Experience of All Season Tyres?
Discussion
loskie said:
I used to swap to winters. Did for a few years away back in around 2002 I started. Then discovered Vredestein Quatracs and have fitted all seasons ever since (not all Quatracs). The Quatracs performed much better that some full on winters. Avon Ice Touring being one of the worst.
For the UK climate they are ideal.
I fitted Quatrac 5s to my wife’s Fabia, a few years ago. I recently noticed there was a circumferential crack all round, just a few millimetres from the edge of the wheel rim, both tyres. I have always kept the pressures correct. They are 3 to 4mm tread depth so I have replaced them all, and back to summers now - we don’t really need the all-seasons here in costal North Wales. Just a decent wet weather summer tyre.For the UK climate they are ideal.
This morning at 1 deg. C., I set off on summers and tried a few testing manoeuvres including heavy breaking, no issues.
As others have already said all-seasons will be fine. I’ve spent quite a few winters in the alps and used to switch to winters until a few years ago when I started using all-seasons all year instead. Even in the extreme snowy conditions I’ve driven in I can’t say I noticed much if any difference in performance, even at really cold temps.
I use All seasons as my winter fitment on my Civic, And permanent year-round fit on the Jag & Corsa.
As I see it, especially being in London (Though my travels can take me up to Scotland etc in less than favourable conditions!), an All season seems more suited for the UK where most of the time it's cold and wet.
The more "Winter" the tyre, the more it generally sacrifices a bit of wet performance - Snow is rare, but an all season will still be 70 - 80% of a winter.
All the benefits of the cold weather compound, without going "too far the other way", especially as it can be 0c one week and 10c the next!
I've always thought the American style Pilot Sport All Season would be perfect for the UK, but they don't seem to get European type approval, likely as most continental customers are looking for a full 3PMSF Tyre to meet legal requirements.
As I see it, especially being in London (Though my travels can take me up to Scotland etc in less than favourable conditions!), an All season seems more suited for the UK where most of the time it's cold and wet.
The more "Winter" the tyre, the more it generally sacrifices a bit of wet performance - Snow is rare, but an all season will still be 70 - 80% of a winter.
All the benefits of the cold weather compound, without going "too far the other way", especially as it can be 0c one week and 10c the next!
I've always thought the American style Pilot Sport All Season would be perfect for the UK, but they don't seem to get European type approval, likely as most continental customers are looking for a full 3PMSF Tyre to meet legal requirements.
Haltamer said:
I've always thought the American style Pilot Sport All Season would be perfect for the UK, but they don't seem to get European type approval, likely as most continental customers are looking for a full 3PMSF Tyre to meet legal requirements.
Pilot Sport All Season tyres appear available in the UK, for example:• https://www.national.co.uk/tyres/brand/michelin/pi...
• https://www.blackcircles.com/brands/michelin/pilot...
The problem with standard fit let's call them "summer" tyres is that they are all focussed on eco and lowering emissions.
Great for perfect roads in perfect conditions but they don't/can't defy the laws of physics.
How can you have low rolling resistance= to good grip and effective breaking?
Re all seasons as you can also get them with the mountain snowflake symbol they also meet the need for a winter on the continent.
I reckon if car manufacturers offered and promoted all seasons most folks would choose them as a default in the UK. There would be exceptions yes but for mainstream cars they just make sense.
1.6mm on "summer" tyres in the wet UK makes no sense at all.
Great for perfect roads in perfect conditions but they don't/can't defy the laws of physics.
How can you have low rolling resistance= to good grip and effective breaking?
Re all seasons as you can also get them with the mountain snowflake symbol they also meet the need for a winter on the continent.
I reckon if car manufacturers offered and promoted all seasons most folks would choose them as a default in the UK. There would be exceptions yes but for mainstream cars they just make sense.
1.6mm on "summer" tyres in the wet UK makes no sense at all.
Always thought that all-seasons should be the standard offering when buying a new car especially for everyday cars and make it a no cost option to opt for normal summer tyres. Obviously on anything vaguely sporty, stick on a summer tyre but it would benefit a lot of people if AS were fitted as standard and they’d be unlikely to notice the difference in how it drives.
Maybe it's area dependant but over the past couple of years I've noted more cars running all season tyres around here - seems a few new cars come either with them as standard or maybe as an option, certainly noted a few XC40 Volvos and Peugeots running Cross Climates. Local tyre establishments seems to be advertising all season tyres a bit more too so maybe, slowly some of the population are starting to realise that there are benefits to be had. Slightly miffed as I appear to be in the only part of the country without snow... a trip to higher ground may be in order at the weekend to try and the Quatacs!
Depends entirely on where you live and what the roads are like.
We regularly get lots and lots of snow (>50cm fall and 1-2m drifts) - rural NE Scotland and the little roads don’t get cleared regularly. Lowest temp I’ve seen is -23C.
I’ve helped lots of people recover their cars in snow and heard “but I’ve got all season tyres”. My in-laws (who live here too) have a Subaru XV and went to the local tyre place to get winters and got sold all-seasons. Michelin I think. They were nowhere near as good as proper winters in snow/ice and after one winter changed again. They now have conti winters they’re superb, that car is awesome in the snow.
We regularly get lots and lots of snow (>50cm fall and 1-2m drifts) - rural NE Scotland and the little roads don’t get cleared regularly. Lowest temp I’ve seen is -23C.
I’ve helped lots of people recover their cars in snow and heard “but I’ve got all season tyres”. My in-laws (who live here too) have a Subaru XV and went to the local tyre place to get winters and got sold all-seasons. Michelin I think. They were nowhere near as good as proper winters in snow/ice and after one winter changed again. They now have conti winters they’re superb, that car is awesome in the snow.
If everyone used winter tyres in winter we wouldn’t need to salt the roads and could manage with just ploughing - and our cars wouldn’t be rusty heaps after 10 years.
I know it creates issues for HGV’s and other heavy vehicles but there are plenty of cold countries that don’t salt their roads .
I know it creates issues for HGV’s and other heavy vehicles but there are plenty of cold countries that don’t salt their roads .
Lefty said:
Depends entirely on where you live and what the roads are like.
That is the key sentence.Most areas of the UK have very little snow, so full winters are not necessary. Going with full winters also means you need to store wheels and/or tyres, not possible for a very large part of the population. I agree that many areas in Scotland and the north of England it would be beneficial to have full winters.
I think it all depends on a multitude of variables... including the fact "winter tyres" is a very very broad spectrum and within that you'll have different brands, different aggressiveness, compounds, widths and indeed, tread depths so on that basis something big, heavy on fairly wide and rather crap full "winters" might be completely outgunned by something, small, light and wearing the most suited all seasons. And that's before you venture down the rabbit hole that is weather conditions, type of snow, depth, road surfaces etc etc. I think you just run with what best suits you and that inevitably, the conditions can always get so bad that at some stage, almost everything will ground to a halt. At that point, stay at home!
Lefty said:
Depends entirely on where you live and what the roads are like.
We regularly get lots and lots of snow (>50cm fall and 1-2m drifts) - rural NE Scotland and the little roads don’t get cleared regularly. Lowest temp I’ve seen is -23C.
I’ve helped lots of people recover their cars in snow and heard “but I’ve got all season tyres”. My in-laws (who live here too) have a Subaru XV and went to the local tyre place to get winters and got sold all-seasons. Michelin I think. They were nowhere near as good as proper winters in snow/ice and after one winter changed again. They now have conti winters they’re superb, that car is awesome in the snow.
I remember reading some time ago that Conti winters perform well into the summer months, so you can get your money’s worth from them.We regularly get lots and lots of snow (>50cm fall and 1-2m drifts) - rural NE Scotland and the little roads don’t get cleared regularly. Lowest temp I’ve seen is -23C.
I’ve helped lots of people recover their cars in snow and heard “but I’ve got all season tyres”. My in-laws (who live here too) have a Subaru XV and went to the local tyre place to get winters and got sold all-seasons. Michelin I think. They were nowhere near as good as proper winters in snow/ice and after one winter changed again. They now have conti winters they’re superb, that car is awesome in the snow.
I’ve just been out in my onsie and my Mazda CX-60 on a rescue mission to collect my husband from where he parked his commuter car (Toyota CH-R) at the bottom of the hill near home. The hill was completely covered in snow and really quite steep. It felt very surefooted both going down and back up again.
The CH-R was a hot mess going nowhere.
The CH-R was a hot mess going nowhere.
My GRC came with Pilot Sport 4 tires as standard. I'm in Denver, so that's not a great idea in winter. I'm reusing my old Evo IX wheels as a winter set, with Falken Aklimate tires.
These are all season + 3PMSF; I'm curious to see if they, or something similar are available in the UK? They've a 65k miles tradwear warranty and did pretty well in the snow we've had so far.
These are all season + 3PMSF; I'm curious to see if they, or something similar are available in the UK? They've a 65k miles tradwear warranty and did pretty well in the snow we've had so far.
aeropilot said:
Matt_T said:
From experience, the problem with All Season tyres is that when it gets to winter they are part worn by 10,000 miles of summer driving so are compromised in the very wet / snow.
Wow, what was that on?I get 40k miles out of a set of Pirelli Scorpion all seasons fitted on my BMW X5.
Matt_T said:
Sorry - what I meant was that if you run All Season tyres all year round, you will inevitably go into the 3rd or 4th winter with them part worn and compromised. If you run seperate summers / winters you'll get those 3 or 4 winters on fresh tread.
Possibly. On the other hand you are saving by only buying one set of tyres at a time. On my Skoda Superb one pair of Goodyear Vectors have around 30k miles on then. Still over 4mm. First 10 on the frontv then switched to rear as I bought a new pair, the idea being all 4 will be ready to change roughly the same time.Used on snowy roads today with good performance.
I anticipate replacing all 4 in a year before winter 2025 as I don't run tyres under 2.5-3mm as I street feeling them squirm a bit hitting puddles
Good quality tyres will perform well throughout their life. Obviously yes there will be some deterioration, but shouldn't be massive
And for most people it's not practical to change/store tyres to change at different times of the year. And good tyres will easily last over 10k without any issue or concerns about performance on a normal road car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXOE1DpjQGg
And for most people it's not practical to change/store tyres to change at different times of the year. And good tyres will easily last over 10k without any issue or concerns about performance on a normal road car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXOE1DpjQGg
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