WInter Tyres all year?
Discussion
I can only find a very old (4 years) post on this and I think winter tyres have come along way in that time.
I am looking at fitting Continental WinterContact TS 830P to my S_MAX for 'all seasons', despite being classed as a winter tyre. (my 235/45 18's don't have decent all seasons available).
I originally read a review in a magazine I think that said it was such a strong tyre in all conditions it really could be run all year. There are also plenty of people on mytyres who say they do run all year round and it remains a great tyre and wears slower than their previous summer tyres.
The main contentious point is this though - I need to replace my front summer tyres only at this point! My rears have about 7mm on them. Would I be a lunatic to only fit winter tyres to the front and leave summer tyres on the back. Given it is a front drive car I figure this would at least be better if the white stuff hits than summer tyres all round though accept the compromise in the short term this brings, especially on a heavy car like an S-MAX. That said, if the slush hits I don't actually plan on skiing trips to the Alps, merely picking the kids up from school because the school is shut or similar short hops.
I can't afford 4 new decent winter tyres at this point without going for a dodgy Chinese brand that would need swapping come spring and would be atrocious in the wet in the meantime.
So my options: 2 new summer tyres, or 2 new winter tyres just at the front with the plan of eventually going 4 up on good winter tyres with strong wet performance all year round.
Mad or merely tight fisted sense? Please can someone with better knowledge of these things give some advice?
Jeff
I am looking at fitting Continental WinterContact TS 830P to my S_MAX for 'all seasons', despite being classed as a winter tyre. (my 235/45 18's don't have decent all seasons available).
I originally read a review in a magazine I think that said it was such a strong tyre in all conditions it really could be run all year. There are also plenty of people on mytyres who say they do run all year round and it remains a great tyre and wears slower than their previous summer tyres.
The main contentious point is this though - I need to replace my front summer tyres only at this point! My rears have about 7mm on them. Would I be a lunatic to only fit winter tyres to the front and leave summer tyres on the back. Given it is a front drive car I figure this would at least be better if the white stuff hits than summer tyres all round though accept the compromise in the short term this brings, especially on a heavy car like an S-MAX. That said, if the slush hits I don't actually plan on skiing trips to the Alps, merely picking the kids up from school because the school is shut or similar short hops.
I can't afford 4 new decent winter tyres at this point without going for a dodgy Chinese brand that would need swapping come spring and would be atrocious in the wet in the meantime.
So my options: 2 new summer tyres, or 2 new winter tyres just at the front with the plan of eventually going 4 up on good winter tyres with strong wet performance all year round.
Mad or merely tight fisted sense? Please can someone with better knowledge of these things give some advice?
Jeff
Edited by jemcfee on Tuesday 9th December 10:26
Mixing summer and winter tyres is a very bad idea. Pointless waste of money.
Winter tyres are terrible in the peak of summer and will wear out very fast. They go very mushy and are horrible to drive on.
Personally I'd stick with a decent summer tyre if you're only going to run one set of tyres.... I ran Vredestein Sessantas over the last 2 winters and never had a single issue. Due to the wide tread patterns they actually grip very well on snow, OK nothing like a true snow tyre but probably the best of all the high performance tyres.
My Scirocco has Goodyear Eagle F1 AS2 and currently have had no issues even at -3 or 4 degrees, albeit no snow, just very cold.
In my opinion we MAY occasionally get a month or two tops of snow and to sacrifice the handling and grip of your car for the 8-10 months of warm, wet weather we usually get is a bit silly.
Winter tyres are terrible in the peak of summer and will wear out very fast. They go very mushy and are horrible to drive on.
Personally I'd stick with a decent summer tyre if you're only going to run one set of tyres.... I ran Vredestein Sessantas over the last 2 winters and never had a single issue. Due to the wide tread patterns they actually grip very well on snow, OK nothing like a true snow tyre but probably the best of all the high performance tyres.
My Scirocco has Goodyear Eagle F1 AS2 and currently have had no issues even at -3 or 4 degrees, albeit no snow, just very cold.
In my opinion we MAY occasionally get a month or two tops of snow and to sacrifice the handling and grip of your car for the 8-10 months of warm, wet weather we usually get is a bit silly.
Previously I've run winter's all year round (OK) and winter on the front/summer on the rear (OK). I'm still alive.
The only downside that I experienced is that the winters are noisier and make steering a bit more numb. The difference on my SMax is much less noticeable than it was on my Golf.
The only downside that I experienced is that the winters are noisier and make steering a bit more numb. The difference on my SMax is much less noticeable than it was on my Golf.
jemcfee said:
Would I be a lunatic to only fit winter tyres to the front and leave summer tyres on the back.
If it gets slippery, you're going to turn in, find the front end grips, then quickly find the back end doesn't, as it all gets sideways. Or you'll brake, and find the back end losing grip and coming round to meet you.GavinPearson said:
For Britain, All Season tyres are a better compromise.
Yet there are so few available.TooMany2cvs said:
jemcfee said:
Would I be a lunatic to only fit winter tyres to the front and leave summer tyres on the back.
If it gets slippery, you're going to turn in, find the front end grips, then quickly find the back end doesn't, as it all gets sideways. Or you'll brake, and find the back end losing grip and coming round to meet you.GavinPearson said:
For Britain, All Season tyres are a better compromise.
Yet there are so few available.Unfortunately the only 'all season' tyre I can find at my tyre sizes is a 'Star Performer SPTS AS' which then sound in the description like a winter tyre badged all season anyway and I cannot find any details about whther it's any good, especially in the wet.
jemcfee said:
So basically it's a no. My biggest worry was about too much grip at the front and not enough on the rear. The country hills I drive on though last time I had to collect in the snow had zero grip down hill at all and we slid down and hoped, bouncing off the banks a bit). I would be at very very slow speed and not sure some grip with a loose backside is worse than no grip at all!
Depends if you think going down sideways is better or worse than going down forwards... <grin>jemcfee said:
Unfortunately the only 'all season' tyre I can find at my tyre sizes is a 'Star Performer SPTS AS'
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