Hi all,

Just about to purchase a set of winter wheels & tyres for our 4x4 Yeti but while I'm at it, I want to get a tyre thats a bit more beefy than the naff summer tyres our SM came with, but not so beefy that we have to put up with a roar of road noise whenever we're on tarmac.

Thing is, in my enthusiasm, I drove up a mountain within a week of getting the Yeti, and promptly pinched a tyre on a rock and got a bubble in the side wall... Expensive off roading trip that was...

Do the winter tyres people recommend on here for M&S have thicker side walls? Or if not, what do people use bearing in mind I'd take them off during the summer...

Thanks!

Hi all,

Just about to purchase a set of winter wheels & tyres for our 4x4 Yeti but while I'm at it, I want to get a tyre thats a bit more beefy than the naff summer tyres our SM came with, but not so beefy that we have to put up with a roar of road noise whenever we're on tarmac.

Thing is, in my enthusiasm, I drove up a mountain within a week of getting the Yeti, and promptly pinched a tyre on a rock and got a bubble in the side wall... Expensive off roading trip that was...

Do the winter tyres people recommend on here for M&S have thicker side walls? Or if not, what do people use bearing in mind I'd take them off during the summer...

Thanks!

For beefy tyres you want something like BF Goodridge AT tyres, but as of yet I don't think they do them in a size we can use on the yeti.

My winter Tyres are Continental WinterContact TS830P at the rear and TS810 at the front. My spare is a TS810. The other TS810 I sliced open the side wall when offroading to avoid an ambulance.

My tyres are 99H XL or extra load which means they will take up to 775kg. Not sure that they have tougher side walls. If anything I would say that they are more flexible as the rubber is a different compound to summer tyres. What you want is a tyre that will last for 100,000 miles and there fore not be very grippy because it is very tough, like the tyres my father has fitted to his Disco, which slide at any opportunity, but last forever.

You are talking about 2 different things.

Winter tyres are those that have a special mix and extra snipes. Whether the sidewall is strengthened is immaterial. In fact I doubt they do.

M & S tyres went out years ago. Nowadays off road tyres are generally either designated All Terrain (AT), or the more aggressive Mud Terrains (MT). For a Yeti you should only need AT tyres. Some may be strengthened, but not all.

An AT tyre can look very similar to a normal tyre, other than it may have bigger gaps between the tyre blocks, and may have slightly different shaped blocks to allow it to "self clean". Others do have a slightly more aggressive pattern. They are invariably more noisy, and the more aggressive the tread the worse the fuel consumption is. Also the more aggressive wear out quicker.

The market leader for many years was BF Goodrich, and their AT/TA tyres were consider the best there was, especially in wear rates, but they were very expensive. They now have competition, and there are lots of arguements in the 4x4 world at what is best. I uaed Kumho AT's on my Freelanders and was very pleased with them, never got stuck, and I was known to go extreme sometimes! I don't think I would try quite the same in my Yeti!! (yet).

The problem with the Yeti is finding the right tryes in the right sizes. Certainly in 17" they are almost impossible to find, but there is more choice in 16". Personally i would not be looking at anyhting more than a mild AT, and to be honest I doubt if anything that extreme is really required by most owners. I've put mine in a few places on the standard 17" rubber and never had a problem yet.

And finally.............whatever tyre you fit, really, if you catch the sidewall you are going to damage something. It is an example of not checking your route adequately, and not getting someone to "spot" you through a dodgy place. We teach that if you have a doubt you stop and walk it first. It is also often caused by too much speed, and I'm not talking about 30mph, but perhaps 2mph! I reckon I have driven a couple of hundred miles off road in the Yeti now, mostly on rough forestry tracks, often after 120 rally cars have torn it to shreds, and I have never damaged a tyre. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it comes from many years of off-road experience and training.

You are talking about 2 different things.

Winter tyres are those that have a special mix and extra snipes. Whether the sidewall is strengthened is immaterial. In fact I doubt they do.

M & S tyres went out years ago. Nowadays off road tyres are generally either designated All Terrain (AT), or the more aggressive Mud Terrains (MT). For a Yeti you should only need AT tyres. Some may be strengthened, but not all.

An AT tyre can look very similar to a normal tyre, other than it may have bigger gaps between the tyre blocks, and may have slightly different shaped blocks to allow it to "self clean". Others do have a slightly more aggressive pattern. They are invariably more noisy, and the more aggressive the tread the worse the fuel consumption is. Also the more aggressive wear out quicker.

The market leader for many years was BF Goodrich, and their AT/TA tyres were consider the best there was, especially in wear rates, but they were very expensive. They now have competition, and there are lots of arguements in the 4x4 world at what is best. I uaed Kumho AT's on my Freelanders and was very pleased with them, never got stuck, and I was known to go extreme sometimes! I don't think I would try quite the same in my Yeti!! (yet).

The problem with the Yeti is finding the right tryes in the right sizes. Certainly in 17" they are almost impossible to find, but there is more choice in 16". Personally i would not be looking at anyhting more than a mild AT, and to be honest I doubt if anything that extreme is really required by most owners. I've put mine in a few places on the standard 17" rubber and never had a problem yet.

And finally.............whatever tyre you fit, really, if you catch the sidewall you are going to damage something. It is an example of not checking your route adequately, and not getting someone to "spot" you through a dodgy place. We teach that if you have a doubt you stop and walk it first. It is also often caused by too much speed, and I'm not talking about 30mph, but perhaps 2mph! I reckon I have driven a couple of hundred miles off road in the Yeti now, mostly on rough forestry tracks, often after 120 rally cars have torn it to shreds, and I have never damaged a tyre. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it comes from many years of off-road experience and training.

Well put that man. Exactly what I meant to say.....(sort of)

When Skoda loaned several Yetis for the officials to use on the IRC Scottish Rally last year, they were plagued with sidewall failures. However, being loan cars, I rather suspect that people were driving them at a speed on the forest stages that they wouldn't have driven in their own vehicles, and of course they were still fitted with standard road tyres.

I understand that this year, on different tyres, the failure rate was virtually nil, though unfortunately I've not been able to find out what tyres they were actually using this time.

When Skoda loaned several Yetis for the officials to use on the IRC Scottish Rally last year, they were plagued with sidewall failures. However, being loan cars, I rather suspect that people were driving them at a speed on the forest stages that they wouldn't have driven in their own vehicles, and of course they were still fitted with standard road tyres.

I understand that this year, on different tyres, the failure rate was virtually nil, though unfortunately I've not been able to find out what tyres they were actually using this time.

And finally.............whatever tyre you fit, really, if you catch the sidewall you are going to damage something. It is an example of not checking your route adequately, and not getting someone to "spot" you through a dodgy place. We teach that if you have a doubt you stop and walk it first. It is also often caused by too much speed, and I'm not talking about 30mph, but perhaps 2mph! I reckon I have driven a couple of hundred miles off road in the Yeti now, mostly on rough forestry tracks, often after 120 rally cars have torn it to shreds, and I have never damaged a tyre. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it comes from many years of off-road experience and training.

Interesting info, thanks for that. Not a harsh post Graham - just spake'd the truth, and I do know what you mean. I'm not an offroad expert by any means, but we definitely spotted the route and went slowly to avoid damage - I'm not so green as to ramraid a boulder strewn slope. In honesty, the bubble could well have come from the heavily potholed road leading up to our cottage in the Lake District as much as the offroading (the road is actually worse than the offroading I did in places!) but if it was the offroading, I wonder if it came from "pinching" where the car slipped off a rock or similar. Certainly wasn't speed.

I suppose in that case I need to go for a "mud and snow" tyre with a slightly deeper tread pattern than the norm and accept that the sidewall is a vulnerable bit. In my opinion, the standard summer tyres fitted to the Yeti are poor but interestingly, a lot of people seem to have different tyres fitted according to when the car was delivered.

Does anyone have any experience of selecting "Strengthened / Reinforced " tyres? If you go to mytyres.co.uk you can select these in 16" diameters. Or do these simply increase the load without reinforcing the sidewalls?

Thanks for the comments so far...

I suppose in that case I need to go for a "mud and snow" tyre with a slightly deeper tread pattern than the norm and accept that the sidewall is a vulnerable bit. In my opinion, the standard summer tyres fitted to the Yeti are poor but interestingly, a lot of people seem to have different tyres fitted according to when the car was delivered.

Does anyone have any experience of selecting "Strengthened / Reinforced " tyres? If you go to mytyres.co.uk you can select these in 16" diameters. Or do these simply increase the load without reinforcing the sidewalls?

Thanks for the comments so far...

Glad you took in the way it was meant I am more than willing to give advice on off-road matters.

Can I just point out the bit in red above?

Now read this:

M & S tyres went out years ago. Nowadays off road tyres are generally either designated All Terrain (AT), or the more aggressive Mud Terrains (MT). For a Yeti you should only need AT tyres. Some may be strengthened, but not all.

An AT tyre can look very similar to a normal tyre, other than it may have bigger gaps between the tyre blocks, and may have slightly different shaped blocks to allow it to "self clean". Others do have a slightly more aggressive pattern. They are invariably more noisy, and the more aggressive the tread the worse the fuel consumption is. Also the more aggressive wear out quicker.

So what you are actually looking for is an ALL TERRAIN tyre. If you start looking for ones designated MUD you are going to end up with aggressive MT's which will do you no good at all.

From the mytyres web site there are none available in 205/60 r16, but several in the 215/60 r16.

Note the difference in tread between the Geolander A/T-S

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=21355148.110.26258&typ=R-134163&ranzahl=4&Breite=215&Quer=60&Felge=16&Speed=H&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&tyre_for=OFF&dsco=110

and the Geolander H/T-S

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=21355148.110.26258&typ=R-129921&ranzahl=4&Breite=215&Quer=60&Felge=16&Speed=H&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&tyre_for=OFF&dsco=110

Note none are marketed as reinforced! I think it is Geolanders that LR fit to the Freelander now.

These are MT's!!

http://www.jaxquickfit.com.au/tyres/brands/pirelli/scorpion-mud

I wish I had 16" wheels!! :'(

Glad you took in the way it was meant I am more than willing to give advice on off-road matters.

Can I just point out the bit in red above?

Now read this:

So what you are actually looking for is an ALL TERRAIN tyre. If you start looking for ones designated MUD you are going to end up with aggressive MT's which will do you no good at all.

From the mytyres web site there are none available in 205/60 r16, but several in the 215/60 r16.

Note the difference in tread between the Geolander A/T-S

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=21355148.110.26258&typ=R-134163&ranzahl=4&Breite=215&Quer=60&Felge=16&Speed=H&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&tyre_for=OFF&dsco=110

and the Geolander H/T-S

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=21355148.110.26258&typ=R-129921&ranzahl=4&Breite=215&Quer=60&Felge=16&Speed=H&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&tyre_for=OFF&dsco=110

Note none are marketed as reinforced! I think it is Geolanders that LR fit to the Freelander now.

These are MT's!!

http://www.jaxquickfit.com.au/tyres/brands/pirelli/scorpion-mud

I wish I had 16" wheels!! :'(

Ah I see. So the tyres marked with a snowflake and/or M&S on the side are all terrain types?

The main AT tyres available in 215/60 R16 size are the:

Yokohama Geolander series

Goodyear Wrangler

Michelin Latitude series

Dunlop GRANDTREK ST1

Regards,

TP

Ah I see. So the tyres marked with a snowflake and/or M&S on the side are all terrain types?

Probably not.

The snowflake signifies they are a winter tyre, and I haven't seen anything with M & S on the side for a while.

Can you give a link to exactly what tyres you are looking at?

Re Tim's list, I haven't checked by two other good makes are Kumho (KH31??) and Hankook, and the Geolander currently have an excellent reputation.

Personally I would walk away from the Wranglers!

EDIT:

KUMHO KL41, not KH.

Probably not.

The snowflake signifies they are a winter tyre, and I haven't seen anything with M & S on the side for a while.

Can you give a link to exactly what tyres you are looking at?

Re Tim's list, I haven't checked by two other good makes are Kumho (KH31??) and Hankook, and the Geolander currently have an excellent reputation.

Personally I would walk away from the Wranglers!

All the winter tyres I've got fitted (three vehicles) have the M+S logo besides the mountain and snow flake. Even the very budget Federal tyres that had been on my son's car until they distorted, had the M+S on the sidewall despite being summer tyres. Understand it's use denotes the percentage of grooves to tread block.

would not class any of these as proper off-road tyres, the Hankook winters for example are no stronger than the summer Continental PremiumContact 2 I have on the Moons.

Geolanders or Latitudes would be my choice to replace the Conti's when they wear out, depending on budget.

Regards,

TP

Tim,

it's my off-road head on.....

And none of the winter tyres come anywhere near a mud tyre!!

Tim,

it's my off-road head on.....

And none of the winter tyres come anywhere near a mud tyre!!

Hi Graham,

Yes your correct, however as bizarre as it sounds, M+S is still used on road car tyres as well as proper off-road tyres. As I mentioned it's often used to denote the grove to tread block ratio, typically 25% for the M+S symbol to be applied.

Highlighted this Nokian info leaflet before, which explains all;

My link

Regards,

TP

Good article, Tim.

Thanks for that Tim.

That leaflet has to be the best explanation I've ever seen for the differences between the various types of tyres.

I wish I'd seen that yonks ago!

In fact, I'm so impressed, here's another link to the Nokian Severe Service Emblem Leaflet in the hope that others will take the time to read it.

So here's an M&S one - price looks good - BF Goodrich, fully fitted on 205/55/16 steel wheel, £586 for a set of four.

MYtyres site

Does this seem a good choice?

So here's an M&S one - price looks good - BF Goodrich, fully fitted on 205/55/16 steel wheel, £586 for a set of four.

MYtyres site

Does this seem a good choice?

£136 each including steel wheel, plus delivery.

Probably not bad at the moment.

Note though that these are a WINTER tyre, not an off-road tyre and do not have strengthened sidewalls, which is what you were originally asking about.

£136 each including steel wheel, plus delivery.

Probably not bad at the moment.

Note though that these are a WINTER tyre, not an off-road tyre and do not have strengthened sidewalls, which is what you were originally asking about.

Yes I know. My missus is specifically demanding winter tyres so I think I should prioritise that first.

I've found a set nearby which are 205/55/16 winter tyres fitted on "VW Fitment" five hole alloys, listed as 16" 6.5J alloys. I've emailed the guy to check the offset etc is ok and I read the size guide on this site but I noticed that it only shows 7J width tyres for the Yeti. I understand the importance of the rest of the dimensions, but does anyone know if the 0.5 between a 7J and a 6.5J make a large difference? Would it be ok?

Appreciate I'd need to check with insurers etc etc...

Yes I know. My missus is specifically demanding winter tyres so I think I should prioritise that first.

I've found a set nearby which are 205/55/16 winter tyres fitted on "VW Fitment" five hole alloys, listed as 16" 6.5J alloys. I've emailed the guy to check the offset etc is ok and I read the size guide on this site but I noticed that it only shows 7J width tyres for the Yeti. I understand the importance of the rest of the dimensions, but does anyone know if the 0.5 between a 7J and a 6.5J make a large difference? Would it be ok?

Appreciate I'd need to check with insurers etc etc...

Personally I would stick with what is recommended.

Think about it, you are reducing the width of the wheel, and therefore the tyre contact patch by just under one twelth.

Personally I would stick with what is recommended.

Think about it, you are reducing the width of the wheel, and therefore the tyre contact patch by just under one twelth.

True, BUT the 205/55 tyres go on 6J steel wheels.......... and they are approved. So I don't think there would be any problem fitting something in between like a 6,5J. It is only the inside of the tyre that will fit to this width. The top and the bit that sticks to the road will be 205 or 215 in width (though I think 215 is only approved for 7J tyres). So it will just "taper" down a bit.

At least one Yeti owner is using 6.5J wheels that I can remember, but not sure which one, possibly jrw

I have been pointed in the direction of these:

Yokohama geolander go12 A/T-s in 225/60R17

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m56b0s3204p79810/YOKOHAMA_TYRES_4X4_YOKOHAMA_G012_GEOLANDAR_ATS_YOKOHAMA_G_012_-_225_60R17_99H_TL_

However they look a bit OTT and are slightly the wrong size, but I do wonder how much difference that would make.

I have been pointed in the direction of these:

Yokohama geolander go12 A/T-s in 225/60R17

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m56b0s3204p79810/YOKOHAMA_TYRES_4X4_YOKOHAMA_G012_GEOLANDAR_ATS_YOKOHAMA_G_012_-_225_60R17_99H_TL_

However they look a bit OTT and are slightly the wrong size, but I do wonder how much difference that would make.

I can just imagine the constant hum inside and outside the car with those on!!! They look pretty noisy!

I can just imagine the constant hum inside and outside the car with those on!!! They look pretty noisy!

Reports from users are they are actually quite quiet!