No regrets in last years mild winter. The extra grip below 7 degrees – you know, early morning and evening commuting – plus in wet weather – you know, all that rain that led to widescale flooding – left me feeling perfectly vindicated.

This really is one of those classic recurring internet arguments where idiots think everything has to be completely black or white. No one claims normal tyres explode below 7 degrees. It’s just that some of us feel that the extra grip winter tyres offer in those conditions is worth the cost.

Other opinions are available and may be as valid as mine.

Nokian is a Finnish Co their idea of winter/all season is a bit different to ours.

And that is why they offer different models for UK/Europe and for Scandinavia. Tyres for Scandinavian winters are either studded or have so soft rubber & have such a deep tread that they are not good in warm conditions.

No regrets in last years mild winter. The extra grip below 7 degrees – you know, early morning and evening commuting – plus in wet weather – you know, all that rain that led to widescale flooding – left me feeling perfectly vindicated.

Now you see, with me chasing deals all over Southern England like a scalded cat, that kind of appeals to me. By the same token the fact that I am still chasing deals all over Southern England means that disposable income is hard to find…

For me having winter tyres will have ended up being cost neutral as I have kept the car for a reasonable length of time.

When I bought the car with 6000 miles on the clock, which has 225x40x18Y Continental tyres I also bought a set of 16″ steel wheels with 205x55x16V winter tyres which are the ones the manufacturer specify for the car. Each steel wheel and tyre package cost about £5 more than a replacement 18″summer tyre. So far in the three years and three winters I have had the car I have only had to buy one tyre as a relacement for one of the winter’s that had a nail too close to the edge of the tread to be repaired. The winters have about 6mm tread on them so will last at least believe more winter, possibly two, the summer tyres are about 4-5 mm.

So by evening out the wear over the two sets I won’t have spent any more money in the long run and have an asset-the steel wheels- to sell on. I know that it did require me to fork out for the winters at the start but I beleive it has been worth it for peace of mind, also bearing in mind I live on a steepish track that is never gritted. Others may of course disagree

As an aside, I don’t mind the car being on steelies for 4 mnths of the year, again I know others may disagree on this as well

The only cost barrier to all season tyres is that it’s unlikely all four tyres will wear out at the same time…unless you plan ahead and rotate them regularly. So when we got ours, there was probably 6 months left on two tyres. Turned out one had a nail driven sideways into the steel belt and I wasnt happy about the corrosion so disposed of it…the other… It’ll be handy as a spare if I get a puncture, as it’ll give me time to order a matching tyre rather than buying whatever the garage have on the shelf.

Tyre leader wins on price and a pretty decent choice.
I just hope the fitters don’t screw up their part.

deadkenny – Member

How many of you sticking winters on last year regretted it due to the very mild winter we had?

Not at all. Still early morning ninja ice, still lots of cold and wet where they work better than equivalent quality normal tyres, and few days warm enough for them to be worse. Much better at getting in and out of muddy fields and verges at races, riding venues etc 😆

And the really important thing is, there’s just not much downside. I ended up leaving them on til about May this year because I was respraying my other wheels (incredibly slowly), it wears the winters a little faster and they’re noisier but the only time there’s much grip difference, is in the hot and dry.

And that’s kind of the clincher- normal tyres are at their best when the weather’s perfect and worst when driving conditions are bad, winter tyres are at their worst when the weather’s perfect but everything else is in your favour, and at their best when the weather’s bad and it makes more of a difference. So if I could only use one or the other it’d be the winter tyres, mild winter or no.

I have to admit I’m one of ‘them’ – I don’t know maybe everyone who feels the need lives somewhere far north of me, but here, I don’t know – even my boring diesel estate has more than enough grip year-round, yeah you can’t take roundabouts at 70 when it’s cold and wet, but I don’t want to.

It’s different when it’s snowing, which it’s done to any sort of level about 3 times in my entire lifetime or when the road is covered in ice – which around here is pretty much limited to 2/3 b-roads known for having streams cross them, but winter tyres aren’t snow and ice tyres.

For me, given just how much grip modern cars have got, where I live, they’ll always be snake oil for me.

Winters have probably saved me money on my chav wagon, this goes through poshish sporty summer tyres at a rate of about 9,000 miles. The winters encourage much less vigorous driving, and the roads aren’t appropriate for it usually anyway, so in the 5,000 miles I did last winter they’ve barely worn at all.

I like them, but we live up a big old hill in the rural Peak District.

Now see, it gets more complicated. Although they’d be 205/55/16 on winter steels the only 2 ROF options are the Dunlop M3 and Goodyear Ultragrip Performance 2.

Reviews of both of these go from “slippery as shit on a blanket” to ” I can drive around the Alps!”

My use – based in London – would be driving around the Southern counties, and the odd occasion used by Mrs K t ferry the kids when I have the Kuga in a Gorrick Forest car park on a Sunday.

Anyone got experience of these tyres – ideally on a BMW – that can comment?

Stock is getting lower on Mr winter wheels already!

for 99% of people, unless you live in the barren, snowy highlands of the north, keeping an eye on the weather forecast and modifying plans accordingly will be a more suitable solution than a specific set of tyres.

maybe I’m biased as I live in the tropical SW but I can only recall 1 or 2 days in the last ten years where winter tyres would have been really useful but in reality, I could have just worked from home..

We have Crossclimates (black circles were cheapest plus clubcard points) and where they score is in the wet due to the sipes cut in the tread – as this is typical south winter conditions I can’t fault them. No idea what they are like in snow but as it only snows in east sussex once a year if that it doesn’t bother me. However its useful that they are rated as winter tyres on the continent as it means when we drive to Holland, germany and alps etc in the winter we don’t need to change tyres

One thing with sipes is, they tend to wear out way before you run out of tread, so your tyres can still be road legal but can lose most of their bad weather effectiveness. One of my winter pairs is probably going to be done this winter, I’ll just wear em out over the summer once they’re past it.

One thing with sipes is, they tend to wear out way before you run out of tread, so your tyres can still be road legal but can lose most of their bad weather effectiveness.

I think Winter tyres have 2 sets of wear bars, reaching the first of which means you’ve pretty much lost the sipes which provide a lot of the extra traction in icy conditions. Winters have a softer compound and more aggressive tread so you’ll still be better off than on Summers if it’s properly cold or snowy. I don’t think the sipes have much bearing on wet performance though, that’s mostly compound and tread pattern.

maybe I’m biased as I live in the tropical SW but I can only recall 1 or 2 days in the last ten years where winter tyres would have been really useful but in reality, I could have just worked from home.

Agree with jambo on this, I’m also SW based and if I hadn’t got a set of Winter wheels and tyres with the car the most I’d go for would be one of the 4S types. Although even in the SW there was that December about 5 years ago when it snowed in early December and then stayed below freezing for most of the month. The side roads stayed icy until after Christmas.

Kryton, theres also Bridgstone, Pirelli and Continental who produce BMW marked run flat winters in your size.
You can pick up second hand 16″ alloys from ebay for less than new steelies.

wheels

Thanks Alan £130 for the wheels, £90ea for ROF Goodyear winters makes it the same as Mr winter wheels. I used blackcirkces whereby I can also get a Goodyear Vector all season but those cost £135 each.

All with less convienience than having them deliver assembled and balance at home. I’m just not sure those I mentioned are ok, I guess they be better than the 245/18 Pirelli pzero summers that are on there.

Have a look on tyre leader

Bridgestone Blizzak BMW stamped tyres

Tyres

Even with fitting it’s probably only 75 per corner for these tyres.

Granted you would need to go and get them fitted

Good spot, thanks. Googling reviews showes those as very good, but also reveals comparisons with the Dunlop M3. It seems the Blizzak is better on Snow, the Dunlop in wet/slush with marginal performance drops on the opposite of the equation.

For the SE then, the Dunlop may be best as if there’s 6″ of packed Snow down here its unlikely any of my customers will be at work. 😆

I guess I’m nearer the far end of this spectrum…
Up here on the edge of the mountains, proper winters are common and decent cold weather tyres are pretty much essential if you need to get about.
My 4 Goodyear Ultragips go on at the beginning of October and stay on until April; the summer tyres are on for slightly less than half the year. The current set has also done two Alps trips from up here, so have been great value.
The Mrs uses winters all year round on her Fabia, which does less mileage than my Passat. This far north, the disadvantages of winters in summertime are quite limited.
For me, the biggest thing about running winters is the increased safety over summer tyres, as braking and steering on a cold or wet road is so much improved and when you buy premium winters, there’s only a tiny disadvantage on a relatively warmer or drier day.
Knowing I can make progress through stalled commuter traffic in the snow is handy too.
So all you need to do is decide where you sit on that spectrum of compromise (i.e. how far north/south) and make a decision.

So all you need to do is decide where you sit on that spectrum of compromise

Hence I’ll probably go for the Dunlop M3 winter sport at £465 including wheels & balancing + warranty from Mr WW delivered. I’m more in the spectrum of driving through Kent/Dorset/Motorways on cold mornings and evenings than driving up a snowy slope. My worst case scenario will probably be leaving Conrwall/Dorchester as 3″ of snow starts to fall hoping I can get to the M5/m4/m3 safely and THEN negotiating the motorways in as safe as way as possible in my lightweight RWD hatch.

where you sit on that spectrum of compromise

BUT….BUT…..BUT There can be NO compromise! This is the internet. You’re either at one end of this spectrum or the other, and if you are not at MY end then you are utterly wrong!

😉

We run winters all year. I know I’m repeating this but I took a mental note of temperatures throughout the year as I was commuting and there was no month in which the temperature did not drop below 7C.