BBC1 the forecaster came out with this

"So it will be unseasonably warm, but keep an eye on the forecaste because it may change, it all depends on the weather"

[Silverbullet767]

jon- said:

Forecasters are "almost certain" snow is coming next week. http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/537436/UK-wea...

WE'RE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMEEEDD

Looks at article, see's it's written by Nathan Rao, quickly closes it again.

Do not believe anything written by that complete cock socket.

[jon-]

"cock socket"

Good insult.

[Davie]

Fox- said:

I don't disagree but it would very much appear that the Nankang is NOT a 'reasonable' winter tyre, it is a poor winter tyre. IMHO the results speak for themselves. Why would you pick the tyre that came 29th in a winter tyre wet braking test? Probably the most relevant test for a British winter, especially given the forthcoming winter forecast.

Ahhh...

"It would appear that..."

So you've driven on these tyres? No, ok... that's cool.

I think perhaps you should consider that different people have very different requirements - in my (Mums) situation: Tyres at 3mm and in need of renewal, winter coming, sub 5,000 miles PA, rarely sees a motorway and drives like Miss Daisy, I could have put similarly priced summer tyres on - perhaps Toyo Proxes T1R but I figured an M/S marked tyre would be better than a similarly priced summer tyre in low temperatures and should we get a dusting of snow.

Are they the best options out there... for you... perhaps not. For her, again perhaps not but I'm quite confident they'll be infinitely better than was was on it and given a couple of years back, she couldn't get off the drive in her Toyo Proxes shod Clio and thus three children with profound special needs and their parents found themselves with no teacher for the day. Thus, if the Nankangs help get her off the drive and the 3 miles to work in adverse conditions, then they were worth the relatively minor investment.

As a side note, I've driven the car extensively in various conditions and with various degrees of enthusiasm and over the past week I've also driven it over a couple of hundred miles on it's new tyres and pushed it on and have noted zero difference in handling - yes in bone dry, mild temps, it's feels a little less planted but in standing water and low temps, it takes a fair degree of provocation to unsettle it. Standing on the brakes in the wet at sub 8degs from 40mph, I can't get the ABS to kick in.

I'll remind you... she's 58, drives 3 miles a day to work and has never had a dab of oppo in her life. I'm by no means saying they are brilliant, yes in fact they may be distinctly crap but then again I'm fairly satisfied the a) they're better than what she had and b) will be better than some similarly priced summer tyres in wet / slush / snowy conditions.

[Motormatt]

blueg33 said:

Elroy Blue said:

blueg33 said:

My summers handled the monsoons this morning perfectly well

You'll be sorry, the blizzards are coming soon. I know they are, the Daily Express said so.

Good - My new winter tyres and wheels are in the garage waiting

The only thing I am not looking forward to is being outside in the cold jacking the car up twice to swap the wheels over

here they are thanks ebay - a bargain

Linky

Its seldom you're surprised at how cheaply you can get work done on a car, but for years I've changed winters over myself (usually in the cold and dark, whilst struggling to balance the jack on a piece of wood so it doesn't tip over or disappear into the gravel and cursing the stupid design of the locking nuts).

Then I found out my local tyre shop would do it for £10, yes, £10. Its a no-brainer. They don't use an air gun, and all are torqued up correctly with an actual torque wrench - unlike my own 'feels about right' approach.
Of course I have the advantage of being able to take the winter set to the tyre shop and the summers home again in the car as its an estate, something you'd struggle with unless you took them up there first in another car.

[SwissJonese]

Motormatt said:

Then I found out my local tyre shop would do it for £10, yes, £10. Its a no-brainer. They don't use an air gun, and all are torqued up correctly with an actual torque wrench - unlike my own 'feels about right' approach.
Of course I have the advantage of being able to take the winter set to the tyre shop and the summers home again in the car as its an estate, something you'd struggle with unless you took them up there first in another car.

I've got an estate and just can't be bothered with this. I get the local mobile fitter to do it, 30 quid comes to the house, balances all tyres and pops them on, all done on my front drive. No waiting around in a cold tyre garage and no dirty wheels and tyres in a clean car.

[tenohfive]

Davie said:

Ahhh...

"It would appear that..."

So you've driven on these tyres? No, ok... that's cool.

I think perhaps you should consider that different people have very different requirements - in my (Mums) situation: Tyres at 3mm and in need of renewal, winter coming, sub 5,000 miles PA, rarely sees a motorway and drives like Miss Daisy, I could have put similarly priced summer tyres on - perhaps Toyo Proxes T1R but I figured an M/S marked tyre would be better than a similarly priced summer tyre in low temperatures and should we get a dusting of snow.

Are they the best options out there... for you... perhaps not. For her, again perhaps not but I'm quite confident they'll be infinitely better than was was on it and given a couple of years back, she couldn't get off the drive in her Toyo Proxes shod Clio and thus three children with profound special needs and their parents found themselves with no teacher for the day. Thus, if the Nankangs help get her off the drive and the 3 miles to work in adverse conditions, then they were worth the relatively minor investment.

As a side note, I've driven the car extensively in various conditions and with various degrees of enthusiasm and over the past week I've also driven it over a couple of hundred miles on it's new tyres and pushed it on and have noted zero difference in handling - yes in bone dry, mild temps, it's feels a little less planted but in standing water and low temps, it takes a fair degree of provocation to unsettle it. Standing on the brakes in the wet at sub 8degs from 40mph, I can't get the ABS to kick in.

I'll remind you... she's 58, drives 3 miles a day to work and has never had a dab of oppo in her life. I'm by no means saying they are brilliant, yes in fact they may be distinctly crap but then again I'm fairly satisfied the a) they're better than what she had and b) will be better than some similarly priced summer tyres in wet / slush / snowy conditions.

Well said.

[Motormatt]

SwissJonese said:

Motormatt said:

Then I found out my local tyre shop would do it for £10, yes, £10. Its a no-brainer. They don't use an air gun, and all are torqued up correctly with an actual torque wrench - unlike my own 'feels about right' approach.
Of course I have the advantage of being able to take the winter set to the tyre shop and the summers home again in the car as its an estate, something you'd struggle with unless you took them up there first in another car.

I've got an estate and just can't be bothered with this. I get the local mobile fitter to do it, 30 quid comes to the house, balances all tyres and pops them on, all done on my front drive. No waiting around in a cold tyre garage and no dirty wheels and tyres in a clean car.

Yours is certainly the most convenient option, but since the tyre shop is only a 3 min drive from my house, I'll stick with an old bed sheet in the back of the car to protect it from the dirt and save £20!

[knitware]

I have used Oponeo twice, really good prices and fast delivery, usually within 3 days and I can vouch for Nokian winter tyres. I have Used Pirelli Sottozeros too and they are a good tyre, a little slippy when new but give outstanding performance in snow, slush and the wet.

I have another set of Sottozeros arriving soon.

[R1gtr]

I was planning on ordering from 'Tyreleader' but they have no contact number and have not responded to two emails I have sent so my money will be going elsewhere.