My first post, so please excuse the long winded story, and hopefully this issue hasn't been posted already, but there are so many posts it seems impossible to search them all to see if this is a repeat. Apologies if it is.

 

Back in March I bought a 56 plate Octavia Ambience Estate, 1.9 TDI 110 bhp (PD, I think). The tyres, summer 205/60/R15/91V, were on their last legs (two were bordering legal on tread, another two were reported as cracking, in the previous MoT advisory). Faced with the thought of four new tyres on top of the purchase price, my local mechanic suggested just using the winter tyres I had taken off my Audi A4 that I had just sold, using them all year round, and then possibly switching to All-season tyres after that (I live in rural Fife, in a farm cottage, so winters aren't that harsh, some snow, but there is a steepish hill that I need to get up, possibly with the aid of the chains I have as a backup). These tyres are Goodyear Ultragrip 8 195/65/R15/91T, and so were a fit for diameter, and had only had two winters use, so plenty of tread. So, these were put on the Skoda allow wheels (my only reservation being that these are 6.5J compared to the 6J that were on the Audi, but from I read online this shouldn't be a problem).

 

All fine until a couple of months ago. On four occaisions now, roughly every 2 or 3 weeks, usually in the morning, I will see that the front-nearside tyre is completely flat. I have taken it back to my local garage, who changed the tyres initially, and each time they have re-fitted the tyre, along with the standard sealing gunk, stating there isn't a puncture, just a question of seal to the rim, but this doesn't seem to solve the problem. My guess is that a combination of a winter tyre, on a slightly wider wheel, in the summer heat (relative to winter), on the front-nearside corner which takes the biggest hits from the utterly crap UK roads, is just too much for it. It was fine for about 3 or 4 months.

 

So, looking for advice for a way forward. Current thinking is to go for All-season tyres, possibly Goodyear Vector 4-Seasons (slightly over £100 each), of the 205/60/15 variety, but I'm not sure these are made in this size. Alternatively, get some 6J steel wheels, put the winter tyres on them, and get 4 basic summer 205/60/15 tyres on the Skoda Alloys. First option will cost around £400, though I might then be able to sell the winter tyres, steel wheels and new summer tyres for the alloys look likely to cost nearer to £500.

 

Any thought/suggestions?

Thanks.

It's probably some corrosion on the inside of the rim causing a poor seal tbh.

 

Quite common with alloy wheels.

 

You shouldn't really be using winter tyres in Summer as the rubber compound is different.

 

Also you're engine will most likely be a 1.9 PD105 (BXE engine number).

 

Phil

If its one tyre, its almost certainly just that theres something wrong with it or the wheel.

 

If you're not a racing driver, winter tyres will be fine in UK summers. I frequently go to a much hotter (in summer) country where about 1/4 of the cars have winter tyres on all year around.

Yeah winter tyres are OK. Obviously they are no idea but generally winter tyres are better in the summer than summer tyres are in the winter.

 

The biggest issue with running winter tyres in the summer is they will normally wear a lot quicker in the summer than summer tyres will, that said it all depends on how many miles you are doing i.e. I am currently doing <2K in mine so looking to just use winter all year round

I would go with the defective alloy or tyre being the culprit. I wouldn't see an issue running a 195 section tyre on a 6.5J wheel.

 

As Phil says, I would suspect either wheel corrosion or a defective bead is at play here.

 

Winter tyres all year round is another discussion really; it's a tricky one because for you all-seasons will probably show their weakness in the depth of winter, in your part of the world. Likewise winters will be somewhat compromised during the warmer months, due to the softer compound.

 

That's why most, myself included, have two sets of wheels - one with winters fitted, another with summer tyres.

Thanks for the responses and advice.

 

I forgot to mention that we had previously tried putting the tyre that was going flat onto a different wheel (the one that had the spare tyre), with the same result i.e. at some point the tyre would go flat. So, suggests the wheel isn't the culprit, but the tyre could be. Consequently, I will try moving the wheel (with winter tyre) that is currently used as near-side rear to near-side front, the position that has been the problem, and see if this goes flat. The summer tyre and wheel currently being used at near-side front will go the rear. If both of these are OK after a few weeks, will try the 'problem tyre', currently used as the spare, at near-side rear. If that goes down, shows the tyre was the problem. If it stays up, suggests the battering of near-side front by potholes was the main factor.

 

I will try and remember to update with whatever the outcome is.

 

With regard to All Season tyres, I was only really considering them because the claim is that they can now offer approaching 95% the performance of a winter tyre, without the same performance degradation in the summer. For me the car is more or less simply a means of transportation, which I'd like to do in reasonable comfort, as cheaply, reliably and safely as possible, within my limited budget. I don't push the car too hard, so hopefully small reductions in performance are unlikely to be a problem, provided the tyre stays inflated

 

With regard to All Season tyres, I was only really considering them because the claim is that they can now offer approaching 95% the performance of a winter tyre, without the same performance degradation in the summer. For me the car is more or less simply a means of transportation, which I'd like to do in reasonable comfort, as cheaply, reliably and safely as possible, within my limited budget. I don't push the car too hard, so hopefully small reductions in performance are unlikely to be a problem, provided the tyre stays inflated

 

Have 4 seasons Goodyear Eagle Vectors on cars at work and they have been fantastic. They drive all year round in colder winters and hotter summers than the UK generally speaking. Sit on autobahns at speed and are not driven the most sympathetically. In 3.5 years since switching to that specific tyre we have had no cars become stuck or had any accidents where the vehicle has lost traction. Talking around 1.5 million miles of use spread out over Mondeo's, Astra's, Corsa's, Sprinter's and Vito's. I have Hankook 4 seasons on my own winter alloys they have also been spot on but I am still a bigger fan of the Goodyear Eagle Vector ones. We see about 22000 - 26000 miles out of each set of fronts, but as said these are company vehicles driven by people who know they are not paying for them.....   Very impressive all round tyre pretty good at everything, far better than the Continental Sport Contact 2's that came on my VRS new. 

With regard to All Season tyres, I was only really considering them because the claim is that they can now offer approaching 95% the performance of a winter tyre, without the same performance degradation in the summer. 

 

I read the same, but with a degree of suspicion as I can't see how that's possible really, to get within 95%. The ability of a winter tyre is in its softer compound and treadblock design, which then puts you at a disadvantage in the warmer months as there is then too much movement and flex. So I can't really see how you can engineer that out, without affecting the tyre's winter performance advantage. 

Valve?

 

Don't think there's a huge problem running the winters in summer except for the reduced fuel economy and drastically increased wear.

Well I continued to use my winter tyres this summer until they worn down and needed replacing with no problems.

The performance and economy didnt seem to change enough to notice and I had no loss of pressure.

I did around 1000 miles  week on them in the warm weather and didnt change them until late june.

 

Are you checking the pressures regularly or just waiting until it is flat.

 

I would try another garage and get the wheel, tyre, and valve tested.

I changed quite late this year, for a number of reasons. I didn't notice any difference in fuel economy.

 

As far as wear is concerned, I didn't notice anything different, although I was driving with tyre type in mind, that I was never going to get a performance level of handling in warm, dry conditions from a winter tyre. It's possibly that style of driving that would accelerate wear with a winter tyre fitted.

There is no problem with running winter tyres during the summer expect the ware. Winter tyres are designed for winter temperatures and summer tyres only work at certain optimum temperatures.... Most European countries require you to use winters tyres during winter and not surprising due to the low temp and hard winters that some of them have... The uk though does not have that many harsh winters, with the exception of the last couple of years, so the standard is to run on normal tyres...

 

I had the same as you with tyre going down. Took it to a tyre place who put it into water and didn't notice anything, until i saw some bubbles in the corner of the tyre. They took the thing off and noticed the tyre had been driven on flat..... Moral to the story is that if it doing down then get it off and checked. Take it to a local more reputable place than a national tyre place.... But this only my point of view.

If the tyre has been moved and still doing it then must be the tyre

About the Winter Tyres Thread....I live in Luxembourg and it gets really cold during 3 to 4 months of the year and M+S Tyres are compulsory by law. In winter the advantages are evident and here most people seem to use them during Summer too, me inclusive (the tyre acts much more stable when it rains also and in temperatures bellow +7 Centigrade - last winter here we saw it go down to -15......). Main issues I see during summer operation with them  are a small hit in fuel efficiency, big hit in degradation and top lower top speeds possible (you need to check on the Tyre for its rated speed).

 

In winter they are awesome, no aquaplaning, stable and steady progress in Snow / Mud conditions.

Update regarding the tyre going flat.

It's possibly early days but the suspect tyre has been used on the rear nearside for a couple of weeks without going flat. It seems that I do have to keep the tyre pressures topped up, and it may have been the case that if the tyre pressure was sitting a little low and took a serious hit on a pothole, this may have been enough to cause the deflation. But the tyre going down always happened slowly overnight not an instant deflation (except possibly the very first time it was seen to be flat, and as the other half was driving the car that day, I don't know the circumstances).

Nice article here http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/All-Season-Tyres-How-Do-They-Stack-Up.htm

 

Personally I have Conti SportContact 5 for summer and Conti TS850 for winter, but based on this test Conti TS850 winter, seems to beat the Vector all-season, while only being a winter tire.

 

Also since you have chains for worst days, a winter/all-season is enough.