I’ve a local fitter that is usually way cheaper than anywhere else although they seem to be quoting silly money this time.

I’ve looked at (in no particular order):

Black circles
Asda
My tyres
Tyre leader
Camskill
Tyre shopper

Anywhere else I should be looking?

http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/?partnerDomain=adwords.google.co.uk_pneus_online&xtor=SEC-24-GOO-%5BPneus_Online%5D–S-%5Bpneus-online%5D&xts=223987&gclid=CjwKEAjwmf6-BRDi9fSN7Ijt1wUSJAASawcjDTCGZEdZE4gFcNMzbZRzPu480EG6GKxEqRL9gBeqzRoCMOPw_wcB

They’re a similar deal to Mytyres. 2-3 day delivery to you or your fitter.

I used mytyres and had excellent service. I was after a tyre and wheel package and they were very competitive on price compared to local shops. Tyres on their own may be different.

Cheers SR, will take a look at pneus.
Anyone used tyre leader? They seem to be coming in cheapest so far.

I’ve used tyre leader, had a pair of tyres delivered to a local fitter, booked an appointment once received and fitted with no issues.

I’ve got my last couple of sets of winter tyres from BODENSEEHAI80 – a German Ebay shop. Free delivery to UK for tyres or wheels.

Don’t be put off by retreads either – if the Germans approve them, they’re OK. THey do major brands too.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/BODENSEEHAI80/Winter-tyres

I used Wheelbase in North Manchester last year. I needed wheels as well. Alloys were only abou £10 per wheel more than it would have cost to get steel rims. Similar price to pretty much everyone else online.

For normal tyres i use http://www.tigertyres.co.uk/ Very good price wise and get them fitted at the Halfords Autocentre round the corner from work

I find these pretty good, and only £30 !

http://www.autosock.co.uk/

Thanks for all the suggestions, I will check them out.

FunkyDunc, winter tyres aren’t *snow* tyres. The snow socks, while they might be very good for getting you off a short but of snow, aren’t any use for a long drive on fast roads in normal “wintery” conditions (cold and wet).

The snow socks, while they might be very good for getting you off a short but of snow, aren’t any use for a long drive on fast roads in normal “wintery” conditions (cold and wet).

All I am saying is that other (much cheaper) alternatives are available.

I think people are a bit blinkered as to when roads are at there most slippy or dangerous. Its not just below the magic 7 degrees that the marketing people would like you to believe. Normal tyres are fine all year round.

Normal tyres are fine all year round.

Really?

Perhaps if people drive within the tyres limitations in adverse conditions-and there are plenty of accurate tests to show winter tyres brake better in low temperature than a summer tyre for instance-, drive more slowly and be aware of the increased braking distances etc. however for the non-expert driver which lets face it is most of us, they do give a little more margin for error.

In Snow there is no contest

Is it not a bit early for the usual winter tyres ****athon?

(I wouldn’t be without em myself, it’s a small price to pay for such a big increase in safety even without the reliability)

Sorry – yes possibly a bit early but last year I struggled at the end of November / early December so want to get in early this year. Local fitter said they were struggling to get hold of them.
Change of car forces change of wheels/tyres.

I found this illuminating (we have a Kuga).

Ours needs new rear tyres now, the “overall” recommendation is the Pirelli Scorpian Verde All season at £105. But I’m thinking, for the 8000m of mostly school runs and occasional m/way journeys it does a year, I might get winters now.

Then I thought about buying wheels for easy swapping and the costs started to mount up to £495…

THEN I thought about winter wheels for my BMW, add another £550 for steels & winters.

I looked at the 250 quid a corner for mine, and just decided not to drive like a tit.

Anyone tried the Michelin CrossClimate, new last year I think?
Costco seem to be pushing them quite hard, too good to be true? A decent all rounder?

Michelin Alpins. I use Primacy 3’s in Summer. Alpins in winter.

I’m known as a tight ****. However on tyres money is well spent. As for sametimes all year. People in Germany etc must be wrong then…

Driving gods don’t need winter tyres!

(I, on the other hand, will be fitting them in 5-6 weeks)

Cross climate are meant to be a good compromise. We put the new Nokian winter tyres on my wife’s car as they are a rated for wet grip. The way they measure means that this is the highest level for winter and summer tyres, they have stayed on all summer and she seems happy as she isn’t exactly gentle on cars.
I will be sticking mine back on the car in a couple of months.
I found it was cheaper to buy a smaller tyre and a set of oem alloys as the lower spec version of my car came with 16s rather than 18s. Meant insurance were happy and i saved a huge amount as the tyres alone would have been more than the cost of everything on the smaller wheels

Gumtree!

Loads of folk sell winter tyres with only one season usage before changing car.

Lots of hardly used tyres if you don’t mind 2nd hand

I had winter tyres before fitting Cross Climates. The winter tyres were terrible on wet, greasy roads i.e. a lot of the time. I could could spin them up to third gear off a roundabout (Fiat Doblo, not some super car!). The Cross Climates haven’t let go once. It’ll be interesting to see how they fare in snow and ice

I found the AA onsite fitting was competitive for the tyres I was looking at. A bit of discount too if you are a member.

Connect2, they do seem like a better option for the majority of UK conditions.

connect2 – Member

I had winter tyres before fitting Cross Climates. The winter tyres were terrible on wet, greasy roads i.e. a lot of the time. I could could spin them up to third gear off a roundabout (Fiat Doblo, not some super car!).

Not all winter tyres are the same… I have big fat snowproxes, they can get a wee bit greasy when it’s really hot but they’re good at everything else.

(this wasn’t some clever buying decision, I got them cheap with a set of horrific alloys off ebay… But they’re worked out well. People say it’s expensive, and it can be but for me it’s saved money. Though they are a pain in the bum to store.)

Normal tyres are fine all year round.

Perhaps. Winter or all seasons are better in winter though. Last winter I drove my front wheel drive Octavia with Goodyear Vector 4 all seasons to work on snowy roads. Then at work drove a Octavia Scout 4WD with normal tyres. My car was far better, especially brsking and steering. The 4WD pulled away OK.

They are great on wet roads all year round as well.

Winters won’t stop you from getting stuck though… it just takes a bit more snow… 8)

[url=https://flic.kr/p/e4NAQT]Icefields parkway skiing March 2013[/url]

Decided against fitting winter specifics and just fitted Nokian Weatherproof instead. Haven’t been disappointed, wet grip is awesome. I got mine from Tyreleader/Reifen.

I got the Nokian Weatherproofs, although they are all season, they perform better than some winter tyres… And the tread is so aggressive they must be make a decent effort in Snow. Obv it’s not snowed since I fitted them 12 months ago, I think we’ve had two frosts in all that time 🙂

[Img]https://scontent-amt2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-8/fr/cp0/e15/q65/12186681_10153559367260168_5619822121855170333_o.jpg[/img]

I put cross climates on last year. They have been great in all conditions encountered in Scotland thus far. Fit and forget all year round, will be getting same again next time.

Full set of Bridgestone winters wheels waiting to go on my car in mid October.

I spent some time last night looking into this for my car (RWD BMW), and its worked out that buying a set of Steels shod with Conti Winters is cheaper than all seasons. Despite the fact I can get cross climates for the front, I can’t for the rears on account of the size 245/35/18 -RF-.

The closest I could get to 4 tyres the same close to all season but not quote are Uniroyal rainsports.

I put winters on my new (to me) car in Jan, not taken them off!

Decided against fitting winter specifics and just fitted Nokian Weatherproof instead. Haven’t been disappointed, wet grip is awesome. I got mine from Tyreleader/Reifen.

I fitted these Nokians to my cars last autumn, having run dedicated winter tyres the previous few winters. They are substantially better than winters in cold wet weather (ie most of our winter weather, wet, greasy), and not noticeably different in summer. I haven’t had the chance to try them in snow but given Nokian is a Finnish Co their idea of winter/all season is a bit different to ours.
They are a similar concept to the Michelin Cross Climate but are biased towards winter performance while the Michelins are biased towards summer use.

I forget to mention, if anyone’s thinking of some wheels/tyres, Mr Winter wheels has 2% off and a £50 amazon voucher until the 30th.

Me, like last year I can’t decide…

Is it worth just putting winters / all seasons on the front or are all 4 needed? My fronts are coming up for replacement so was thinking of winters.

Theres some car journo vids on you tube about that – it creates a dangerous imbalance not to put them on all four.

We put Michelin Cross Climate on our family Touran last autumn.
They feel fine in normal conditions and the one time I ventured out in the snow in them, also felt reassuringly grippy.
they don’t appear to be wearing too well mind, so I’ll need to keep an eye on that.

CHB nice wheels.

IMHO if you have the storage space, know you’ll keep the car a bit and you are likely to have some real cold weather conditions then get proper winter tyres. No one I know in Switzerland for example runs “all year” partly as they are not deemed suitable for mountain resorts. Otherwise all year tyres are a good compromise.

This old one again.

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

I recall arguments about how summer tyres will suddenly explode if they go under 7C. Though maybe they would have. Mine never got a chance to suffer the cold as it was rarely below 7C.