I never fitted them till the first bita ice or snow. This frost atm is fineAnyone fitted winter tyres yet? I was lazy and left the winter tyres on the mini over the summerI’m off this week and was thinking I should maybe chance sticking them on now as the temperatures are dropping
Winter Tyres.
- Thread starter Sgt_Major
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Deezer-D
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I have a spare set of winter wheels so can do them at anytime really. Will maybe hold off
Friend gave me a set she got free with her car when she bought it. One has plenty of tread, one was just a rim so needs one fitted (previous tyre has a puncture and wasn’t replaced).
The other two I’m not sure on. They’re not at the tread depth indicator, maybe 2mm above it. There seems to be two tread depth indicators on them though. One I assume is the 4mm one and the other 1.6? If so, they’ve pretty much hit the 4mm one all round on both.
Ordered a tread depth thing on amazon for 2 quid just to double check. Rather not invest in a fourth tyre if there are two more that need done on top.
The other two I’m not sure on. They’re not at the tread depth indicator, maybe 2mm above it. There seems to be two tread depth indicators on them though. One I assume is the 4mm one and the other 1.6? If so, they’ve pretty much hit the 4mm one all round on both.
Ordered a tread depth thing on amazon for 2 quid just to double check. Rather not invest in a fourth tyre if there are two more that need done on top.
Paddy_R
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The sipes that make winter tyres work wear out around the 4mm mark meaning that as winter tyres they're effectively done and need changed. There still legal tyres though they just won't work as a winter tyre.
Makes sense now. Only really matters for snow if they’re below that level though? I’d imagine they’ll still be better than summers in cold conditions even if the sipes are near their end due to the different compound.
svensktoppen
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Try "lightly worn" 888 on a frosty morning
Car covered in frost at the weekend, still kept the roof off
svensktoppen
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Exactly that
Also winter tyres are designed to run in standing water and slush far better than summer tyres. And with modern gritting standing water and slush is the norm in winter.
So waiting until the first frost or snow is kind of missing the point. Get them on now, at anything below 10 or so they will still be better than summer tyres. Then keep them on until March or so.
Martyn
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Well I bit the bullet this year and decided to get a set of winters for the 718 Cayman S..
New from Porsche with “N” rated tyres and rims - £2150 + wheel centre caps @ £175...
Just before I ordered I had a quick look on EBay and low and behold a set were up for sale - starting price £999 - less than 1000miles on them!
Made a cheeky bid in the last few seconds and got them at £1100 with wheel centres included - but they were collection only in England.
Sent the guy 100m of bubble wrap and arranged courier collection - total £80 and I had delivered a perfect set of winter wheels and tyres.
Going to hopefully swap them this weekend - it will be interesting dropping from 20” to 18” wheels.
I really notice the lack of grip now in the summer tyres and the noise of them in the lower temps can be alarming..
New from Porsche with “N” rated tyres and rims - £2150 + wheel centre caps @ £175...
Just before I ordered I had a quick look on EBay and low and behold a set were up for sale - starting price £999 - less than 1000miles on them!
Made a cheeky bid in the last few seconds and got them at £1100 with wheel centres included - but they were collection only in England.
Sent the guy 100m of bubble wrap and arranged courier collection - total £80 and I had delivered a perfect set of winter wheels and tyres.
Going to hopefully swap them this weekend - it will be interesting dropping from 20” to 18” wheels.
I really notice the lack of grip now in the summer tyres and the noise of them in the lower temps can be alarming..
Ruairi83
RMS Regular
nobby
RMS Regular
first time EVER buying winter tyres for the family car as it is RWD and my wife needs it in connection with her work, plus we are out in the countryside a bit more and ignored by gritters.
may as well have something potentially working if it takes a turn for the worst. hopefully nothing changes too quick as the tyres ordered are not in till next week with my tyre man.
may as well have something potentially working if it takes a turn for the worst. hopefully nothing changes too quick as the tyres ordered are not in till next week with my tyre man.
Ive a set of four Pirelli winters for sale if anyones interested....
Wheels or Tyres: - 4x 235/45 17 Pirelli Winters
Wheels or Tyres: - 4x 235/45 17 Pirelli Winters
Nutts
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Removed the 19" Wheels and summers last weekend and fitted the winter wheel & tyre set to the C300. Picked up the wheels on eBay.de a couple of years ago and running Goodyear Ultragrip gen1. The car rides so much better on 17" wheels. @Martyn you will likely notice a big difference in comfort as well going from 20" PZeros (I assume) to 18" winters. PZeros are notoriously poor in winter conditions and they don't age well - becoming very brittle and hard riding. I got rid of them for good on the R8 over the summer.
Running all season Goodyear Vector 4 season gen2 on the Fiesta; I don't agree with some comments that they fall substantially short of a full winter tyre - their blocky tread pattern gives excellent grip in the snow. IMO they are more of a compromise in the summer when they can feel a bit squidgy due to lack of rigidity in the tread pattern.
Running all season Goodyear Vector 4 season gen2 on the Fiesta; I don't agree with some comments that they fall substantially short of a full winter tyre - their blocky tread pattern gives excellent grip in the snow. IMO they are more of a compromise in the summer when they can feel a bit squidgy due to lack of rigidity in the tread pattern.
svensktoppen
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It's not the tread that gives grip in snow. It's the sipes, the wee squiggly grooves on the tops of the blocks on proper winter tyres. The tread just fills up with snow like plaster.
More importantly for most the sipes work on ice too where tread alone is of zero use.
The wider tread on winters and "all season" deal with slush and standing water. With modern gritting that's what we get here most of time, so "all season" might work for some. But on ice and proper snow there is no contest with a proper winter tyre (mountain-and-snowflake symbol).
More importantly for most the sipes work on ice too where tread alone is of zero use.
The wider tread on winters and "all season" deal with slush and standing water. With modern gritting that's what we get here most of time, so "all season" might work for some. But on ice and proper snow there is no contest with a proper winter tyre (mountain-and-snowflake symbol).
Nutts
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@svensktoppen fully agree with your engineering analysis. However, as I think someone previously posted some of the tyres marketed as "all season" have the mountain and snowflake, like the Goodyears below.
Martyn
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Yep I run Pirelli zero on both the Porsche and mini jcw.
I like them as a summer tyre - but only the new version with the different compound rubber. The old version cracked very badly during the winter.
Anyway the winter tyres for the 718 Cayman are Pirelli Sottozero II, and I am looking for a set now for the mini.
Haven't managed to fit them yet but am looking forward to getting the summers off and the wheels washed and sealed ready for the spring.
Mark_C
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I've tried a few 'good' all seasons on the xc90 in the Scottish Highlands in winter and they definitely are not even half the tyre low to mid range full winters are.
This year I've gone for cooper weathermaster wsc on the volvo as I was very impressed with them on the father in laws car up Ben lawers in the heavy snow last year. Theyre studdable as well and a very reasonable 100 quid each. Heading over in late November until the new year so will be reporting back on their effectiveness
This year I've gone for cooper weathermaster wsc on the volvo as I was very impressed with them on the father in laws car up Ben lawers in the heavy snow last year. Theyre studdable as well and a very reasonable 100 quid each. Heading over in late November until the new year so will be reporting back on their effectiveness
RubberLover
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Do it. I used the original on my MK3 MX5 and they were phenomenal. Drove through a blizzard up in Craigantlet as if it was a dry summers day.
Nutts
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I've not used the Hankook winters but the I*cept RS2 W452 was highly rated by Autoexpress this year and both W320 and W452 are highly rated on retailer sites like Oponeo.
Hankook i*cept RS2 review
Going back to the all season discussion, the problem is there doesn't seem to be a industry definition or performance benchmark for "all season" tyres resulting in a widely varying range of performance. Some like the Goodyear I posted above with the snowflake symbol (in addition to M+S) are predominantly a winter tyre and perform very well in snow - that's based on personal experience - while others like the Dunlop Grandtrek ST30 all season (or ST20 I can't remember now) M+S that were fitted as standard to our old CRV were more biased to summer performance and behaved very poorly in the snow even with part time 4WD. Some manufacturers fit or offer the option of M+S tyres from new but I'm fairly sure (though open to correction!) that these are the M+S only variety and not M+S/winter.
All seasons are always going to be a bit of a compromise in either summer or winter regardless of which type you go for and I wouldn't run them on any sort of performance car / hot hatch all year round. I only use them on the 80hp Fiesta which is driven with a light foot all year round - I don't think they would last 5 laps on a circuit.
Like this ??
Martyn
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I've not used the Hankook winters but the I*cept RS2 W452 was highly rated by Autoexpress this year and both W320 and W452 are highly rated on retailer sites like Oponeo.
Hankook i*cept RS2 review
Going back to the all season discussion, the problem is there doesn't seem to be a industry definition or performance benchmark for "all season" tyres resulting in a widely varying range of performance. Some like the Goodyear I posted above with the snowflake symbol (in addition to M+S) are predominantly a winter tyre and perform very well in snow - that's based on personal experience - while others like the Dunlop Grandtrek ST30 all season (or ST20 I can't remember now) M+S that were fitted as standard to our old CRV were more biased to summer performance and behaved very poorly in the snow even with part time 4WD. Some manufacturers fit or offer the option of M+S tyres from new but I'm fairly sure (though open to correction!) that these are the M+S only variety and not M+S/winter.
All seasons are always going to be a bit of a compromise in either summer or winter regardless of which type you go for and I wouldn't run them on any sort of performance car / hot hatch all year round. I only use them on the 80hp Fiesta which is driven with a light foot all year round - I don't think they would last 5 laps on a circuit.
Like this ??
View attachment 213992
The old Pirelli pzero used to crack horizontally in the tread grove if that makes sense??
Pirelli would change the foc if you complained.
The new compound is brilliant during the summer.
simy
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