Winter Tyres / Underbody Protection

[Smokey Bear]

I have never had to consider the above before but I'm now in a region where I expect to see snow in the next month or so and the roads I imagine will be salted regularly.

I firstly want to get winter tyres, I will use the car regularly to drive to work and probably to ski resorts at the weekends. Will I need something like top of the line Michelins or would a middle of the road Nokian tyre suffice. I will only need the tyres for one season. I won't be here next year. The car is rwd and 1900kg or so. I usually use whatever pilot sport is available but I'm not sure if this is the correct direction now or not.

The next consideration I have, is underbody protection. I don't want something like waxoyl but I'm wondering is there something that is semi permanent that I can spray on the underbody before winter that will give me some sort of protection against salt?

[vikingaero]

Muc-Off do their HCB-1 which offers underbody protection for 12 months so it is less permanent than other solutions.

I think Michelin Alpins have been highly rated over the last couple of years. I've run Nokians for years and they have been fine. In fact on the Clubman S, I ran them all year around.

[Pica-Pica]

Continental Wintercontact have performed well in winter, AND in the milder seasons too. That may make your tyres useful after a winter.

[TheLurker]

I've tried a few winter tyre brands, and found a small difference between the premium and mid range, but all vastly superior to summer tyres. Depending on where you are, if the roads are plowed, you could look at all saeson? You can run them all year round then.

[YorkshirePudding]

Dynax UB or Lanogaurd for underbody protection.

I've not used Lanogaurd but the Dynax UB comes in a large aerosol for £20 a can and you can do a small car with one can.

[Smint]

Suggest ACF50 for underbody spraying, its not cheap circa £70 for a 4 litre bottle, but that bottle will probably last you several years.

Nokian winters are good but haven't found then great for wet grip, the best winters i've used that also had really good wet grip on warm days were Vredestein Wintrac Extremes, my Hilux proved unstoppable on them and cured the tendency to oversteer which pick ups have in spades.

[QJumper]

I've just done the underside of mine with Dynax UB, took less than half an hour. They advise two coats though, 24 hours apart. One can is probably sufficient.

Last year I used ACF-50, which is just as quick to apply. The £25 bottle is plenty (will probably be enough for a couple of years). I used a 2ltr garden pump sprayer with a wand/lance, which made the job very easy.

Oh, and I can recommend the Michelin Crossclimates. They're all season but rated for snow. I drove across France into Germany and Switzerland before xmas last year, and they were fine in the snow and rain.

Edited by QJumper on Thursday 29th September 17:45

[Mr Tidy]

I don't know about underbody protection but I had Michelin Alpin winters on my BMW E46 3 Series for 3 winters and they worked fine on cold damp roads.

But my E91 325i had Bridgestone Blizzaks fitted when I bought it a couple of weeks before the Beast from the East arrived, and they were just fantastic in snow!

[BikeSausage]

The Auto Express /Bild annual winter tyre test is useful.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/product-group-tests/...

[trickywoo]

XCP rust blocker in the aerosol can is better than acf50.

I’ve just applied another coat 12 months after the first which was still in place and working.

It’s the subframes and suspension components you need to concentrate on. The floor structure of anything newish is pretty well protected already.

[Black_S3]

For a full winter tyre the Nokian D4s can’t be beaten imo…. But If you’re in the UK, even up in scotland you’ll not get stuck for traction before you run out of ground clearance with all seasons - either the Goodyear vector 4s or Michelin cross climates.