Good snow tyre - but not a "winter tyre"

[cobra kid]

I'm looking for a pair of tyres for the Golf that will be good in snow. The thing is, I don't want to have to buy winter tyres and swap them again in the spring.

Any recommendations as to a good all rounder??

Thanks.

[Hugo a Gogo]

no non-winter tyre will be 'good' in the snow

an all-season tyre will be ok, but a winter will be better

Vredestein Quatracs are quite good, and cheap, Goodyear Vector are better and dearer

[Captain Muppet]

How bad does snow get where you live?

[g3org3y]

So you want an 'All Season' tyre?

Vredestein Quatrac (3) is very highly regarded (and what I noted the police cars in Germany to be shod with).

[y2blade]

Speaking from personal experience Firestone Firehawk SZ90.. http://www.firestone.eu/en/car/sz90 .. were surprisingly very good in the snow last year..only needed to use snow socks once...as opposed to countless times on Goodyear Eagle F1s.

[cobra kid]

Captain Muppet said:

How bad does snow get where you live?

Not mega but it's a 20 mile drive to work.

[DuckDuck]

I have just Replaced the excellent and great value Hankook W300 with new W310.



I have a heavy RWD car and all season tyres help but just aren't up to the job in snow they are just too much of a compromise. Outright winter tyres gives the best traction in snow but tend to be poor in the wet and dry and are low speed rated.

I usually have performance winter tyres, not as good as outright snow tyres but still very good and have reasonable amount of handling in the wet and dry. So they work in the colder october/november months as well as helping to get us to the French ski resorts in winter. Still have chains.....just in case.

[minghis]

Uniroyal Rainsport 2's are quite good in the snow.

[y2blade]

minghis said:

Uniroyal Rainsport 2's are quite good in the snow.

Really? that is good to know as the Quattro is on them

My local lane was very frosty and slippy this morning, the S4 took it in her stride.
bring on the snow.

[Watchman]

My car permanently lives on a set of Nokian WR A3.

[mrmr96]

cobra kid said:

I'm looking for a pair of tyres for the Golf that will be good in snow. The thing is, I don't want to have to buy winter tyres and swap them again in the spring.

Any recommendations as to a good all rounder??

Thanks.

You don't have to take winter tyres off in the spring if you don't want to.

[monthefish]

g3org3y said:

So you want an 'All Season' tyre?

Vredestein Quatrac (3) is very highly regarded

[Dog Star]

Hugo a Gogo said:

no non-winter tyre will be 'good' in the snow

an all-season tyre will be ok, but a winter will be better

Vredestein Quatracs are quite good, and cheap, Goodyear Vector are better and dearer

I dispute the second sentence in your post, Hugo.

I've got all-seasons on two of my cars and I can tell you 100% for definite that they ARE very good in snow, not merely "ok". In fact I seem to recall seeing somewhere lately a test showing that Goodyear Vectors coming out as good as full-on snowies.

(I have Kleber Quadraxers on a V70 and Goodyear Vectors on a C1 - I only got stuck once last year up a steep single track road in the Pennines and that was when the snow simply got too deep for the tiny C1 and it couldn't push through. In my experience they are truly excellent and I'd fit them to everything if I could get the sizes (they don't do 40 profile 18 inchers, sadly).)

[thinfourth2]

Contary to popular belive they don't explode in a ball of fire at 8C

I ran winters all year round on a 40 mile a day commute and they lasted fine.

and not once did i get stuck due to too much sun

[monthefish]

thinfourth2 said:

and not once did i get stuck due to too much sun

[monthefish]

Dog Star said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

no non-winter tyre will be 'good' in the snow

an all-season tyre will be ok, but a winter will be better

Vredestein Quatracs are quite good, and cheap, Goodyear Vector are better and dearer

I dispute the second sentence in your post, Hugo.

I've got all-seasons on two of my cars and I can tell you 100% for definite that they ARE very good in snow, not merely "ok". In fact I seem to recall seeing somewhere lately a test showing that Goodyear Vectors coming out as good as full-on snowies.

Agreed.

Evo rated the Vredstein Quattracs (all season) ahead of two dedicated winter tyres overall in their last Winter Tyre test, and personally I have found them to be excellent in the snow.

[wackojacko]

Toyo T1R's if you can get hold of any were brilliant on my Astra.

[Hugo a Gogo]

well, I have used Quatrac 3s in quite deep snow, I had trouble getting out of my own street, then slid at the end of the road

my own incompetence aside, I didn't think they were THAT good, not as good as some winters I've used, any reviews I've seen have backed that up, braking distances and handling in snow not as good as 'proper' winters

edit: but yes, a good all-season could easily be better than a crap winter

Edited by Hugo a Gogo on Tuesday 4th December 10:24

[LuS1fer]

I was recommended Dextero (something like 901s)on my Golf after Kumhos slipped hopelessly. I found them reasonably effective in the last snows we had and I live in hilly terrain.

[aeropilot]

cobra kid said:

I'm looking for a pair of tyres for the Golf that will be good in snow. The thing is, I don't want to have to buy winter tyres and swap them again in the spring.

Any recommendations as to a good all rounder??

You mention a pair, last time I looked, Golf's had four wheels......

All seasons arn't that good in snow, better than normal summers yes, but, still nowhere near as good as winters.