hi all

I had just pulled the trigger on the above on a online tire website but then realised that the speed rating was lower than my current tyres which are w. So in a panic I've cancelled the order so I can regroup and look into this a bit more.

After a couple of hours searching I'm none the wiser so here I am with a head ache asking anyone on here if they know.

Winter tyres seem to be exempt from the strict tyre rating provided its above the capability of the car as far as I can see, so these are winter tyres that work in the summer so does that mean I can drop down speed ratings? I'm not doing it to be tight btw, the best they do v and I really want to go down the all season route.

Life's never simple is it!

Tom

To me it doesn't really make any sense looking at the tyre speed rating anyway, no one in the UK can legally drive at over 100mph on the public highway (unless blue light etc of course), so realistically you only need a H rated tyre (which I think is around the 130mph mark?) rather than one that's rated to 150mph.

To me it doesn't really make any sense looking at the tyre speed rating anyway, no one in the UK can legally drive at over 100mph on the public highway (unless blue light etc of course), so realistically you only need a H rated tyre (which I think is around the 130mph mark?) rather than one that's rated to 150mph.

That's what I've been thinking but when I went on line, many people say it will invalidate your insurance! I've even seen people saying they have had tyre fitters unwilling to fit tyres that are not of the correct rating.... think I'm going to have to call my insurance company and see what they say.

That's what I've been thinking but when I went on line, many people say it will invalidate your insurance! I've even seen people saying they have had tyre fitters unwilling to fit tyres that are not of the correct rating.... think I'm going to have to call my insurance company and see what they say.

 

Technically you invalidate the insurance by not fitting the same brand tyres that it left factory with, so indeed a grey area

To me it doesn't really make any sense looking at the tyre speed rating anyway, no one in the UK can legally drive at over 100mph on the public highway (unless blue light etc of course),

 

There are places in the British Isles that you can do 100 mph legally on a public road.

 

Go to the Isle of Man.

There is an explanation of speed ratings here: http://www.tyrespeedrating.co.uk/  go to "Why do I need to choose the correct tyre speed rating?"
 
If I was questioned about having lower speed rating than fitted by Skoda, I'd ague that the Nokians are Winter tyres that you can use all the year round and Insurance companies allow you to use tyres Winter with a lower speed rating.

Edited 25 July, 20169 yr by Jim H

What did your insurance company say?

 

I've got the Nokian Weatherproofs with a V rating on my Yeti. They replaced the factory fitted W rated Dunlop summer tyres. The Yeti manual says winter tyres can be a lower speed rating as long as its not exceeded (hence having a configurable speed warning setting for winter tyres) - and even H rating is higher than the quoted 125mph top speed. The insurance company (Adrian Flux) weren't bothered, and hadn't been when I ran dedicated winter tyres that were only H rated.

When I checked the current tyres that were fitted by my garage years ago they were in fact v rated! I just ordered the v rated ones and I will swap in the next couple of months. As has been said they are technically winter tyres anyway. V are good for 150 mph and if my cars ever doing that speed I'm in the middle of a crash anyway!