Hi all

I am due to recieve a new monte Carlo (black) with climatronic/cruise/spare. I have read with interest the posts on winter tyres. I also own a fabia VRS (mk1) and know from experience how bad they skid/slide in winter. With this in mind I am definitely going to purchase some winter tyres. I have looked at the 'my tyres' website and cannot find a fabia monte Carlo only a fabia 1.6 Tdi - which is equivalent to the engine in my new monte. The last drop down on the my tyres website is very technical and beyond my understanding. Can someone help me out? I don't want to pay £350+ for winter tyres to find out they are wrong! Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

On a side note - what do you think a mk1 fabia 30k miles in black woud be worth to a dealer? I would be interested to know. It is a 54 plate in good nick generally/FSH/with cruise.

Thanks all - ths forum is really useful

W

I'm going to pick up a set of cheap wheels for this winter. I believe most people have either gone for 15's (195/55) or 16's (205/45) as they are standard Fabia sizes; and probably a cheaper/better option than changing over the tyres on your 17's for the winter.

I have the sme size tyres (205/40/17) on my vRS, and use a set of 205/45/17 nankang SV2's for winter, slightley higher than the recommended radius change but approved by (and supplied by) my skoda garage, so approved my my insurance company. of course I use the same wheels, others have smaller diameter wheels (as posted above) with more readily available sizes....

i bought nankang sv2's 195/55/15, seemed ok but we didnt have too much snow to test them

as for the car, i got nearly 4k last year for a 78k 04 black mk1 so id be expecting anywhere from 3 to 4k imho depending on how good you are at haggling. mine was full skoda sh with cruise

I've a set of 195/55/15's on some spare wheels.

I got Monte a set of Nexen wingard sports 205/40/17 from my tyres last year for around £250. Put them straight onto the alloys as i couldnt bare having steels all winter. We got a lot of snow in Derbyshire and not once did I feel unsafe whilst driving in the snow.

My wife runs an Elegance 1.2TSI and with the standard 205/45/16 tyres, it was going nowhere in snowy conditions. Fitted some steels and winter tyres as a package from mytyres. Went for rims and tyres the same as the spare and as found on the S and SE trims; 195/55 R15 85H on 6J x 15 ET43 rims.

The tyres are Bridgestone Blizzak LM30's; work well in the cold and wet but less convinced in snow, mind this could be due to the lack of weight in the car, unlike a diesel which has a much heavier 'lump' sitting over the driving wheels.

Oh the steel rims supplied by mytyres are OK but there not up to the same quality as the genuine VAG product and in the case of three of the rims supplied, Skoda wheel trims are a poor fit.

TP

I put Sunny tyres from Mytyres straight on alloys. Did not get tested much as very mild winter. Very reasonable overall but fitting prices are up. Will wait for snow this time before refitting as they are pretty useless in just wet conditions.

I put Sunny tyres from Mytyres straight on alloys. Did not get tested much as very mild winter. Very reasonable overall but fitting prices are up. Will wait for snow this time before refitting as they are pretty useless in just wet conditions.

"Sunny's" in the Winter. Can you get "Not So Sunny's" for the Summer

I read a lot of reviews and plumped for the Nankang SV-2 as well from mytyres in 195 55 R15 as they were probably the cheapest with notably good reviews around the web and forums Bagged a new set of genuine VAG steels and got the tyres fitted while they were still off the car. Cost me £380 all in

I opted for the smaller steel wheels and a taller tyre just incase the car ever goes into a kerb. I think the Monte alloys are around £140 each, plus a tyre and fitting, you're looking at circa £250? And having seen what one winter of grit and gravel did to the steelies, I'm glad the pretty alloys stayed tucked away for winter!

The Nankangs didn't really see any snow, however the grip was noticably better in cold wet conditions. They were on from late October until March and showed very little wear after a good 8000 miles of varied use. Just my personal experience after coming up on one years ownership of my Monte, but I'm really glad I invested

Matt

i bought nankang sv2s 195/55/15, seemed ok but we didnt have too much snow to test them

I had nankang SV2 in 2010 when we had the bad snow and i was really impressed with them. I live at the top of a pretty big hill, and i was the only person in my street who got to the top, and that includes plenty of 4x4s as well.I was dubious before buying them tbh because id always used vredestein wintracs which were phenominal when i lived in Germany for the previous 8 years, but i was pleasently suprised. Ill be buying them again this year.

Since my wife kerbed all 4 of the Fabia alloys...I have now fitted BBS wheels and the OEM ones will have the winter tyres I bought last year

The car will literally go anywhere no matter what the conditions!!

We have Roadstar/Nexus Winguard Sport 205 40 17

Thank you all for your replies - much appreciated

I'm going to go for these

Nankang SV-2 in 195 55 R15

Do I need to order a particular speed rating for the monte Carlo ?

Thanks again

W

Any speed rating will do for a MonteCarlo

Look here:

http://www.camskill....95_55R15_85H_TL_

I have these on my Octavia (205 55 16 version) in the winter...Fantastic tyre and soooo cheap!!!

Worn for 2 winters..massive grip, quiet and still no appreciable wear

as a review for the nankangs I posted on tyre reviews, just check out the fabia vRS review, its on top I think..

anything below about 5 celcius they were better than summers, good in the rain, as it gets really cold they rock! they dont seem to go off in freezing frosty conditions at all! i (like sy) also drove in some very deep snow, and they worked well

above 7 celcius ish, they just go soft and mushy though!

mine are stacked up at the back of my kitchen and will be going back on circa mid Nov I expect

mine are stacked up at the back of my kitchen and will be going back on circa mid Nov I expect

Lol I assume Ash hasn't moved in yet then?

lol.. not yet Sam, but she has just been offered a job! :0

lol.. not yet Sam, but she has just been offered a job! :0