Think my experiment with Winter tyres is over. Being in london i haven't experienced any real adverse weather in the 2 years that i have tried them so i think it is about time to sell them on, and maybe get a set of 'All season tyres' when my summer one's wear out. I did notice on cold and really wet days they felt a lot more planted, however those days were few and far between and by maybe replacing them with all season tyres i should get the best of both worlds..i quite liked the look of the Vredestein quatrac 5 and wandered if anyone had any experience with these and what they were like for Summer driving and Economy..   

It's bound to happen, the winter immediately after selling them you'll be snowed in for weeks 

It's bound to happen, the winter immediately after selling them you'll be snowed in for weeks 

Agreed. As my winter tyres are on a separate set of wheels they will stack up in the corner of my garage until the temperature drops again towards the end of the year.  As I have a vertical stand on which to store the tyres/wheels the floor space that they take is just that of one tyre/wheel.

 

This winter I have only once had to drive in slippery conditions but the greater grip in cold (and particularly also wet) conditions made fitting the the winter tyres worthwhile.  Not yet changed back to summer tyres - must give the wheels a thorough clean this weekend.

For me there is no real cost for running winter tyres.

 

The big bill upfront is offset over the increased mileage you get by running two sets of tyres, you can only wear one set out at once.

 

When the winters are on and wearing, the summers are off and not being worn. There is no additional expense. My winters do not seem to be wearing any faster than my summers.

 

So in my eyes the only potential disadvantage of winters is the cost of an additional set of wheels (low cost steels or used alloys - so very little for me), the space they take up in the garage and the time taken to swap them over twice a year.

 

This is all well worth it for me if even only once they mean I can get home rather than being stranded or upside down in a ditch.

I don't have the luxury of storage space so whatever set i am not using stay round my Mum's place underneath a tarpaulin when not in use. I acknowledge the fact that i will have longer tyre wear using 2 sets of tyres, however living where i do i just don't get the benefit from the winters that were designed to cope with. I think for me that i would better benefit trying out  'all season' ones, and offset the cost by selling my winter steels...    

Average temperature in my area for the last few months in the early part of the morning has never risen above 5°C. (Apparently the Real Feel temperature rarely rises above 0°C!)

I do appreciate that cold weather tyres are not suitable for the country as a whole, but the parts that would benefit very few people use them. There appears to be a psychological barrier getting over the initial price. When I swap over in April, I'm replacing the original Dunlop SP 01's with Goodyear Efficient Grip (Pro?). That's with 65k on the clock. They still have a few legal mm on them, but one got a non repairable puncture, so may as well replace them all at the same time.

Fin

Average temperature in my area for the last few months in the early part of the morning has never risen above 5°C. (Apparently the Real Feel temperature rarely rises above 0°C!)

I do appreciate that cold weather tyres are not suitable for the country as a whole, but the parts that would benefit very few people use them. There appears to be a psychological barrier getting over the initial price. When I swap over in April, I'm replacing the original Dunlop SP 01's with Goodyear Efficient Grip (Pro?). That's with 65k on the clock. They still have a few legal mm on them, but one got a non repairable puncture, so may as well replace them all at the same time.

Fin

 

My summer tyres are 'Goodyear effecient grip performance' there good tyres and you get good economy and low noise from them. The only downside looks to be that i dont think they are going to last long judging by the wear on the Fronts when i took them of at the start of December..I'll swap them around when i put them back on and see how long they last.

Think my experiment with Winter tyres is over. Being in london i haven't experienced any real adverse weather in the 2 years that i have tried them so i think it is about time to sell them on, and maybe get a set of 'All season tyres' when my summer one's wear out. I did notice on cold and really wet days they felt a lot more planted, however those days were few and far between and by maybe replacing them with all season tyres i should get the best of both worlds..i quite liked the look of the Vredestein quatrac 5 and wandered if anyone had any experience with these and what they were like for Summer driving and Economy..   

I have Vredestein Quatrac 3 on mine, cannot comment on summer running / economy yet as they were fitted in November. Very good in the wet, slush and snow, however I do have a bit of help from the rear, on a 500 mile round trip to South Wales in the dry, I did find them to have very little road noise. No need to change and no storage problems for wheels.

Didn't even bother swapping mine over this year as its been so mild. My winters are a set of Audi alloys I picked up cheap of ebay. I'll put them on when I get my alloys refurbed later this year.

NEXAN CP641 for me good for most average winter conditions, have yet to try in snow deeper than 50mm though.

Well summers now back on as whilst driving round the M25 yesterday my car showed the outside temp as 17.5c. Winters still have between 4 and 5mm of tread on..

Well summers now back on as whilst driving round the M25 yesterday my car showed the outside temp as 17.5c. Winters still have between 4 and 5mm of tread on..

At that depth they're effectively finished so I would have carried on with them and worn them down to 2 to save a bit of wear on my summers

At that depth they're effectively finished so I would have carried on with them and worn them down to 2 to save a bit of wear on my summers

 

Normally I'd agree with you there but as Gazman lives in London then he could well benefit more from the 'softer rubber' properties of the tyre (for one more winter season) than the snow removing properties.

Forgotten how nice my Summer tyres felt in comparison to my winters, hopefully my Mpg will improve a little too. Reckon my winters experienced about a CM of snow for 1/2 a day the whole winter. They did however give me a lot better grip on cold wet roads..  

IMO vredestein quattracs are good but many more all season tyres are being launched. Michelin make bold claims about their new tyre

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/2015-02/michelin-crossclimate-tyres/

My alloys and summer set went back on the car Saturday. Being on the South Coast we only had one lot of light slow, but my winters did give me more confidence when we had below zero conditions. Also as I have clients all over the UK I could have ended up doing a business trip up to York with snow about.

 

No brainier decision to invest in them the first Winter I had the car, plenty of room to store them in the garage and they save my Alloys the Winter salt etc.

 

Still 1 or 2 years wear left on my Winters - but will be looking for new summer boots in the next couple of months.

 

Can't decide between Goodyear Asym Eagle F1s or Efficient Grip which we have on my wife's Mini Cooper S (non-runflat)

My alloys and summer set went back on the car Saturday. Being on the South Coast we only had one lot of light slow, but my winters did give me more confidence when we had below zero conditions. Also as I have clients all over the UK I could have ended up doing a business trip up to York with snow about.

 

No brainier decision to invest in them the first Winter I had the car, plenty of room to store them in the garage and they save my Alloys the Winter salt etc.

 

Still 1 or 2 years wear left on my Winters - but will be looking for new summer boots in the next couple of months.

 

Can't decide between Goodyear Asym Eagle F1s or Efficient Grip which we have on my wife's Mini Cooper S (non-runflat)

 

I've Effecient grip performance tyres but to be honest I find them more suited to comfort, economy, and low road noise over performance. When pushed my experience is that they tend to understeer..     

Pleased I haven't taken my winter tyres off:

 

Off shopping at Iceland????

My Father's getting rid of his mk 6 Passat and the 205/55/16 winter tyres with them. Thinking of putting them on my 2010 Octavia II. Is there anything I need to check or be wary of? How much would a garage charge to switch wheels over? Thanks

I've paid £20 - 30 at tyre chains (one of whom once tried to charge me £70!) and £10 at my local garage.

Cold weather tyres wear quicker during the summer due to the softer compound, and are not as surefooted as summer tyres in dry conditions.

The cold weather tyres I have used have wear indicators set at 4mm, beyond that you lose the benefit of them in the colder months.

My local tyre supplier charges me £12 to swap all four wheels.  This year somehow one of the summer tyres had lost a weight so he re-balanced that wheel at no extra charge before fitting it.  The tyre fitter also takes care not to damage my alloy wheels and also gives all 8 wheels and tyres a quick check over.

The only time I've been to UK (the end of April; this year) I didn't see any car with winter tyres. The local people explained that they use summer tyres only. If there's snow then they avoid driving and simply stay at home (they told me that such things happen rarely). That's in Bracknell/Wokingham.

 

Seems like there are some that change their tyres. Seems logic for at least northern part of the country.

 

Well, in my country winter tyres are required by law because of the real winter we have and that's why I don't understand how it's possible to drive with summer tyres during wintertime. Even if there's no snow or ice, these summer ones become like plastic or wodden tyres

In the UK I know very few people who use winter tyres. They seem to be becoming more popular but people don't realise how pointless they are. Winter here for the most part is just wet and cold. We rarely see snow so having tyres designed to deal with it is really pointless IMO.

I grew up near Glasgow where snow is more regular than down in the south where I live now. True enough people here see 2 flakes of snow panic and stay at home or abandon their cars in the middle of the road. When I was growing up, before this winter tyre thing was popular, people just got on with it. Drive carefully according to the conditions, the cars moving on the road keeps the snow clear from it anyway

Pointless or not but I've noticed that usual summer tyres aren't any good in low temperatures. They become hard and it's rather hard to drive with them. But it's your choice if it's not mandatory thing...