Winter tyres for cars

I've been doing this for 15+ years. 7 months on summers, 5 on winters. As long as you put them away clean and dry (ish) and don't store them somewhere stupid, they'll be fine.

Look on eBay, there tend to be sets when people sell the cars they are for. Not the best time for buying winter tyres.

The downside is that unless you live in Scotland there is no need to get winter tyres unfortunately in this country

Used to have two sets of wheels (summer & winter), now just run one set of all seasons year round. This is on a STW issue Octavia.

If I had something a bit more sporty/niche, I may have stuck with two sets of wheels.

Tyres should be good for about 5 years. I've been doing it for the last lots of years.

You get very good at changing wheels. I can flip 4 corners in under an hour easy peasy.

I do mine, when i bought them it was cheaper to get the alternate wheel size on 16's (both alloys and tyres) than just but the 18's tyres.
Stupid wheel sizes so i have a spare set of wheels now

The downside is that unless you live in Scotland there is no need to get winter tyres unfortunately in this country

This is true if it's a BMW he's just bought. You park it up in November and get it out again in April.

With a good enough car you can really feel the difference.

One day.

But silly advice aside. Modern all seasons really are quite good unless you really need the three snow flake and mountain for all round UK conditions.....

I agree with the all seasons comment, my wife's car will be getting then come time to replace tyres.
I run winters as i have the spare wheels so it is easy for me.
Both winters and all seasons make a massive difference below 7 degrees.
I can def tell a difference in my mazda between the winters and the pilotsport 4's on the summer wheels.
I also appreciate most don't have the option for a spare set of wheels but having killed 2 cars between us in winter conditions that would have been avoided with season specific tyres it is a cost I'm happy paying

Modern all seasons really are quite good unless you really need the three snow flake and mountain

most all season have 3PMSF

Did you see the carnage on the M25 a few days ago??

Always worth checking for used- not so much at this time of year mind, but they're the sort of thing that people buy for a car then sell separately when they sell the car. Thinking about it, I've not bought a new winter tyre for over a decade.

FunkyDunc
Free Member

The downside is that unless you live in Scotland there is no need to get winter tyres unfortunately in this country

Need? Maybe not, I mean you can just choose not to drive sometimes, and even in bad conditions you can generally get where you're going. But want? Abso-bloody-lutely. It's one of the biggest safety upgrades you can do. It's also a huge peace of mind thing, driving in bad conditions is stressful enough. And as ever, remember they're not "snow tyres", they start to really be useful as soon as it gets down below 6 degrees or thereabouts, more so in the wet.

I bought a used car in Portsmouth the other day, drove it to Edinburgh, and cursed it for having summer tyres. The worst parts of the drive were in England btw, but all the way from the south coast it was cold as balls and if I'd had my winters on, it'd have been much better.

One thing that gets overlooked a little is that yep modern tyres are mostly fantastic... But, they've also grown more situational in some ways. So many tyres now are of the "5 narrow slicks in a row" design, which works really, really well almost all the time- lower noise, long life, excellent wet weather clearing, great dry grip, better fuel economy. And absolutely ****-all grip in snow, mud and ice, especially once they're worn a bit since the cross-tread they do have tends to be very shallow.

I'm also a fan of allseasons mind- they really do well, if I didn't have room for 2 sets of wheels I'd be happy enough on a crossclimate or similar. But 2 sets is still better, and the OP seems to have that option so I'd go that route.

First winter on all-seasons (cross climates), first drive with snow on the roads today. The difference in wet, cold and snow has been night and day. Coming from decent brand tyres too.

The downside is that unless you live in Scotland there is no need to get winter tyres unfortunately in this country

And that’s exactly why the uk grinds to a halt as soon as we get a bit of bad weather.

Agree strongly with Northwind; I'm another who has used two sets for many years, happily the same set of steel rims that I bought for my Passat over ten years ago, also fit the Superb. Heading out this morning on steep, properly snowy roads in GlenIsla, I simply drove around a neighbour's Octavia scout struggling to climb on 4seasons. So, 2 wheel drive on Goodyear Ultra grips trumped 4x4, four season.
To be fair, the conditions were particularly tricky, several inches of packed snow, steep climb and corners but I simply drove up, without stress. We were heading out for some xc skiing on high ground, so being able to get around confidently is great. When I have to take a rental car for work at this time of year, I hate it; that worry that braking and handling are really compromised on, say, a rainy road at 4-5C.

Always used to put winter tyres on but wife has put all seasons on the front of her A3 and all has been fine in S Pennines in recent snow.

We’re not that far off main roads though.

most all season have 3PMSF

Some. Just done a search for all season on one of our tyre sellers website (also looked at cross climate and 4 seasons tyres) and only about 2/3rds of them are classed as proper winter tyres. Though saying that, even non winter rated "cold weather" tyres will be loads better in a UK winter than using summers. Bloody awful over here though.

The downside is that unless you live in Scotland there is no need to get winter tyres unfortunately in this country

TBH a winter type tyre will be better for most of the population when driving in low temperatures, 5-7 degrees ish. So basically a couple of months commuting on the south coast and maybe 5 months in scotland. 😉

Summer tyres with good tread and 2WD are plenty good enough in the SE. Snow tyres are for areas that have a protracted snow season. All season tyres have generally less grip than summer tyres and the typical British winter is a mix of cold snaps but mostly 2 - 7C (and heading up to 12C here next week). I'd rather have the grip and stopping distance of summer tyres during a typical British winter than less grippy all-seasons.

My German RWD auto car came with nice summer tyres that couldn't handle steep wet roads, muddy car parks and wore out in 8000 miles. The CrossClimate+ I replaced then with have done 30,000+ miles, work in the cold and wet and generally feel much more confident 90% of the time. I'd not run a car again with summer tyres.

Well my experiance of using both is at odds with your interpretation of the ratings.

Which funny enough were debunked as a flawed test method in the previous winter thread

The all seasons also excel on the typical British standing water we get during winter time.

I'm keeping going with my winters, that way it is less likely i will be running into the back of someone due to lack of grip.
Plus i don't care about the majority of the time, i want the grip when it really matters. The rest of the time i am not driving anywhere near the limits of the tyres and anyone that is doing that on the roads is a ****

And that’s exactly why the uk grinds to a halt as soon as we get a bit of bad weather.

Not really. Its horses for courses. Since I have the luxury of not driving when its really crap (bar an badly timed trip to Snowdonia several years back) summer tyres are generally the best bet for me. If I was out more often then all seasons would be the better choice. Winters would only be a consideration if I moved somewhere further north + more rural + needed to drive more frequently.

The M25 carnage mentioned above was odd. I was out early on monday (on foot and bike) near potters bar and the main roads were completely clear. I guess there was an accident which got everything stacked up and stopped the gritters getting through and then possibly another one to escalate things.

Some of the comments on this thread seem to be willfully ignorant.

I have switched between winter and summer tyres for well over 10 years. I live on the northern edge of the Central Belt of Scotland. We go skiing when we can, and I have a 20 mile or 11 mile rural commute. Winter tyres make a massive difference. End of.

Anyone who doesn't believe this simply demonstrates that they actually have never used them.

Changing them is a hassle, but I have it down to less than an hour per car.

Whether you think you need them is up to you. Yesterday I really did, and so did the person who had chosen to drive on "summer" tyres, who drifted across the road towards me. I bet they shat themselves. I did, but I was able to brake, steer and take evasive action.

Most of the time it is not that dramatic, they just quietly get on with being your only contact points with the road.

dissonance
Full Member

And that’s exactly why the uk grinds to a halt as soon as we get a bit of bad weather.
Not really. Its horses for courses. Since I have the luxury of not driving when its really crap (bar an badly timed trip to Snowdonia several years back) summer tyres are generally the best bet for me. If I was out more often then all seasons would be the better choice. Winters would only be a consideration if I moved somewhere further north + more rural + needed to drive more frequently.

The M25 carnage mentioned above was odd. I was out early on monday (on foot and bike) near potters bar and the main roads were completely clear. I guess there was an accident which got everything stacked up and stopped the gritters getting through and then possibly another one to escalate things.

Doesn’t really explain why the UK grinds to a halt though does it?

The M25 was just one place where there were issues, if even most cars just had all season tyres we wouldn’t get half the problems we get when the snow and ice arrive, as a country we don’t always get snow but generally winter is cold enough as someone above pointed out 2-7c most of the time, below 7 and a winter or all season will stop in a shorter distance than a summer and that’s surely not a bad thing, certainly better than claiming on insurance. We often change our tyres on our bikes for winter so why not our cars as well? Probably cheaper for car tyres than our bikes 🙂

Winters, and certainly all seasons, aren't just for snow tho'. They're better when it's below, 7 or 8. Not equal, better, especially when there's water thrown into the mix.

Snow you get the extra problem that most people don't get much experience driving on it

I’d rather have the grip and stopping distance of summer tyres during a typical British winter than less grippy all-seasons.
Posted 1 hour ago

Summer tyres are more grippy for dry braking. They are worse at wet braking though. We get quite a few wet days in the UK. These tests compare a summer, all seasons, and winter dry and wet braking and snow handling at various temps. Leaving aside the winter the worst braking distance in the tests was the summer in the wet at 2C. 33.6 metres that is 5 metres worse than the all seasons braking distance at any temp.

Seems a good argument for all seasons for a UK winter to me. Obviously if you get snow the all seasons are far better.

https://tiresvote.com/articles/testing-winter-summer-and-all-season-tires-different-temperatures/

Doesn’t really explain why the UK grinds to a halt though does it?

It does. We generally dont need it so dont pay out for it. If the climate changes then we will need to shift resources to handle it. Having been stuck in jams on the M25 though I would be curious how much was due to the weather vs stacking it because they were busy admiring their phone.

if even most cars just had all season tyres

You have pivoted from needing winter tyres to all season here.

but generally winter is cold enough as someone above pointed out 2-7c most of the time

The problem with your winter tyres are good approach is, next week, they arent for me. Its outside the Michelin recommended range during the day so unless you want me to drive at night its a bad choice.
The average temperature here during winter is 7 which is on the switch over point and bearing in mind night vs day chances are when many people are driving its on the higher side.

All seasons would be a good choice so long as you can afford to pay more and handle the compromise. Personally I dont feel the need given my driving habits despite being lucky enough to have the cash to do so.
If my circumstances change then my approach will.

Doesn’t really explain why the UK grinds to a halt though does it?
It does. We generally dont need it so dont pay out for it. If the climate changes then we will need to shift resources to handle it. Having been stuck in jams on the M25 though I would be curious how much was due to the weather vs stacking it because they were busy admiring their phone.

if even most cars just had all season tyres
You have pivoted from needing winter tyres to all season here.

but generally winter is cold enough as someone above pointed out 2-7c most of the time
The problem with your winter tyres are good approach is, next week, they arent for me. Its outside the Michelin recommended range during the day so unless you want me to drive at night its a bad choice.
The average temperature here during winter is 7 which is on the switch over point and bearing in mind night vs day chances are when many people are driving its on the higher side.

All seasons would be a good choice so long as you can afford to pay more and handle the compromise. Personally I dont feel the need given my driving habits despite being lucky enough to have the cash to do so.
If my circumstances change then my approach will.

At no point did I mention “needing” winter tyres, because at the end of the day as long as you have legal tyres on the car that is all that we “need” in the Uk.

You are indeed right next week the temps will go up, coldest months are Jan and Feb so still plenty of time for some cold weather.

As to all seasons I’m was mearly pointing out that they are another option…

Not to be rude but, anyone who talks about snow tyres should generally be ignored. There are a few snow-specific tyres out there, mostly for 4x4s but essentially everything sold for cars in this country is winter, not snow.

Time for my annual link 🙂

Can't believe it's 11 years. And still amazed by how those tyres transformed the Beemer into a very capable car in wintery conditions.

snip...but essentially everything sold for cars in this country is winter, not snow

The manufacturers seem to prefer all-seasons, summer and winter. They sub-divide under EU labelling into either snow or ice, which changed last year
From May 2021 on, the three-peak mountain with a snowflake symbol inside (3PMSF) is a snow tyre. The ice tyre symbol is a triangle with a four-peak stalgmite inside. The standards for 3PMSF have been agreed across cars, vans and lorries, the standard for ice tyres has only been agreed for cars so far
There are a raft of exceptions of course, space-saver spares and designated off-road are possibly the most common examples
The CrossClimate2 is a snow tyre, more specific Michelin winter tyres are their Alpin and Nordic ranges
To check for older stock (still legal to sell), new labels have five categories, A-E, rather than seven, A-G

The tiresvote article ^^ is out of date, e.g. the CrossClimate has been replaced by the CC+ and the CC2

This is true if it’s a BMW he’s just bought. You park it up in November and get it out again in April.

I’ve driven BMW’s on ‘normal’ tyres for 10 yrs or so in hilly Yorkshire and south. Probably 3 times in that period I put snow socks on the ‘normal’ tyres.

I only remember one year in that time when snow stayed on a road for 1 day + and then people had sledges on the main roads not cars

We've been changing our wheels in winter for years now. Had steel wheels and winter tyres for the subaru and now have a spare wheel set and winter tyres for the Ateca. No one drove up the hill we live on last Monday and 2 cars had been abandoned at the bottom of it on Monday morning,

We keep an eye on the temperature and make a decision which weekend in December to change them. As with others, we have got better and better at making the change. They are cleaned up, treads checked and stored in the garage in between. Currently have dunlop winter sports and if that is overkill living in Essex then I will add that we drive to the French Alps every year for skiing.

It does seem a faff until there is bad weather then you realise just what a game changer they are.
The tyres stored in the garage seem to have no issues other than perhaps a slight loss of tyre pressure, no problems with the tyre perishing

Back to my case, yes I live in the south (cotswolds) but where I and the SO work are high and exposed, nature of her work means she doesn't really have a choice about working from home, every year I have been in situations on summers I'd rather not be in. Yes I have been able to keep going but wheel spinning up a climb isn't relaxing. Think the videos cars crashing on Leckhampton hill that are floating around, I'd been that way a couple of hours previously and decided to return a different way because I'd suspected that would be the situation.

As the car is brand new I could take the c500mile tyres off and swap to all seasons and sell the originals on eBay. but that doesn't seem to make a huge amount of sense. As the car is only a Polo google tells me a new set of wheels and tyres should be around £500, which in the scheme of things isn't that much if it can make winters a little more relaxing.

It seems 4wd, winter tyres and an electric car is what you need if you want to drag race in winter!

The problem with your winter tyres are good approach is, next week, they arent for me. Its outside the Michelin recommended range during the day so unless you want me to drive at night its a bad choice.
The average temperature here during winter is 7 which is on the switch over point and bearing in mind night vs day chances are when many people are driving its on the higher side.

Have you ever driven on winter tyres?

By the way all season are (or were) an option when ordering a new Skoda. From memory £150. Worth checking if ordering new.

The problem with your winter tyres are good approach is, next week, they arent for me. Its outside the Michelin recommended range during the day

How long are your summer tyres out of their recommended temperature change (and significantly compromised) Vs t slight compromise of running winters in warm weather?

All seasons would be a good choice so long as you can afford to pay more and handle the compromise

And there is proof that you've not spent much time living with all-seasons! Unless you are a driving enthusiast (who by default would be more interested in optimum tyres and likely to have two sets of wheels) you really don't notice the difference in summer unless the all-seasons are particularly aggressive and winter orientated.

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I have some snow socks for small cars for those who don't want to store a spare set of wheels
Or don't have £600 knocking about behond the sofa cushions.
Good for 14in to 16in wheels and some 17 with low profile skinny tyres.
£15 posted

https://www.admiral.com/magazine/guides/motor/winter-tyres-heres-what-you-need-to-know

“Will they affect my insurance?
Your insurance doesn’t change if you change to winter tyres. If you do decide to get your tyres changed, you don’t need to contact your insurance provider as long as it’s only the tyres that have been changed. If the entire wheel has been replaced, you will need to contact your insurance provider.”

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=102232

“Apparently they’ll let me fit winters tyres to my existing alloys but changing the wheels counts as a modification and requires me to play them for the privilage.”

My Hillman Imp on Romanian remoulds was great in the snow. Never had so much fun at 20mph.

“Apparently they’ll let me fit winters tyres to my existing alloys but changing the wheels counts as a modification and requires me to play them for the privilage.”

I tell my insurer each time I change the wheels and tyres. They do not class changing the wheels as a modification provided the wheels are OEM and are listed as appropriate for the vehicle. They do not charge for this
So my Golf winter wheels are Mk.7 Gti ‘Austin’ wheels which cost £400 for four second hand compared to about £1000 each new. It is always a risk getting second hand wheels but as long as you inspect them carefully…
I would have bought steel wheels if they were available in the correct size, but I could not find any in the UK