On 04/10/2018 at 16:41, Trilogy said:

Therein lies a big part of the equation.

 

I think it is fair to say that winter tyres may indeed be more suited to Sutherland or Strathclyde rather than Somerset.

 

I have a set of 16” steels with full winters. Steel’s because the pot holes are so bad they have bent evennsttels and had broken another car’s alloy wheel.

 

the 16” tyres are cheaper and the full winters because I drive all over the country.

 

For a friend who is more local I suggested the cross climate all year and they seem very happy.

 

if I didn’t go all over or come across nasty pot holes, I would probably go that route too. Get you home in terrible weather and no storage issues.

 

As for cheap winters... mid range I would say as cheap are cheap (but still better than summers in snow)

 

FWIW I have given up on Nokian until they replace the d4/a4 as both sets starts to crack up on the tread edge and needed replacing before worn out. Dealer sent pictures to Nokian, but no reply they said. 

 

 

I called nokian who just said speak to dealer. Even after running them since the first WR, they didn’t seem to care. 

 

I just changed to Alpin6 onna good offer, so we shall see how they fare.

Edited 14 December, 20187 yr by cheezemonkhai

2 hours ago, ScoutCJB said:

 

Interested to see how you get on with your cheap winters, the last set of cheap winters I brought wore really badly and were horrifically noisy.

 

I'm doing a quarter of the miles i was last month so if they last a season ill be happy enough, not to bothered about the noise as im not on the motorway its the threat of ice and snow as i live on the side of a mountain. Last year i nearly hit an idiot farmer parked in the middle of the road with 6 inches of snow on a blind bend, he had to jump onto his load bed after running around to close the drivers door all over on my side of the road, as i slid past him...

Fitted my winter wheels and tyres today, first chance I have had since getting back from holiday last weekend. Bought in the summer 4 new 18" alloys along with nexen wiguard sport 2 tyres that came out well in tyre tests. Not had budget before so will see how I get on this winter.

Winter tyres have been on since the start of November. 

16" Conti TS860's on steel rims, took off 17" Goodyear Eagle F1 AS3' on alloys.

 

Have been impressed with TS860's thus far; very good grip in the wet though there seems to be a bit of side wall wobble in the corner that took a little bit of getting used to.  Low speed manoeuvres are also  easier though I gather that is from dropping the wheel size as opposed to the tyre itself.

No noticeable difference in MPG on my local routes in, though around 2-3MPG worse on the motorway runs.  

TS860's seem a little noisier then the F1's.  The F1's in the snow are tragic and an accident waiting to happen; great tyre but horrible when there is even a whiff of snow on the road.  

 

The F1's I think are a fantastic tyre though are totally out of their comfort zone in any amount of snow.

 

Almost hoping it snows just so I can see the difference these Conti's make to the car handling as I have never driven with winter tyres before.  

Snow of course after the Christmas shipment of wine has been delivered, there can be 8ft of snow outside then for all I care 

17" BBS - The balancing weights only just clear the calipers - in fact it shaved some paint off the weights.

4 hours ago, BNT1985 said:

Almost hoping it snows just so I can see the difference these Conti's make to the car handling as I have never driven with winter tyres before.  

Snow of course after the Christmas shipment of wine has been delivered, there can be 8ft of snow outside then for all I care 

you should come up here - it's been icy for weeks and we're now back to a couple of cm but with -10 last night. Seriously slippery out there ... and my lake for the Icetrack is icing over nicely. Bring it on!

 

What BBS wheels are those? Look good.

 

 - Bret

 

Edited 16 December, 20187 yr by brettikivi

4 minutes ago, brettikivi said:

you should come up here - it's been icy for weeks and we're now back to a couple of cm but with -10 last night. Seriously slippery out there ... and my lake for the Icetrack is icing over nicely. Bring it on!

 

What BBS wheels are those? Look good.

 

 - Bret

 

Look like BBS SR to me