As mentioned in another thread I have recently changed car. Unfortunately I had just equipped the ‘old’ one with 4 brand new winter tyres and find myself needing 4 more for the ‘new’ car! Wasn’t an option to swap them over.

I had Nokian WR D4 on the other car and didn’t have much chance to test them due to a very warm December up here but I think there will come a period of intense cold and snow that I’ll need to be prepared for. Driving round the Highlands and rural Aberdeenshire.

Anyone recommend a decent winter tyre?

We’ve always had Avon Ice Touring and they are amazing; the car will go anywhere. However they are not the cheapest winter tyre.

I’d have said Nokian…so get another set.

Definitely Nokian, I can’t recommend them highly enough.

I am tempted to go Nokian again – would like to find them cheap somewhere though!

I tend to favour winter tyres that are also good at clearing water as theres more of that in the winter than show -I’ve had treads similar to those Nokians on Acceleras, Goodyear Ultragrips (mk 7 and mk9 – the mk8s seem to review badly for grip in the wet) and Continental WinterContacts.

They’ve all been really good when the goings very wet, work well in snow and wear well enough for me to leave them on all year.

Nokian Weatherproof. Year round.

Yokohama Geolander A/T-S have done very well on my wife’s RAV4. Good value, good off-road grip, solid feeling and quiet on-road, done 75,000ish miles over four years, now about to replace them with the same.

nokian, no brainer. had them on two different vans and grip and longevity much better than the other brands i tried

Try mytyres dot com for choice plus economy, though it seems they no longer do Avons. Which I’m happy with, though they are the only winter tyres I’ve tried. But they had a good review when I was looking.

Goodyear Ultragrip; am currently on a set of 9s in rural Angus. Have been using them through several generations on several Passats and have never been disapointed.
Also try speaking to Target/Ladybank tyres in Blairgowrie, good service and sensible advice for this climate.

I have a season old set of Toyo Snowprox from my old Octavia that I am selling fitted to steel wheels. They seem to get reasonable reviews and are on par with the Bridgestone Blizzaks I had on previously. If interested then I can look at courier costs as I’m down in Surrey. See classifieds.

I’m in the Highlands and have been running gislaved nordfrosts or eurofrosts for the past 5 winters (and all year round). I have just fitted another set for this winter. They are excellent and subsequently very popular around here. The last pair did 35k before they reached 4mm when I swapped them for new. Very quiet and no noticeable drop in mpg.

The grip is laughably good.

Last year I nearly didn’t take the winters off the big car to swap for the summer ‘nae-grips’. At about 6k miles annually, the Mrs’ car just keeps Ultragrips on year round.
My winters are on their 3rd swaparound year and are still above the winter wear indicators; I’ll maybe leave them on this summer, to kill them off and buy new again for next autumn.

I like Michelin X-ice; have them fitted on both our vehicles. The tread isn’t as aggressive as some other winter tyres but I think it depends what you’re going to be driving in. For deep snow then they wouldn’t be my first choice but ice and generally plowed roads they’re a bit quieter than some other options.

I’ve only used Michelin Alpin and Conti (not the latest generation and I’ve forgotten the reference). Both used on the same car, you forget the Alpin is a Winter till on ice or snow when it works really well. The Conti was OK but didn’t provide those surprising moments when you think “there’s no way we’re going up to the resort without chains tonight” – then get to the resort and the chains are still in the boot.

An interesting comparison

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNuqGUgbcIk[/video]

Type “ADAC Winter Reifen” into Youtube search for some interesting tests.

Nokian Weatherproof. Have them on the Subaru and they’re great in the rain and mud, and OK in the dry. Had the first Icy test today and they feel fine. Fully expect them to be excellent in snow if we have any.
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/92868/nokian-weatherproof-tyre-review

Previous winter/all season tyres have been Vredestein Quatrac (OK), Pirelli Wintersport (excellent) and Michelin Alpin (absolute garbage). All driven in all conditions inc 2′ of snow.

Had Avon ice tourers and they were OK. Replaced them with some Falken Eurowinter HS449 and found them much better. This was on the same car.

Michelin Alpin (absolute garbage)

And yet the Michelin Alpin 4 has been in the top three of every Winter tyre test by ADAC or TCS I’ve ever seen. Second in this one:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI5m-KYow-M[/video]

Interesting how Michelin Alpin seem to be the default choice here in the feench alps (where we normally have snow in winter…He says waiting for some…) yet some people in the maritime climate of the UK where, even in N. Scotland it doesn’t <Shhhh> snow that much.

However I can see sense in keeping all conditions tyres or winters on all year round in UK due to the mow wet temps.

I’ve had Nokians, without a heartbeat again.! My sottozero s by contrast are sh1z…

Interesting how Michelin Alpin seem to be the default choice here in the feench alps (where we normally have snow in winter…He says waiting for some…)

Presumably fitted to Citroens, Renault and Peugeot…
The Alpins were passable in fresh snow (in 3 years I probably got 3-4 months of experience of them through all stages of English snow, fresh , hard pack, ice, slush, etc, but in all conditions they were inferior to the Pirellis( which are presumably the default choice the other side of the border), but in rain they were downright dangerous!

but in rain they were downright dangerous!

And yet Alpins do very well in the wet in all the tests and from personal experience I’ll simply say that I found exactly the opposite to be true. Water clearance is exceptional and grip as good as my Summer tyres on wet roads in Summer.

And yet Alpins do very well in the wet in all the tests and from personal experience I’ll simply say that I found exactly the opposite to be true. Water clearance is exceptional and grip as good as my Summer tyres on wet roads in Summer.

You carry on buying them. I’ll avoid them like the plague. I’ve no axe to grind here. I bought them because of their good reviews, but the test reviews bore no comparison to my experience.

I’ve no axe to grind here.

You have, you consistently slag off anything French on car threads.

I bought retreads off a German website after reading a review that they were certified by whatever German road authority, they worked fine for me.

Either my tires or blackcirclrs while back now

Not according to Which