Winter tyres in summer

[Phosphoric]

OK daft question from me.

What's the effect of running winter tyres in the summer?

Reason for my question is that I only travel about 8000 miles per year and I'm not Speedy Gonzales! I'm not interested in cutting edge tyres that will get me round corners faster than standard.

So, when my current, very noisy, Dunlop SPs wear out, can I replace them with winter tyres (or M&S if that's different) and what would be the negative points during the summer (increased wear?, noise?)

It would save all the faffing about that's going on with buying steel rims and changing over every 6 months.

[FUBAR]

you can get all season or 4 season tyres too we have them fitted to our entire fleet at work all year round for this very reason! Not just as good as winter tyres in the snow etc but tbh not far off and a hell of a lot better than summer rubber! never had any stuck and we had over 10 feet of snow ! digging the feckers out took days after christmas

[cheezemonkhai]

Dedicated winter tyres give less good handling and can give longer braking distances when used in high temps.

Edited 8 August, 2011 by cheezemonkhai

[toonfan66]

Hope my experience helps.

I had a full set of Vredestein Quatrac 3s fitted to my A4 quattro just over 3 years ago. They have been on permanently and I have been doing roughly 15k miles per year. I don't drive like a loon, far from it, and they performed faultlessley, even in mid-summer. I didn't notice any down sides, except possibly a different type of road noise due to the fairly deep tread pattern, especially when new. They lasted well and are still fitted although if I hadn't just bought a new car I would be looking to replace them.

I know they are technically all season as opposed to out and out winter tyres but they have the mountain/snowflake symbol on them so qualify as winter rubber, essential in the Alps when I went there in Feb 3 years on the trot (skiing). I had no dramas in the snow we had here the last couple of winters too, although the more worn they got the more like summer rubber they became.

I guess it would be fair to say they won't perform quite as well as full on winter tyres in winter conditions, but they will be hugely better than summer tyres. Conversely, in summer they won't perform quite as well as summer tyres (but how diffeent would depend on how you drive) but they will be better than full on winter tyres (again, depends on how hard you push them as to how much of a difference).

Overall I was massively impressed and if I was in the same position again I'd make the same choice and go for all season tyres with the mountain/snowflake/M&S symbols.

[andyvee]

True winters will wear quite quickly. Don't confuse winters with all-season tyres though. On dry days they will have less grip so stopping distances will increase.

Winters are brilliant in the wet though!!!!

Not sure what your insurance company would make of running true winters outside of Nov-March if you had an accident.

[Phosphoric]

Whoops! Thought M&S meant Mud and Snow

Looks like All Seasons might be worth a go.

Cheers.

[TsvRS]

TBH this year calls into question the need for anything related to summer . . .

[stringbean]

Whoops! Thought M&S meant Mud and Snow

M&S markings do mean mud and snow but the requirements are very easy to meet and don't include any testing. The mountain snowflake symbol indicates a much stricter set of requirements that do include testing. All decent winter and many all-season tyres have the snowflake symbol on them.

[Dallan]

My 2p worth

I have 2 sets for the vRS but i got SWMBO a set of Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons last year for her Megane and they are good in both, she doesnt do much mileage either and they seem to be a good all round tyre, had no trouble with the snow at the start of the year and would recommend them...

Dallan

[dunknat]

Nokian wrg2's are stunning in snow/ice. Kept them on all year and they are no different in hot summer weather than pirelli rosso's were last year. I have been keeping an eye on the wear through the summer and have used about 1mm of tread in 4000 miles since last October . As I say these really are awesome , they are marketed as all season but are more geared towards winter which is when you need your tyres the most. Last winter I was able to go places on snow/ice covered roads I wouldn't have dared previously, I even found myself purposely looking for the worst looking ice covered death defying hills just to test them and literally flew up or down them with no dramas. Intact they give you so much confidence you have to say to yourself SLOW DOWN lol

[andyvee]

In my experience, all season or 4 season tyres including M&S don't provide the same level of grip as summer tyres in summer or winter tyres do in winter. Independent tyre tests back this up, they quite often throw an all season tyre in to winter tyre tests to show the difference.

Each to their own though, I prefer having the correct tyres for the season, rather than an all rounder. In the long run the cost is about the same as you only have each set on for about 5-7 months.

I have had M&S AT Tyres on a 4x4 and they were not as good as mud tyres in the mud or winter tyres in the winter.

All seasons do tend to be better than summer tyres on snow and ice though!

[TsvRS]

As mentioned Nokian WRG2s do well in winter tests but are still rated as an all season tyre, I use them as winter tyres and would accept that there my be better snow tyres but to be honest our winter is more about mud, slush, rain and poor roads than it is about out and out arctic conditions. On snow the Nokians still do well IIRC. I am happy with my choice and now is the time to buy them BTW . . .

[andyvee]

They are probably the best all season, they are described as All Weather Plus IIRC

As I said, each to their own, but I wouldn't want to run true winters in the summer - seeing as most insurance companies seem to want notifying that you are running winters in winter, what would their opinion be of winters in summer??

The AA issued guidance on this here.

I live in a remote-ish area with some very steep hills so am comfortable with out and out winters. One of the key things in the AA and quoted ABI guidance is that the wheels and tyres have to be to the manufacturers specification and guidance. So, if it says in your vehicle handbook to only run winters in winter months and you keep them on in the summer are you still insured???

[primoz]

All season tires are, how to say this nicely... total crap. They suck in winter (still less then summer tires), and they suck in summer (still less then winter tires). Running winter tires through all year makes things pretty expensive, since on the end of summer, you can pretty much throw them away, since they won't do anything in winter. Getting set of winter tires (next to standard summer set of course) is on long run much cheaper thing then anything else. Not to mention much safer for your life... and your car if you don't care about your life

And let's say that when it come to winter tires, I most likely have "a bit" more experience then average UK driver. Most likely living in middle of Alps has something to do with it

[cheezemonkhai]

The WR G2 is not an all seasons, but a winter tyre biased at slush.

The original WR was called the all weather plus in the US.

IMHO a very good all seasons, such as the vector 4+ would be fine for a car that's doing limited mileage over a year and needs to be able to get around reasonably safely in most conditions. They should allow the driver to drive on snow with a little care and make it up a hill.

If you're doing higher miles or driving nastier roads, then I think I'd be looking at two sets, with full winters for the winter and summer tyres to stop them wearing down.

Edited 10 August, 2011 by cheezemonkhai

[nick74]

All season tires are, how to say this nicely... total crap. They suck in winter (still less then summer tires), and they suck in summer (still less then winter tires). Running winter tires through all year makes things pretty expensive, since on the end of summer, you can pretty much throw them away, since they won't do anything in winter. Getting set of winter tires (next to standard summer set of course) is on long run much cheaper thing then anything else. Not to mention much safer for your life... and your car if you don't care about your life

And let's say that when it come to winter tires, I most likely have "a bit" more experience then average UK driver. Most likely living in middle of Alps has something to do with it

I'm sure some all seasons tyres are crap but I would dispute that they all are. I have Vector 4 seasons on my car at the moment and really cannot fault them as a summer tyre, and I do drive hard. Grip, noise, wear, fuel consumption are no worse than any summer tyre I have tried, and better than many.

I wouldn't claim they are quite as good as a 'proper' winter tyre in winter, but they were still very good, and way better than summers. If I lived in a country where everyone else used full winter tyres in cold weather I'm not sure I would use all seasons. But in the UK where 99% of drivers try going through 12" of snow at minus 15C on summer tyres with 2mm of tread on (and then wonder why they get stuck), my all seasons are more than fine A case of 'In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king' perhaps...

[andyvee]

try going through 12" of snow at minus 15C on summer tyres with 2mm of tread on

Were you following me on the day I went to get the Winters fitted ?

[P20]

At the more extreme end of things... The works rapid response cars were fitted with winters and they left them on too long. When pushed hard they did loose significant grip. During normal driving they were fine, but not so great for long emergency runs. They were removed asap. But its like i said, they are extreme circumstances

[andyvee]

But who knows when you are going to need to do an emergency stop to save running someone over because they have stepped in to the road without looking?

Not extreme circumstances, and the increased stopping distance could be the difference between life and death.

[Constant]

An accident in Austria showed that winter tyres have at 30 degrees Celsius almost double breaking distance and loss of control at emergency stops. It is like driving with Summer tyres on snow. Four Seasons of a good brand (eg. Goodyear Vector has good reviews) will be in my opinion a good choice if you want to have only one set of tyres.