Don't see the point of them in the context of this topic. The rainsports are the sort of thing you'd have on all year round.
Ok, point taken, best tyres for winter use would be the michelin alpins, very pricey though
Don't see the point of them in the context of this topic. The rainsports are the sort of thing you'd have on all year round.
Bit early bearing in mind the recent weather but I'll be investing in a set of winter tyres this November to Feb/March for my standard alloys (the CKs will get garaged) and was just wondering what other peoples experiences are?
We all know that summer tyres don't work as well below 7°c, so I'm looking at the Dunlop Winter Sport 3D @ £145 a corner. Not cheap, but should last a couple of years and the cost pales in comparison to that of repairing any damage (as I found out last winter).
In my experience, the Eagle F1s are spectacularly useless in the cold/ice and (although rare) snow. I commute on B roads for 22 miles, often not gritted, so for peace of mind it's worth it to me. Anyone else do the same? Tyre recommendations (225/40/18s)?
Don't see the point of them in the context of this topic. The rainsports are the sort of thing you'd have on all year round.
Well if you have a look on mytyres.co.uk and also the tyrereviews.co.uk you'll find that they are rated very highly in the snow so performance extremely well in the winter
I drop down to 16" for winter, wrapped with Vredestein Snowtrac's..
This will be my third year with them, generally on from Nov (or first sign of snow) through to March.
Have a google, they generally come out on top and are well priced.
Plus they are pretty good on a dry road too.
Chris
Sorry to hijack but was just looking to know where you sourced a set of 16" (steels i presume...?) from? This is what i was hoping to do this winter as i found with the fat 18" tyres, the car wouldn't take any gear in the ice and just danced about weaving from side to side. the thinners wheel would cut through the ice far better dont know where to pick up a set of steel rims from though...
Hi,
I got Alloys from an early sport, they came up on Ebay - I'd probably suggest the scrappers for steel wheels, they'll have loads. It would just be a shame to put steel wheels on such a nice car!
Maybe try the dealers too, they may have sets left over from when people upgrade?
Chris
That's the benefit of having two sets of 18s - one for summer and the other for winter without compromising on the look.
2 sets of 18's definately better for the look... but I wanted to go down a couple of tyre widths, down from 225's to 195's for maximum benefit.
Have to admit Im always happy to get the 18's back on around March though!
Have you decided on which tyres yet?
Same here, want a skinny tyre as the 225's are no good for ice, especially with the amount of torque down low that a tdi FR has...
I had to use snow chains on my Golf TDI one night last winter, just to get home (walking miles of countryside wasn't an option with a baby in the car!). I'm going to pick up some more for my Leon I reckon. Felt a certain smugness driving past abandoned 4x4s - it feels horribly bumpy and you need to drive slow but the car just goes like a tank - but if you get any chains I'd recommend you try reading the instructions before you try it in a blizzard in the dark.
ok so what is the best set of tyres for a set of 18s 225's (summer tyres) that have a good review as i dont fancy the idea of buying some winter tyres as we only have about 2-3 days of snow and i hear that on winter tyres you can only do a certain speed limit??? << can anyone confirm that. because if thats not the case then i will buy some and use them for the year.
Most Winter Tyres are rated to 118 - 130 mph
how fast do you drive? esp in winter?!
Summer tyres are a softer more pliant rubber at warmer temperatures but go very hard in the colder conditions. They rely on the temperature to give the grip on the road with the soft rubber.
Winter tyres use specifically patterned treads to grip and release the snow where summer tyres fill with snow and it doesn't realease creating a smooth tyre with no treads or grip.
Winter tyres rubber works better at the colder temperatures but unlike the winter tyres of old don't fall to pieces when they get hotter on dry days.
Winter tyres are better than the cheaper summer tyres on wet roads but not as good as the better summer tyres.
Basically its all about the compound, the tread and the temperature