Is anyone running these?

I was on the lookout for a set of good all-season tyres. These are very new, so not many reviews are out on the net.

I have ordered a set in 225/50R17 for my scout, it'll be a month or so before they arrive and even longer before the current set are due for replacement. I've got a 205/60R16 for the spare coming too. Why do Skoda ship a 205/55R16 spare which is one full inch smaller than the wheels it has to replace?

Why do Skoda ship a 205/55R16 spare which is one full inch smaller than the wheels it has to replace?

Because it is cheaper for them. Note that 205/60R16 has almost the same circumference as 225/50R17 so is reasonable to use as a spare albeit with usage restrictions.

There's something to be said for the idea of using 205/60R16 for all the road wheels but car buyers like the look of larger wheels and lower profile tyres, even if it results in lower performance.

Edited to add: after looking for information on this tyre, I'm not convinced it is an all-season tyre in the same way that the Goodyear Vector 4Seasons, the Hankook Opimo 4S and the Vredestein Quatrac 3 all are. It seems to be aimed mainly at the U.S. market, where 'all-seasons' appears to mean something slightly different. It doesn't appear to have the snowflake-triple-peak symbol, and the advertising bumph suggests it can (only) be used in light snow in the early part of its life.

Edited 1 February, 201313 yr by AnotherGareth

I'll bet VAG get a decent quantity discount on their steel spares with 205/55R16. Yes I went up to 205/60R16 specifically to match the radius of the 225/50R17's. I can end up a long way away from a tyre shop, being able to travel at reasonable speeds with a spare fitted is important.

I tried to downsize to 16x6.5" wheels with 205/60R16, but couldn't find any wheels that fit the car and fit my tastes. So I'll get the proteus refurbed at the tyre change time.

being able to travel at reasonable speeds with a spare fitted is important.

As I understand it, the weight difference across the axle means that for safety reasons you should limit your maximum speed to 50 mph when using the spare. Basically, it is a space-saver spare and must be used accordingly.

I think not providing a full size spare wheel is a terrible idea.

Weight difference is too small to matter and wouldn't make a difference anyway. The main concerns are diameter (which I'm fixing) and secondly there is a handling concern with a spare that is a different width and profile.

But I don't intend to drive like an idiot with the spare fitted. I just want to be able to travel at 100km/h on the straights instead of 80km/h.

I fitted a full-size spare to a previous car I owned, I never needed it, but the wife did. Her biggest problem was barely being able to undo the wheel nuts.

I've carried a full-size spare in the other work car for 5 years and never needed that. But one holiday in my 4wd I needed it twice. One puncture going on holiday, the other coming home.

Are these Conti's on sale in Europe or only North America?

They don't sell winter or all-season tyres in New Zealand so I have to import. Local choices are budget or summer performance.

Haven't yet found a retailer for these tyres in Europe. Have looked at Camskill, mytyres, Pneus Online and reifen, which together should give a reasonable idea about what is readily available in Europe, (although stocks change through the season).

One problem is that tyre models may be named and described differently for different territories.

Interesting that the New Zealand Transport Agency have a leaflet [.pdf] about winter and all-season tyres. It includes a (relatively) recent rule change to say that winter tyres must not be mixed with summer tyres.

Yes, there was at least one fatal crash of a used japanese import car that came fitted with snow tyres that lost traction in warm damp conditions. I don't know exactly what was wrong with japanese snow tyres then, but they didn't stick at all to roads that were even slightly damp and weren't much better in the dry. They truely were dangerous and behaved nothing like the modern snow/ice/winter tyres I have driven. They also came in on large numbers of used japanese cars which were sold to people who didn't know in warm parts of the country.

I breifly owned a car fitted with them (bought from a dealer no less) and was caught out on the first open-road corner. A 1500cc corolla could spin them up on a slightly damp road in second gear at 2000rpm.

But something has changed with the modern snow/ice/winter tyres and their compounds compared to these early japanese offerings, even the set of japanese winter/snow/ice tyres (age unknown) I ran on my 4wd last winter behaved normally.

We did need that directive, because only a small part of this country can benefit from ice/snow/winter tyres and that's the part I live and play in. The remaining 98% or so are fine with summer rubber all year round.

So now it's official that you need 4+mm of tread and matching winter or not winter rubber all-round and the usual 1.5mm tread depth. The a/t tyres I run on my 4wd most of the time are classified as all-season under that rule, but it makes no difference from previously.

Interesting.

The Continental Tyre website for europe is heavily split into summer and winter rubber. To get all-season rubber you end up on the same site under Canada-US.