Choosing the right tyre

[smallzoo]

last year about the same time I went to a local garage to discuss all season tyres for both my 2005 passat estate and my daughters 2010 astra hatchback

whether i was duped or not I dont know but they said they would recommend putting landsail 205 65 r15 winter lander tyres on the front of each car

Over winter I wouldnt say they made a massive difference, in fact on my estate there were some scary moments in the wet and on ice even when driving very slowly. I'm not sure they advised me correctly on the tyre and putting them only on the front. I think they cost me £80 each

I read a recent review on the tyre and comments were around how poor it was in ice and snow ?

My daughter us driving more now and I want to avoid the scary moments I had last year ( which I dont remember driving on other tyres ? )

The issue is of course, if I should have them on all 4 wheels , I've got to buy 8 new tyres so I need to make sure I choose the correct ones

I value peoples comments

thanks

[craig1912]

Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF 3

Just got them for my sons car and they are excellent

[Super Sonic]

I wouldn't be going back to that garage.

[MikeGTi]

You definitely need to ensure that you have the same tyre type on both axles. Why they'd fit winters on only one axle is beyond me.

I can't recommend any all season in particular, I only run winters on one car and they're the homologated tyre for the car, but I can definitely recommend checking out TyreReviews.com to get decent opinions on what might fit your needs.

They also have a video on why you should avoid sticking winters on only one axle

Edited by MikeGTi on Friday 14th November 15:03

[John D.]

There you go:

https://youtu.be/_WjdyOrJGbc?si=3uWEBTtR5fhIPGTG

I'd take far more stock in this than randoms on the Internet, or whatever my local tyre shop said.

[kambites]

We've just put Hankook Ion Flexclimates on my wife's MG4 and so far they are extremely impressive. Even in warm conditions they are a huge step up in terms of wet grip from the Bridgestone summer tyres they replaced. It's been so warm this year we haven't really had a chance to test them below about 5 degrees. They weren't cheap though! Despite Hankook usually being considering a midrange brand, they are very much premium priced.

Personally I would never happily run all-season or winters on one end of a car and summers on the other; and if I was forced to I'd put the more cold-focused tyres on the back.

[Robertb]

I read lots of positive comments on the all-season tyres the other day on here... ideal for mid/southern UK where its rarely snowy, but plenty of benefit from a tyre that works well in cold and soaking conditions that are more common.

[smallzoo]

craig1912 said:

Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF 3

Just got them for my sons car and they are excellent

how much though ?.. remember ive got to buy 8 ..

[Riley Blue]

I'd recommend doing some reading here about all season tyres: https://www.tyrereviews.com

[craig1912]

smallzoo said:

how much though ?.. remember ive got to buy 8 ..

I don’t know as I don’t know what sizes you need. You’ve already been badly advised and bought cheap once.

[smallzoo]

I did look at that site and its brilliant ..and I giess I have to balance car use, locations and price..

As I only do about 2k miles year in my passat ( 85% local ) an dmy daughter drives about 10k miles a year ( local and national ) maybe it would be wiser for me to move the landsail tyres of my daughters car onto my rears and then buy her a brand new set of goodyear or perelli's for her own safety

[Kawasicki]

kambites said:

We've just put Hankook Ion Flexclimates on my wife's MG4 and so far they are extremely impressive. Even in warm conditions they are a huge step up in terms of wet grip from the Bridgestone summer tyres they replaced. It's been so warm this year we haven't really had a chance to test them below about 5 degrees. They weren't cheap though! Despite Hankook usually being considering a midrange brand, they are very much premium priced.

Personally I would never happily run all-season or winters on one end of a car and summers on the other; and if I was forced to I'd put the more cold-focused tyres on the back.

Hankook have make some ginormous improvements in tread compounds in the past 10 or 12 years.

[Sheepshanks]

smallzoo said:

I did look at that site and its brilliant ..and I giess I have to balance car use, locations and price..

As I only do about 2k miles year in my passat ( 85% local ) an dmy daughter drives about 10k miles a year ( local and national ) maybe it would be wiser for me to move the landsail tyres of my daughters car onto my rears and then buy her a brand new set of goodyear or perelli's for her own safety

On the Passat having the Landsails all round shouldn't be terrible, especially if it's just driven by you so you know its capability. Ice is always tricky - we live on the Cheshire plain and driving wife's 4Motion Tiguan on winter tyres I've had moments driving on ungritted back roads where the wind freezes the road surface. Lateral grip can be difficult - it can be deceptive with Winter tyres on as you can pull away with no drama so you don't realise how slippery the surface is

I'd be instantly changing the tyres on daughters car. In fact my daughter got a new EV last December - I ordered a set of Michelin Cross Climate tyres from Costco even before it arrived and had them fitted ASAP.

[FarmerJim]

I use Michelin CrossClimates on my Benz E Class estate. They grip superbly in all weathers. The rears last over 25,000 miles and the fronts do over 30,000. Wouldn't have anything else now.

[Smint]

Wouldn't entertain winters on the front only.

I've run full winters on seperate sets of wheels over many years, and more recently full sets of winter rated all season tyres, all seasons are now so good full winters are only really required in areas likely to see serious snow.
Our driveway exit is very steep, our all season shod Prado climbed it as if bone dry in deep snow where the winter shod Subaru didn't, however in fairness to the Scooby i hadn't turned traction control off so probably partly my fault.

As for brand recommends, currently running Vredestein Quatrac Pro on our Forester, proving every bit as good as the many previous Quatrac versions did on our daughter's cars over their younger driving years. Reasonably priced in most sizes.

As for absolute budget makes in tyres, not for me, but then i don't necessarily spend out on the most expensive brands either especially when so many only come with between 6 and 7mm new tread depth.

[smallzoo]

Sheepshanks said:

On the Passat having the Landsails all round shouldn't be terrible, especially if it's just driven by you so you know its capability. Ice is always tricky - we live on the Cheshire plain and driving wife's 4Motion Tiguan on winter tyres I've had moments driving on ungritted back roads where the wind freezes the road surface. Lateral grip can be difficult - it can be deceptive with Winter tyres on as you can pull away with no drama so you don't realise how slippery the surface is

I'd be instantly changing the tyres on daughters car. In fact my daughter got a new EV last December - I ordered a set of Michelin Cross Climate tyres from Costco even before it arrived and had them fitted ASAP.

thanks so are they a good price from costco ?

also which ones 2, 3 , + etc

[Sheepshanks]

smallzoo said:

thanks so are they a good price from costco ?

also which ones 2, 3 , + etc

I think you might only be able to get + in the size you noted.


When I got them they were on offer, and the 19" size I needed qualified for £100 Pistonheads / Michelin cashback. Not sure if that still works at Costco (most Michelin caskback offers don't, so it was a bit odd it worked) but I don't think Michelin cashback is available on 15" tyres anyway.

[wyson]

Kawasicki said:

kambites said:

We've just put Hankook Ion Flexclimates on my wife's MG4 and so far they are extremely impressive. Even in warm conditions they are a huge step up in terms of wet grip from the Bridgestone summer tyres they replaced. It's been so warm this year we haven't really had a chance to test them below about 5 degrees. They weren't cheap though! Despite Hankook usually being considering a midrange brand, they are very much premium priced.

Personally I would never happily run all-season or winters on one end of a car and summers on the other; and if I was forced to I'd put the more cold-focused tyres on the back.

Hankook have make some ginormous improvements in tread compounds in the past 10 or 12 years.

Jon from Tyrereviews.co.uk considers Hankook a premium manufacturer now.

@OP, have a look at the Best All Seasons Tyrereviews video linked above and get a recommended one on the best deal. For day to day driving, you will hardly notice and are talking single digit percentages difference in performance between them. On a promotion one brand might be quite a bit cheaper than the others.

Edited by wyson on Friday 14th November 22:51