I need 2 tyres for the van ( Escort ) and thought I’d might as well put some Winters on.

Couple of queries :-

Do they really make a big difference in Snow and general cold weather ?

Front wheel drive so just front only or all 4 ?

Any brand recommendations or suppliers at a good price ?

Cheers

Yes
All 4
Black circles website and read user reviews

Is it that time of year already?

They are very good in snow but buy 4. Been using them for five winters and wouldn’t be without now.

Yes – not just in snow, cold and wet weather as well. When we had that appalling wet winter several roads near us were regularly awash, rather than properly flooded, and winter tyres made a huge difference

All 4

Lots of people on here recommend the online retailers, I ended up at the local Hi-Q with some dodgy sounding – but surprisingly effective – Chinese made “GoodRide” tyres.

Now, go and pop the kettle on while all the driving Gods assemble to tell you that if you were a real man you wouldn’t need winter tyres. Because they are obviously all riding rigid, single speed, V- braked, semi slick tyres bicycles, aren’t they?

They make a difference.

I reckon if you are carrying v light stuff in the back you might get away with 2 fronts if you drive sensibly.

I’ve had Nokian and verdestein that have lasted well, quiet and didn’t notice any dip in the economy and starmaxx that were incredibly noisy.

Cannot comment on how good the starmaxx were because I got shunted side-on abou 3 weeks later before using much.

Yes,definitely worth it, even if like me,you are the best driver in the world.
Do all four.
Check them on http://www.mytyres.co.uk or http://www.pneusonline.com then try your locals.
I’ve run Vredestein (excellent) and Michelin Alpin (not so excellent) but Nokian have an excellent reputation and are relatively inexpensive.

Magic init!! mention winter tyres on here & an advert immediately pops up on the right for tyres 🙂

Edit: gone now………

Most of the stuff our local 2nd hand place has is winter tyres from Germany, £25 a tyre, job done. Cheapos were rubbish on dry roundabouts, but all were good across fields on Mondeo and V50

Have steel rims and Nokian WR D3’s waiting in the garage.

Everyone here has an opinion; some have never used/tried them and insist you don’t need them, some have and wouldn’t be without when the temperature drops – I’m in the latter category.

All 4 unless when you brake hard you want to spin !

They transformed my 2.2d Honda civic
Had cheap Khumo izens , yokohama w drives
Got a new CRV and gone for Michelin Alpin
Based on mates experience with them over the ski season / euro hols

conti ts810’s & vredersdein wintracs seem to
Be popular tyres at the ski centres

Tyres go on early nov, then back to normal tyres
Mid April

ymmv

All my cars run all season tyres, mainly from Tyreleader in Germany.

Delivery is quick and the tyres are cheap, my local ATS fits them at a tenner a tyre.

Just fitted four Michelin mud and snow tyres on my truck as they were ready for changing anyway.

Can’t vouch for what they are like in snow but wipe the floor with the old AT3’s off road and I’m getting another 30-40 miles a tank after fitting them.

Just harder to get sideways in the wet now 🙁

Looking forward to putting my winter wheels back on the van – taller sidewall profile, so better for dealing with the amount of potholes around here…..

Oh – and the grip in the damp is awesome, highly recommended.

It’s the thread that keeps giving…

I never took my snowproxes off this year, because my normal wheels are too ugly. Not much downside in summer, absolutely gamechanging/potentially lifesaving/not neccesarily your life in winter. I’d be happy to just use sensible all season tyres too, I suppose, but I’m glad I don’t have to

(and the “+7 to getting out of muddy race fields” special power is awesome too)

Oh yeah and I’ve done the 2 winters only thing, on a Focus, and it worked very well indeed- less good than 4 winters, much better than no winters. In collaboration with some sensible big treaded allseason thing on the back, and pathetic drumbrakes, to be fair.

My first experience of winter tyres was when we had that second bad winter a few years ago. I nearly didn’t make it to work one Saturday morning so headed off for some new tyres. Only place open was a chain (not kwik fit or Hi-Q but similar) and they only had two (which turned out to be the wrong weight rating for my car, but still…). Like night and day. If I’d had them fitted before the snow came I would probably have thought they were ok but not hugely different but driving to the garage in the snow and away with the snow tyres I couldn’t believe the difference. I’ve had them every year since and actually haven’t taken them off this year.

I put winters on last year. I live in an area notorious for snow….and just as you would expect, we had one of the mildest winters I can remember.

That said, I genuinely found them great in the cold weather. Much improved grip in wet conditions. I was surprised. They’ll be going back on soon.

Winter tyres are night and day better in snow or freezing cold or wet conditions. A 2 wheel drive car on decent winter tyres will be far more effective than a 4×4 on normal summer tyres.

Do fit them on all 4 corners unless you really want to have a crash.

As for brand recommendations, I’ve found Continental and Nokian to be very good, but all the well known brands offer decent Winter tyre options and in any case will be miles better than any summer tyre. All-season tyres are an option too, but inevitably a bit of a compromise. Personally I prefer running 2 sets of summer/winter tyres.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/66645/winter-tyres-test-reviews-and-prices-2014

If they dont work youve wasted 200quid. If they work youve saved your excess. You’ wont know unless you can see the future though.

In my experience if you fit winter tyres then you can be assured of a mild dry winter.

My truck has Continental Cross Contacts M&S – obviously not off road tyres and not full on winter tyres, but how do M&S tyres compare in the grand scheme of things?

I’ve had 4×4’s of different flavours for over 4 years now and never changed the tyres – had some god awful tyres in that time too – found Goodyear Wranglers to be ok, but please no-one ever buy Bridgestone Duellers

Fitted Lassa snow tyres to my Trafic van when we had a worthy amount of snow a couple of years back,what an eye opener!! The fitters recommend they are used below 7 degrees.

Do they get knackered on a long motorway commute?

Do they get knackered on a long motorway commute?

No. Theres a marginal wear penalty in warmer weather. The idea of swapping back and forth between winter and ‘summer’ tyres is a continental one, where winters are more starkly cold and summers are more starkly hot. In the UK we don’t have the higher average temps in the summer so theres not really the need to swap back and forth

Winters will wear a bit faster in the warm, but you’ve got more tread depth to start with. However summer tyres, if you leave them on all year wear faster in the cold so it all evens out. Unless you do stella milage or use especially expensive or fashionable tyres, or drive a car that eats its tyres, then theres not much point in swapping back and forth.

I live quite north and quite high up so even in the summer its not that warm at the beginning and the end of the day when I do the majority of my driving so I leave winters on all year and theres no appreciable wear penalty – I get about 3 years out of a set

If they dont work youve wasted 200quid

If you needed to buy tyres anyway you’ve not wasted anything.

I only had mine on the car for about 4 weeks last winter, but in the winter of 2012 they allowed me to get home (the bottom of a valley) repeatedly. On each and every journey, there were cars in ditches and hedges on both sides of the road on the way down into the valley bottom.

I’m driving a 1.8t BMW Touring.

Oh, and in my experience, they do ablate quite quickly during warm summer weather. They’re also noisier and less fuel efficient, that’s why I remove them once the temperature gets higher.

My truck has Continental Cross Contacts M&S – obviously not off road tyres and not full on winter tyres, but how do M&S tyres compare in the grand scheme of things?

I’ve had 4×4’s of different flavours for over 4 years now and never changed the tyres – had some god awful tyres in that time too – found Goodyear Wranglers to be ok, but please no-one ever buy Bridgestone Duellers

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT
M&S tyres are just that- tyres for mud and snow,usually with a more aggressive tread pattern,but not necessarily suited to cold but clear weather.
Winter tyres come in many flavours, from seemingly normal looking road tyres with extra sipes cut into the tread to full blown studded knobbers.
Winter tyres for “normal” cars should have the severe service symbol, a mountain and snowflake. Tyres can be both M&S and severe service. this helps explain:
http://www.snowtyres.com.au/severe-service-emblem

Pook if its the difference of hitting a kerb or worse spending hours in a car..

Get the all seasons conti? At the end of the day though if it snows hard a standard car will beach/be trapped.

Liking this thread 🙂
Selling our Scout 4×4 and getting a 2wd octavia est and are planning to put winter tyres on our Fabia which is the car we do most frequent journeys in (school run, shopping etc)Seem to remember someone on here saying that their Fabia with winter tyres on was better than a 4×4

Liking this thread
Seem to remember someone on here saying that their Fabia with winter tyres on was better than a 4×4

POSTED 42 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Having driven my Subaru Forester in snow with and without winter tyres,I don’t doubt it for a second. Trouble is, people tend to think of their 4WDs as being invincible. Truth be told, braking and steering will be no better than a 2wd.

Winter tyres are completely unnecessary. At least that is what I thought until I tried some. I cannot emphasise how much better they are. Night and day job. Every vehicle I own has them now regardless of cost.

I swapped my van and 4wd Volvo to nokian a last year.
As you know last winter was very mild. Haven’t really noticed much difference in the car but the van in the wet has a lot more traction.
Never got around to swapping back in summer and can’t say I’ve noticed.
Hopefully we’ll get some heavy snow to try them out properly this year.
Ps. The reason I swapped was losing the Volvo the winter before whilst braking and nearly rear ending a hearse, luckily it was empty at the time!

I’ve got a set of winter wheels and tyres. Definitely worth it for general grip, not just snow, in lower temps especially rwd. Also much better (higher sidewalks) than the stupid 30 profile Tyres, for winter potholes, than my car came with. Just deciding when to change.

Or, don’t spend the money and just stay at home for all 4 days of the year you really need them.

I’ve had them before and they are good, but not really necessary.
I live in a city though so don’t NEED to drive for anything, I can walk.

One day of work lost could cost me 4 new tyres. And the times when I’ve had a call for them (or been caught without them) its been more a case of being able to get home than choosing whether to leave the house.

Yourguitarhero we’d have missed family Christmas day dinner without em. 30miles driving past stranded and struggling cars = priceless. The car being a Forester also helped a wee bit..

yourguitarhero – Member

Or, don’t spend the money and just stay at home for all 4 days of the year you really need them.

Works great til it starts snowing while you’re not at home 😉 We had boringly little snow last year but the year before it made a big difference to me, not just when there was actually snow down, but when it threatened, you can carry on business as usual (as long as you don’t live somewhere that’ll instantly gridlock). So it’s not just the actual days of snow, but the days where it might snow that your “don’t go out” plan will also kick in

And o’course they’re not just for snow, they help on early morning ice and in the wet.

I got caught in an unforecast snowstorm going across rannoch moor at night, I think last November, and having one less thing to worry about was just maybe what stopped me going catatonic 😆

Don’t you people have mountain bikes?

Like I said, I live in a city centre and cycle or walk to work so not too typical.