Tyres for Mk1 Octavia 4x4 suggestions for UK temperate coastal climate

[MarkyD]

hello,

I am in Pembrokeshire and I only need access to coastal regions for work and play 7am -5pm. I have no reason to use the car outside of daylight hours when the likelyhood of freezing temperatures are greater.

My Octavia estate 4x4 has half worn Toyo T1r Proxes on the rear and just legal ones on the front.

I ran these tyres on my Mk1 Octavia Tdi Estate 110bhp through the 2 harsher winters 2009/20010 and 2010/2011 here in Pembrokeshire.We only had snow on the ground of 4-6 inches for a period of about 10 days during the 2 worst winters. The back roads were not gritted but this did not prevent me from getting in to work and I can only recall one or two times when I could feel the car slip significantly on single track back roads devoid of traffic. Usually we only get a light flurry of snow for 1 afternoon a year.

I looked at the temperature data for the local area as well as reading lots of tyre reviews.

We do not get long extended periods of below zero temperatures.

Despite modern recommendations to change to a winter tyre or all-season if the temperature goes below 8 degrees there are references in the reviews of summer tyres still having better (shorter) breaking distances in dry and wet even as low as 6 degrees. Only when going to freezing does it seem the winter or all season tyres have an advantage. So coupled with the remote likely-hood of snow and last winters seemingly continuous heavy rain I am considering an all weather biased towards rain or a normal (summer) tyre biased towards rain.

I cant remember the last time I had occasion to go 70mph and most of my driving is 30-40mph back roads and occasional 60mph main roads.

I do have a spare set of alloys.

I cannot I think justify the Vredestein Quadrax 3 or the Goodyear Vector 4 season on all 4 corners for about £340 plus fitting costs. I may try the overall less well regarded by magazine reviews the Bridgestone All Weather A001 as they are the best in wet braking though fall behind the wining all season tyres in wet weather (confusing but I suppose more prone to aquaplaning etc) as I don't mind giving them a go for £280 plus fitting.

Alternatively I just get either a pair for the front to accompany the Proxy part worn rears or I get a whole set of rain oriented 'summer' tyres.

So to sum up my questions

Anyone used all seasons on this car and are you concerned with the V rating rather than W rating?

Anyone recommend a rain oriented tyre?

Does this car benefit balance and handling wise if all 4 tyres are the same type bearing in mind I only usually potter about and the car is non modified so standard 150bhp? The Haldex system itself doesn't require all tyres to be the same.

Mark

Edited 18 September, 2012 by MarkyD

[STSKODA]

just buy a decent quality tyre - speed rating v or w is fairly irrelevant at the speeds you're doing. Don't worry about winter tyres, everyone else hasn't for the last 50 years

may i suggest uniroyal rainsport - cheap, good in the wet and reasonable performance elsewhere

[mark999]

Hi I've used the Goodyear vector 4 seasons on the octy scout. Really impressed especially wrt performance on flooded roads. IMHO they are better than the standard dulops in the dry. No worries about the V rating But make sure the load rating is the same.

Hankook do a well rated all season tyre, the optima 4s I think.

If these are a bit pricey foy you trawl through the many tyre reviews on the web, occasionally there are some non premium brands that give reasonable performance.

Mark.

[Lofty79]

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Edited 18 September, 2012 by Lofty79

[The Plumber]

Ran an Octy I 4x4 hatch some years ago now and found the standard summer tyres were not always the best in slippery conditions, although the haldex/esp did a reasonable job of keeping the car on the straight and narrow.

The Goodyear 4season my lad has run on a Fabia; worked well all year round.

From my experience with full winter W310 Hankooks, particularly in the wet, then their all season Optimo 4 could be a good choice.

http://www.camskill...._R16_94V_XL_TL_

Oh a summer rain tyre then Uniroyal are always the perceived specialists in this area.

Regard tyres then it's always best to have the same season all round i.e. all season, all winter or all summer and with the older Haldex then the same tread depth on both tyres on a given axle and within two or three mm front to rear to maintain optimum operation of the 4x4 system, from memory.

TP

[AnotherGareth]

On our Mk1 Octavia (fwd) we have Goodyear Optigrip fitted on the standard wheels and Vredestein Snowtrac 3 winter tyres fitted on steel wheels. From our subsequent experience of Vredestein Quatrac 3 all season tyres on two other cars - one current and another sold on to a family member - if I were choosing again I'd be very inclined to use them all year round on the Octavia instead of having two sets of wheels.

[okenobi]

If you just want a summer tyre with excellent wet performance and you're not interested in getting winters or all-seasons (which if you ask me are gay, get winters, or don't bother) then you should get Hankook S1 Evos. Best in the wet bar none on a vRS and I've tried all the top tyres over the past 4.5 years. I can only imagine that the 4x4 will make them better. But they're fantastic and cheap coz although they're huge in Austria and Germany and fitted as OEM to newer stuff in the UK, nobody's heard of them.

[MarkyD]

Thank you to everyone who responded.

I should have mentioned that most of the roads I take are surrounded by farms and agricultural fields so loads of mud on them both through cattle crossing for milking and tractors from the mainly potato growing fields not to mention the run off from fields we had due to heavy rain.

Coupling this with my 4x4 having original (not lowered stiffened) suspension (in fact I wouldn't mind raising the car a little to improve clearance) I am leaning heavily towards all season Bridgestone A001 or Goodyear Vector. It seems the M+S marking on the Bridgestone tyre has no performance rating just that it has a certain percentage of open treads so maybe I am reading too much into their mud capability.

I realise I was being a bit silly disregarding the more expensive tyres after filling up the car with £70 fuel. Tyre cost is comparatively cheap compared to fuel costs. Nevertheless it something that I will have to live with for a while so worth the effort to make an informed choice.

Disappointed in the review/tests in magazines/internet and for example the Goodyear site using 2008 data in their video.

I will be replacing all four tyres.

Mark

[AnotherGareth]

I cannot I think justify the Vredestein Quadrax 3

One advantage (in my eyes) for the Vredestein Quatrac 3 is that if you have the same tyre as a spare it can be fitted to either side of the car. Another advantage is that they seem to do well in the wet, according to the reviews I've seen, which seems useful in much of the UK. Finally, what I like about them, is that they seem to be good all year around in the range of conditions we get in the UK. Certainly if I lived a lot further north I would be more inclined to have a second set of wheels with good winter tyres, but having experienced these all season tyres I think they are better suited for most people than specialised summer tyres.

are you concerned with the V rating rather than W rating?

Quoted top speed for the car is 131 mph. V-rating is good for 150 mph at 100% of load capacity so I'm not sure there is any benefit in using higher rated tyres.

Anyone recommend a rain oriented tyre?

The Goodyear Optigrip I mentioned earlier is designed to be good in rain throughout it's life. I previously chose Goodyear Hydragrip for the same purpose; the Optigrip replaced the Hydragrip. I've been happy with both.

I should have mentioned that most of the roads I take are surrounded by farms and agricultural fields so loads of mud on them

We've found the Vredestein Quatrac 3 is also good in muddy conditions, although I don't know how they compare with other tyres for this.

[MarkyD]

<p>So the Vredestein Quadratic 3 are asymmetric but non directional The Goodyear vector 4 season are symmetric and I suppose are directional (although nothing on Goodyear site) and the Bridgestone A001 are described as directional by Blackcircle (Bridgestone Europe site seems to be down so can't check)

[MarkyD]

<p>So the Vredestein Quadratic 3 are asymmetric but non directional The Goodyear vector 4 season are symmetric and I suppose are directional (although nothing on Goodyear site) and the Bridgestone A001 are described as directional by Blackcircle (Bridgestone Europe site seems to be down so can't check)

[MarkyD]

Ok thought I would update.

I got 4 of the Bridgestones. We have had a morning of 5.5 C but mostly 10 or more degrees.

Quite noisy above 60mph. Didn't think it would matter too much as the roads here are mostly hot tar with granite chippings rolled into them so noisy and generally unpleasant anyway. But on a few smooth tarmac places the rumble and something more high pitched is evident. I don't think anyone would be too happy on long motorway runs unless the car had some more sound insulation.

I can feel the road quite well through the tyres but the steering feels 'floaty'.

Very good through standing water puddles that would on other tyres pull the car to one side. Maybe its just the depth of tread on the new tyres but pretty impressive.

Started pushing it more through corners and grip is good so far (but not tested to a limit).

Stopping is good ( lots of birds in country lanes at first light seem rather dozy and slow to fly away).

Not able to compare with other all season tyres but if we have a mild winter I suspect I will have made a mistake. I can't see someone more performance orientated being happy running this all year round so if I was living in a location with a colder outlook I would go for a better winter performance tyre and change back to summer tyres a.s.a.p.

Very subjective but I hope this helps

Mark