I have Conti TS830s on their third winter now. I find them better than summer tyres on cold wet roads, no squirming at all.

I run 32psi front and 34psi rear, and run my summers at 32psi all round.

For the people that believe that they are too good of a driver to benefit from winter tyres:

"Morning all. Winter has arrived!!! 0.0 degrees on the display in my car at 7:30. Definately getting the winter tyres fitted this week."

- Tweet by Gary Paffett, DTM driver and McLaren Formula 1 test/reserve driver.

until they are made compulsory like in some european countries most people wont get them. Be it by not being able to afford them (me personlay) or thinking that its not worth it for a few days of icy weather.

My vrs has ditch finders on it atm and so for ive had no issues at all. No wheels spinning nothing, we dont get weather like this often enough to warrant spending so much on tyres and spare wheels. Remember the tyres will need replacing BEFORE the tread wears down to due rubber degrdation.

Tyres are good for 6 years, generally. Winters are normally worn out after about 4mm so they should be worn out by then. If not then its likely that the car is driven gently and or only a small amount per year, in which case there's a case for just having winters all year around.

Cue new argument

wel ofcourse the car will be driven gently with them on. They will be driving in poor, icy conditions. Even if you have winter tyres on you'd be a moron to drive around like the ice/snow isnt there

Indeed. They are an aid, not a magic silver bullet.

Yes you are allowed your opinion. Forgot the a9 doesnt get any snow or ice! Winter tyres don't give any more grip on bends.? ?....think tests prove they do unless it is a dry road.

I said in my experience I didn't feel any more grip in the cold so I don't care what the tests say, going by my own past experience with winters I decided they weren't worthy of my hard earned cash on my current car. If the weather is really that bad I just don't drive, my barrack block is 100m from my work so it's not like I'm required to drive a lot.

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I know it's not axactly like for like, but I took the Lupo out this morning to put some fuel in it and check it was running OK, as it gets used quite rarely. It has nearly new mid-range Kumho summer tyres on, and the Leon has Kumho winter tyres that will be replaced after this winter- they have around 3mm of tread left. Don't get me wrong, the Lupo was perfectly driveable with care- there was a light covering of snow on main roads, compacted snow on side roads, but the difference was very, very noticeable. The Lupo is not noted for a huge lump of low-down torque but anything but very light use of the throttle resulted in wheelspin, and braking on the compacted snow gave a good amount of ABS chatter.

I am surprised there was much of a difference TBH, the sipes in winter tyres (the squiggly lines that give you the grip in snow) generally disappears around 4mm, so your winters are already ‘past their best’ also I assume the Lupo is running fairly skinny tyres that does not follow the latest tyre fashion of ultra low profile tyres? both wide and low tyres are the worst combination in the snow, so the Lupo has a big advantage over most cars already.

Just like summer tyres not all premium brand winter tyres are equal, I currently have Brigestone Blizzak winter tyres on the Superb and whilst they are better than the OE Continentals they come a VERY poor second to my previous Nokian winter tyres. From my experience I will not be buying Bridgestones again, given the choice it will be Nokian’s all the way.

I am surprised there was much of a difference TBH, the sipes in winter tyres (the squiggly lines that give you the grip in snow) generally disappears around 4mm, so your winters are already ‘past their best’ also I assume the Lupo is running fairly skinny tyres that does not follow the latest tyre fashion of ultra low profile tyres? both wide and low tyres are the worst combination in the snow, so the Lupo has a big advantage over most cars already.

Sipes are still clearly visible, so maybe there's more than 3mm tread- I guessed. Anyway, they will be replaced for Nov this year- they have done 3 winters including this.

Actually, the Lupo tyres are moderately wide/low for a 13 year old car- they're 185/55 14 IIRC (whatever was fitted as OE), so compared to a 1.0E Lupo quite wide- It's a 100BHP 16V sport.

Another day and another winter tyre thumbs up. Travelling back tonight with the wife and 2 kids. Many cars stranded and sliding about whereas we were able to make safe progress singing along Disney Greatest Hits!

All hail the Goodyear Ultra Grips!

I have tried them, didn't notice a difference.

None of the emergency services fit them as standard over the winter and manage (I spent most of today in a 530 estate with summer tyres on it and didn't crash once despite doing 100mph+).

Money would be better spent on driver training IMO.

Manage you say... that wasn't what happened to the ambulance failing to go up a hill by me, that just parked up.

Manage is ok, but wouldn't it be better to not have to just manage but to be ok.

I think it all depends on the quality of the worst driver on the road.

until they are made compulsory like in some european countries most people wont get them. Be it by not being able to afford them (me personlay) or thinking that its not worth it for a few days of icy weather.

My vrs has ditch finders on it atm and so for ive had no issues at all. No wheels spinning nothing, we dont get weather like this often enough to warrant spending so much on tyres and spare wheels. Remember the tyres will need replacing BEFORE the tread wears down to due rubber degrdation.

Where in wilts are you to not have had snow. We were at the stage of having ground clearance issues and having to dig cars out before you could get going.

As for clifton/hills in bath etc, yes it's been quite entertaining.

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by cheezemonkhai

Winter tyres normally have 2 sets of wear markers.

I noticed these on mine and the local trye placed told me the following.

1st is when the manufacturer recomends changing.

2nd is the 2mm marker as on normal tyres.

Where in wilts are you to not have had snow. We were at the stage of having ground clearance issues and having to dig cars out before you could get going.

As for clifton/hills in bath etc, yes it's been quite entertaining.

I didnt say anything about no snow at all.

Only "bad" conditions are in the housing estates, noware else and aslong as you are light on the break/accelerator i've had no problems whatsoever in my vrs or my works vw caddy.

Infact I was on the M4 stuck at junction 18 on friday and all around me were people spinning their wheels etc and I had no issues at all. Drive ability to deal with the conditions has a massive affect on it

Edited 20 January, 201313 yr by ryan-re

Quite funny how people can rubbish these so quickly.

I got married in December 2010 during quite heavy snow fall and some of my family members nearly didnt make it because of the weather.

However, we then popped over to Prague for 3 days shortly after we got married - nearly EVERY SINGLE DAMN CAR I SAW had steel wheels on which gave me a good idea that they were ALL on winter tyres. No such problems with snow over there, they all just drive on it like it's normality.

I have winter tyres on my car all year round because of the amount of rain we get.

Manage you say... that wasn't what happened to the ambulance failing to go up a hill by me, that just parked up.

Probably had winter's fitted!

One other alternative to winter tyres of course is get yourself a Skoda Estelle! Engine over the drive wheels, light weight car, 165 tyres and a staggering ~50BHP. Get you anywhere, albeit slowly

Has anyone used winter tyres in anger on a hot day yet? Would be interesting to see how they'd react even though they aren't designed for it

Very happy with Dunlop Wintersport4Ds on my Scout today around the North Downs around Westerham (mainly untreated roads) - a decent fall over the course of the day on top of compacted snow from Saturday and the car didn't miss a beat even on the compacted stuff on hills. Both braking and acceleration OK albeit with ABS. The only time the ESP cut in was on a tight T-junction (the road was clear in both directions) where the car was understeering obviously and the rear braking pulled the car into line - as it should.

.....

Drive ability to deal with the conditions has a massive affect on it

Absolutely true, but bearing in mind how many people have no ability, but still hold a licence, would you rather they had winter tyres on, so they are less likely to crash into you?

Has anyone used winter tyres in anger on a hot day yet? Would be interesting to see how they'd react even though they aren't designed for it

Can't remember the last time we had a hot day :(

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However, we then popped over to Prague for 3 days shortly after we got married - nearly EVERY SINGLE DAMN CAR I SAW had steel wheels on which gave me a good idea that they were ALL on winter tyres. No such problems with snow over there, they all just drive on it like it's normality.

I have winter tyres on my car all year round because of the amount of rain we get.

It's a legal requirement to change your tyres to "winter" ones from November 1st to March 31st. Thats why most people have steels. They just change the wheels/tyres over them selves. It's common to see tyres for sale in the supermarket. And they are much cheaper than buying in the UK.

Spoke to the inlaws over the weekend and they have 3ft of snow and everything is working like normal. All the public transport is working (including the bus to their village). What do we have in the UK? A 1hour special on the BBC about the snow. I'm telling you the rest of Europe laugh at us and our inability to cope with a bit of snow Makes for good banter when i'm in the Czech local having a few beers.

Well I'm sticking by my decision to fit a set to mine, made it to the office Friday without any issues - there is no way that my Factory Contis on the 18s would have made it - mind I wouldn't have even risked it.

They do feel a bit squidgy on a warm dry day, but part of that could be the higher sidewall as my Winters are on 16" OEM steels.

Paul

Guys - there is a lot of stuff on this thread that is right, on both the "for" and "against" sides of the argument.

Take a look here; reproduced from "Lotus Proactive" which is Lotus Engineering's quarterly magazine. These guys have no axe to grind and are just reporting what they found.

http://www.thelotusforums.com/latest-news/our-news/winter-tyres-a-lotus-proactive-analysis/

If the weather is DRY, cold or warm your summers will out brake your winters.

Warm and wet, summers win - no surprise there either.

In all other tests the winters perform better ie cold and damp, icy, snowy etc. ie all the types of weather we normally have in the uk winter.

FWIW I've run my winters on warm days, like plus 12 or thereabouts and found them to be absolutely fine. No squirming or similar. Sure they're not as grippy as summers in those conditions but its only a marginal loss (no worse than having a non-premium brand tyre on the car) but the differential in the cold, wet, snow, slush etc is just massive and more than outweighs any negatives.

Has anyone used winter tyres in anger on a hot day yet? Would be interesting to see how they'd react even though they aren't designed for it

Winter tyres are on in Oct, so frequently temp verging on 20 deg C. Obviously every one will have a difference of opinion but here is mine: not too much difference in cornering (if you go too hard the ESC cuts in anyway - I do not have a calibrated backside so I am afraid that I can't give you the 'G' rating when this occurs) but biggest difference is in braking, especially emergency stop on motorway/autobahn. Whilst driving too enthusiastically in a Leon FR once I was required to emergency stop from 120 mph on autobahn (dry/warm conditions); due to softer compound and larger sidewall (205/55/16 winters vs 225/40/18 summer) the front end of the car dropped significantly causing the back to go very light - I am pretty certain that the rear wheels on the Audi A4 in front also on winter rubber left the road for a split second.

Glad I had mine on today. Sat at a set of traffic lights in Morley today with an 18 wheeler in front of me. Lights turn to green, lorry sets off then starts sliding backwards towards me. Yikes!!

Had to go around him borrowing a bit if the other lane. No drama at all.