I had a terrible time with my BMW in the winter here in central Scotland last year, and now I am about to pick up my Octavia estate, with tyres that don't have huge amounts of life left in them, so I am considering all season replacements.

I know I am likely to be told by everyone to get a spare set of wheels and proper winter tyres, but as I am going to have to replace the existing tyres soon anyway, I don't think that's going to be feasible financially.

I am not intending to haul people out of snow drifts in my Octy I just want to put tyres on that are better suited to the Scottish climate than I have used before. Particularly, something that doesn't lose all it's grip in the cold, as I tend to travel to work quite early in the winter, in order to avoid all the traffic problems, and I would estimate that a lot of the time it is well below the magic 7 C figure that summer tyres start to lose their grip at.

I wondered if anyone had any experience of these? As well as the Quatrac 3s, I see Nokian now make an all season tyre too, I think it's called the entyre?

I have just got the Nokian WRG2 for the winter which Nokian I believe classify as an all season tyre in fact although it is comes well recommended for winter use. Wintrac extremes were my other choice.

I haven't shod them yet so cant give you a definite answer but they are well respected (search for opinion on this or other forums) and some people will run them all year round.

Entering into a discussion on which tyre is actually the very best would require some patience I would think but you will find keen enthusiasts and antagonists for nearly every make !

When running Standard size Winter Tyres ie:- 225/40/18 do you have to stick to the same tyre ratings "W" or can ypu drop to a "V"

Does this affect the Insurance as you will be fitting incorrect rated tyres especially if you are using them all year round as quoted by TsvRS

Here is a link to a recent test of the All season tyres and they have thrown in a reference summer and winter tyre so you can see how they compare. The Quatrac 3's are in the test.

http://global.hankooktire.com/Tech/h730_test_8.pdf

Edited 17 October, 201015 yr by Bogwoppit

i have several nieghbours around here with various types of Beemer & they ALL struggled to cope with the 3 inches of snow we had last winter; not even able to get over curb & up drive, even the ones less than a year old & (presumably) lots of tread. Did a lot of pushing Dec & Jan (& silent laughing)

I had 4 'just' leagal Conti's on the Furbie & half decent Dunlop Sports on the Octy & i could potter around with no trouble at all. Think i heard somewhere that BMW have problems with the way the power is applied, but i may be totally wrong here. Anything to do with Big engine up front & RWD ??? or being an auto box ?????

I go here to make my tyre choices

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/

Cheers

Edited 17 October, 201015 yr by cavdad

I ran WRG2s on my daily last year and would definately recommend them. As said they are classed as all season but also have the snowflake symbol on the tyre wall.

Here is a link to a recent test of the All season tyres and they have thrown in a reference summer and winter tyre so you can see how they compare. The Quatrac 3's are in the test.

http://global.hankooktire.com/Tech/h730_test_8.pdf

That's the most useful link on all season tyres I've seen! Excellent!

I use the vredesteins all the time on my taxi, and even with the mileage I do, I only use 2 sets a year, quatrac 3 in winter and then a summer set, where I live there is nothing but hills and never got stuck once when that last lot of snow fell, I even managed to get to places that had not seen a taxi for days.

If you have the larger wheels like 17 or 18 inch, go to the scrappy and get a set of 15s steel and fit them for the winter, the narrower the tyre the better

I use the vredesteins all the time on my taxi, and even with the mileage I do, I only use 2 sets a year, quatrac 3 in winter and then a summer set, where I live there is nothing but hills and never got stuck once when that last lot of snow fell, I even managed to get to places that had not seen a taxi for days.

If you have the larger wheels like 17 or 18 inch, go to the scrappy and get a set of 15s steel and fit them for the winter, the narrower the tyre the better

Minimum is 16" on the vRs due to the larger calipers

I've just ordered a set of Goodyear Vector 4 seasons from Mytyres for my Octavia. I was very tempted by Quatracs, they seem to get good reviews, but the Goodyears weren't that much dearer and I thought I'd give them a try.

I had considered getting a second set of wheels with winter tyres on but I can't really justify the expense at the moment, my Octy has 16" wheels on already and all season tyres seemed a reasonable compromise.

You can use winter tyres as a 4 season one without much problem...Also good in the dry!!

Avon Ice Touring ST

Test results reifentest.com

TyreTest.com: Average based on 61 test results

Score: 1-Excellent 6-Poor

Grip in dry conditions 2.0

Breaking in dry conditions 2.0

Grip in wet conditions 2.3

Braking in wet conditions 2.3

Grip in snow 2.0

Driving comfort 2.1

Internal noise level 2.2

Exterior noise levels 2.3

Tyre wear 2.3

Kilometres driven 12.259

I had 4 'just' leagal Conti's on the Furbie & half decent Dunlop Sports on the Octy & i could potter around with no trouble at all. Think i heard somewhere that BMW have problems with the way the power is applied, but i may be totally wrong here. Anything to do with Big engine up front & RWD ??? or being an auto box ?????

It's because the engine is in the front and drive is at the back, without the weight of the engines over the driven wheels it makes it a lot more difficult for the car to get grip. Although we don't get winters like that very often it's one of the main reasons I didn't choose a BMW as I didn't want to be helpless in the snow while my Seat Toledo had always been surprisingly good. It was on Continental Sports Contact 3 (I think) and the main problem was just the car grounding out, I'm a little wary about the Octavia's wider tyres though as the Toledo only had 16in wheels with 205 width.

John

It was a combination of things:-

My road being on a downward slope

Being at the end of a cul-de-sac (at it's worst point, I measured 4 inches of compacted and re-frozen snow where my drive joined the road)

Rear wheel drive

Wide, low profile tyres

An auto box that wouldn't let me pull away in 2nd

Hopefully I learnt from my experience!

This year I will have front wheel drive, narrower, all season tyres and I'll clear the snow before it builds up

Hopefully the DSG box will allow me to pull away in second?

Edited 18 October, 201015 yr by pixor

I've just ordered a set of Goodyear Vector 4 seasons from Mytyres for my Octavia. I was very tempted by Quatracs, they seem to get good reviews, but the Goodyears weren't that much dearer and I thought I'd give them a try.

I had considered getting a second set of wheels with winter tyres on but I can't really justify the expense at the moment, my Octy has 16" wheels on already and all season tyres seemed a reasonable compromise.

I have been running the Vector 4 Seasons tyres since last November on my Scout and done over 25,000 miles on them. They are excellent, in the snow last January especially. I have also noticed that when driving in a spirited manner the ESP kicks in much less often than it did on the Dunlop Sport I had before. However the mpg has dropped by 1 on average. But a price I am prepared to pay for the extra grip and better stopping distances in the cold.

:yes:

Hopefully the DSG box will allow me to pull away in second?

Nope. The software doesn't let you change up to second until you're actually moving

Nope. The software doesn't let you change up to second until you're actually moving

Oh well, extra incentive for me to clear the drive, then!

Since ESP is standard with the DSG (yes?) I tink you do not need to worry about pulling away.

One can also swith it off & surely select 2nd with manual overide?

However I have never got my head round this pulling away in second

first & a light right foot with an absolute miniminal amount of modulation of the clutch.

I have driven diesels this wheen of years and never had any problems

and actually actually should be LESS likely to spin in first as the wheel is turning at lower speed/revolutions.

I would say one of the benefits of a diesel is the torque in snow/ice as NO throttle input is needed when pulling away in tricky conditions, therefore one can keep the rotational speed of the tyre low.

cheers

M<

I got my DSG Octy the same week that the snow started last December, and had trouble getting enough speed up to trick the box into letting me get into 2nd, once there it was a doddle. The main issue was that the car was parked on the curbside and the local farmer did everyone a favour by ploughing the road, unfortunately that left big compacted ridges of icy snow that I couldn't get traction on in idle or with more power. Once I'd dug the car down onto the tarmac with enough run-on to get some speed up it was fine, as I was in 2nd before i got back onto the slippy stuff.

If you look at the bottom photo you can see the ploughed-ridge alongside cars further down the road (and my attempts to dig the Octy out - note to self, next time clear the snow off the car before digging it out!):

http://simonsideassociates.co.uk/vrs.aspx

Hi,

We run Vredestein Sportracs on our 4 x 4 Octy, and they're fantastic in snow. I'm guessing that the Quatracs will be, if anything, better - though there may be a trade-off on the motorway (since our nearest motorway is 100 miles away, that doesn't matter!)

The snow in here in Aberdeenshire was measured in metres rather than centimetres last winter, lay for months and was a fact of life on the roads for three months plus, together with seriously low temperatures. We're in a very rural spot, and when it was possible and sensible to drive, the Vredesteins felt very sure footed.

Personally, I wouldn't fit any other make of tyre to a car.

Hope this helps

Ian

I have been running the Vector 4 Seasons tyres since last November on my Scout and done over 25,000 miles on them. They are excellent, in the snow last January especially. I have also noticed that when driving in a spirited manner the ESP kicks in much less often than it did on the Dunlop Sport I had before. However the mpg has dropped by 1 on average. But a price I am prepared to pay for the extra grip and better stopping distances in the cold.

:yes:

I just hope the Vector 4 Seasons I ordered turn up now, as the garage that's fitting them have warned me that mytyres are notorious for sending out the wrong size and/or type apparently!

I've used mytyres several times and never had any problems.

I've used mytyres several times and never had any problems.

I did wonder if the garage concerned were trying to drum up trade for their own tyre sales to be honest. They claimed they could supply tyres cheaper themselves rather than going through the websites, but that hasn't been my experience when getting quotes in the past certainly.....

Edited 18 October, 201015 yr by nick74

Used Quatrac 2 a few years back on my Passat PD estate. Great traction in snow and ground clearance was the limiting factor during a 'test' up a little Derbyshire lane.

Wear was the same as summer tyres and they were fine in all conditions.

Will need to tell the insurance company if you are going to a lower speed rating than OE tyres.

Well, got the Vector 4 Seasons fitted this morning and so far so good.

There's a lot of unclassified back lanes round here, all very wet and muddy today so I gave the traction of the new tyres a good test. Judging by how much provocation it takes to make the traction control come on they are gripping wet/muddy tracks as well as the previous Michelin Primacys gripped on perfectly warm dry roads last summer, which is quite impressive.

I would say one of the benefits of a diesel is the torque in snow/ice as NO throttle input is needed when pulling away in tricky conditions, therefore one can keep the rotational speed of the tyre low.

I think you'd be very lucky to do that in a 170 PD vRS. I have the same engine in my A4 and it needs about 1800 revs if you don't want to stall it pulling away, possibly because of the extra load of the quattro setup. Although I've got some V - rated Cooper Weathermasters on order (when they're available in the UK), I'm shortly going to fit my Scout with Goodyear Wrangler AT-R which are described as being OK for light snow on the road. I live up a track not unlike forestry roads used for rally stages, so a tyre with a slightly more off-road bias could be an advantage (the postman even skids on leaves!). They're only £100 each, and if they're not good enough for winter use I'll fit the Coopers to the original wheels. Thankfully I mentioned all of this to my insurer when I recently changed, and they saw the benefits and not the red tape.