Winter tyres are designed to give improved grip in cold & wet conditions.

 

Exactly.

Like everything else, it all comes down to how people want to use their own cash. Winter tyres are just like insurance. You might never need that extra grip and control that saves you from an accident.

Well my winter steel wheels might not be going on. My alloys have corroded on and will not come off.

Loosen the bolts a bit then gently lower the car to the ground. The weight of the car normally breaks the wheel free of the hub. You might have to gently drive backwards and forwards if it doesn't free itself easily.

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Loosen the bolts a bit then gently lower the car to the ground. The weight of the car normally breaks the wheel free of the hub. You might have to gently drive backwards and forwards if it doesn't free itself easily.

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Or a soft face dead blow hammer works wonders.

Or a good whack on the tyre with a mallet.

Well, for all the non believers, this morning there are 3 road closures within a few miles of my house due to the number of accidents caused by the ice.

And the M61 had 2 lanes closed due to a car spinning and hitting the central reservation.

I'd rather pay for winters and stay safe, thanks.

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Thanks for the advice guys. Got the car washed this morning and on the way home nearly had two accidents due to black ice! Managed to get the wheels changed using the loosen bolts method and for the back wheels bouncing up and down the kerb behind my drive. Feel safer now.

Even down south(ish) today I slid out of the tip at 11am!

Can't put the winters on though as it's with the dealers, again, for another week.

Oh well!

I have 205/50/17 Nokian winter tires mounted on Dezent aftermarket alloys. Any idea what pressure they should be set to, as the recommended pressures inside the fuel flap are for my 18" Gemini wheels. The tires themselves only say max 51 psi, which would be by far the most pressure i've ever put in a car tire. Ideas? Links?

 

The info system has picked up that the tires/ wheels are different, and is asking me to check pressures. As i didn't witness the tire mounting procedure, it seems sensible to check the pressures before resetting the info system. Funny how its baltic in"we don't need winter tires" UK, but is was a sunny mild 12 degrees here  in "mandatory or you void the insurance" Prague.  :sun:     

I have 205/50/17 Nokian winter tires mounted on Dezent aftermarket alloys. Any idea what pressure they should be set to, as the recommended pressures inside the fuel flap are for my 18" Gemini wheels. The tires themselves only say max 51 psi, which would be by far the most pressure i've ever put in a car tire. Ideas? Links?

Nokian tyres recommends 0,2 bar (20 kpa) higher pressures in their winter tires compared to the (car) manufacturer recommendation.

Edited 14 December, 201411 yr by kallekilponen

Fitted mine at the weekend, they are 16" Borbet CC Silver. Tyres are Goodyear Ultragrip 9, 205/55 R16.

 

I think they look pretty decent, although with 16" wheels the tyres look a lot more chunky!

 

Would they be from Mr Winter Wheels? Such a popular combo that that's what they sent me even tho I ordered the Conti TS850s...    Can't complain about their customer services tho, they were willing to make the swap but in the end I accepted their offer of twice the cost difference plus the £40 cashback (total of £120) to stick with the Goodyears. 

 

To all the doubters out there, I think there's more than enough info out there that they're worth it in this country. I had no real idea that these things existed before reading about them here and then doing some digging. It's all well and good seeing that 2WD and winter tyres get you a lot further up a ski-slope than 4WD and summer tyres. However, I'm more interested in the braking scenario: I'd rather be stationary than still doing 20-25mph as seen in this video on both snow and cold wet roads. 

The you tube video of cars on an ice rink is very educational

Would they be from Mr Winter Wheels? Such a popular combo that that's what they sent me even tho I ordered the Conti TS850s... Can't complain about their customer services tho, they were willing to make the swap but in the end I accepted their offer of twice the cost difference plus the £40 cashback (total of £120) to stick with the Goodyears.

To all the doubters out there, I think there's more than enough info out there that they're worth it in this country. I had no real idea that these things existed before reading about them here and then doing some digging. It's all well and good seeing that

. However, I'm more interested in the braking scenario: I'd rather be stationary than still doing 20-25mph as seen in

.

Yes I got mine from Mr Winter Wheels, good service for me as I got what I ordered. At least they made you a reasonable offer for the **** up.

The ultra grip 9 are great so far, in fact I'm getting better MPG with them than my OEM summer tyres! (Michelin primacy HP)

Mine still not on yet, the lowest temperatures we've had are -3°C on a couple of days, just been driving carefully on those two days and currently the temperature here in the Surrey hills is a rather nice 11°C.

 

When the forecast says about the weather deteriorating towards a prolonged cold snap, then they'll go on.

 

 

 cold snap

 

One of my favourite phrases in English. It sounds so innocent but can deilver so much misery

 

One of my favourite phrases in English. It sounds so innocent but can deilver so much misery

 

Ah, but you Finnish folk are used to the harsh winter environment as it happens annually.

 

Unlike the British who think it only happens once every so often, put money before anything else and then complain bitterly about it afterwards.

Mine still not on yet, the lowest temperatures we've had are -3°C on a couple of days, just been driving carefully on those two days and currently the temperature here in the Surrey hills is a rather nice 11°C.

 

When the forecast says about the weather deteriorating towards a prolonged cold snap, then they'll go on.

 

I wonder what your aversion to putting them on now is? I know that if I wait for a specific weather forecast it'll happen when I've no time to go and change them, but besides that I'd sooner be using the winters at 11°C than the summers at -3°C.

 

Your winter tyres won't melt the moment it goes above 7°C.

I used the wife's jap import mx5 today(so I didn't get the vrs dirty) and even with its LSD the toyo T1Rs really have no place on the roads at this time of year.

It just wanted to go sideways everywhere! Understeer to oversteer. It was like driving on diesel compared to the Octavia on its nokians. Normally it drives like its on rails.

After getting stuck Thursday night in the middle of nowhere for 2 hours while a farmer pulled us up a hill one at a time, I fitted these Fri afternoon.

3rd car I've had these on now and my 5th winter with them - originally from an Astra H. 205/55/16 Falken HS449 eurowinter.

I wonder what your aversion to putting them on now is? I know that if I wait for a specific weather forecast it'll happen when I've no time to go and change them, but besides that I'd sooner be using the winters at 11°C than the summers at -3°C.

 

Your winter tyres won't melt the moment it goes above 7°C.

 

Don't see the point of putting on expensive alloy wheels & winter tyres until absolutely necessary, make the most of them. 

Don't see the point of putting on expensive alloy wheels & winter tyres until absolutely necessary, make the most of them. 

Just make sure you dont end up in the ditch :P

I out mine in before it go too cold so I didn't have to do it when it was freezing outside. If I had a garage I may have waited a bit longer

Don't see the point of putting on expensive alloy wheels & winter tyres until absolutely necessary, make the most of them. 

 

Also remember that winter tyres are made of a softer compound. After 3-5 years the compound hardens considerably and the result is a tyre that doesn't grip ice/snow much better than a summer tyre. Depending on annual mileage, it is possible to end up with a set of useless "winter" tyres after 5 years, that still have lots of tread on them. Of course you can always wear them out by using them for following summer but then the performance will be worse than a summer tyre.

 

In short - try to wear out your winter tyres within 5 years. Every km on them saves a km on your summer set.

Don't see the point of putting on expensive alloy wheels & winter tyres until absolutely necessary, make the most of them. 

 

I think to make the most of them you need to use them more, not less? In my view it would make them particularly expensive if you end up replacing the winter rubber based on age with 7.5mm of tread left.

Sorry, I see that I'm repeating what others have already said. With the mileage that I do and the wear rate so far it looks like my winter tyres will last 4 or 5 winters, so I wouldn't want to be using them any less really.

ok a little behind on posting but winters fitted about 2 weeks ago  - winter only Skoda Ilias 16" wheels,  205/55R16 ContiWinterContact TS 850.

Lovely driving, no noticeable noise increase over original 18" set up.

After temp starts dropping below 10 centigrades, the difference of feel in the wheel changes drastically.

 

As soon as I put winter tyres (and the premium ones) I feel like I am glued to the road. And all that in dry weather.. let alone some greasy roads.. I know they will wear fast (even with my low mileage) but I wouldnt want otherwise.