Winter tyre conundrum

[V8V Pete]

I changed over to my winter tyres on Wednesday as I have for the last 6 years of Vantage ownership. Problem is that in cool (less than 7 degrees), damp conditions the rears in particular have nowhere near as much grip as the Michelin PS4S that came off the car. The winters are now 8 years old and are over half way through their tread (3-4mm remaining) but I was surprised how much worse they were than the Michelins. Now we know the Michelins are superb and I'm sure the winters will be better in ice/snow but how often will I drive the car in those conditions?

So the question is should I:

1) Buy new rear winters or

2) Change tack completely and forget the idea of winters, use the PS4S's most of the year and put some Cup 2's or Cup 2R's on my other rims for track use.

Has anyone else noticed this with their winters compared to better tyres than the Bridgestones?

Has anyone else used Cup 2's or Cup 2R's on their Vantage and how were they? I know the OEM tyre for the GT8 were Cup 2's. How do GT8 users find them and can you tell me what the tyre sizes are on GT8 please?

[V8V Pete]

shinjuku said:

What are the winters Pete? Sottozeros on my F-type were brilliant.

Yes, Sottozeros Martin. I suspect they’ve just gone old and hard but it’s made me wonder if I don’t need them anymore.

[V8V Pete]

Thanks for your input Quench.

I was thinking it was the age because they've been fine until this year and now they are just suddenly losing traction on acceleration in a very non-progressive way which is slightly challenging. A bit like Corsas do in cold damp conditions.

However, I suspect my PS4S's are now fine for me over winter as the car is not used as a daily driver so I'm tempted by a set of Cup 2's as a summer/track treat.

[V8V Pete]

alscar said:

Pete ,tyres on the GT8 are (F) 255/35/19 on 9.5 rim and (R) 295/30/19 on 10.5 rim.

Fwiw I had the same tyres on my GT3 and currently also on my Exige ,and no complaints on any although all are only largely summer/dry day cars.

Thanks. Odd that GT8 has same size tyres as V12V but different width rims which I think are 9 inch front and 11 inch rear on V12V. Can anyone confirm this?