Winter tyres vol 2

[vikingaero]

DailyHack said:

Goodyear or Michelins, you guys will "cringe" at what I use, and have had great experience with them.

RIKEN SNOWTIME winter tyres have been on my 318d E91 for the past year and half (28k miles), and have been rather excellent, including a very hot, fast trip to Italy and back on the fast toll roads and the twisty Chianti roads last year...very impressed, will be time for the bin at end of year I think.

I am that impressed with RIKEN, I've bought X4 summer tyres ready to go on when they are done on the 3 series.

I have now fitted TOMKET SNOWROADS on my SAAB 9-3 stubby 16's winter set-up alloys ready for Oct/Nov.

Again reasonable reviews, so happy to give these a try.

I have a set of Rikens on The Shed. Rikens are a subsidiary of Michelin and if you squint you can see similarities in tread pattern with the Energy tyres. Again, Recommended. If The Shed lasts another year, I'm going to run Riken snow tyres all year round as The Shed spends more time than most cars off road.

[jamesbilluk]

Bought a set of winter rims for the car, they came with some Bridgestone Blizzaks on, 5-6mm on them, they're stamped as a 2014 tyre though, will these be OK to use? They don't show any sign of cracking, and have bene properly stored

[Speed addicted]

jamesbilluk said:

Bought a set of winter rims for the car, they came with some Bridgestone Blizzaks on, 5-6mm on them, they're stamped as a 2014 tyre though, will these be OK to use? They don't show any sign of cracking, and have bene properly stored

They should be ok, however I have had issues with older winter tyres as they seem to become less flexible with age, so you can feel the loss of traction compared to newer ones.

I’d risk it then see how they feel, if they’re skittish replace.

[bolidemichael]

I wouldn't sweat it

[bolidemichael]

jon- said:

I've got an all season test coming out next week!

If you're not that fussed about snow performance, the A005 is very good.

The new Goodyear Vector 4Season Gen 3 is very good, as is the Hankook Kinergy 4S2 and Conti allseasoncontact

Your contributions and vids are great Jon, keep it up.

[Carbon Sasquatch]

jamesbilluk said:

Bought a set of winter rims for the car, they came with some Bridgestone Blizzaks on, 5-6mm on them, they're stamped as a 2014 tyre though, will these be OK to use? They don't show any sign of cracking, and have bene properly stored

I'd say they have another winter in them

[jamesbilluk]

Thanks guys, will use them this winter and see how they get on. Even as they are, hopefully they should be better than the summer tyres that are on it now.

[d_a_n1979]

JakeT said:

=Indisputable signs of winter on the way=

• The nights start to draw in
• Heavy dews
• Migratory birds are seen overhead
• The PH Winter tyre thread fires up

Mine will be going on when the clocks change.

Same; always get them on around the last week or so of October

Going from this (LMs with 18" Vredestein Ultrac Vorti tyres):



To this (17" Style 66s with 17" Avon WV7s fitted):

[d_a_n1979]

Kolbenkopp said:

Bringing this thread up again will likely cause the usual discussions. Especially with the nice weather right now. But so be it .

Anyone can recommend a good all-season available in 195/45/16? I'm really happy with the Michelin CCs, but not available in that size. Would give the Kleber (Michelin budget brand) a try, but there's likely something better out there? It's for a 500 Abarth, and for winter use only. Very mild winters actually (NW Germany).

My pal runs these on his Civic 'winter beater' to save his 335i and Civic FD2 getting abused in the bad weather:

https://www.camskill.co.uk/m139b0s8752p167061/Vred...

Really rates them, bought them on the back of me going on about how good I find the Vredesteil Ultrac Vorti summer tyres But he's found them to be superb and even used them in snowy weather in the North Lake District, at altitude, with no issues

Great price too

[Ron99]

Kolbenkopp said:

Bringing this thread up again will likely cause the usual discussions. Especially with the nice weather right now. But so be it .

Regarding weather, I've had solar panels on my roof for many years and I have years of generation and weather data as a result.

Over the course of a calendar year, it's amazing how little difference there is in sunlight/solar radiation from one year to the next. Statistically, one standard deviation is only 3% variation.

Weather seems to have a tendency to mean-revert within the following several months.
So our longer, hotter, drier and sunnier spring-summer than average this year seems likely to have a higher than average probability of being followed by a cooler, duller and damper than average autumn-winter.

Of course, it could be cool and damp for a long period or it could be cold and snowy for a short period. Either would work to re-balance the 'too hot, too dry, too sunny' imbalance so far this year.
For us, last year's record-breaking summer was followed by many months of persistent cool, dull and damp without any snow. However, even in cool damp autumn-winter weather without snow, all-season and winter tyres grip better than summer tyres.

[NGRhodes]

And here is the promised all season tyre test:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Tyre-Revi...

[r44flyer]

bolidemichael said:

We purchased the Maxxis SP2 for Mrs Bolide's London-based, urban-usage Audi A2.

They're cheap and decent quality.

Same tyre on a Jag S-Type R here. Brilliant tyre for the money.

[Cold]

I fitted my autumn tyres yesterday. /controversial/

For various reasons the General Grabber AT tyres went back onto the wagon. I'd forgotten how well they collect stones in their tread blocks.

[fttm]

Run Grabbers on my F150 without stone/winter/snowflake issues . Must be a British thing

[snotrag]

NGRhodes said:

And here is the promised all season tyre test:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Tyre-Revi...

Its a good watch.

I already had the Bridgestone A005 earmarked for my E-class in the next few weeks - to confirm, the the version tested above is the original, but as as around now (September) the new 'EVO' version is becoming available which supposedly makes further improvements.

Looks like they are aiming more for the 'British Winter' type market like the Cross-Climate too, e.g. just enough snow performance to stop you being completely stuck as you would on summers, but brillaint cold/wet road handling, comfort etc.


Our lass has the Gen 2 Goodyear Vector All-seasons on here Mazda3 - they are fine, and she doesn't notice, but they are a little soft feeling, much more like a proper full winter tyre.

[anonymous-user]

I wonder if we'll get a proper winter down here in the South East this year, haven't had one for years. I guess the uptake on winter tyres this year will be even lower than normal due to most ppl wfh till probably spring next year = less need to get about.

[tr7v8]

NGRhodes said:

And here is the promised all season tyre test:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Tyre-Revi...

No Dunlop Sport 5 which is the winter I run on the Cayenne

[FunkyNige]

tr7v8 said:

NGRhodes said:

And here is the promised all season tyre test:

https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2020-Tyre-Revi...

No Dunlop Sport 5 which is the winter I run on the Cayenne

It was an all-season tyre test and I think the Dunlop Sport 5 is a pure winter tyre?

[anonymous-user]

snotrag said:

Our lass has the Gen 2 Goodyear Vector All-seasons on here Mazda3 - they are fine, and she doesn't notice, but they are a little soft feeling, much more like a proper full winter tyre.

That's my experience of them too.

[anonymous-user]

stickleback123 said:

snotrag said:

Our lass has the Gen 2 Goodyear Vector All-seasons on here Mazda3 - they are fine, and she doesn't notice, but they are a little soft feeling, much more like a proper full winter tyre.

That's my experience of them too.

Got these on my civic tourer and I guess they are a little bit soft, but they are stunning on cold damp roads, and torrential rain. I have so much confidence in them. Not seeing any undue wear on them either. Hopefully there will be some snow this winter.