winter wheels / tyres

pgarner

pgarner

TC ModFather
Points
417
Location
Lockerbie, SW Scotland
Car
Octy smoke machine
seeing the frosty mornings are here
who has or is looking at winter wheels to keep you nice ones from the rock salt or winter tyres for grip ?


i was looking at refitting my original 16" but it looks as if im going to need to space then out to fit over the brakes. and was looking at fitting a couple of winter tyres to the front
 
If I had the space to store them I'd get another set of wheels shod with Winter spec tyres. But like most I'll have to have a compromise all round set.
 
after the last snow and ice im getting some!!!!
does anyone have any recommendations for a heavy fwd car????
 
Must get mine.

Now I know what alloys are fitted, should be able to get proper replacements, then get dedicated winter tyres as well.

Costs a lot more, but should be worth the extra.
 
herb said:
Winter tyres:) I have seen the difference in traction between the 2;)
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So at the moment you're using summer tyres, which is what most of us use in the UK, all year round.

I'm considering the same thing but the problem is storing the 'other' set of rims and tyres when not in use.
 
HDi fun said:
So at the moment you're using summer tyres, which is what most of us use in the UK, all year round.

I'm considering the same thing but the problem is storing the 'other' set of rims and tyres when not in use.
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tbh mate im using budget tyres at the minuet. which are brilliant in the dry! but the slightest bit of moisture on the road they are scary!

so the idea is get a set of winter tyres for the standard 16" wheels i'm hoping to get a decent set for around the £300 mark. if no one on here suggests a decent set, then on saturday the old man will logon to the which site for me and see what they suggest
 
waynne said:
If I had the space to store them I'd get another set of wheels shod with Winter spec tyres. But like most I'll have to have a compromise all round set.
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HDi fun said:
I'm considering the same thing but the problem is storing the 'other' set of rims and tyres when not in use.
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also i dont quite get where you and waynne are coming from:confused:

the wheels could be stored anywhere:wink:
 
To a point. But if you have winter tyres dumped in a hot shed/garage all summer then the rubber will deteriorate.

And during winter the summer wheels will have to be stashed away somewhere. You also have to get the four wheels to/from the fitter in order to exchange them because they'll need re-balancing. I cannot fit all four in the boot of my car.

I no longer live in a big big house and there is not sufficient storage space outside here to house four rims that are not on the car.

There are such things as all-season tyres which are a compromise in both winter and summer.

In the UK what we buy are mostly summer tyres and that's what we drive on all year round.

I cannot recommend specific tyres as I have not driven on winter specific tyres since about 1993.

I wouldn't rush at Which?'s recommendations either. It's nowhere near as independent and impartial as you'd like to think it would be, given it was previously entitled 'The Consumers' Association'.
 
HDi fun said:
And during winter the summer wheels will have to be stashed away somewhere. You also have to get the four wheels to/from the fitter in order to exchange them because they'll need re-balancing. I cannot fit all four in the boot of my car.

There are such things as all-season tyres which are a compromise in both winter and summer.

In the UK what we buy are mostly summer tyres and that's what we drive on all year round.

I wouldn't rush at Which?'s recommendations either. It's nowhere near as independent and impartial as you'd like to think it would be, given it was previously entitled 'The Consumers' Association'.
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just curious here but are you saying each time the wheels come of the car they would need to be rebalanced to go back on:confused:??

tbh i think i would prefer to go for the winter tyres! i need something that will give my car more stopping power on ice!!!

this is true about which!!
but i dont really trust these tyre website reviews either!!
cause the 5 sites i looked at they all had different top 3's:confused:

plus reading there reviews from which on gloss paints a couple of months ago the results made me laugh!!! cause there was no way the criteria was fair! and how they tested the yellowing is beyond me:confused:
 
i think i have winter tyres fitted already on the gti alloys not 100% sure though:confused:
i have been using them on the snow and ice today and what can i say i havent skidded once:bigsmile: and only broke traction once going up a steep hill but soon got it back:bigsmile:
 
well been out again to test the tyres on some steep hills by me and they have had no problems at all going up or down any hills!! im chuffed to say the least:bigsmile:

but 1 thing i dont get is they are great on dry roads but crap in the wet!
why is this if they are great on snow and ice? is it to do with the rating on them?
mine are rated at

temperature b
traction a
tread wear a
 
Personally I'd get a separate set of 16" steels upon which to mount the winter rubber and leave the alloys shod with their standard summer tyres. I don't like removing and refitting tyres - in my opinion it gives the sidewalls a bit of a battering.

If this weather looks set to continue I'll look into it.

What we need is an exchange program with drivers in the southern hemisphere. I could use my winter set from now until Feb, let's say, and then stick them on a slow and very cheap carrier (surface, not air) to someone in Argentina who can fit 'em to his similar car for their winter.

Once that driver's finished with 'em he could reciprocate and send 'em back via sea freight so I've got 'em ready for next year's winter season here.

The 6-7 weeks at sea won't matter because we'll both be driving in moderate conditions for that period and this avoids the exorbitant cost of airfreight.
 
I ran some M&S tyres one year, only because they were my muddy track set-up and happened to fit my road car! One tyre firm near where I work is offering winter tyres. If considered then its a case of having two sets but needing somewhere to store them. A work colleague who is based in Kosice in Slovakia has a set for summer and winter, they all do it over there. The alloys are stored away and replaced with steel wheels and snow tyres.
 
Winter tyres - I currently have proxi's T1R's on my baby. Extreemly good in the summer months.

If I say, had £400 to spend on winter tyres, what would you advise. It is something that I have never thought about to be honest. But if they will help and stop me from losing 4 years NCB in a silly shunt, then they could be an option.

Can I get anything to match my car for that price?
 
bigbadjoe said:
Winter tyres - I currently have proxi's T1R's on my baby. Extreemly good in the summer months.

If I say, had £400 to spend on winter tyres, what would you advise. It is something that I have never thought about to be honest. But if they will help and stop me from losing 4 years NCB in a silly shunt, then they could be an option.

Can I get anything to match my car for that price?
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what size would you be after???
 
HDi fun said:
What a strange post.
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No -

istockphoto_1837180-fence-post.jpg


is a strange post.
 
I have never changed my tyres because of the seasonal weather on any of my cars! :amazed: If its wet or snowy conditions, I just adjust my driving style to suit. I would have to experience another car with these winter tyres fitted to see what the actual benefit would be to me! ;)

Think I will follow some of you guys progress on this and see what it is that I am missing! :)
 
Winter tyres make a stonking difference to braking especially. I had a set fitted to a 2.0i Montego back in 1994 and they were infinitely superior to summer tyres which is what we in the UK use as all season tyres. They are noisier than summer tyres in dry tarmac but in winter speeds are generally lower so that's a reasonable trade-off.

You still need to adapt your driving style of course. There's no point in driving up to the limit of available grip otherwise there's no safety benefit. This goes with any safety device, whether passive or active.
 
the best info i can find about my tyres
taken from a site selling my tyres
Works in bad road conditions and bad weather Steady,good buffering and durable Size
so i can only presume they are all season cause mine don't come under the winter tyre section on there main site

i can honestly say compared to the goodyear eagles i was using last year which where great in the dry and wet but crap on ice and snow. these grip the roads even up and down steep hills (in combination with soft braking and using the right gear;))

loz knows my area and can vouch its full of steep narrow roads which i have had no problems with!! the next big snow fall i will post some vids
 
Anything with a decent amount of tread copes well. My tyres are down to about 2.2mm and they are really starting to fail me.

I have heard good things about winter tyres from a friend of mine who has put them on her van. I do think that if the weather patterns change we will see an increased demand for winter tyres in the UK! (Even in the South!)

I wonder if any other countries are experiencing unusually cold weather at the moment? (Or I suppose somewhere it will be unusually hot!)
 
people have been saying that, we're not prepared enough and that we should be buying chains and winter tyres but (for us down south at least) how can you prepare for something you very rarely experience?. it's only been in the last couple of years that we have had proper snow and even thats only for a couple of days a year, is it worth spending more money on the off chance that it'll happen again?
 
Exactlly what i mean well said on that one i mean i got snow 3 times last yeat and it didnt even mess up the roads at all and where it did stick it wasnt even 1/2 in. deep
 
Exactlly what i mean well said on that one i mean i got snow 3 times last year and it didnt even mess up the roads at all and where it did stick it wasnt even 1/2 in. deep
 
Big Fat Fatty said:
people have been saying that, we're not prepared enough and that we should be buying chains and winter tyres but (for us down south at least) how can you prepare for something you very rarely experience?. it's only been in the last couple of years that we have had proper snow and even thats only for a couple of days a year, is it worth spending more money on the off chance that it'll happen again?
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winter tyres work better below 7 degrees not just in the snow - chins are really not needed in the UK, bar possibly the remote estates in scotland.
Germany for example by law you must have winter tyres fitted over the winter months with an on the spot fine if you dont
 
I agree that "summer" or "all season" tyres don't work so well in cold temps, they feel hard and not very flexible but does that still warrant changing over every six months?

like others have said driving style and approach is the main factor, if all else fails pull a sicky :lol:
 
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