I would just like some common sense advice please. I've just returned from Italy where I was running the utterly amazing Nokian WR A3s for the whole ski season. I'm now off to Lake Garda for the summer & have some awesome Hankook S1 Evos from before that could go back on.

However, although I'm driving there in a week & returning around October ish, I won't be doing a huge amount of driving over there. Maybe the odd trip around the lake to see friends or to Milan maybe. But chances are it'll just be once every few weeks just to keep everything ticking over.

I'm wondering if the excess wear the winters would experience would be cheaper than changing them now & then back again on my return. Bearing in mind I'll probably cover no more than 500 in summer temps (20-28 approx) what do you all think?

The A3s describe themselves as all-weather tyres (on the sidewall) and for that low a mileage I can't see you having any problems. Mine came off on Saturday in anticipation of warmer weather and it's been under 4C today and we've been snowed on several times driving over the North York Moors!

500 miles will be nothing for them, theyll be fine. If you're worried then just don't race on them

SWMBO runs winters all year every year even in temps of 30 degrees with no problems. Just drive within the speed limit and they're just fine.

Thanks guys. My overdraft was feeling the weight already. I'll leave them on.

I run mine all year round. No issues just reduced grip in the warmer days compared to summers but still probably more grip than budget tyres.

We'll soon be changing the wheels on one car since it has a set with winter tyres and another set with summer tyres, and since I'll be doing it myself it will cost us nothing. Our other car has all-season tyres that get used all year around.

Also worth remembering the advice from Continental that if you have to choose one set of tyres to use all year then it is better to use winters in preference to summer tyres, (Continental don't make all-season tyres so don't mention them in their advice).

They do now: http://www.continentaltire.ca/www/tires_ca_en/themes/pcar/allseason/

But yeah, if I looked after a car which didn't get enough use to wear out two sets of tyres, it would have winter tyres on it all year.

I have never had winter tyres on a car before & since buying my Octy 1.8T decided it was time I did due to ever increasingly poor weather. My fronts are near limit & I've bought some winters "Michelin Primacy Alpin", but due to a lot of out goings I'll need to run them till next spring.

My question is; as they are designed to work in lower temps, how will they wear compared to summers?

My question is; as they are designed to work in lower temps, how will they wear compared to summers?

As a general rule runnimg winters in warm weather will wear quicker than normal tyres as they are softer compounds. They side walls will probably move more too for the same reason so the handling won't be quite so sharp

They'll be fine, don't worry about it. We don't get enough hot days here to warrant worrying about using winters in summer.

On a hot, clear sunny day at about 25deg C (so tarmac probably at 30-35degC), you can wear out 4mm winter tyre thread down to 0 (smooth tyre surface) in about 600 miles at 100mph. Tested on Contis and Mk1 Octy. If you drive slower, it'll take much longer. I wanted to finish these off, but I was surprised how quickly they did.

Keep in mind these were winter tyres (WinterContact ?750) on the front axle , I ran Nokian WR all-weathers for several years on rear axle during spring/summer/autumn in the UK and the wear was pretty much normal there.

For the reasons you describe, I would leave them on

Thanks for all the info guys, been a big help