All Season Tyres?

[gareth041]

Good Afternoon All

I am in the need of two rear tyres now and the front in approximately six Months.
I own an 04 Mercedes Benz E320 CDI Estate. I love the old "battle wagon" and she has never let me down bless her.

My shortlist consists of the following tyres. The Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons and the Vredestein Quatrac 3.
Please can you pass on your thoughts/opinions of both tyres and any other ideas you may have?

I will probably replace all four at the same time to ensure consistency of tyre type.

Thanks all in advance,

Gareth.

[FurtiveFreddy]

Maybe consider Nokian WR G3 as well?

[loskie]

Quatracs are good better than Avon Ice Touring proper winters in my experience. vredestein becoming more costly over the years.
Don't know about the Goodyears.
this year I have fitted:
http://www.bridgestone.co.uk/auto/ranges/weather-c...

205/65 16 £85 each fitted IIRC. So far so good.
I would say having run full winters and all season tyres for 10 years or so covering 20000m per year on rural roads in SW scotland that all season tyres are very well suited to our climate without the hassle of changing winters etc etc.

[LordGrover]

Have you checked the sticky: clicky?

[trickywoo]

I've run Kleber Quadraxers for the past two years on a light FWD hatch and been pleased with them in all conditions.

[BorkFactor]

gareth041 said:

Vredestein Quatrac 3.

Got them on my E46, they are fantastic. Plenty of grip in the dry, great in the wet, and great in the snow as well. Can't recommend them highly enough, I am up in the Highlands so had quite a bit to contend with this year and had no issues.

Dad uses them (got Wintracs now, I think) on his A4 Quattro which goes up and down to Golspie regularly in all weathers and it is excellent.

They seem to last for ages as well

[PlayersNo6]

Put a set of these on my W210, no complaints so far :

http://falken-europe.com/tyre/details/99

[gareth041]

Good Morning All

Firstly thank you for the responses. Very much appreciated

FurtiveFreddie. Thanks for the heads up on the Nokians. I will look them up.
Trickywoo. Same again to you. I never thought of those or the Nokians above.
Loskie. Thanks for the link but on investigation they do not do the size my car has 225/55 X 16. I am in Kendal, Cumbria doing 85miles commuting daily so I know where you are coming from reference the roads
LordGrover. Thanks for the direction there. I will "hunt" and contact Dopamine reference them.
BorkFactor. Thanks for the information reference the Quatrac's. They are available and are very cheap so I wouldn't mind any further thoughts you have on them please? Especially as you run them on another RWD car like myself. I had a 320D touring and sold her on at 197k+Miles still going OK. I do so many miles I wanted an auto. Also have an 02 BMW M3, 75k, Full History, SMG and every option.
PlayersNo6. Thanks for the heads up on the Euro all season AS200. I just looked and they do not do them in my size. The old tank is getting on now so I think I will struggle to find any soon

I will keep looking but think I will end up trying the Quatrac 3 as they seem quite well reviewed, are available in my size and are very competitively priced.

Thanks all for the comments and direction,

Gareth

[jon-]

The Pirelli Cinturato All Season is probably the best all season tyre on the market for the UK conditions now.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Pirelli-Cintu...

[BorkFactor]

gareth041 said:

BorkFactor. Thanks for the information reference the Quatrac's. They are available and are very cheap so I wouldn't mind any further thoughts you have on them please? Especially as you run them on another RWD car like myself. I had a 320D touring and sold her on at 197k+Miles still going OK. I do so many miles I wanted an auto. Also have an 02 BMW M3, 75k, Full History, SMG and every option.

No problem, mine are 205/55/16 I think and they were about £75 a corner fitted. They replaced a set of Michelin Primacy HPs and it has been a very worthwhile change - the car doesn't aquaplane anything like as much as it did if you hit a puddle too fast and there is a lot more traction in the wet.

Bear in mind I only have 193 bhp compared to your cars, but still

There has been no difference in road noise or ride quality compared to the Michelins to be honest, and in the dry I have never got the car to understeer or lose traction under acceleration unless I am really provoking it. The car also handled the snow and ice very well, felt sure footed and stable at speed. Taking it easy out of junctions there were no traction issues and the traction control didn't need to intervene. Night and day compared to my Mum's newly acquired 118i which has RFT Continentals on it. It is going in for a full set of Quatrac 3's next week actually.

As I said my Dad has used Vredstein (sp?) tyres on all his cars for as long as I can remember. His A4 3.0 TDI has been owned from new and does a lot of driving up on the north coast of Scotland so deals with all conditions. He gets over 30k from a set, and the car drives very well from what I can tell. His car has 18s on it (standard S Line wheels, whatever they are) and the tyres are about £200 a corner at the local tyre place - I am sure he could get them cheaper online if he wanted but he likes the garage.

It had Quatrac 3s on it after the Continentals it came with didn't last 20k, and I am fairly sure it is on Wintracs now. He rates them all very highly, never had a problem in any conditions.

I haven't any experience with the other brands mentioned, but to be honest I will be sticking with Quatrac 3s for the forseable future as I am very happy with them. Will be interesting to see how long they last on my car being RWD!

Sounds like you have a nice fleet there, I quite fancy an M3 when my one dies

[gareth041]

Good Morning Jon

Thanks for the information. I had a look on their website and they do not do my size. 225/55 X 16.

Many thanks,

Gareth.

[Rawhide]

I'm a big fan of 4 season tyres on a family car. I used Kleber quaraxer on my V70 but then replaced one axle with the Dunlops as they had good ratings. However I was really not that impressed by the Dunlops so have now replaced them again with Klebers which are half the price and seem to be better for my car.

[gareth041]

Good Morning BorkFactor

Thank you for the detailed response, awesome

After your comments I think I will go for them tonight.

The M3 is totally standard and even on M3 Continental sportcontacts. It is Carbon Black, had it's running in service, has a FBMWSH and has even had the boot floor recall carried out. Apparently it cost £6750 and every M3, regardless of what people say requires it.
The only thing I want to do is fit a proper suspension set up as it is on dubious springs at the moment.

Again thanks for the time you have taken out to assist,

Gareth.

[gareth041]

Good Morning Rawhide

Thanks for the note.

I was typing away and never saw your reply. I am a bloke so I can't multi-task

I will have a look but will be ordering tonight.

Funnily enough I rang numerous places round here. When I said "All Season Tyres" let's just say the response was not positive from many.
I was trying to keep my hard earned local but it seems impossible sometimes.

Thanks again,

Gareth.

[pilchardthecat]

I've had klebers on the family bus for a few years. They are excellent in snow and ice, and fine in the summer, but perhaps a little understeery when it's too warm.

I wouldnt put them on the 911, but for something "Normal" they are a good choice

[AnotherGareth]

We have Quatrac 3 on an Alfa 75 (saloon, 3 litre, rwd). I repeatedly tell people they've allowed us to drive pretty much everywhere we've been in our car with winter tyres (Snowtrac 3), although perhaps with slightly less aplomb at the extremes of conditions. I like Quatrac 3 tyres and also Hankook Optimo 4S, which we have on another car, since then the spare (identical to the road wheels) can be fitted on either side.

[stewy68]

I have Quatrac 3s on my C Class and can't recommend them enough. Had them on a Puma I had previously and both grip and mileage could not be faulted.

[gareth041]

Good Morning All

All I can say is "WOW" Thanks for all the support, truly appreciated.

Pilchardthecat, AnotherGareth and Stewy68 thanks very much for the responses. It has truly been a big help!

Thanks again,

Gareth.