Running on 205 55 r16

Anyone know what the official speed rating is for my car (Octavia mk1 2001 110 TDi). Basically my choice of winter tyres falls between:

H (130mph) or T (119mph) rated

While I have no plans to go speeding along at those sorts of speeds I am guessing I would be better sticking off with the H due to it being closer to what the car was original supplied with (I am told that the tyre rating should be equal or above that of the what the car originally left the factory wearing). As far as I can tell the max speed of the car is around 118/119mph mark, so in theory T might just cut it, but I don't want the insurance man being evil in the event of an accident.

Thanks,

Matt

I'm pretty sure the original tyres on my car were W rated. My winter tyres are V.

Go with what was originally on the car. Better for insurance etc.

I have just realised that ours are H (130mph) rated as per what was originally fitted and recomended for the car and I've got up to 138mph (gps) in the car before. Ooops!

I have no idea what was originally fitted to the car, that is part of the problem... :-(

W = 168mph which is well over what the old girl can do! thinking about it, I have what I guess might have been the original Dunlop spare, I could check to see what that says.....

I am not even sure what my F452s are rated at off the top of my head....

[edit]

Dunlop Sports spare is V rated [149mph]

Current F452s are W rated [168mph] = overkill

So therefore I guess I should plump for the H rated tyres, not as good as what was supplied on the car assuming the spare is actually the original spare (it has been the spare for the duration I have owned the car).

Edited 30 November, 201114 yr by mbames

If you look in the Skoda handbook is does say something about it being OK to use a lower speed rating for winter tyres.

W rating does seem a bit overkill, even the speedo doesn't go that high.

My insurance brokers said last year that T's are fine for winter tyres on my vrs

I had a read of my Skoda handbook last night and there was nothing definite in there (least not what I spotted anyway).

There was only about £3 different between the T and H tyres, so I have gone for the H's although as I understand it the Ts would be slight more grippy as they have a lower speed profile.

I am having them delivered direct to my local tyre fitting place to make life even easier, I will just have to hope he does not sell them to someone else! :'(

I emailed my insurance broker last year about winter tyres and they very unhelpfully failed to get back to me

I think if you do a search on your reg on a tyre website the tyres it comes back to you with should be the factory fit ones. No harm in going higher though. Just I think if you go lower that you have potential insurance problems.

Phil

I had a read of my Skoda handbook last night and there was nothing definite in there (least not what I spotted anyway).

Was that the paper version that came with the car or the pdf that is actually written in english?

Was that the paper version that came with the car or the pdf that is actually written in english?

That was the nearly-English paper version that came with the car. I don't have that particular PDF (hint, hint )

That was the nearly-English paper version that came with the car. I don't have that particular PDF (hint, hint )

You haven't noticed this thread then...

First I'd say that most cars that end up with alloy options will get higher speed rated tyres supplied out of convenience to the manufacturer. Second, I'd suggest that we as motorists, take a lead from areas of Europe that have mandated that cold weather tyres MUST be used when apropriate, in these countries it is taken "as read" that lower speed ratings are teh way to go for cold weather use - and that makes a lot of sense, ie why compromise the tyre design against normal low speed running so that a high speed rating can be applied to that tyre. Finally, take a look at the premium "main players" websites for their cold weather tyre offering - taking Michelin for example, for the run of the mill cars, the only cold weather tyre speed ratings are very low. I've only found the "never fitted at factory" tyre manufacturers to be the ones that sell a range of V,W etc cold weather tyres for "run of the mill" cars. With my B5 Passat V6 for instance, which is not a "super car" by any stretch of the imagination, I would need to move a way up to sporting saloon tyres if I wanted to use V or W rated cold weather tyres - and these tyres just don't look like they would work too well in winter when compared with the lesser "run of the mill" H rated cold weather range, but I'm sure that they would be good when compared with their summer tyre equivalent. Really talk to your insurance company, if they don't understand the need for cold weather tyres then maybe risk not using them (cold weather tyres) this year and change insurance company next year for a "wised up" one, then use the cold weather tyres in winter.