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Winter tyres - the ADAC's annual assessment

Bananahead said:
Many years ago I had an Mk2 MR2. One day there was snow and I was returning from Bournemouth along the A31. After a while, I had a short parade of front-wheel drive cars behind me. When the road widened to two lanes they thought that they would go past. Unfortunately at that point it also went downhill and I gently dabbed the brakes. The rear went out and I slid perfectly down the hill using both lanes. They backed well off. I did pull over just after that though to let them pass.
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I followed a BMW through Headingley with about an inch of snow on the deck a few years ago. Up the hill between the city centre, past the University, he was sideways one way, then the other, crabbing his way up and throwing 2 plumes of snow across the road. Like your companions, I gave him *plenty* of room.
 
stevec67 said:
If course it's allowed. The car may not handle exactly as you might hope under certain conditions but the same applies if you put new tyres on the front and leave legal but worn ones on the back, or vice versa.
Too many drivers seem to think that they are as close to the edge as Lewis Hamilton as they negotiate that tricky roundabout off the A440 at 35mph.
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If you only change two tires it's much better to put the new tires on the back, no matter if your car is FWD, RWD or AWD because for most drivers it's far safer to experience understeer than oversteer.
 
sean99 said:
If you only change two tires it's much better to put the new tires on the back, no matter if your car is FWD, RWD or AWD because for most drivers it's far safer to experience understeer than oversteer.
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absolutely. I have this coming soon. The front tyres are nearly done, rears about 3-4mm. The tyre fitter will love me asking him to swap front for rear.
 
I just checked and some Michelin Cross Climates for our Nissan Qashqai on 19" rims with 45 sections are finally available. Yeah! It is a 1.6 Diesel, 130BHP. Why the heck do I have to spend between £200 and £250 per tyre plus fitting on a fairly slow Nissan?

My Volvo on 17" rims, 60 section tyres of the same type are less than £150! Previously were £125 per corner. 190BHP and much much faster all round.
 
JensenHealey said:
I just checked and some Michelin Cross Climates for our Nissan Qashqai on 19" rims with 45 sections are finally available. Yeah! It is a 1.6 Diesel, 130BHP. Why the heck do I have to spend between £200 and £250 per tyre plus fitting on a fairly slow Nissan?

My Volvo on 17" rims, 60 section tyres of the same type are less than £150! Previously were £125 per corner. 190BHP and much much faster all round.
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Goodyear and Continental all season tyres are about £50 cheaper per tyre in your size (225-45/19?)
 
JensenHealey said:
I just checked and some Michelin Cross Climates for our Nissan Qashqai on 19" rims with 45 sections are finally available. Yeah! It is a 1.6 Diesel, 130BHP. Why the heck do I have to spend between £200 and £250 per tyre plus fitting on a fairly slow Nissan?
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My P*****e has smaller wheels than that. It's a crazy world.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
Naa, just get it sideways, window open, fist in the air, shouting out “Hannu Mikkola!”

And there’s a point: early Audi Quattros allowed the driver to switch ABS off. In deep snow and on gravel, a car can sometimes stop quicker with the wheels locked up due to the wedge of material that builds in front of the front tyres. That’d be quite a call to make!
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So it was you following me!
 
JensenHealey said:
I just checked and some Michelin Cross Climates for our Nissan Qashqai on 19" rims with 45 sections are finally available. Yeah! It is a 1.6 Diesel, 130BHP. Why the heck do I have to spend between £200 and £250 per tyre plus fitting on a fairly slow Nissan?

My Volvo on 17" rims, 60 section tyres of the same type are less than £150! Previously were £125 per corner. 190BHP and much much faster all round.
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Had a similar conversation in the tyre shop recently. It's all down to sales volume.
 
stevec67 said:
absolutely. I have this coming soon. The front tyres are nearly done, rears about 3-4mm. The tyre fitter will love me asking him to swap front for rear.
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Can't do that on a lot of cars now as the front and rear fitments are often different - they are on all of our cars.
 
I’ve driven a few cars with winter tyres on over the last 12 years. The biggest reason for me fitting them to my cars was the confidence derived from the sure-footed way the cars felt in cold weather with wet road surfaces. I’m not talking about giving it Sebastian Loeb through every sequence of bends, just being able to drive at normal speeds but knowing that if anything out of the ordinary happens, those grippy tyres with esp/abs etc etc will work hard to make it a non-event.
Only having winters or all-seasons on one axle would remove all that confidence.
 
Tony Lockhart said:
As @hifilover1979 above has posted, that’s why you have ‘staggered’ tyre sizes. Most cars on U.K. roads are front wheel drive, with the same tyres all round.

Edit: many smaller Mercs and Beemers are fwd now.
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My wife's SLK and my C-class are definitely both RWD but my daughter and her boyfriend both have A-classes that are front drive and I think they do have the same front and rear tyre sizes.
 
When I was a summer student in the UK in 1973 I think I saw one or two Minis with wider wheels in the front. Not from the factory, obviously :)

What happens when using different or same width front and rear:

 
SteveG said:
Can't do that on a lot of cars now as the front and rear fitments are often different - they are on all of our cars.
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Fortunately not in my case. 255/35x19 on all 4 corners, wheels are standard 5 stud fit too, same offset. It gives a horrible, crashy ride on anything other than a billiard table smooth surface once the bushes and springs have more than a gnat's nudger of wear, but there you are. That's the modern fashion.
 
stevec67 said:
Fortunately not in my case. 255/35x19 on all 4 corners, wheels are standard 5 stud fit too, same offset. It gives a horrible, crashy ride on anything other than a billiard table smooth surface once the bushes and springs have more than a gnat's nudger of wear, but there you are. That's the modern fashion.
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Drop down to 18" alloys & tyres then...

Lots of folk drop a size for better ride & comfort... If you've got RFTs too, consider binning them and going to non RFTs and have a decent tyre repair kit in the boot etc...

We're about to get a new car that's on 19s; I'll be sorting a set of straight 18x8 alloys for winter tyres ASAP and the staggered 19s I may sell on and get a set of staggered 18s for summer tyres.

All will be on RFTs
 
JensenHealey said:
Yeah - I noticed that too, thanks. One of them had a discount deal too for multi-buy - so it might well be the way to go.
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Think 'tyresonthedrive' are still doing their 15% offer but only on certain brands...

Asda tyres have an offer too (never used them myself though)

See what Camskill offer too; you just need to get them fitted
 
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