I have given that some consideration, 18 is one of the approved fitments. I'm not on RFTs, I have a wheelbarrow job in case of a puncture.
Winter tyres - the ADAC's annual assessment
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Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Back in 2013, a mate who worked for Pirelli took his winter tyre shod 300bhp Golf to the Nurburgring. It was Easter, not cold. The tyres didn’t let him down at all. He had to stop once though to let his passenger barf over the Armco!
He took me out in it too on his way back, quite astonishing performance (and driving) for a fwd car with so much power and the wrong tyres.
Even back then he said that they were on the verge of most drivers being able to leave winters on their cars all year in Britain. And then all-seasons took off a short time after.
But still some will say the turn to chewing gum in warmer weather…
They certainly wear a bit quicker in warm weather, but there you go. Soft tyres do. I had a set of Yokohama 032Rs on the Caterham. One weekend I did about 600 miles, it took about 1mm off the tread. Mind you I was doing a bit of "enthusiastic" driving and there was a bit of tread rolling evident when I stopped later. I can also report that the same Yokos are really horrible in cold, greasy conditions. They just don't get warm enough to work as intended.
hifilover1979
Bigger than you...
They really don't... But they will wear faster if you use them all year round due to their softer compounds...
I've never had an issue driving my BMWs with winter tyres from October through to March; they've always done well.
And generally mild blips through winter are just that; the temps will still drop, there'll still be plenty of wet wether etc and that's where they come into their own...
Tony Lockhart
Avoiding Stress, at Every Opportunity
Yep. When I bought the first set of winters, I was commuting 500 miles per week, and leaving home at 5.40am, home again at 6.20pm, so rarely driving during the warmer hours of a winter’s day. Now… 35 miles per week, weedy front wheel drive car, I can cycle or even walk it in bad weather, so I’ve not bothered with winters for the Passat.
CraShWilliams
pfm Member
Interesting thread - I've just purchased some Goodyear Vector 4 G3s, whilst there's little snow down here (south Devon) the roads do get very wet and some of those lanes do get rather muddy - they'll certainly be better than what I'm currently using, a hotch-potch of different brands and differing levels of tread!
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
As it happens I went for Bridgestone Weather Control 005 Evos in the end. When I got the car it had 17” wheels with some nearly new Michelin SUV jobbies on the front, and part worn Contis on the rear. I didn’t really enjoy the Michelins, steering was vague and uninspiring. So I’d gone off the idea of the Cross Clinates a bit.
I got a set of 18” wheels (the standard for the car) and fitted the Bridgestones because the firm that refurbed the wheels could supply and fit for a decent price. It’s transformed the handling. Much more reassuring, grip is very good, esp in the wet. I’m very happy so far, but only just going into their first cold weather so time will tell.
SteveG
pfm Member
I've got Cross Climates on my SUV and on my rear-wheel drive estate and find they drive very well in any conditions including in the summer. On my Merc estate in the dry they're at least as good as the OE Hankook summer tyres were, but much much better in adverse conditions and very effective in the snow until you run out of ground clearance.
We had to do a bit of driving on snow at the weekend (where the road passes the Lecht ski centre) plus encountered lots of standing water which they handled well (that was on the SUV - the estate car would have struggled with the depth of some of the water we encountered).
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
I thought winter tyres would be a great idea so bought a set of spare wheels/ winter tyres. It’s a huge PITA. I’ve still got them on from last autumn and I’m going to wear them out, flog the wheels and just get all season tyres on the primary wheels. I only do 5000 miles pa and don’t have to drive if the snow is that bad.
A salutary lesson was in the great freeze 2009? when it didn’t thaw for about 5 weeks- a journey that takes 50 min lasted 5 hours in a 4WD Toyota. We couldn’t get past the hundreds of cars blocking every road around Glasgow.
A salutary lesson was in the great freeze 2009? when it didn’t thaw for about 5 weeks- a journey that takes 50 min lasted 5 hours in a 4WD Toyota. We couldn’t get past the hundreds of cars blocking every road around Glasgow.
if you only do 5k miles a year 2 sets of tyres is a waste of time. Typically FWD front tyres last 20k, rears twice that. Obviously different for RWD and 4WD. But even faster wearing winter tyres will last 4years/8 years by which time you won't care. As for the difference in dry grip, it's not important. Everything grips in the dry unless you're mad. The way speed limits are going you could just as well fit 125 x 15 tyres from a 2CV and not notice any shortcomings.
tones
Tones deaf
Update:
www.adac.de
Winterreifen Test 2023: Alle Reifengrößen im Überblick | ADAC
Im ADAC Winterreifen Test werden die besten Reifen der verschiedenen Reifengrößen ermittelt. Welche Reifen haben sicheren Grip, welche sparen am meisten Sprit?
www.adac.de
Bananahead
pfm Member
At autobahn/autoroute speeds I am going to fit the right tyres for the temperature.