Winter minded tyre (not winter tyres)

[GBDG]

My car needs 2 new rear tyres. Initially I was going to go for Toyo TR1 from Camskill, but as I use the car every day, it is probably a good idea to get something that performs a little better in snow & Ice.

I don't want full blown winter tyres, because i'm not willing to swap them over.

I've spotted the Vredestein Quatrac3, but these are a little more than I would ideally like to spend. Although i'm happy to invest if it's worth it.

Any alternatives or recommendations?

[Odie]

I have uni-royal rainsport 2's on my rears atm and they are very very good in the wet.

[S7Paul]

My daughter has Rainsport 2's all round on her Mk2.5 1.8 VT Sport. We tried them because they came No.1 in the wet grip tests (and very good all round), and the car is used in all weathers. We'd recommend them.

[MX-5 Lazza]

Uniroyal Rainsport 2 are very good wet weather tyres but looking at the tread pattern (which is very much like Toyo T1R and Goodyear F1 GSD3) they will still be next to useless on snow and ice.

Uniroyal Rainsport 2
http://www.camskill.co.uk/smsimg/1138/97479--full-...

[otolith]

Quatrac 3 is very good, but I'm not sure how well they would work on a sports car.

[GBDG]

otolith said:

Quatrac 3 is very good, but I'm not sure how well they would work on a sports car.

I'll find out in the next few days...

[Richyvrlimited]

GBDG said:

My car needs 2 new rear tyres. Initially I was going to go for Toyo TR1 from Camskill, but as I use the car every day, it is probably a good idea to get something that performs a little better in snow & Ice.

I don't want full blown winter tyres, because i'm not willing to swap them over.

I've spotted the Vredestein Quatrac3, but these are a little more than I would ideally like to spend. Although i'm happy to invest if it's worth it.

Any alternatives or recommendations?

So you're going to massively compromise 'normal' conditions for the one or 2 weeks we get where it snows and is icy?

Seems daft to me.

FWIW, I've driven my MX5(s) all year round for nearly 10 years, I've always had 'summer' tyres on (usually Toyo T1R's/T1S's), only once have I not managed to get into work, and that was when 99% of the country failed a few years ago too.

I'm not saying winter, (or winter minded), tyres are not advantageous, but if you're going to have them, fit them to some cheap alloys and fit them in the winter. Not being willing to swap wheels is daft, it takes an hour maximum with the standard scissor jack.

[otolith]

It will be interesting to hear how the MX-5 drives on them in normal conditions. Depending what tyres it is currently running, it may not be a massive compromise, in that MX-5s tend to run fairly ordinary rubber. Quatracs drive like an ordinary tyre in normal conditions - I think you would notice if you replaced low profile Bridgestone RE040s with them, but if we're talking 50 profile Toyo T1-Rs, maybe less of an issue.

[Odie]

otolith said:

It will be interesting to hear how the MX-5 drives on them in normal conditions. Depending what tyres it is currently running, it may not be a massive compromise, in that MX-5s tend to run fairly ordinary rubber. Quatracs drive like an ordinary tyre in normal conditions - I think you would notice if you replaced low profile Bridgestone RE040s with them, but if we're talking 50 profile Toyo T1-Rs, maybe less of an issue.

I went from T1-Rs to the rainsports and it was a massive difference, but then I had eagle f1's on before the t1-rs and that was a massive jump down too. But the rainsports are far far better in the wet than any other tyre ive used.

[g40steve]

http://www.vredestein.co.uk/car-tyres/winter/wintr...

Go anywhere tyre, no matter what the weather throws at you.

[rfn]

I've run T1-Rs for about 4 years on a Mk3, Mk1 and now my Mk3.5... they're great tyres and haven't let me down yet!
Perhaps they could last a little longer but 12k for a set of rears isn't too bad!

[GBDG]

Richyvrlimited said:

So you're going to massively compromise 'normal' conditions for the one or 2 weeks we get where it snows and is icy?

Seems daft to me.

FWIW, I've driven my MX5(s) all year round for nearly 10 years, I've always had 'summer' tyres on (usually Toyo T1R's/T1S's), only once have I not managed to get into work, and that was when 99% of the country failed a few years ago too.

I'm not saying winter, (or winter minded), tyres are not advantageous, but if you're going to have them, fit them to some cheap alloys and fit them in the winter. Not being willing to swap wheels is daft, it takes an hour maximum with the standard scissor jack.

I live in the hills, my road is not gritted. I work on top of a big hill, the road is not gritted. My car came very very close to spinning out a few times last year. Where I live, we get a lot more than 2 weeks of snowy/icy conditions. I agree that there would be no need to consider this option if I lived in a town/on a busy road.

I've not opted for winter tyres, these are "all season" tyres (which we should probably fit in this country any way) as oppose to "summer" tyres. The dry performance is supposed to be very good and not significantly worse than a summer tyre...

[otolith]

This was 2009, on quatracs. The car is 4wd, but the tyres were still impressive on surfaces that were difficult to walk on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fJx1rlS37Y

[Trefy5]

Rainsports are great in dry and wet
They are, as already said, next to useless in proper cold and snow

I invested in winter tyres which also work well in warmer tempertures

I've never used All-Season tyres but it has been said (by a good many on PH) that they are neither one thing nor the other so you lose out in all-seasons

It depends what your budget is and it's worth having winters on a spare set of wheels (mine are on steels)