For those who lust after winter tyres and aren't Autoexpress readers,they're doing a cold weather tyre group comparison test next week.

For those who lust after winter tyres and aren't Autoexpress readers,they're doing a cold weather tyre group comparison test next week.

Thanks for the heads up.

That's great news. When car magazines test tyres they always seam to be summer ones, never winter or all-season ones. I'm glad someone is finally testing them.

However I bet the best buy tyres will not be available for my Furby. :S

I think that the increasing widespread interest in this subject as reflected by the many threads on this forum, shows that AutoExpress are wise to publish this.

I just hope that they do a proper test with at least a dozen different makes rather than a taster style test of just 3 or 4.

This may be a daft question, but if one fits winter tyres once the factory supplied tyres wear out, can winter tyres be use all year round??? Or will they have a detrimental effect during the warm summer months???

This may be a daft question, but if one fits winter tyres once the factory supplied tyres wear out, can winter tyres be use all year round??? Or will they have a detrimental effect during the warm summer months???

I think you will find that summer tyres perform best in the summer (higher temperatures) and winter tyres perform best in cooler temperatures. An option would perhaps be a set of all-year tyres but ineviatbly this would be a compromise tyre.

To some extent, a comprehensive comparison is a bit academic I think - I have had my local STS Tyre-Pro folk, who I know and trust after years of excellent service, do a phone round and see what they can get me for my new Yeti. So far the only ones they have any confidence in sourcing in the near future are Continental TS 830Ps in the 225 x 50 x R17 size. These are not the ones Conti push as their 'SUV' tyre, which are the CrossContacts, but online reviews suggest they are about as good as anything out there, albeit at a high cost. I am so frustrated at how few options there are..after extensive searching myself (following STS difficulty) and phone calls, no-one I have found has this size in stock - sites say 'yes' sometimes, phone calls have invariably confirmed 'no' so far.

Roger

Try:

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/

Try:

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/

Well thanks! - I had tried them, I thought, but my search this time at least shows a wide range. Be interesting to see what they actually have - a selection, I hope. I'll call 'em!

Roger

Well thanks! - I had tried them, I thought, but my search this time at least shows a wide range. Be interesting to see what they actually have - a selection, I hope. I'll call 'em!

Roger

I think that you'll find that they only list on their website what they have in stock and the prices seem to change daily dependant on supply, demand and exchange rate to the Euro. The search facility throws up quite a wide selection to choose from. I went for Falken 215/60/16s - many people go for the same size of Nokian tyres but they are a few quids more. All the prices include tracked delivery to the UK.

They are actually based in Germany and send the tyres through in pairs via tracked delivery. You can get a local tied in fitter to fit them or one of your choosing. I was a bit concerned about the need to import them and how reliable this would be. I needn't have worried as the tyres safely arrived within a few days and the delivery chap said that he made deliveries daily to both individuals and garages and everyone was pleasantly surprised as to how quick the delivery was.

I was put onto them by my local tyre chap who said that he would find it hard to beat their prices and he will be fitting the tyres to my extra set of alloys when I get round to it.

I think that you'll find that they only list on their website what they have in stock and the prices seem to change daily dependant on supply, demand and exchange rate to the Euro. The search facility throws up quite a wide selection to choose from. I went for Falken 215/60/16s - many people go for the same size of Nokian tyres but they are a few quids more. All the prices include tracked delivery to the UK.

They are actually based in Germany and send the tyres through in pairs via tracked delivery. You can get a local tied in fitter to fit them or one of your choosing. I was a bit concerned about the need to import them and how reliable this would be. I needn't have worried as the tyres safely arrived within a few days and the delivery chap said that he made deliveries daily to both individuals and garages and everyone was pleasantly surprised as to how quick the delivery was.

I was put onto them by my local tyre chap who said that he would find it hard to beat their prices and he will be fitting the tyres to my extra set of alloys when I get round to it.

Thanks again for the reply. I have actually ordered Continentals now - they are expensive, but reviews suggest good - through my local dealer. They where what he could get and I like to support him, frankly, and it's not too much of an issue for me. But the exercise throws up another query regarding winter tyres. I am getting them because I do a fair number of long trips to 'the rural north country' , including Scotland, during the winter. Crossing over Shap in driving snow, for instance, makes you want any security you can get! However, as these specialist tyres don't seem to be stocked by many folk, there is the issue of what happens if you have a puncture - and one that is not repairable. It happens - it happened to me on normal tyres earlier this year. I will have to use my 'standard Yeti spare' to get to a garage, and I plan to keep, and take on these special trips, a spare winter tyre, not on a rim.

I guess folks who use steel rims in 16 inch, and not 225, can put a winter tyre on the spare also? I prefer not to go down the 'winter set of rims' route, and have therefore bought x5 of the winter tyre - so I can at least get one fitted in case of disaster, and still have same boots all round. There's a whole lot of cans of worms around this subject, isn't there? I do hope us Brits catch on more to this, because it will resolve a lot of issues, especially availability. In Perthshire last January, all the locals were scooting aroung in their fwd hatches, no problem, on winter boots. I was astonished at the difference when I drove on them.

BTW, I think the various winter tyre threads were separate enough to keep this comment on this one! Hope that's OK. Be interested in others thoughts though..

Roger

Back looking at the forum as I went from an Octavia to Freelander and now thinking a Yeti would be a good combination of both so having a nose round to get some more info!

Anyway, tyres - I haven't looked through this forum much yet but on my Freelander I have General Grabber UHP. I have 17" wheels and it's impossible to buy all terrains in this size and the UHP seemed the closest I could get. It's a reasonably chunky tyre and I'm looking forward to seeing how good they are on snow and mud. This option may be a cheaper option than a set of winter and summer tyres.

Simon

Has anybody read the AutoExpress review of winter tryes, I read it in Tesco while the wife did the shopping. Feel very much vindicated in my choice of the ContiWinterContact, although these seem to come first or second in the German reviews available also.

But I do have a gripe with Mytyres.co.uk. Three of the tyres/wheels were delivered from Germany in three working days, which is good, but the fourth has gone missing and the tracking number is not being recognised by the delivery service. I have a feeling that when things go wrong it becomes hard work to get it sorted out. I'll keep the forum posted.

Ahh. The joys of buying online....

I have that t shirt somewhere.

Mike

(but as I bought the wheels from Skoda and the tyres locally, they are all assembled in my shed, awaiting delivery of my monster.)