Hi

Over the last week or so I've been trying to get some 205 45 16 winter tyres for the wifes fabia vrs, but everyone we ring says the same thing "sold out"

However, two local tyre places rang me today and said they would have some H rated 205 45 16 Hankook W310 tyres in stock later this week.

The only down side is the price.....£600 for four, fitted and balanced.

Are Hankook tyres any good and does that price seem OK or a bit steep ????

I'm not sure why, but I thought Hankook made budget tyres.

Bill.

The only down side is the price.....£600 for four, fitted and balanced.

Are Hankook tyres any good and does that price seem OK or a bit steep ????

I'm not sure why, but I thought Hankook made budget tyres.

Bill.

Hankook make good budget tyres, the reason they want £150 per corner is simply down to supply and demand and the fact that they can get away with charging much more for tyres, as the UK public in general don't plan for poor weather - then panic when it arrives.

Screw that lol - you could get 8x proper tyres for that price...

Edited 7 December, 201015 yr by Thirdtimeluck

If you'd bought them a month ago they'd have been half the price. Thing is, they do provide a huge difference in grip - on winter tyres you will be able to drive and find grip where cars on summer tyres can not. Only you can say whether or not you're happy to pay the premium for that grip.

If you're running standard brakes try to see if you can get 195/50/15 or 185/55/15 winter tyres. They'll be much cheaper than 205/45/16s and easier to source - I found a set of fifteens plus the cost of some secondhand 15" Audi alloys was considerably cheaper than just a set of 205/45/16 tyres.

Hi

Over the last week or so I've been trying to get some 205 45 16 winter tyres for the wifes fabia vrs, but everyone we ring says the same thing "sold out"

However, two local tyre places rang me today and said they would have some H rated 205 45 16 Hankook W310 tyres in stock later this week.

The only down side is the price.....£600 for four, fitted and balanced.

Are Hankook tyres any good and does that price seem OK or a bit steep ????

I'm not sure why, but I thought Hankook made budget tyres.

Bill.

Hankook are good but yes budget(ish) although some models they've made have probably been a bit better than the norm. The W310 are the "icebear" ones i think.

I've seen thees tyres in action in very thick snow...russia i think. I remember seeing a video on youtube with a guy driving on them in the snow. Seemed excellent as didnt notice any loss of grip.

You should have bought your tyres 2-3 months ago. I bought Kumho winters(205/45-16) at about £60 per tyre and they've been excellent. Got it fitted and balanced for £20 and my trusted chappy who usually does my wheels came to me. Saved me the hassle.

Edited 7 December, 201015 yr by newskoda

The W310 are the winter i*cept evo tyres and were released earlier this year. I have got 4 fitted on my Octavia (205/55R16 91H) but I did only pay £60 a corner back in September. That price you have quoted seems really expensive, but that's supply and demand for you. They have been faultless and I have never had any traction problems in the recent weather, I think I will run out of ground clearance before grip!

Thanks for the replies

I think I'll hang onto my £600 for a couple of weeks and hope that the weather warms up a bit and demand for winter tyres drops off.

She'll just have to leave the furby on drive and catch the bus.

Bill.

You could hire a lot of taxis for £600 and just drive the car on the "better" winter days!!!!!

Just purchased a set of 15 inch GT Champiro (subsidiary of Michelin) winter tyres for my VRS.

They were £45 a corner from My tyres.

Can thoroughly recommend them (tyres and 'my tyres') - they have been awesome in the recent snow......gripping where even 4x4's have struggled!

As said above - find some 15inch wheels that will fit and then get the tyres to match.

Cheaper and better in the snow than standard size on the VRS

If you don't mind the plain black steel wheel look - just buy a set of standard VRS steel spare wheels and fit your 15 inch winter tyres to those. They are £35 each from your friendly Skoda dealer.

Also means you can store your 'summer' alloys out of harms way whilst all the corrosive salt is about on the roads.

This is the solution I have taken and it has worked out just fine. Wished I had done it last year!

Small price to pay for keeping yourself and your VRS in tact in these ridiculous road conditions.

just buy a set of standard VRS steel spare wheels and fit your 15 inch winter tyres to those. They are £35 each from your friendly Skoda dealer.

They are 16"

My standard spare wheel is definitely a 15 inch.

One thing about Hankook tyres, they used to be considered a bit of a joke as they were known to be cheap, well Ford has been fitting them to quite a lot of their new cars for some time now, and remember that VAG now also fit some "thought to be joke" tyres to some of their new cars - I've forgotten the brand. I'd think that these brands will equal or beat brands like Firestone in the independant tyre tests.

I got my wife to phone her (car) insurer to clarify "what is what" wrt fitting winter tyres, as it was Admiral she ended up speaking to someone on another continent who did not know about "winter tyres" - they asked about and the answer that they came up with confirmed that it would not attract any change of policy - which is handy as they are now on the car for the second winter!

My standard spare wheel is definitely a 15 inch.

It's been changed then

Matt

It's been changed then

Matt

Or just get a set of 1.9TDI steels, they are 15" too.

£600 jesus thats silly money i orderd a set of Sunny SN3830 snow tyres cost £157.30 in total for 4 had an issue though as i used mytyres.co.uk picked a local tyre place to get them fitted from there list which to cut a long story short is closed down so tyres had to go all the way back to germany to be re posted to my home address :'( but i did watch the tyre prices double on the tyres i wanted in the 5 days leading up to the bad snow supply and demand

£600 jesus thats silly money i orderd a set of Sunny SN3830 snow tyres cost £157.30 in total for 4 had an issue though as i used mytyres.co.uk picked a local tyre place to get them fitted from there list which to cut a long story short is closed down so tyres had to go all the way back to germany to be re posted to my home address :'( but i did watch the tyre prices double on the tyres i wanted in the 5 days leading up to the bad snow supply and demand

I just managed to grab a set of 20545 16 kuhmo Kw23s winter tyres from mytyres just had them fitted, just looked and they dont have any more in that size :'( Im afraid)

My fitter recons they'll have sold out across europe and they wont be making any more now till next year

Sorry to be bearer of bad news but it may save you a fruitless search

Hey guys!

I'm being told those Hankook's in the OP (i*cept) will do all year round.

Is that true?

I was looking for Quatrac 3's as a compromise for winter and summer, but they can't get them for a month and are trying to sell me these Hankook's as doing the same thing.

Thoughts?

Hey guys!

I'm being told those Hankook's in the OP (i*cept) will do all year round.

Is that true?

I was looking for Quatrac 3's as a compromise for winter and summer, but they can't get them for a month and are trying to sell me these Hankook's as doing the same thing.

Thoughts?

Hankooks' own site has them down as ultra high performance winter tyres only: http://www.hankooktire-eu.com/tires/passenger-cars.html#tab1464

Hankook OPTIMO H724 AS is the all season tyre

Hankooks' own site has them down as ultra high performance winter tyres only: http://www.hankooktire-eu.com/tires/passenger-cars.html#tab1464

Hankook OPTIMO H724 AS is the all season tyre

Why would a tyre place try and flog them to me as a 'four season' tyre like Quatrac 3's?

Why would a tyre place try and flog them to me as a 'four season' tyre like Quatrac 3's?

Two possible reasons. First that they're confused between the i'cept W310 and Optimo 4S, or second that they know that some people use some winter tyres all year around. At least one major manufacturer has said it is safer to use winter tyres all year around than it is to use summer tyres all year around, since the downsides of using the winter tyre in the summer are much less than the other way. I've also seen comments on the Mercedes fora that people are getting reasonable wear rates by doing this, although I suspect they're not boy racers!

Two possible reasons. First that they're confused between the i'cept W310 and Optimo 4S, or second that they know that some people use some winter tyres all year around. At least one major manufacturer has said it is safer to use winter tyres all year around than it is to use summer tyres all year around, since the downsides of using the winter tyre in the summer are much less than the other way. I've also seen comments on the Mercedes fora that people are getting reasonable wear rates by doing this, although I suspect they're not boy racers!

It would depend on the roads you drive. If your normal commute has a lot of roundabouts, you're going to eat into the softer compound.

I just don't think I'm going to risk over £400 on tyres where there's a chance they could disappear in the summer.

i plan to buy some in the summer when demand isnt so silly

personally i wouldnt pay £600 for some winter tyres unless they were Michelins finest

Anybody know where I can get some 15 inch steels from which will fit my vRS please?