My winters are practically brand new. My "summer" front tyres are coming to the end now, and MOT is due at the end of March, so I'll swap them back over then.

Took mine off today and gave it a wash due to the amount of road grime on it.

mine are staying on until the end of march, but I'm not having all the horrible handling problems emma is, its working very well.... (but then our temps have still been 7-8 over here...) and most of my drivivng is night, when its still very cold ....

Glad iv put mine back on, the all season tyres can cope with a wider range of temps compared to the winter tyres and it can 10 degrees one min then drive down the road it can drop to 5 degrees

Obviously your tyres are better in warm then my winter tyres are, coming off roundabouts and powering out of the corner (nothing racey just getting myself moving) the car displays some epic understeer.

On a roundabout the other night going to boyfriends, not really concentrating as i was not going fast and the roads were dead, front end let go completely, ESP snapped the front end back in but forgot about the back end, that swung out on a pendulum effect, i put the nose of the car into the slide to come off the roundabout facing forward and just ended up coming off abit wide, the look on my face would of been a picture, one of 'ok i was not expecting that to happen!'

From there on in i drive like miss daisy when the temp is above 7 degree's

Sorry, but I ran a set of winters all year a couple of years ago and didn't drive like miss daisy. I never experienced such issues as you've described.

Certainly they will be much worse than summers, but driving progressively should mean you don't have an issue like you're desecribing.

If you really were driving as gently as you're saying then maybe the old diesel on the road comment applies

FWIW, by the sounds of the other tyres you have, you'd be far better taking it a bit easy on good quality winters than you would running on a set of ditchfinder specials.

Sorry, but I ran a set of winters all year a couple of years ago and didn't drive like miss daisy. I never experienced such issues as you've described.

Certainly they will be much worse than summers, but driving progressively should mean you don't have an issue like you're desecribing.

If you really were driving as gently as you're saying then maybe the old diesel on the road comment applies

FWIW, by the sounds of the other tyres you have, you'd be far better taking it a bit easy on good quality winters than you would running on a set of ditchfinder specials.

Sorry iv got to disagree, you either dont have winter tyres on, i.e your getting confused with rain tyres, if you are sure you have winter tyres on then they are not very good or your driving like miss daisy. Im not insulting your intelligence here and the only reason i said you cannot have proper winter tyres on, as as you said you ran a set of winters all year round, this is i do not believe, in the past month i have managed to eat away at 1.5mm worth of tred, due the temp being too warm and the compound of the tyre becoming soft and wearing quickly, if you had winter tyres on in anything above 15 degrees for any number of months, youd have no tyre left!

It is a well known fact that proper winter tyres are no good in anything above 10 degrees, even when under normal conditions on a straight road at 60mph if im to 'jiggle' the steering wheel then i dont get a responce, if i was to go the same at anything below 5 degrees with car responded straight away. This i know, as i put it to the test.

The compound becomes much softer, too soft and pretty much just falls over itself, this is even proven by the wear pattern on the tyres, the tred it starting to feather off, this is normally a symptom of power over load, i.e spinning the wheels but i have taken it very steady in recent weeks and this feathering is still present. The tyres i have on now (all season) are coping alot better with the varying temps we seem to be having atm.

To keep winter tyres on all year round in the UK is a stupid idea

Sorry iv got to disagree, you either dont have winter tyres on, i.e your getting confused with rain tyres, if you are sure you have winter tyres on then they are not very good or your driving like miss daisy. Im not insulting your intelligence here and the only reason i said you cannot have proper winter tyres on, as as you said you ran a set of winters all year round, this is i do not believe, in the past month i have managed to eat away at 1.5mm worth of tred, due the temp being too warm and the compound of the tyre becoming soft and wearing quickly, if you had winter tyres on in anything above 15 degrees for any number of months, youd have no tyre left!

It is a well known fact that proper winter tyres are no good in anything above 10 degrees, even when under normal conditions on a straight road at 60mph if im to 'jiggle' the steering wheel then i dont get a responce, if i was to go the same at anything below 5 degrees with car responded straight away. This i know, as i put it to the test.

The compound becomes much softer, too soft and pretty much just falls over itself, this is even proven by the wear pattern on the tyres, the tred it starting to feather off, this is normally a symptom of power over load, i.e spinning the wheels but i have taken it very steady in recent weeks and this feathering is still present. The tyres i have on now (all season) are coping alot better with the varying temps we seem to be having atm.

To keep winter tyres on all year round in the UK is a stupid idea

I had a set of nokians on special ordered form Europe. They started with 14mm of tread on them and a snowflake on the sidewall.

They were certainly winters as every tyre dealer/garage laughed at me when I got them fitted about 4 years back.

I also did run them all year and yes summer wear was a bit higher, but at the time I couldn't get another set of tyres on, so it was just something I did.

They still lasted a winter, a summer and another winter, with one pair of the four, doing another winter again.

I was doing about 20-25k miles a year at that point, so I'd say they did quite well.

While I don't disagree that winter tyres are worse when it gets warm, I don't think they fall apart at 10 degrees at all.

Certainly I've got some european friends who have run them all year round and they do say that they braking distances go up in the summer heat.

One chap I was talking to was saying that as long as it's below 20 degrees you'd be fine.

Certainly I've not noticed any issues with my current winters on at 15 degrees, but a lot of the time it's much cooler than that when i'm driving (night etc) so I'm leaving them on.

I'm afraid the winters all year comment depends on which winters you get and the tread pattern.

For example nokian WR would be fine all year, but the Hakka 7 would not be fine, even on dry tarmac in a normal winter.

Anyway, as long as you're happy with your car's performance on the tyres, that's the important bit.

I really commented as I wouldn't personally put some "rubbish brand" tyres on my car, because their performance in the varying conditions will be unknown. Cheapee tyres often don't get on with the damp either IMHO (I mean real cheapies).

Still I'm sure you'll be happier when it warms up and you can get your new alloys on.

I had a set of nokians on special ordered form Europe. They started with 14mm of tread on them and a snowflake on the sidewall.

They were certainly winters as every tyre dealer/garage laughed at me when I got them fitted about 4 years back.

I also did run them all year and yes summer wear was a bit higher, but at the time I couldn't get another set of tyres on, so it was just something I did.

They still lasted a winter, a summer and another winter, with one pair of the four, doing another winter again.

I was doing about 20-25k miles a year at that point, so I'd say they did quite well.

While I don't disagree that winter tyres are worse when it gets warm, I don't think they fall apart at 10 degrees at all.

Certainly I've got some european friends who have run them all year round and they do say that they braking distances go up in the summer heat.

One chap I was talking to was saying that as long as it's below 20 degrees you'd be fine.

Certainly I've not noticed any issues with my current winters on at 15 degrees, but a lot of the time it's much cooler than that when i'm driving (night etc) so I'm leaving them on.

I'm afraid the winters all year comment depends on which winters you get and the tread pattern.

For example nokian WR would be fine all year, but the Hakka 7 would not be fine, even on dry tarmac in a normal winter.

Anyway, as long as you're happy with your car's performance on the tyres, that's the important bit.

I really commented as I wouldn't personally put some "rubbish brand" tyres on my car, because their performance in the varying conditions will be unknown. Cheapee tyres often don't get on with the damp either IMHO (I mean real cheapies).

Still I'm sure you'll be happier when it warms up and you can get your new alloys on.

Were these tyres off a 4x4 by any chance? Thats like tractor tyre lol

I see as more as a safety issue, especially the roads i drive on, the one thing i am always cautious of it animals running out and when your doing 60mph+ you need a quick responce time. turning into a corner they felt sloppy and at one point i thought i had lost pressure in the tyres as they had the handling characteristics of a flat tyre, wondering about the road ect, im very good at picking up very small changes when it comes to driving, grip levels being one of them.

I had the goodyear ultra grip 8's on, apparently very good tyre and they were, but only when the temp was around 4 degrees or below.

The only conclusion i can come to with the tyres that you ordered are that they were a different compound, they kept their shape more in higher temps.

The tyres i have back on the car i had no intention on putting back on the car, ever. I have a new set of alloys but they are getting powder coated atm so the plan was to leave the winter tyres on for till late march early april then swap over to the new alloys with Uniroyal Rainsport 2's on.

The budget tyres i have on came with the car from the dealership, i didt personally buy them but like i said they are coping a damn sight better and they give alot mroe road feedback in anything above 6 degrees (which it has been way over that now for over a week) then the winter tyres.

Were these tyres off a 4x4 by any chance? Thats like tractor tyre lol

I see as more as a safety issue, especially the roads i drive on, the one thing i am always cautious of it animals running out and when your doing 60mph+ you need a quick responce time. turning into a corner they felt sloppy and at one point i thought i had lost pressure in the tyres as they had the handling characteristics of a flat tyre, wondering about the road ect, im very good at picking up very small changes when it comes to driving, grip levels being one of them.

I had the goodyear ultra grip 8's on, apparently very good tyre and they were, but only when the temp was around 4 degrees or below.

The only conclusion i can come to with the tyres that you ordered are that they were a different compound, they kept their shape more in higher temps.

The tyres i have back on the car i had no intention on putting back on the car, ever. I have a new set of alloys but they are getting powder coated atm so the plan was to leave the winter tyres on for till late march early april then swap over to the new alloys with Uniroyal Rainsport 2's on.

The budget tyres i have on came with the car from the dealership, i didt personally buy them but like i said they are coping a damn sight better and they give alot mroe road feedback in anything above 6 degrees (which it has been way over that now for over a week) then the winter tyres.

No they were just proper winter tyres designed for use between the original tread depth and to be got rid of at 4mm.

I think the long and short of it is that we probably disagree on what driving like miss daisy is, which could be why I've had no problems even in the summer and you are seeing them.

Also as you say, the tread patterns on the UG 8 and the nokian are quite different, so I'd guess that's got a fair amount to do with it, if it's dropping off that quickly for you.

In terms of the ditchfinders, I think you'll be much happier with proper tyres on, I was more just commenting on the fact that I've seen cheapy no brand tyres bite people when they were least expecting it with nasty results, so just to expect poor performance on edgy conditions such as damp slippery roads.

different winter tyres will react differently...

I have the nangkang sv2's on, and in tests they dont perform so well in proper winter conditions, (I found them very good however) but came 6th out of 10 on dry road tests, and they are very good in warmer temps, there is "drop off" as they move around more, but are still perfectly usable at speed, so mine are staying on until the end of march, as I'm perfectly happy to drive it as it is!

wheras if it were proper snowy weather, the goodyear ultra grip 8's, would muller the nangkangs

In terms of the ditchfinders, I think you'll be much happier with proper tyres on, I was more just commenting on the fact that I've seen cheapy no brand tyres bite people when they were least expecting it with nasty results, so just to expect poor performance on edgy conditions such as damp slippery roads.

If i was going to keep the budgets on for a few month i would put on the good tyres but this is only very short term, or till the salt buggers off.

I know the limits of the budgets so i know i cant push them as far, so i drive within their limits, which is pretty much nothing tbh lol

It was optimum temp last night, 12 degrees so in theory they summers tyres should of been good but no, still shocking poor but with the winter wearing so quickly i had no choice, i want to keep them for next year.

Plus the winter tyres were 205/55's compared to the tyres it should have on 225/40's it rolled like a boat and especially worse when the compound started to soften up

there are tyre and there are, well, tyre!!

While some "normal" tyres have way better wear and grip than others, so some winter tyres wear far better than others and the grip or handling does not generate as badly as others.

I cetacean haven't noticed any difference in handling on my winter tyres yet and it was 15C here yesterday.

In some ways I have been tempt to keep them on - they are much better at dispersing water and quieter (!!) but I have decided that they will come off later in March, primarily as I expect some degree of higher wear.

I thought my winters would be nosier, with the tred pattern been more 'blocky' then my directional summers but road noise is some what annoying now

I changed our Octavia's winter tyres on Sunday - I'd found that when ambient was above 8C the grip was 'interesting' when indelicately accelerating from low speed on rutted roads but was pretty much OK the rest of the time - the car didn't feel good but actually gripped quite nicely in bends.

Our other car with Vredestein all season tyres is still fine ;-)

Ive got Hankook Icept Evos on the '5 at the moment.. and i agree there is a change in the grip and handling with the warmer weather, although given the nature of the car and the way i drive, when its dry i do tend to lean on the available grip a bit more

TBH in general though, i am a convert for the winter tyres and glad i got them!.. even if they were only fitted a month ago!

Like Dave, ill prob change back to the T1R's for WSM at the end of this month.. Porlock hill will be entertaining

We've got more sleet and snow forcast for the weekend!!

That could make the Mid Wales Stages Rally fun!!

And just to show us the temp here this morning a 7am was 3 degrees.

You just cant win.

MIne were coming off tomorrow but after it being 3 degrees at 7 here too this morning I might hold off.

Yeah it 4 degree's last night, still no major problems with the summers, keeps you on your toes mind

Ive got Hankook Icept Evos on the '5 at the moment.. and i agree there is a change in the grip and handling with the warmer weather, although given the nature of the car and the way i drive, when its dry i do tend to lean on the available grip a bit more

TBH in general though, i am a convert for the winter tyres and glad i got them!.. even if they were only fitted a month ago!

Like Dave, ill prob change back to the T1R's for WSM at the end of this month.. Porlock hill will be entertaining

oohh porlock hill yay! was much fun last time

I fitted winter tyres to my car in..October/November..people laughed. "Pointless".

I've lost count now of how many have said "I'll have to look into that"..coming in as normal, parking up, getting out and then going straight on my arse on the icy tarmac...always fun. Definetly the best purchase I've made for the car - got me and little 'un to Nursery and back every day regardless of conditions, and when we had the snow around, it was glued to the road.

Now, I'm finding them a bit vague at times, a bit "ooer" at random. I think mine will come off in the school April hols, when we've come back from Wales.

minus 2 this morning - keeping them on for a bit yet

Snowing here yesterday, simple solution to this situation, dont go out!

I had Conti Winter 16" on A3 alloys but swapped back to refurbed Zeniths last week and glad I did. I had started to notice the lower grip or perhaps I was less cautious than when I first had them fitted. Hopefully the worst of any residual poor weather will miss us.