Winter Tyres - Are they worth it?

[Jonnobris]

Hi, In light of the predictions of quote 'worst winter in 100 years' and the fact that we live in a semi rural location, can anyone out they with experience tell me if the outlay for winter wheels and tyres is a worthwhile investment. I have found a set on Skodaparts.co.UK for £400 (wheels and tyres) is this a good price? they say 'budget' but not what make of tyre.

thanks.

[loadswine]

I don't even live in the countryside and it has been useful for me. I wasn't convinced till a few years back, I tried them on a 2WD yeti I had, it was one of those 'seeing the light' things. Definitely go for these now and have a set for my Roomster for when it gets a bit colder. I do think its worth going for decent tyres though, rather than budgets, if you can. I had Continentals for the yeti, amazing! and have Dunlops for my Roomster, which are very good.

Good hunting!

[grafitti]

If you're sitting on the fence whether or not to get the wheels and tyres set, then why not just get the tyres now? If the ones listed are "budget" that could mean budget continentals ie: Uniroyal - still a very good rated tyre, or generic - probably not the best.

You can pay a bit over £200 for a set of 195/55 Unis, less if you go with the 185/60 size. And I think while other upper midrange and premium brands are costlier, the savings scale up as well.

If you don't find the right steels immediately and the weather worsens, fit the winter tyres to your existing alloys. But it should be cheap to pick up a used set of steels, or you may be lucky like me last year. Got a set of 15" Antares alloys with a winter's worth of tread on Conti 850s from a fellow Briskodan, and it was only around £200 for the lot.

[cvennall]

I had winter trres on the last Roomie - and they were well worth the cost. The wide low profile (205/45 16's) versus narrower taller tyres (195/55 15's) meant that I was a lot more confident with the car in snow and cold conditions. In fact I would go as far as to say the standard whell/tyre combination was rubbish in snow. The winter tyres have  lasted me through 2 winters and will go on the new Roomie very soon, even though I no longer have 16's on the new car. As we live in a very rural area and have to drive on often untreated roads and across  exposed moorland, they do make a lot of difference in my ability to get to work.

 

So, if you want my advice - get them. I spent around £450 for 4 wheels and tyres. The tyres are about to see their 3rd winter, so it's not bad value for money, and the increased confidence and ability to travel in poor road conditions is invaluable.

[keystonedriving]

I bought a set of VW alloys (cheap) from a forum member here three years ago and had them fitted with a set of Kumho winters.  I went for the Kumhos because looking on the ADAC site showed that they did not have the wet road braking problems that a lot of winter tyres do.  Realistically we probably spend more time in the wet than the snow, so I felt they would be a better choice.

 

They are sitting in the garage waiting to do their third winter.  It will be their last, though, as the treads will be too worn after another year.

 

I've certainly felt that they ahve done a good job, even though there hasn't really been snow to cope with.

[Auric Goldfinger]

I was suprised just how good winter tyre are, even with a DSG box. It isn't just snow, slush and rain. They just grip better in cold weather

 

Mine will be going on in the next couple of weeks

[Jonnobris]

Thanks for your replies guys! Think I'm going to probably get some. What insurance implications are there re swapping to winters on Steel wheels? 

[grafitti]

most insurers are fine with it. some don't need to be told ,others just want notification of the change and some don't allow it without it being counted as a mod. There's a good thread on the forum with the list of insurers and their stance on it.

[@Lee]

Winters all the way from me. Got them for my Fabia 1 year ago and they'll be on again this year. Also got a set for SWMBO's Yeti. Both are GoodYear Ultragrip 8's

[keystonedriving]

Thanks for your replies guys! Think I'm going to probably get some. What insurance implications are there re swapping to winters on Steel wheels? 

Provided that you stick to a wheel/tyre combination which has been homologated for your vehicle there should be no problems.  One insurance company asked me to advise them when I changed, another didn't worry.

[fabdavrav]

I have lived in the North of Scotland since 1994 and only started using winter tyres about 4 to 5yrs ago. I previously got around in winter in front wheel drive cars by using SKILL.

 

I got my first set of (4 or 5yrs ago) winters because I had a hell of a morning driving across Inverness and the temp was something stupid low and the grit wasn't working so lots of black ice everywhere. The ABS and the ASR lights had great fun in trying to give me epilepsy at every approach to a junction or a roundabout........

 

Now with winters I can drive and ENJOY like I do in summer, no more intense stress!

 

DEFO a moment of "seeing the light".

[Lorenzo]

Under 7-8 °C and especially with ice and snow, winter tyres are a must for the safety conscious driver.

The first time I fitted a set, I thought: How could I do without them, from now on? 

[Jonnobris]

Anyone got any experience of Uniroyal MS plus 66?

[grafitti]

I just bought a set a few weeks ago for this winter, so I haven't tried them yet.

When I rang camskill to inquire about them vs continentals, they said that the performance (as in grip, fuel efficiency, etc) is about 10% below the continental 850.

Since the price difference is much more significant than that, it would have to be a pretty terrible winter to level the difference. If you can even find the contis at a reasonable price - they said the UK is getting even less stock this year because production was down and we haven't got compulsory winter tyres so mainland europe gets demand satisfied first before continental allocates winter tyre stock to the UK. True or not, i don't know.

[Lorenzo]

Well, the crucial difference is winter tyres vs. NO winter tyres. Then, you can reasonably select among different offers and models without being too choosy. My advice is recent production date (but winters are practically built to order, nowadays) and narrow tyre section.

 

If you read German, Italian of French this should be THE site for winter tyres tests:

http://www.tcs.ch/fr/test-securite/tests/pneus/hiver.php

Edited 21 October, 2013 by Lorenzo