Winter Tyres on yet?

[scottishscout]

Put the winter tyres on today. Would rather do it in the dry ahead of the rain, sleet and snow!

I had got a bit fed up of the look of the black steel 16" wheels so when I found a set of Octavia Elegance 16" alloys in good condition I snapped them up. Sold the steels with my old winter tyres to an Audi driver. This year trying Avon Ice Touring. My brother has run these on his Scout for a couple of years and has been happy with them.

I actually really like the look of these wheels on the car

[octavia5]

I take it you are 'Up North'? somewhere (helps to put a location in your profile)  - I have just ordered a new set of winter wheels and tyres but do not expect to fit them before mid November.

[neil_f]

I've got a new set of 18" avon ice touring to try this winter. Have used hankook the last couple of winters. Heard good things about the avons

[sharkrider]

look good I bought some octy elegance wheels (with goodyear GW3 winters!) for my fabia, and refurbed them myself

 

 

 

I'm in cumbria, but they are not going on yet waiting until its below 7C average, frosty nights ect ect, quite warm at the moment!

[Huskoda]

I'm waiting for the forecast to show no higher than 10 degrees over the next week, which more or less is about the time of the clock change.

[ed209]

Mine won't be going on til December, and I live in the north and high up.

[Gazman]

I live near London and I guess mine will go on for about a week in January, wandering at the moment if they were a good buy...

[Web Ferret]

I'm waiting for the forecast to show no higher than 10 degrees over the next week, which more or less is about the time of the clock change.

Same here another 2 weeks.

 

3rd year for my Avon Ice Tourings. This will be their last winter so I will leave them on late into spring to kill them off and see how fast the remaining tread wears in the warmer 2014.

 

New 4x4 came with slicks so Nokian winter boots for that waiting in the garage. First time I have had to get winters for a 4x4 in 14 years but most 4x4s are now coming with road only tyres :-(

[Guest]

I've had my Uniroyal MS Plus 66s stacked in my spare room for about 6 weeks now but it will probably be early to mid November before I get them on. The tyres on at the moment are down to about 3mm so it's an ideal time to change.

[k.young]

It is still too warm. I would say it will be well into November for me. I think I will try Kuhmo's this year.

[Gizmo]

I live near London and I guess mine will go on for about a week in January, wandering at the moment if they were a good buy...

 

Ha ha ha, don’t believe it … you will ‘need’ them on for a damn site longer than a week, trust me!

 

For me once the temperature starts to drop to 7° (at the times when the cars are being driven) then I will change them over… probably got another month or so to go yet.  

[paddypaws]

Just bought some Winter Kumhos that are fitted to Audi A4 alloys. They're still in the shed until the temps get down to 7 degrees or so.  The alloys look just like those Elegance ones you have!

[tuono01]

I've got the Avon Ice touriing on the Neptunes which will be going on in the next week, only because the front Contis are shot!

Time to get the Interlagos refurbed for next year.

[domhnall]

I had to scrape ice off the windscreen on Wednesday, would have put them on this weekend but I'm in London for half term break. Can't believe how warm it is here, it's the same temperature as we were having in August :-)

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[rogerzilla]

No, but they are on the MX-5 and (typically) we have unseasonably warm weather now!

 

I have a set of steelies and Nokian WR D3 on order for the Octavia.  I know some people think winter tyres are an extravagance but they also keep the salt off your alloys and of course halve the wear on both sets.  And on those days when it does snow, you can laugh at everyone else.

[paddypaws]

Looks like we might appreciate the winters this year!

 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/436170/Worst-winter-for-decades-Record-breaking-snow-predicted-for-November

[herriotVRS]

What profiles are people using? I am switching the 18s to 16s for the winter. originals are 225/40/18 and have been offered 205/55/16 but would I need 215/55/16 or 205/60/16 to maintain a more standard rolling diameter?

 

Thanks

 

Edited to add, up here we tend to put winters on from October, we had 6 months of snow 2 years ago and I did 12k miles always on snow! Vredstein snowtracs have never let me down, tried the continentals last year and struggled more.

Edited 20 October, 2013 by herriotVRS

[FUBAR]

What profiles are people using? I am switching the 18s to 16s for the winter. originals are 225/40/18 and have been offered 205/55/16 but would I need 215/55/16 or 205/60/16 to maintain a more standard rolling diameter?

 

Thanks

 

Edited to add, up here we tend to put winters on from October, we had 6 months of snow 2 years ago and I did 12k miles always on snow! Vredstein snowtracs have never let me down, tried the continentals last year and struggled more.

 

205/55/16 is correct for the VRS See below for comparison ref rolling diameter. 99%* of us VRS ppl when using winter rubber are on 205/55/16 as per Skodas recommendation. 

 

 

 

*= stats compiled in my head

[jrw]

I've just ordered two replacement Avons for my winters. Ordered from camskill but the one tyre is made at end of 2011. Do you think this is acceptable seeing as this tyre should last around 4 winters on my car?

[Huskoda]

It's about the limit of acceptable and it will last 4 years before it hits the 6 years when it's recommended to change. I would reject it if it was any older though.

[Volvomeg]

Changed my wheels yesterday, bit earlier than last year but my front tyres on my normal wheels were bald and needed changing

[sleekitwan]

Hi, have seen people mentioning various brands of winter tyre, and as I have researched and had a front pair of 205/55/R16 Avon Ice Touring on my Volvo, I hope it's useful to you. I now know not that much about winter/M&S/snow tyres, but it's about ten times more than I ever wanted to !

Avon 'Ice Tourer/Touring' tyres were fitted to my Volvo when I bought it 6 months ago, and there's a similar-sounding one called 'Ice Tourer/Touring ST' or something. The NON-'ST' suffixed one, has over 40 reviews on 'Tire review' website, all pretty good, but the 'ST' one has 4 at the moment, and is by no means badly thought of. Incidentally, this V70 is an automatic.

My own experience is of using them this summer for two weeks in/to Brittany (say 1500 miles) and recently in the rain and single-figures temperatures in Yorkshire, both motorway and A-road/rough tracks (some kids' summer school event in a field). Field included bit of wet grass, they did fine, the V70 has basic traction control, not overly-clever though like later models, and while it is automatic transmission, it has an override to force it to 'winter start' in a higher gear than 1st if you want it to. Took care, and they impressed by starting from nowt up the grassy slope.

Important bit first: when I changed them recently (worn to the 'wear-bumps') to a pair of almost-new (7mm) Goodyear Eagle NCT5 tyres, and travelled around a bend I often frequent to the supermarket, on a slip road in rain, it was incredibly stark and obvious I had to steer into the corner a lot more. This as you will know, is what you have to do just before the tyre loses grip, if it's not doing its job very well.

Conclusion is, on my V70 Volvo at least, the Avon Ice Touring is a good tyre in poor conditions, and just wears a bit more in good conditions. Of course, in France, it lashed us in two storms while we were there, and they were great in that.

So, I can back up that for the money, Avon 'Ice Touring' tyres are a decent circle of rubber, only have not tried in truly stinking hot conditions, but we did 130kph (80-ish mph?) in nearly 40 deg c, and they were fine, it's a good 'hybrid' design I guess?

Also, this means I can stay on-topic and say that it's certainly cold enough in Northern England to notice the difference between a rather average summer-designated Goodyear tyre, and the improvement in grip with the better-quality 'proper' Winter tyre, as of early October. Lastly, I happen to be on a really almost worn-out pair of Dunlop Winter tyres temporarily on the front at this moment (came with a set of wheels), and they are noticeably better than the NCT5s despite having only 3-4mm of max tread depth compared to the 7mm on those Goodyears. Point to note: the Goodyears are meant to last quite well in mileage terms.

[rogerzilla]

Looks like we might appreciate the winters this year!

 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/436170/Worst-winter-for-decades-Record-breaking-snow-predicted-for-November

 

They say that every year when the Diana story has gone quiet for a bit

[CEPi]

I'm putting mine next weekend Conti TS850 from last winter. Temp. in the morning already is 2-4C.

[Ultrasonic]

My own experience is of using them this summer for two weeks in/to Brittany...

You don't want to be using winter tyres in summer, even if it's raining. You'd be better off with good summer tyres. As people above have been referring to, it's temperature that matters.

 

I'm toying with buying some winter wheels and tyres at the moment, having never done so before. Does anyone know where I can find a definitive list of approved wheel and tyre sizes for my 2005 Octavia? I've tried contacting Skoda UK but have yet to get a reply. My summer wheels are 16" but 15" winter wheels would be cheaper, and probably better in the snow.