Hi

Is it worth changing the standard VRS wheels and tyres for something a bit more suited to winter conditions? I'm sure most of the 'problems' are due to the tyres being fairly wide - remember my Mk2 Astra diesel :rofl:with 165 section tyres would go anywhere in the snow!

I have the option of some cheap 15" A3 alloys with 195/65 tyres on - would these be okay? I could change the tyres to some even narrower ones with the same rolling radius as the originals.

There were a few days last winter when I struggled to get home in my old car (the joys of living on the moors!) so not sure what the VRS will be like?

Suggestions?

TIA:thumbup:

No, not in the UK. If you can afford it then it can't hurt but it's not something I would say has huge benefits

Just dont fit F1 eagles to use in the winter. If it snows you can park the car up for a week, you wont be driving it....

The only experience I have of winter tyres are a pair of Vredestein Quatrac 2 all season/winter tyres which are brilliant on snow/slush for my mothers 1.9TDI Fabia. I like you, in a vRS, found that the summer Goodyears had no grip frost or snow/slush especially on the North York Moors. It's a shame Vredestein don't make anything for the standard vRS size.

For the vRS 195/65 15 will be too tall, you realy need 205/50 or 195/50s. I think you can get Quatrac 2s or the new Quatrac 3s in 195/50 15. Last week I nearly bought a pair of 15 inch wheels to put winter tyres on, but was unsure if 15 inch would go over the brakes and they were from Vauxhall so unsure if they would fit.

Edited 2 September, 200916 yr by Jim H

The short answer is yes!

I live in Yorkshire & work shifts that mean I'm about before the gritters sometimes.

I've been running winter tyres for the last 4 winters, as well as the narrower section,

there's the tread pattern (designed for greater water / slush dispersal), then crucially

the compound of the rubber.

Effectively summer tyres don't warm up when the air/road temp is below 5-7c.

My tyres are Avon Ice Touring and have also been over German mountains at -20c.

Ask yourself the question,

have you ever seen a car with more than £300 worth of body damage after a skid on ice?

Edited 2 September, 200916 yr by gcr31463
added info

Short answer if you live in most of Southern England is "no".

However....

• Modern "summer" tyres vary greatly and some do not deal with cold, greasy conditions at all well. Winter or M&S tyres tend to perform "similarly" in a range of road/driving conditions.
  
• Do you get up and out early and/or live in a hilly or mountainous region?
  
• Do you want to preserve your bright, shiny alloys and avoid winter kerb incidents?
  

There are reasons to do it.

Just dont fit F1 eagles to use in the winter. If it snows you can park the car up for a week, you wont be driving it....

^ what he said. If you have F1's on then winter tyres on another set of rims are worth it, if not essential. Otherwise you will crash. And you will die.

Horrible buggers in the snow they are.

Ask yourself the question,

have you ever seen a car with more than £300 worth of body damage after a skid on ice?

Yes i have, i had Maxxis VA-1's on the rear axle of a Mk4 Astra Coupe.

I hit black ice and ended up sliding into a rather large curb, which removed the rear wheel with the whole rear nearside hub and brakes still attatched.

The rear of the car continued into a lamp post which really didn't do the car any favours.

If your going to drive in the winter, i would consider using some tyres that consider winter condtions.

I found the Maxxis tyres a hard tyre with a lack of grip in the wet never mind snow.

I live 5 miles from the main A road in the North York Moors national park and leave home at 7am just before the gritter arrives, the road is pretty hilly as well!

Looks like I will invest in some winter tyres then. As I do 30,000 miles a year they will pay for themselves pretty soon (4 months use will be 10k miles).

Any recommendations on tyres from anyone else?

Thanks all!

If you need to drive in snow or sleety conditions I’d say definitely yes!

I was driving around Co Durham on the snowy hills this winter and luckily had my Vredestein Snotrac 2 tyres fitted. Never missed a beat in my Sedici.

Ok, the Sedici is a 4x4, but on one occasion I followed a man driving a VW down a hill, wondering if he realised that he was going to have to climb a couple of hundred feet up the other side once he got to the lowest point. Unsurprisingly he got himself stuck right at the bottom of a long steepish hill and so I offered him assistance. He turned me down (mostly out of fear at a giraffety, skinny Geordie bint hanging our of a Fiat shouting at him) so I thought I would impress him with my 4x4 traction and powered up the hill, skidding a little bit on the way. Anyhoo, when I got to the top, I figured I must have looked pretty impressive with my 4x4 traction…………………………… only to find I had left the car in 2 wheel drive!!!!!!!!! All I can say is Winter tyres are great in the snow. They are very good in cold wet conditions too, but once the temperature gets above 7 degrees C, they wear out very quickly.

No.

Coped for many years on Michelin Pilots with no issues.

As said very good on snow and in my view generally less likely to aquaplane as the tread patterns tend to be designed to clear lots of water.

As has been said the rubber is designed for lower temps, however what we are talking about in the UK is not overly disastorurs and most all season tyres that we have will soon get warm enough to provid decent grip,

Persoanlly in the UK I would only fit them if there was concern of driving on snow, as long as you have a good dry/wet all season tyre you should be fine trhough winter.

Lady E's back!

If I lived somewhere liked you describe I'd have a winter set of rims, yes.

As for tyre choices, I refer you to Camskill's winter section

Winter Tyres - Snow Tyres - Mud and Snow Tyres - M&S Tyres - Town & Country Tyres ::

They have Toyo Snowproxes in the std size, 205/45/16 - depends what size rim you're going for really. If you have the std 288mm brakes fitted, then you can go down to a 15" and maybe run 195/50/15s on them, perhaps even a 185 section.

Loads of choice in 195/50/15 for example, and pretty cheap:

http://www.camskill.co.uk/products.php?plid=m11b0s623p0

Steve

If you are wanting Vredesteins, I would try M&M Tyres in Middlesbrough.I think they are a main dealer for Vredesteins and are recommended by either Blackcircles or Mytres. They are situated "over the border" near the train station and the new police station. They were the cheapest, it think even cheaper than Camskill. They sell Goodyear F1s very cheaply as well.

The alternative is to try somewhere like Champions at Casleton, my dad bought some Pirelli snow tyres from them for his Subaru a few years ago. All of this, of course depends on which side of the Moors you are.

Edited 3 September, 200916 yr by Jim H

Not where I live for sure.

It's like Miami for all you lot down there

Sutton bank way:frosty:

I will be taking my car to Portsmouth this winter and I was wondering whether to fit my winter wheels before I leave from here. Friends told me that the coldest it ever gets there is 3-4 C. I have Bridgestone ER300 all round at the moment.

I think you'll be fine with a standard tyre in Portsmouth

Steve

I think you'll be fine with a standard tyre in Portsmouth

Steve

Actually, you might be better off with a nice pair of unattractive steelies... (Says the man currently sat in a Portsmouth hotel looking out of the window every 5 minutes making sure his wheels are still on his car...)

Actually, you might be better off with a nice pair of unattractive steelies... (Says the man currently sat in a Portsmouth hotel looking out of the window every 5 minutes making sure his wheels are still on his car...)

Why? Shall I expect loads of criminals there?

Actually, you might be better off with a nice pair of unattractive steelies... (Says the man currently sat in a Portsmouth hotel looking out of the window every 5 minutes making sure his wheels are still on his car...)

Pompey isnt that bad. Parked in much worse areas!

Why? Shall I expect loads of criminals there?

Nah, I am winding you up. It's not that bad.

I think that for quite a few of us living off bus routes that winter tyre do make good sense, its just down to if we have the space to store the spare wheels for the other eight months of the year? Costo tried to sell Michelin Alpines a couple of years ago - and I thought about it for my wife's Polo 1.4 SE as she uses some nasty bits of road - and our driveway is steep - which means that I need to spread 4 large bags of rock salt every time we get a large "dump" of snow - even after scrapping the snow away - this happened four times last winter and the ice would have remained on the driveway for a couple of weeks each time. Her car is okay as I could buy in some 14" steelies for it, but my 4Motion B5 probably could not handle 15" steelies and there do not seem to be a 205/55 x 16 snow tyre readily available. I think most "all weather" or "summer" tyres have lost the will to grip by 10C - so at least the Northern half of UK will see day time temperatures of that or less for about 4 months a year.

Things like "SNOW SOCK" are okay if you get caught out in snow/ice just to get you going, but to be ready to drive for a few miles in adverse conditions - which might just not be a trip of choice, nothing will beat already having snow tyres fitted, a bit like "upping" the window washer liquid ratio BEFORE the weather turns nasty.

Most tyres are good to a few -C - usually around -4C or -6C. Most commonly available winter tyres main operating are from +6 to -30.

I dont think any part of the UK will see temps that low

I noticed that I had improved grip in sleety conditions as well as snow. The deeper tread pattern also seems to avoid aquaplaning very well too. The only downside apart from having 2 sets of tyres and the cost incurred, is that in the dry there is a slight increase of vagueness in the steering. I guess it’s the soft blocks which are full of sipes causing this, but the grip generated by these little slots is terrific in the snow.

I have also noticed that although I now have 2 sets of tyres they last twice as long so the cost evens out quite a bit.