Totally fed up driving Monte on winters. Changed them back today. Like a different car. Handling much, much better.

Also 105bhp engine now at 11k. Engine seems to be loosening off nicely.

Reminds me of my Mk1 vrs. Ace!

I too passed my test then spent harsh winters in RWD Escorts, Cortina's and Sierra's etc. Trouble is non of those came with very wide, very low profile tyres with a compound designed to stay stable in hot climates at constant speeds at or above 150mph like modern tyres are. The current Goodyear premium tyres are rated for a constant 186mph.

My Current Passat has 235/45x17 W rated Conti's and on even the slightest incline in snow they give up. ESP on or off, feather the throttle or flat out, gentle or have a run at it doesn't matter, the tyres are too wide, the ground pressure too low, the tread pattern wrong and the compound too hard.

Any snow on the road and I can't get up to my house, my old Cortina with a couple of bags of sand in the boot on it's standard 175x14 Goodyear Grand PrixS managed no problem.

The problem is years ago tyres were made for all year round because car performance was relatively low. The current trend for ever bigger alloys with very wide low profile tyres and high speed ratings means many cars now come with "Summer" tyres that just don't work in Ice and Snow and have performance that suffers below 7 degrees.

If you need to keep mobile in winter and you have a car with modern "Summer" Tyres on then Winter tyres offer the ability to keep moving and offer major safety advantages. Winter tyres also wear less than summer tyres in cold conditions so can actually work out cheaper if you are going to get through a couple of sets of tyres during ownership of your car.

Cheers

Lee

Wise words Lee.

Amazed how many folk think winter tyres are for snow!

You need snow tyres for snow, winter tyres for winter, summers for summer.

All-weather tyres are jack-of-all-trades but masters of none.

My summers are rubbish below 7 or 8 degrees.

My winters are rubbish above 10.

My winters came off last week, a bit too early!

My Winters came off about 3 weeks ago now.

Trouble is my MPG has plummeted as i am hooning it everywhere as the handling is sooooo much better

I think my gamble to stick to all-seasons paid off this year. We had no snow in Devon and the little harsh frosts we had could be dealt with taking reasonable care on all-seasons. Definitely this year has been the highest take-up of winter tyres ever. Two bad winter spells and everyone starts following the European example.

Change mine on Tuesday.

Went from Goodyear UltraGrip3's to Continental Sport Contact 3's

Big improvement but I've been seeing temps of 7-13'C for a week though back down to 4 C tonight

Damned either way

I too passed my test then spent harsh winters in RWD Escorts, Cortina's and Sierra's etc. Trouble is non of those came with very wide, very low profile tyres with a compound designed to stay stable in hot climates at constant speeds at or above 150mph like modern tyres are. The current Goodyear premium tyres are rated for a constant 186mph.

My Current Passat has 235/45x17 W rated Conti's and on even the slightest incline in snow they give up. ESP on or off, feather the throttle or flat out, gentle or have a run at it doesn't matter, the tyres are too wide, the ground pressure too low, the tread pattern wrong and the compound too hard.

Any snow on the road and I can't get up to my house, my old Cortina with a couple of bags of sand in the boot on it's standard 175x14 Goodyear Grand PrixS managed no problem.

The problem is years ago tyres were made for all year round because car performance was relatively low. The current trend for ever bigger alloys with very wide low profile tyres and high speed ratings means many cars now come with "Summer" tyres that just don't work in Ice and Snow and have performance that suffers below 7 degrees.

If you need to keep mobile in winter and you have a car with modern "Summer" Tyres on then Winter tyres offer the ability to keep moving and offer major safety advantages. Winter tyres also wear less than summer tyres in cold conditions so can actually work out cheaper if you are going to get through a couple of sets of tyres during ownership of your car.

Cheers

Lee

This is spot on fair play

My Winters came off about 3 weeks ago now.

Trouble is my MPG has plummeted as i am hooning it everywhere as the handling is sooooo much better

I have had this problem since last Thursday lol

I've been running Federal semi-slicks on my Polo GTI now for the last 3 weeks and they are better than the Yokohama Parada Spec 2's by a country mile. Haven't had winter tyres on though and had no issues through the cold months.

Our Fabia II FL will probably continue to be on winters until the end of march as will the Yeti, still getting regular low early morning temps and the warmer afternoons appear to have little effect on the tyres performance. Although I think the Hankooks on the Yeti are slightly better at coping with the varying temps than the Bridgestones on the Fabia.

Sons Fabia I HTP been running Goodyear 4 season tyres for a while now and when I've driven it the tyres appear to hold the road very well no matter what the weather is.

TP