If you're thinking of winter car tyres…

My experience back this up as well, we have winters fitted all year round and don’t have to change any more frequently than when we used summer tyres.

Guess it depends on what you have really. If it’s true though, why wouldn’t Conti only sell winter tyres and market themselves aggressively that they’re the only company to give you real all-year tyres?

Got a set of winter tyres for my Merc Vito back January. They have been excellent in the snow over the last week. Living in Mid wales we have plenty of snow and we have some faily big hills. Not got stuck once. They are also much better when there is standing water on the roads.

neil
http://www.redkite-events.co.uk

Michelin energy saver summer rubber to Perelli winter tyres yesterday made more difference than I thought possible

In fairness ANYTHING would be better than what you had fitted! Recently drove an Audi with these and they were horrible.

For those that don’t want a winter tyre, have a look at the Uniroyal RainExpert. Same tread as their SnowExpert, just a different compound. I think they are pretty good in the snow with some sensible driving.

What a lot of people forget about when they reckon “everyone should have winter tyres” is that not everyone has room to store winter tyres!

What a lot of people forget about when they reckon “everyone should have winter tyres” is that not everyone has room to store winter tyres!

More of a UK problem than anywhere else. My garage stores them for the princely sum of 50e per year and that includes changing the wheels back and balancing them when refitted.

For those that don’t want a winter tyre, have a look at the Uniroyal RainExpert. Same tread as their SnowExpert, just a different compound. I think they are pretty good in the snow with some sensible driving.

Rain Experts don’t have sipes. Snow Experts do. It is the sipes that make winter tyres so good on the snow, not just the compound.

In fairness ANYTHING would be better than what you had fitted! Recently drove an Audi with these and they were horrible

I have Michelin energy savers on the Prius. I don’t like them, but they grip fine (in summer). I don’t like them because the ride seems harsh and they seem noisy.

It’s a myth that they don’t grip well. I have Nokian summers on the Passat, all their tyres are energy savers, and they are excellent.

I have had wioter tyres for two years now, front and rear of the car. I have noticed a huge difference over the last few weeks but also when it was below zero conditions in December. I will leave them on until prbably mid / late March then put them back on mid October. For me they are no more expensive than ‘normal’ tyres so its a no brainer really.

I get my wheel alignment and balancing done when the tyres are swapped over but this is a good thing to get done every now and again anyway so another plus in my opinion.

I have had winter tyres for two years now, front and rear of the car.

On a front wheel drive I’ve never considered putting snow/winter/cold weather tyres on all four corners. They only go on the front as I can’t see there being any advantage, apart from lining Kwik Fit pockets, in putting them on the rears. Never had problems either.

On a front wheel drive I’ve never considered putting snow/winter/cold weather tyres on all four corners. They only go on the front as I can’t see there being any advantage, apart from lining Kwik Fit pockets, in putting them on the rears. Never had problems either.

You might want to watch this.
There are plenty of other (better) videos too, but I can’t find them.

audi wedged its self between 2 walls on monday decending a hill and literally touching the brakes – rear end broke away and it all went wrong

i spoke to the fella and he was cursing that he only had winter tires on the front after that. – affirms why you should use compression breaking if you dont have rear winters instead of brakes.

obviously driving gods need not apply this logic.

Hmm, it lost credibility when she said she’d try and get through the corner as fast as she could rather than as safely as she could. I’ve seen cars with ice tyres lose it when driven as fast as possible.

I ran just front winter tyres first time round, it worked well- the idea isn’t for it to be just as good as 4 winter tyres, but for it to be better than no winter tyres. If you try and drive as if you had 4, you’ll have issues obviously. Pleased to have all 4 this time round.

Edukator – Member

I use winter tyres all year round. I reckon the wet grip is better with winter tyres even at 30°C. I haven’t read the whole thread so if anyone has any test evidence to the contrary fell free to disagree and post it.

The other part of this, is that even if the winter tyres were less good in summer, you’re still trading grip in ideal conditions in order to gain grip in bad conditions. That’s a good trade in my book.

atlaz – Member

it’s the fact the tyres get destroyed in warm weather.

Might happen with some, but not with my Toyos or Hankooks.

atlaz – Member

If it’s true though, why wouldn’t Conti only sell winter tyres and market themselves aggressively that they’re the only company to give you real all-year tyres?

First, they’re not saying that winter tyres are as good as summer tyres- they’re saying they work perfectly well in summer. All about balance, they’re not saying you can’t get better results with 2 sets of tyres, only that if you can only have one it’s best to be winter tyres. As for “the only company”- they aren’t.

hora – Member

Would you trust a used tyres provinence?

Do you instantly replace all 4 tyres on a used car?

They only go on the front as I can’t see there being any advantage, apart from lining Kwik Fit pockets, in putting them on the rears. Never had problems either.

The you are either a driving god or very lucky. I had a week, 3 years ago, of waiting for the rears after fitting fronts and it was not good at all. Sure, you can drive off as normal on winter tyres but braking and cornering is imbalanced and dangerous.

Wouldn’t be without mine and got to Swinhope skiing yesterday using winter tyres on a FWD ‘boat’ of a car when there were some 4WD struggling on standard tyres. The difference in grip in cold/wet conditions is huge too and my tyres were only £57.50 a corner 3 years ago, which for me represents excellent value.

They only go on the front as I can’t see there being any advantage

Don’t you ever slow down or turn corners then?

Do you instantly replace all 4 tyres on a used car?

I don’t often buy smashed up/written off cars. My point is if the tyres are used- what did they used to be on? I doubt very much that 6mm+ tyres (you do see a fair few of them on Ebay) were discarded by German Motorists and magically find themself in a big container etc etc.

Don’t you ever slow down or turn corners then?

Of course I do, and I’m a bit lost as to what you’re trying to say. Cars can’t turn corners or slow down unless they have 4 winter tyres?

On snow, not very well at all, no.

You need all four tyres to control the car properly. That’s why you have four brake calipers. And when you go around corners, the rear wheels stop your car spinning around.

hora – Member

I doubt very much that 6mm+ tyres (you do see a fair few of them on Ebay) were discarded by German Motorists and magically find themself in a big container etc etc.

It’s not just crashed things that end up in scrapyards (and not all crashed things end up there)

molgrips – Member

You need all four tyres to control the car properly. That’s why you have four brake calipers. And when you go around corners, the rear wheels stop your car spinning around.

The point is that 2 winter tyres is still more effective than 0. If you lose the rear, then you’d obviously still have had the same problem with no winter tyres- but there’s a fair chance you’d have had a problem earlier.

If you try and drive it like it has 4 winter tyres it will end badly, and that’s the risk. And of course, it can get you as far as an accident that you’d not have reached if you were stuck in the driveway! But if you’ve got a decent brain, it’s never worse than 4 summer tyres.

I think the main problem with only 2 winter tyres is that they might give you a sense of confidence that you would otherwise not have.

You can pull off fine, get great traction and think everything is rosy, then come to brake or a sharp cornering manoeuvre and you are shafted.

Where as all 4 summer tyres, you are struggling from the start and you would hope that anyone who had to use a car in those circumstances would be driving to the conditions. It certainly wouldn’t be the case that the tyres would offer a false sense of security.

I think the main problem with only 2 winter tyres is that they might give you a sense of confidence that you would otherwise not have.

Where theres snow and theres cold there is always the chance of ice. Then theres the usual- spilt diesel etc etc. No one should put all their skillz onto just tyres. Observation and conditions!

mtbMatt, running winters on front of the T4 and standard on the back, but they’re pretty deep tread pattern.
Heavy vehicle, low power I have been prevoking it to slide (off road) but you really have to try to get it to let go on the back.

In relation to the video posted a golf is probably about half the weight and the summer rears will be pretty shallow tread pattern in comparison to the van’s ones, which are pretty similar to the winter with exception of the cuts in the blocks.

That’s a good point Hora. I agree.

Very true and wise words here. There’s ALOT we can all learn from Hora. Seriously smart fella.

But if you’ve got a decent brain, it’s never worse than 4 summer tyres.

Have to disagree with you there.

IMO the brain will register traction available through steering input and when you have back tyres with considerably less grip than the front (assuming FWD) then you are constantly having to gauge (guess) the level of traction at the rear. It also completely screws up the ABS.

That wasn’t my real world experience 😉 Is it yours? Making your decisions based on front wheel traction is just driver error, regardless of tyres, anyone using only 2 winter tyres should be particularily aware of this though.

I suppose what I’m really saying is that it gives you the option to make more mistakes, but they’re still avoidable mistakes.

Would it make sense to fit just three winter tyres or two, but diagonally staggered so there’s one at the front and one at the opposite corner at the rear? Surely that would be better than having a front-rear imbalance in grip? I suppose the problem might come when reversing as different wheels are driven? Anyone tried this?

How about if you factor in robin reliants?

I’m considering adding a sea anchor to my barge.

How about if you factor in robin reliants?

Possibly a cheaper option than winter tyres for Audi. Merc and BMW drivers. Especially as Reliants have small-ish wheels. There must be a YouTube video showing a Robin Reliant with winter tyres pitted against a big Beemer on snow.

That wasn’t my real world experience Is it yours?

Yes. A week of winter fronts waiting for delivery of the rears was more than enough to convince me of the value of 4 winter tyres.

My rears needed replaced anyway and the tail would come out at the slightest provocation, even emerging from a junction. As for braking, there are a number of steep hills where I live and on several occasions I was in first gear hoping for the best as the ABS kicked in as soon as the rear lost traction making braking non-existant, although that is more of a reflection on the state of the rear tyres than the efficiency of the ‘winters’.

and considering an icey conveyor belt?

This is promising…

But this is the one… ‘Sneeuw’, what a cracking word 🙂

strangely and against all logic on here (a cycling forum) i stuck the more agressive and deeper tread winter tires on the rear of my car……

Would it make sense to fit just three winter tyres or two, but diagonally staggered so there’s one at the front and one at the opposite corner at the rear? Surely that would be better than having a front-rear imbalance in grip? I suppose the problem might come when reversing as different wheels are driven? Anyone tried this?

Read up how differentials work, then rethink your post.

First, they’re not saying that winter tyres are as good as summer tyres- they’re saying they work perfectly well in summer. All about balance, they’re not saying you can’t get better results with 2 sets of tyres, only that if you can only have one it’s best to be winter tyres.

Well to a certain extent I agree with you. I don’t have a choice about buying winter tyres here and as nobody sells new cars WITH winter tyres (actually, I guess they do in winter), I HAD to buy tyres. Very glad I did but given the stink of cooked rubber when I drive on them in warmer weather, I’m going to guess they’ll be humped if I drive around on them in summer. Could just be mine obviously. Or how I drive.

Woody – Member

although that is more of a reflection on the state of the rear tyres than the efficiency of the ‘winters’.

Yep, probably- to be fair I should have said the same, I had sensible deep-treaded standard tyres on the back so they still performed reasonably well, the less suitable the standard tyres are the more problematic it’ll be.

@ trailrat

Do you think you’d get any better advice on a car forum :lol Was that on a landy BTW and how was it?

its actually on a frontera.

land rovers line on snow chains in my 1987 owners manual is only fit to the rear.

tinybits – Member
Oh god, I can’t resist…

Glupton76, if your wife takes so little notice of you that she drove into the back of another vehicle, your advice can’t really be relied upon. Do you think she would have stopped with winter tyres on?

Low speed going onto a roundabout – car in front bottled out of lunging for a gap half way through. Wife like a muppet was busy looking for her own gap and forgot to check that the car infront had actually gone…. More a touch of cars than a crash. Winter tyres would have made no difference.

molgrips – Member

I have Michelin energy savers on the Prius. I don’t like them, but they grip fine (in summer). I don’t like them because the ride seems harsh and they seem noisy.

Testing grip in a Prius? 😐