Winter tyres vol 2

[anonymous-user]

Ron99 said:

FiF said:

…... Lousy wet road grip though, rated E......

Rated E for wet grip under the specified test (basically a warm, wet road).
Possibly very different on a cold wet road.
A good example being Jon's recent test where the 'B'-wet-rated CrossClimate+ stopped better on a cold wet road than the 'A'-wet-rated Conti Premium Contact.

FIF's obvious sniping aside I would have to agree. It was a very informative test and I think puts to bed a lot of questions some of had about winter tyre choices.

[SlimJim16v]

ruprechtmonkeyboy said:

FIF's obvious sniping aside I would have to agree. It was a very informative test and I think puts to bed a lot of questions some of had about winter tyre choices.

How to destroy any credibility you may've had.

[BaldOldMan]

SlimJim16v said:

ruprechtmonkeyboy said:

FIF's obvious sniping aside I would have to agree. It was a very informative test and I think puts to bed a lot of questions some of had about winter tyre choices.

How to destroy any credibility you may've had.

Missing the word 'us' destroys your credibility ?

Tough crowd on PH........

[FiF]

ruprechtmonkeyboy said:

Ron99 said:

FiF said:

…... Lousy wet road grip though, rated E......

Rated E for wet grip under the specified test (basically a warm, wet road).
Possibly very different on a cold wet road.
A good example being Jon's recent test where the 'B'-wet-rated CrossClimate+ stopped better on a cold wet road than the 'A'-wet-rated Conti Premium Contact.

FIF's obvious sniping aside I would have to agree. It was a very informative test and I think puts to bed a lot of questions some of had about winter tyre choices.

If you think someone pointing out a lack of significant detail in your post is sniping so be it, you'd be wrong but anyway moving on. Care to declare what the tyres were so we can put it into context? Devil in the detail and all that.

[PaulJC84]

Just had 4 Michelin CrossClimate + tyres fitted to my A4.

Previously had Dunlop wintersport 3D fitted.

These look like they are a chunkier tyre, more sidewall bulge. But ride also slightly firmer.

Been quite mild here in Scotland and I have been impressed with the grip on the greasy backroads.

I decided to go from a full winter to a hybrid as I think my full winters were more than i needed in the UK. Also some of the grip strips on each tread got a bit chewed up after a while.

[300bhp/ton]

BaldOldMan said:

sooooo much better this time of year for where I live

Just curious, but where abouts?

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Sunday 22 December 20:37

[BaldOldMan]

300bhp/ton said:

Just curious, but where abouts?

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Sunday 22 December 20:37

I spend the winter season in a ski resort in Andorra (El Tarter) and most weeks I am back in the UK - so I guess, more accurately my wife spends the season & I commute - therefore, I have regular runs to Barcelona or Toulouse airports.

I often have the joy of leaving around 3am on a Monday & can be anything from piles of fresh snow, to slush, ice, rain etc. on mountain roads followed by motorways and the reverse on a Thursday night.

I see relatively little other traffic on a Monday, but Thursdays can be a PITA if there's been snow - which is why I have very little time for the 'I just drive slower' brigade as I'm usually stuck behind them until I can pass, or occasionally, if I'm in a good mood and conditions are particularly bad, towing them....

[Mr Tom]

Hi All,

Just thought I would give my thoughts on the first winter/all seasons tyre I have used. I have been running Michelin Crossclimates on my Skoda Octavia 1.6tdi estate in minicab spec. They are (rightly or wrongly) only fitted to the fronts but so far I have been very impressed. Subjectively quiet compared with the summer Michelin’s before. Have as good grip in the dry/warmer weather and as good in the wet. Had a little snow and a lot of ice up in Lancashire and managed well although it’s not the Alps! Would like them on the rears too really but as a company car I can’t get the rears changed as yet.

I would recommend overall

[BaldOldMan]

Mr Tom said:

They are (rightly or wrongly) only fitted to the fronts

Wrongly - very wrongly - dangerously wrongly - I could go on......

I'd spend my own money on getting some on the back

The difference in grip will be significant - in all conditions, warm & cold - so the car will behave unpredictably on the limit

[BaldOldMan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5aMnmekA38

[B'stard Child]

Mr Tom said:

Hi All,

Just thought I would give my thoughts on the first winter/all seasons tyre I have used. I have been running Michelin Crossclimates on my Skoda Octavia 1.6tdi estate in minicab spec. They are (rightly or wrongly) only fitted to the fronts but so far I have been very impressed. Subjectively quiet compared with the summer Michelin’s before. Have as good grip in the dry/warmer weather and as good in the wet. Had a little snow and a lot of ice up in Lancashire and managed well although it’s not the Alps! Would like them on the rears too really but as a company car I can’t get the rears changed as yet.

I would recommend overall

Swap the front to the rears

Handbrake on

Spin the fronts till they require replacement

Please

[SlimJim16v]

BaldOldMan said:

Missing the word 'us' destroys your credibility ?

Tough crowd on PH........

I see what you mean. Possibly.
So my apologies if it is a missing "us".

Edited by SlimJim16v on Sunday 22 December 21:15

[jamieduff1981]

kiethton said:

I fitted a set of Nokian winters to my Exige a few weeks ago, not sure if it’s due to the pressures being a little high but my god are they awful. The AD08R’s that we’re on there before would have more grip in the same conditions (c3* and greasy) - I was getting wheel spin on cam changes in 2nd/3rd and its a NA car!

Tempted to say it was a bad experiment and go back to my tack-biased summer tyres which are materially grippier.

This may or may not be clever depending on the possible weather and how the car is used. Your AD08Rs may still work(ish) at 3deg C in the absence of any slush, snow or ice on the road and they may indeed work better than whichever model of Nokians you have fitted. If you can reasonably expect some ice on the roads though or indeed some snow, and you do have to drive in such conditions, you'll find that the Nokians give more consistent performance across this lower band of temperatures whereas your AD08Rs will very rapidly and suddenly go from usable to useless.

I find with winter tyres that I have to adjust my driving to a lower baseline of grip most of the time, and am willing to do so because the performance of the tyres doesn't go off a cliff-edge if I wake up one morning and the temperature is -2deg C (like this morning) and I have 2 miles of untreated roads with inclines and corners before I get to he salted ones as happens on summer tyres. I have to drive - it's not optional. My circumstances my differ from your's.

Summer tyres are fine in winter until they're not and when they're not, they're really not.

Some parts of the country may only get 2 days of snow per year. Fine. If you don't have to drive those days, great - don't. It's better to manage with slightly less total grip through December and January using winter tyres instead of summer tyres than to be unable to stop the car going downhill and crashing just once.

[BaldOldMan]

jamieduff1981 said:

I find with winter tyres that I have to adjust my driving to a lower baseline of grip most of the time,.......

IMHO there's something wrong with your winter tyres then as that should don't be the case

Dry braking tests will show that summers are better even in the cold - but most UK winter days are not perfectly dry......

If you're really hitting the limits of the tyres on a daily basis, then something is wrong

[Kawasicki]

BaldOldMan said:

Dry braking tests will show that summers are better even in the cold

Hmm, depends.

[BaldOldMan]

Kawasicki said:

BaldOldMan said:

Dry braking tests will show that summers are better even in the cold

Hmm, depends.

OK - show me one that doesn't - I'm always keen to learn......

[Kawasicki]

BaldOldMan said:

Kawasicki said:

BaldOldMan said:

Dry braking tests will show that summers are better even in the cold

Hmm, depends.

OK - show me one that doesn't - I'm always keen to learn......

There are loads that don’t, here’s one...(from a few pages back!]

https://youtu.be/bKtnczk8Mxk

[BaldOldMan]

Kawasicki said:

There are loads that don’t, here’s one...(from a few pages back!]

https://youtu.be/bKtnczk8Mxk

Play that video & jump to 8:50......

Summer tyres best at every temperature (that they tested) in dry conditions.

BTW - I make this trade pretty much every week in the winter - on Thursday I left home in the Pyrenees at -6 with snow on the road & arrived 2.5 hours later in Barcelona at 16 and dry

Give me winters every time, but I'm under no illusion that they are better in the dry - but they are so much better in everything else, it's the right trade off for me

Edited by BaldOldMan on Monday 23 December 20:36

[shoestring7]

jamieduff1981 said:

kiethton said:

I fitted a set of Nokian winters to my Exige a few weeks ago, not sure if it’s due to the pressures being a little high but my god are they awful. The AD08R’s that we’re on there before would have more grip in the same conditions (c3* and greasy) - I was getting wheel spin on cam changes in 2nd/3rd and its a NA car!

Tempted to say it was a bad experiment and go back to my tack-biased summer tyres which are materially grippier.

This may or may not be clever depending on the possible weather and how the car is used. Your AD08Rs may still work(ish) at 3deg C in the absence of any slush, snow or ice on the road and they may indeed work better than whichever model of Nokians you have fitted. If you can reasonably expect some ice on the roads though or indeed some snow, and you do have to drive in such conditions, you'll find that the Nokians give more consistent performance across this lower band of temperatures whereas your AD08Rs will very rapidly and suddenly go from usable to useless.

I find with winter tyres that I have to adjust my driving to a lower baseline of grip most of the time, and am willing to do so because the performance of the tyres doesn't go off a cliff-edge if I wake up one morning and the temperature is -2deg C (like this morning) and I have 2 miles of untreated roads with inclines and corners before I get to he salted ones as happens on summer tyres. I have to drive - it's not optional. My circumstances my differ from your's.

Summer tyres are fine in winter until they're not and when they're not, they're really not.

Some parts of the country may only get 2 days of snow per year. Fine. If you don't have to drive those days, great - don't. It's better to manage with slightly less total grip through December and January using winter tyres instead of summer tyres than to be unable to stop the car going downhill and crashing just once.

I've had Nokian winters on a mk 5 Golf Gti and an M135i. In my experience they took several hundred miles and quite a few heat cycles to come in. Once they did it was fine, although the tread will obviously move around a lot more than a semi-competition tyre like a AD08R.

SS7

[RicksAlfas]

kapiteinlangzaam said:

Wasnt really looking for a winterset for this car, but these turned up for a silly cheap price, so grabbed them.

Cooper Weather Master WSC, 265/65 ! Mmmmm comfy!

Done about 500kms with them on, and so far I like them. Car is permanent AWD, so hoping it wont be totally useless come winter weather.

[Img]https://i.imgur.com/Y9kvCi5.jpg[/thumb]

[Img]https://i.imgur.com/CeXpWmq.jpg[/thumb]

Looks like a Jack Bauer mobile!
What engine has it got?