Anyone else about to order some winters tyres for their SM?

[bilun777]

Given that yeti's speedo's overread by around 3%,and EU law states that speedo's shouldn't overread by more than 10%,isn't the very undersize205/55 tyre going to be about on that limit?[haven't done the maths myself].There are going to be some drivers on winter tyres seriously peeing off other road users when their indicated 70 mph is only around a genuine 62 mph. :wonder:

[rockhopper]

isn't there an option to increase/decrease wheel size on the maxidot?

Mike

[The Plumber]

isn't there an option to increase/decrease wheel size on the maxidot?

Mike

Hi Mike,

sadly not just a setting for a speed warning so you don't exceed the speed rating of a potentially slower rated winter tyre. Spoke to my dealer about adjusting the settings to match the tyres, unfortunately with their Vagcom anyway the improved factory anti tamper measures prevented any adjustments.

TP

[rockhopper]

Can we get 195/65 16" tyres. They seem to be very close in size to the 225/50 17" ones?

other than the insurance thingy will they fit to 7J x 16" ET45 rims?

I would have thought that they would be even better than 205's as they are narrower and have a taller side wall, making them more comfortable as well.

Mike

[The Plumber]

Can we get 195/65 16" tyres. They seem to be very close in size to the 225/50 17" ones?

other than the insurance thingy will they fit to 7J x 16" ET45 rims?

I would have thought that they would be even better than 205's as they are narrower and have a taller side wall, making them more comfortable as well.

Mike

Hi Mike,

my own thoughts on this would be that the 195/65 will probably not be particularly stable for cornering a 2 tonne of Monster. Certainly when the weather started to get a bit warmer I began to notice that the the softer winter 205/55 tyres were less happy being pushed round a fast sweeping bend.

Thinking about it a bit more, besides the clearance issue Skoda appear to advocate with both their 205 winter recommendations a 50 (17") or 55 (16") side wall which may be with the above concern in mind.

Hope that's of help.

TP

[Yeti_Man]

Hi Mike,

sadly not just a setting for a speed warning so you don't exceed the speed rating of a potentially slower rated winter tyre. Spoke to my dealer about adjusting the settings to match the tyres, unfortunately with their Vagcom anyway the improved factory anti tamper measures prevented any adjustments.

TP

Tp - don't quote me on this but I'm sure there is a 'winter tyre' setting or sub menu within maxidot? Or is this irrelevant for this query?

[jst_at_home]

Tp - don't quote me on this but I'm sure there is a 'winter tyre' setting or sub menu within maxidot? Or is this irrelevant for this query?

I stand to be corrected but I think the setting is as suggested earlier, so that you can set a maximum speed warning for winter tyres that may have a lower speed rating. I used this on my Passat last winter while abroad. In fact I think in Germany when winter tyres are fitted you are supoposed to put a sticker on the dashboard in driver's line of sight stating the maximum tyre speed.

John

[rockhopper]

Hi Mike,

my own thoughts on this would be that the 195/65 will probably not be particularly stable for cornering a 2 tonne of Monster. Certainly when the weather started to get a bit warmer I began to notice that the the softer winter 205/55 tyres were less happy being pushed round a fast sweeping bend.

Thinking about it a bit more, besides the clearance issue Skoda appear to advocate with both their 205 winter recommendations a 50 (17") or 55 (16") side wall which may be with the above concern in mind.

Hope that's of help.

TP

Thats great TP Thanks.

Looking at the new Michelin Alpin A4 at the moment. I know they are more expensive, but as I do quite a few miles, it might be worth it in the long run if they have the same grip, but roll better than the competition and last much longer.

see Michelin Alpin A4 Honest John

Mike

[jst_at_home]

No physical reason at all stopping you using this tyre that I can think of. The only issue probably will be with insurance if you had an accident and it came to light you were on a tyre size not recommended by the manufacturer. Unless of course you informed them beforehand and their happy.

Regards,

TP

I'm still unsure as to what action an insurance company could/would take in the event that tyres not of a size specifically shown in the handbook were on a vehicle if it had an accident.

UK construction and use regulations and the MOT test require that tyres fitted to a vehicle meet the vehicles weight loading requirement, have the correct amount of tread and are properly matched. The legal regulations do not specifiy that tyres on the vehicle should be as outlined in the manufacturer's handbook and if the tyres met the requirements I've stated earlier then the car would pass it's MOT test and would therefore be considered roadworthy.

I'm unsure how an insurance company could challenge this, especially if the actual wheels are a VAG part.

I'm not even sure this would count as a modification.

If one had an accident on a snowy road, would they be more likely to reduce a claim if the vehicle had the right size of summer tyre or the "wrong" size of winter tyre?

John

[jst_at_home]

No physical reason at all stopping you using this tyre that I can think of. The only issue probably will be with insurance if you had an accident and it came to light you were on a tyre size not recommended by the manufacturer. Unless of course you informed them beforehand and their happy.

Regards,

TP

I'm still unsure as to what action an insurance company could/would take in the event that tyres not of a size specifically shown in the handbook were on a vehicle if it had an accident.

UK construction and use regulations and the MOT test require that tyres fitted to a vehicle meet the vehicles weight loading requirement, have the correct amount of tread and are properly matched. The legal regulations do not specifiy that tyres on the vehicle should be as outlined in the manufacturer's handbook and if the tyres met the requirements I've stated earlier then the car would pass it's MOT test and would therefore be considered roadworthy.

I'm unsure how an insurance company could challenge this, especially if the actual wheels are a VAG part.

I'm not even sure this would count as a modification.

If one had an accident on a snowy road, would they be more likely to reduce a claim if the vehicle had the right size of summer tyre or the "wrong" size of winter tyre?

John

[leckman]

Given that yeti's speedo's overread by around 3%,and EU law states that speedo's shouldn't overread by more than 10%,isn't the very undersize205/55 tyre going to be about on that limit?[haven't done the maths myself].There are going to be some drivers on winter tyres seriously peeing off other road users when their indicated 70 mph is only around a genuine 62 mph. :wonder:

With the smaller tyres fitted when your speedo reads 70mph you will actualy be doing aprox' 67 mph.

[Fred_Bristol]

I haved asked Skoda whether fitting 205/60 R16 cold weather tyres on Skoda 16 inch ET45 steel wheels is acceptable.

(No snow chains)

I wonder when or if I will get an answer. :wonder:

I've also raised this with my insurance company, but I suspect it might depend on the answer from Skoda.

If they reply (hopefully before the car arrives in the new year) I will let you know.

No answer to the above enquiry yet, but I note from information published earlier* that 215/60 R16 95H/T is acceptable on the 1.2 TSI

*YETII #10 Further technical and spec info

Edited 6 October, 2010 by Fred_Bristol

[The Plumber]

I'm still unsure as to what action an insurance company could/would take in the event that tyres not of a size specifically shown in the handbook were on a vehicle if it had an accident.

UK construction and use regulations and the MOT test require that tyres fitted to a vehicle meet the vehicles weight loading requirement, have the correct amount of tread and are properly matched. The legal regulations do not specifiy that tyres on the vehicle should be as outlined in the manufacturer's handbook and if the tyres met the requirements I've stated earlier then the car would pass it's MOT test and would therefore be considered roadworthy.

I'm unsure how an insurance company could challenge this, especially if the actual wheels are a VAG part.

I'm not even sure this would count as a modification.

If one had an accident on a snowy road, would they be more likely to reduce a claim if the vehicle had the right size of summer tyre or the "wrong" size of winter tyre?

John

Hi John,

when I contacted my insurer regard fitting winter tyres and steel rims they were going to class them as a modification until I explained that the owners handbook stated I could do this, they appeared more happy and were not interested in charging me from that point and just noted the call.

Mind it did take me a few minutes to get the call centre in Outer Mongolia or wherever to understand what winter tyres were

TP

[Trevorminor]

Getting back to the original post. The price rises continue.

I ordered a set of 215/60/16 Falken HS439 tyres on Friday for £312 delivered. The price went up 50p a tyre yesterday and has gone up another £3.50 today.

After extensive research on the Internet and talking to my local tyre fitter, mytyres.co.uk and tyres-pneus-online.co.uk are just about the only discount supplier of decent winter tyres. Mytyres are based in Germany and Pneus are in Northern France. I reckon that they buy tyres by the thousands but that the stock is limited in number. As the stocks run down then the prices go up.

My local tyre chap says that he can't get winter tyres any cheaper than these two suppliers but warns that as motorists in Germany in particular realise that they need new winter tyres (to satisfy their road laws) then the prices don't just go sky high, the supply of all but the grottiest budget imports disappears too.

UK retailers can supply the likes of Avon, Dunlop, Michelin and Goodyear winter tyres that are undoubtedly good but the prices are about double the likes of Falken and Nokian winter tyres that are at least their equal in performance terms.

So if you are after sensibly priced winter tyres, whatever the size, I'd get the order in soon.

My wife thinks that all of my research is a total waste of time as she predicts the mildest wnter ever. we'll see who's right come January.

Edited 3 October, 2010 by Trevorminor

[ginandtonic]

Have just taken delivery of 4 new alloys from the local Skoda dealer, and 4 new Dunlop WinterSport 3Ds from tyres-pneus-online.co.uk.  And yes - their prices seem to have gone up a few pounds in the last week. 

Spoke to a couple of local places before ordering, only to be told "Oh, there's only 1 of those tyres in the whole country. Dunno when we'll be able to get any more". Hmm. Ordered online and they arrived at my house a couple of days later without any problems. Website was nice and easy to use, and they have an excellent range.

Just need to get them fitted onto the wheels now...

[freewheeler]

just orderd a set of steel wheels and nokian wr-g2 tyres from mytyres,the young lady on the phone said they have had lots of calls for winter tyres and are out of stock of some makes,heard very good reviews about nokian and had some help from our very own plumber[thanks mate].

mike.

[ChrisRs]

Camskill

[rockhopper]

My wife thinks that all of my research is a total waste of time as she predicts the mildest wnter ever. we'll see who's right come January.

So she is predicting minimum +7 degrees this winter....... I wish.

Winter tyres are designed for use in any cold weather at less than 7 degrees.

Mike

[redandwhitepauly]

So she is predicting minimum +7 degrees this winter....... I wish.

Winter tyres are designed for use in any cold weather at less than 7 degrees.

Mike

Hate to cast doubts on your wifes metereological abilities but the people who got the winter forecast right last year, ie bloody freezing with lots of snow, are predicting an even worse winter this year due to three main factors :

1. 30% reduction in the strength of the North Atlantic current

2. the lowest solar output (energy) since records began

3. the la nina this year

There was also some stuff on particalisation of volcanic ash still present in atmosphere reducing solar power but they dont think it will affect temps, so basically as they were the only people to get it right last year, im listening to them !!

Funny enough a lot of local authorities are already stocking up to 5 times their normal salt and grit stocks !

Yeti weather on the way folks !!

[rockhopper]

Well I have taken plunge and ordered some tyres for my non existent Yeti.

I have just ordered some Nokian WR G2 205/55 R16 94H XL M+S marking BSW from mytyres.

I hope they are the right ones. Not sure what the BSW bit means though.

I am ordering the wheels from my dealer James @ Allams.

Mike

[Gizmo]

I hope they are the right ones. Not sure what the BSW bit means though.

BSW = Black Side Wall

[Mr.P]

Well I have taken plunge and ordered some tyres for my non existent Yeti.

Ignoring the actual size, what is best to get in terms of the other numbers and letters?

e.g.

92H

96H XL

94H XL GRNX

Many Thanks!

[Trevorminor]

Hate to cast doubts on your wifes metereological abilities but the people who got the winter forecast right last year, ie bloody freezing with lots of snow, are predicting an even worse winter this year .....

Yeti weather on the way folks !!

I agree with you.

Her understandable thinking is that we have invested a bit of cash in buying a 4x4 Yeti to replace a totally adequate Octavia. She also quite rightly thinks it daft that Yetis are supplied with 'summer' tyres as standard in the UK.

On a serious note, I think that many UK tyre suppliers have stuck their collective heads in the sand by virtually ignoring this part of the market. You should see the buzz on BMW forums as people are desparate to keep their rwd cars on the road this winter.

[magic62]

Ignoring the actual size, what is best to get in terms of the other numbers and letters?

e.g.

92H

96H XL

94H XL GRNX

Many Thanks!

The numbers indicate the load index. Should at least be the same as the original tyres or higher.

The H is the speed index. H means max 210km/h, V = max 240km/h

GRNX is something from Michelin and means GreenX. A tyre that is optimized for less rolling resistance and should be more economical.

[rockhopper]

The Nokian WR G2 tyres are also supposed to have lower rolling resistance as far as I can tell. Whether they are as low as the Michelins I don't know.

Mike