Are all UK "winter tyres" legal for use in Europe?

[nicklonguk]

It looks like I'm going to be moving over to Sweden next year, and I'm loathe to sell my ST220 to spend the next 2 years in a leased Peugeot 308 SW or other dire hack that fits into the company's car allowance.

So, given that I'll be facing a fair old drive from Denmark to northern Sweden, I want to make sure I have the right winter tyres on before I leave these shores. However, I've noticed that on some websites advertising winter tyres, only some of them mention having "M&S" markings or snowflake symbols, which denote that they are true winter tyres to the authorities of countries which stipulate them in winter.

I'm thinking chiefly of the Kumho KW27's here. The Marrongoni Meteo HP's come up as winter tyres but there's no mention of the M&S markings.

Do you guys have any advice on this, and any tips on a good set of 18" winter tyres for a heavy FWD car?

Cheers

Nick

[Bluebarge]

Marangoni Meteos have the M+S marking, but I suggest you send a pm to FiF - he appears to live in Sweden so will be able to advise better on what you might need out there.

[Rawwr]

Real men use M&SE!

[HellDiver]

I think if the tyres have the Mountain/Snowflake symbol, then they're fine in all of Europe.

[a11y_m]

nicklonguk said:

I'm thinking chiefly of the Kumho KW27's here. The Marrongoni Meteo HP's come up as winter tyres but there's no mention of the M&S markings.

I've got those exact Kumho KW27's on my car (in 16") and I can't even recall if they have the snowflake marking or not. I'm 99% sure they do...

From my searching for "winter" tyres for my van, I came across a lot of Merc users fitting Nankang SV-2's to E-classes, etc. Reputation of their winter tyres is a LOT better than their summer tyres, thankfully. They certainly have the M&S and snowflake marking - I know for sure as I loaded them into the van this morning before dropping if off at the tyre fitters.

[Ranger 6]

Had a hire car in southern Sweden a few years ago - that came with studs - I'd do a check of where you need to go on the difference between winter and studded tyre requirements.

[nicklonguk]

Ranger 6 said:

Had a hire car in southern Sweden a few years ago - that came with studs - I'd do a check of where you need to go on the difference between winter and studded tyre requirements.

Cheers, that did come to mind. Trouble is I need to drive to the ferry port in the UK first, then through Denmark; I think studs are illegal here and unnecessary if I'm on the main roads through Denmark and southern Sweden.

I'm moving to northern Sweden though, so winter tyres plus snow chains or socks might work (not with 18" rind though perhaps!)...

Thanks for the heads up on the other tyre brands.

[Ranger 6]

It's quite a bit more money, but I have heard very good reports of the Nokian WR G2 in your size. AFAIK they're a Scandanavian tyre manufacturer with a huge knowledge and experience of severe conditions behind its development.

[Zip106]

Possibly not what you're looking for, but I've just had some General Grabber AT2's fitted to my pick-up.
These tyres have small holes in parts of the tread for fitting studs to.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=G...