Yes, winters on 15-Nov 15-March, snow chains in the boot too during this period.

 

You can leave winters on all year, no problem thought not many do that as the summer heat will ruin them quickly and make them hard/slippery on dry)

 

Yes there is a rush in Nov and March in tire shops, but most have separate tire/rims for winter/summer, so changing, balancing etc. goes quickly.

 

Costs 1 Euro per tire to swap, 1.50 Euro swap and balance, 5 euros to keep your tires in their Tire storage, for those who don't have space

That's very cheap!

Poor country has its benefits

 

Otherwise these last 2 winters with Conti TS850 have been superb, ice, snow, dry, very well planted.

Changed mine back to summers today 

I checked the weather for next friday as Ive a bike trackday and wanted a heads up for the weather....

 

heavy snow is predicted thursday/friday............what do I do.....change all my tyres again or RISK it.....

 

should I change my bike to run on race wets right now!?

 

yours not knowing how to drive to the conditions with what ive got.....

Still got my winters on. Trying to find a set of rims for the summers so I don't have to keep paying £40 each time to switch them over.

 

As for the pointless. Not for me. We had 1 day that was VERY cold one morning, loads of frost on the roads. I drove to work and didn't think anything of it. Later that morning heard about 1 car that slid into the ditch.......then another ....then the girl i sat next to also did but had a head-on with a volvo ended up in hospital with car written off!

 

So you could argue i was no better off as I didn't notice anything....but I know i sure as hell was better off.

I checked the weather for next friday as Ive a bike trackday and wanted a heads up for the weather....

 

heavy snow is predicted thursday/friday............what do I do.....change all my tyres again or RISK it.....

 

should I change my bike to run on race wets right now!?

 

yours not knowing how to drive to the conditions with what ive got.....

 

If your only intention is to wind up those who are able to see the benefit to winter tyres then please go find another thread to spoil.

 

As your driving ability clearly negates the need for you to benefit from the additional grip offered by winter tyres then good luck - elsewhere.

yes, ******* pointless.

 

the temperature is still below 7 where i am and the summers give more grip, better ride and less noise compared to the winters its like a new car

 

and no horrible thread block movement especially when its around 7 degrees or above

 

waste of money imo

Tsk tsk

I find my still fitted winter Continentals absolutly fine.

Quite shocked at the speeds I was doing on back roads this last week or two.

About 5mm/6mm tread left.

After all the rubber is essentially stickier and therefore should grip better.

PS.

And an 04:30 run to the airport would not have happened a month ago,

An absolutly white world greeted me when I opened the door.

I had not factored this in as all clear the night before.

Still made it to the plane, winter tyres enabled me to drive like on a merely wet road.

Absolutly tremendous.

marcus

Edited 11 April, 201412 yr by dieseldogg

I ran my winters for a week mid-summer (temps up to 35C, mostly dry) while I got the flaking scout wheels blasted, powder-coated and new tyres fitted.

A bit less grip than the (summer performance) rubber that was on it, but noticeable tread-block walk when it starts to drift. I wasn't able to break them loose at all. But I haven't been able to make the scout do that with any tyres on.

You are not trying hard enough :-)

I'm back on my original Bridgestone turanza er300. From New they have done about 12k, they may last a few thousand more and I will be glad to see the back of them.

No inherent weakness, a fine quiteish tyre for Mr average in a cooking car. But it doesn't take too much provoking to get the EPS light to go nuts...

It's a much better car with the TCS off, but the EPS interferes when you get to the limit of available grip. Answer? Grippier tyres to shift the limit of available grip. But being a tight git means I have to wear these boots out first!

Will be back on the winter tyres in October, a nice shiny new set of tyres next spring, then comes the dilemma of what rubber to replace the Bridgestones with :-(

If your only intention is to wind up those who are able to see the benefit to winter tyres then please go find another thread to spoil.

 

As your driving ability clearly negates the need for you to benefit from the additional grip offered by winter tyres then good luck - elsewhere.

 

why because I give a (slightly crude/taking the ****) opinion of how **** I've found them which differs from the group. is it because people don't like to think they have wasted their money.

 

for my style of driving they are **** (in the mild winter we had i must say), when you actually put some heat in them and thrash them you get no where near the mileage that others have stated, the grip and ride is compromised.

 

if you push the car beyond a hundred with winters on it handles like a pig. the squirming under breaking, the thread block movement on turn in is woeful. the only thing i miss is how easy i could get the back out with them on a wet roundabout.

 

I do however get the fact that some WOULD need them on here to get to work or for hobbies, however I travel 2 miles to work then back. I must do easily 25,000 miles a year across 3 bikes and a car 90 per cent of that will be driven for fun so for me having a tyre that you can still push (in a mild winter) is more key to me than getting me somewhere in the snow or a bad winter. Some of the best roads in the uk are right on my door step, im 15 minutes from 200 mile deserted routes with lots of twisties, adverse cambers, crests and hairpins. And that's just the quick runs you can do in a morning. I wonder how many would be so impressed with them if they actually drove them off the m6 or not through town. How many on here have slammed the brakes on at 120 to turn into a corner and found out how good they are....

 

ill fling them on next winter, hopefully it wont be such a gay one and I can see how good they are. im sure they are ****ing fantastic in the snow and in the proper cold but anything above 3 degrees they are ****.

Well that answers one question...

why because I give a (slightly crude/taking the ****) opinion of how **** I've found them which differs from the group. is it because people don't like to think they have wasted their money.

 

for my style of driving they are **** (in the mild winter we had i must say), when you actually put some heat in them and thrash them you get no where near the mileage that others have stated, the grip and ride is compromised.

 

if you push the car beyond a hundred with winters on it handles like a pig. the squirming under breaking, the thread block movement on turn in is woeful. the only thing i miss is how easy i could get the back out with them on a wet roundabout.

 

I do however get the fact that some WOULD need them on here to get to work or for hobbies, however I travel 2 miles to work then back. I must do easily 25,000 miles a year across 3 bikes and a car 90 per cent of that will be driven for fun so for me having a tyre that you can still push (in a mild winter) is more key to me than getting me somewhere in the snow or a bad winter. Some of the best roads in the uk are right on my door step, im 15 minutes from 200 mile deserted routes with lots of twisties, adverse cambers, crests and hairpins. And that's just the quick runs you can do in a morning. I wonder how many would be so impressed with them if they actually drove them off the m6 or not through town. How many on here have slammed the brakes on at 120 to turn into a corner and found out how good they are....

 

ill fling them on next winter, hopefully it wont be such a gay one and I can see how good they are. im sure they are ******* fantastic in the snow and in the proper cold but anything above 3 degrees they are ****.

I assume that although you quote distances in miles you quote speeds in kph

How many on here have slammed the brakes on at 120 to turn into a corner and found out how good they are....

(i) Most unprofessional

(ii) Poor tyres.

(iii) Nuff said.

Well what can you say about that rant apart from you can actually form an opinion on someone from a keyboard :0

Well what can you say about that rant apart from you can actually form an opinion on someone from a keyboard :0

 

would it change if I told you I was a 26 year old design engineer, who was told his riding was flawless by the IAM, had no problems on police ride outs and actively reads a lot of road craft/racing craft books to put into practice on the road and track.......probably not. maybe I should be similar to many on here, run a **** box diesel taxi that I think is "quick" and spend hours talking about cleaning the thing or painting my chrome grill surround black while putting totally awesome new badges on it.

 

while my initial post was some degree of a **** take, what do you expect when people were spouting pish like "you cant control a car if you have wheelspin" and "oh ive never go over the speed limits" or "do you think the owner of a vrs lets TC kick in".......Really....

 

Im not arguing that winter tyres aren't great in the snow or in a really bad winter. However, I am saying that for the winter we just had to me they were hopeless. They simply do not work well in temperatures around 5 degrees. if we had a winter like we had 4 years ago Id fling them on in a second but I wont be putting them on again until I know there is going to be prolonged periods of cold and ice.

 

what I do wonder is how people are getting such good mileage out of them (what roads, speeds etc) and how they know the grip is so much better if they aren't pushing on in the car? its a bit of an empty argument just going their great I get blah blah miles everyone should have them.

 

maybe I am highly critical when I hear owners of diesel crap boxes talk about how important certain tyres are because I come from the world of two wheels. make a mistake judging the grip on a bike are you're off.

yet I ran these tyres around knockhill in torrential rain at speeds of 140 plus, a tyre that is effectively a cut slick and I didn't die because I rode accordingly adjusting my riding to suit the conditions and tyre I was on.

http://thumbsnap.com/OIQux8Yt

 

if you think they are great and you have noticed better handling great. im giving my opinion of them after ive tried and tested them

It's not your opinion I'm bothered about, after all yours is as relevant as anyone elses. It's just the way it comes across in your posts.

fair enough, bri-skoda isn't like many of the other forums I post on its rather formal. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of banter like other sites

Maybe it's all of the ***** words

You are not trying hard enough :-)

I'm back on my original Bridgestone turanza er300. From New they have done about 12k, they may last a few thousand more and I will be glad to see the back of them.

No inherent weakness, a fine quiteish tyre for Mr average in a cooking car. But it doesn't take too much provoking to get the EPS light to go nuts...

It's a much better car with the TCS off, but the EPS interferes when you get to the limit of available grip. Answer? Grippier tyres to shift the limit of available grip. But being a tight git means I have to wear these boots out first!

Will be back on the winter tyres in October, a nice shiny new set of tyres next spring, then comes the dilemma of what rubber to replace the Bridgestones with :-(

 

I had a pair of Turanza's, a stunningly average tyre.  Had Adrenalines on the front which looked the part but I didn't buy a scout to be a pavement screamer.

 

I'm now running Continental Pure Contact.  An all season tyre (inside half of the tread is winter style and compound should be better than summer rubber).  They have enough open tread to satisfy my offroad needs, are very quiet on-road, fuel economy appears improved over the turanza/adrenaline combo and are sold in the US/Canada with a 70,000 mile tread wear warranty.

 

We shall see.

would it change if I told you I was a 26 year old design engineer, who was told his riding was flawless by the IAM, had no problems on police ride outs and actively reads a lot of road craft/racing craft books to put into practice on the road and track.......probably not. maybe I should be similar to many on here, run a **** box diesel taxi that I think is "quick" and spend hours talking about cleaning the thing or painting my chrome grill surround black while putting totally awesome new badges on it.

 

No it won't change much.  Engineer here too.  What would help was stating which brand/model you used and how far cut they were.

 

I'd expect results with winter tyres to vary as much (if not more) than results with summer tyres.  Some are very good, some are rubbish.  I would expect some overlap between the best cold performing summer tyres and the worst performing winter tyres.

I had a pair of Turanza's, a stunningly average tyre.

Said somewhat ****ty gripping tyres are the reason I switched to (reputable brand) Winter tyres.

In our exceptional winter of 2010, in a 3 month old Octavia, I slid down Drumrammer brae backwards.

Literally, well in the process I slid sideways and the hedge stopped me.

I then watched a bloke in a Peugeot Partner pootle up the hill past me without a hint of drama.

I had previously routinely driven up this moderately steep brae in all road conditions incl hard packed smooth snow.

That was a Saturday evening.

On Monday I got the last set of Continental Winter tyres available fitted.

A pure revelation.

I imagine the reason lies in the ever increasing width of average car tyres, perhaps in conjunction with rubber blends being optimised for summer grip and longevity.

PS

My alledgedly "carp" diesel/DSG is a stunningly good fast "A" road/"B" road performer.

I need nowt more.

Marcus

PPS

Bairnboy

One should simply never "slam" on brakes, brake heavily perhaps, but always in a modulated fashion.

"Slamming" suggests the reaction to being surprised, which could never happen to a driver/rider of your skillz.

Ca?

Edited 13 April, 201412 yr by dieseldogg

Sounds good. 70 k from a tyre is something I could only dream of.

I went for the 4x4 variant as I preferred the understated looks compared to the scout. Mine came with a decent level of kit, not quite as well specd as the dearer tsi scout that was also available bit still plenty of toys.

Car does boat towing duty but only sees a grass field now and again so no need for any exciting grip levels on the ditrt :-)

Plan is for a little light breathing on it once the warranty is up. I've had it from new and as the great Eric Clapton said - if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all....

No one expects a black estate car to go or grip so well, there is more potential to unlock, starting with ditching the bridge stones..

What is impressive is the versatility of the car with different rubber on. Tarmac burner? Check. Light off roading? Check. Scandanvian runabout? Check.

Love it!

Not going to pass comment on the nuts slam her brakes on from 120.... :-)

when I say slam brakes on I mean heavy braking, obviously as I didn't bin it I left margin for error, time to stop in line with what I can see etc

 

I cant remember the last time I actually had to "slam" the brakes on in the car due to another driver, poor driving etc. so sorry I should have worded it correctly

 

I do agree with kiwi however, the winters I got with the car aren't a premium brand, they are falkens. My experience with this brand is that they are middle of the road, not budget but not a premium tyre. I replaced them with verdistiens (or however the hell you spell it) a tyre in the same price range which far out classes falkens in my experience. These winters were however nearly brand new and with a remaped vrs didn't perform very well. As I say the most alarming thing on them was the thread block movement, something that wouldn't show its self when it was cold but when it got past 3 degrees it was horrendous.

 

I accept that more premium winters will perform much better but going on what I experienced with a semi-decent winter (others on here have stated they are good) then I wouldn't buy again. to be honest, in the last 8 years ive never driven with winter tyres and managed just fine. low profile tyres on a st are exactly meant for snow but I drove accordingly got where I had to go, £40 a corner tyres on a works van aren't meant for anything really but I reigned my driving in and drove accordingly and never had any bother whislt clocking up 200,000 miles in a few years.

 

I live in central Scotland so its not exactly like we get mild winters, again however I accept the argument for winters for work etc and if you live in a area which is hit bad by the winters etc. however if your car never leaves London for example I really couldn't see the point in them

Edited 13 April, 201412 yr by moanthebairns

Unfortunately the tread block on winter tyres is designed to move about slightly in order to shake out the snow so they can grip on the next revolution. The unfortunate bit of this is that when driving like an F1 driver (Heavy braking into a corner at 120mph) they won't perform as well as a summer/performance tyre (TBH they aren't meant too). My suggestion would be you put your summer tyres back on next time you do a track day.

Am I missing something or are some people complaining because winter tyres are not as good in the summer as summer ones, espcially in extreme circumstances.

 

Bit like me saying summer tyres are rubbish because they don't handle as well on snow as my winter tyres.