2012 Octavia Estate TDI DSG VRS Estate - Winter Tyre Opinions ? Nexen ?

[Highlandhorseman]

Just ordered a full set of winter tyres from ebay from Germany with alloy wheels with 225/40 x 18 tyres in 8ins rims.

Anybody tried the Nexen Winguard tyres - they seem to get good reviews and are American I think.

What do others use and how many months do you leave your winter tyres on for ?

Thanks :-)

[Dinesy]

I have used Firestone Winterhawk for the past three years. They are very good. Not too noisy for normal use and excellent grip in the slippy stuff.

Generally I only put them on when the temp dropped below the magic 7oC for a prolonged period. This year I haven't bothered at all it's been so mild.

Previously I have had them on for 8-12 weeks, and a few years back when we got a proper snow fall that stayed I had them on for about 4 months.

Well worth having. I remember feeling very pleased driving up the steep hill in our village in snow and ice, passing a floundering Freelander presumably on summer tyres, much to the amazement of a few onlookers! Ha Ha!

[john999boy]

and how many months do you leave your winter tyres on for?

They normally come off when the 'average' temperature is above 7 degrees but judging from your location, that may be late April or early May.

[Highlandhorseman]

Up here I usually have my snow tyres on from the 1st of Dec to end of April but we can get snow outside of that too ;-) They make a huge difference though !!

[john999boy]

Duplicate topics merged.

[philbes]

I have the same car as the Op, except hatch rather than estate.I use 225/45-17 Nokian WR D3 winter tyres on 7-1/2" wide ET45 Dezent RE alloy wheels. I believe there is now a later D4 version. Changed to the winters on on in the middle of last week - the first time the temperature in Gloucestershire was consistently under 7C during the hours I normally drive. I will swap back to my summer wheels when temp is again above 7C. This is the third winter I have used these tyres/wheels. No snow the last two winters but lots of cold, wet days with standing water on the roads.

I prefer my car on the winter tyres. Quieter with a better ride. At the 10C prevalent when I changed wheels the winters had better turn-in and less understeer.

[tuono01]

I have Avon Icestorm tyres in 18", though they're still in the garage. They seem reasonably good when it's cold though not tried others to compare.

Had them 4 years now and they look almost new, done about 5/7 thousand miles on them. The only thing I don't like is that they don't have rim protection.

Will be fitting next week as I expect we'll get some bad weather judging the way America looks.

[topcat2006]

I had Nexen Rodians on a jeep - they had the snowflake symbol on. Very quite, no problem at all in snow. I'd have them again.

[JDR888]

Just ordered a full set of winter tyres from ebay from Germany with alloy wheels with 225/40 x 18 tyres in 8ins rims.

Anybody tried the Nexen Winguard tyres - they seem to get good reviews and are American I think.

What do others use and how many months do you leave your winter tyres on for ?

Thanks :-)

I've had a full set of Winguard Sports on since late-Nov and I can fully recommend them. Ok the temperature hasnt been particularly low but the wet weather along with surface water has seen them tested regularly. Did a 400 mile trip from Glasgow in early December when we'd had all the initial flooding in Cumbri and they were really confidence inspiring on the wet & windy M6.

[n888vrs]

I've them fitted same as above, no problems with them, I'd recommend them