I know we are barely starting summer yet, but I was wondering if people had recommendations on good winter tyres that perform well in the snow as well as general wintery cold conditions. 

 

 

I had Michelin Cross Climate + on my old Octavia and they were good, but looking for a more dedicated winter tyre

 

Thanks

Matt

I have a set of Conti's on some alloy wheels. I think that they're TS 850s. Good in the snow when we've had it. Also had some Nokian's too, but can't remember what they were.

 

Now is also the best time to order/buy them.

5 minutes ago, TheWanderer said:

I have a set of Conti's on some alloy wheels. I think that they're TS 850s. Good in the snow when we've had it. Also had some Nokian's too, but can't remember what they were.

 

Now is also the best time to order/buy them.

 

Thanks, where did you get them from? I have used black circles in the past not sure if there is anywhere cheaper!

I can't remember I think it was Camskill or Oponeo.

 

I did quite a bit of research to get the best price inc VAT & Shipping,

This may sound controversial but mine are nexen on 18” winguard sport 2. I had nokians prior to this and the nexens are as good if not better and quieter. Used them for 2 seasons including trips over to the snow in Austria. Absolutely spot on and never got stuck. Wet grip good too.

including conditions like this. Never had a problem 

Edited 25 June, 20196 yr by Esseesse200

What size are your tyres ?

some of the best recommendations may not be available in required size

 

Any of :

Vredestein Wintrac Pro   (new)

Continental Winter Contact TS 860  (replaced TS 850)

Goodyear Ultragrip 9+   (the 9+ is new)

Michelin Alpin 6   (replacing Alpin 5)

 

Others 

Nokian WR snowproof (coming soon)

Dunlop Winter Sport 5

 

 

 

Edited 25 June, 20196 yr by SurreyJohn

Tyre size is 225/40/18, 2018 vrs 4x4 

 

Just after something sure footed in the snow but doesn’t wear down too fast on drier winter conditions. I know the rubber is softer, but I want to be able to use them for a few winters rather than them being useless after their first few months in winter! 

 

They all all seem to be between 100-120 per tyre, don’t really want to be spending much more than that! 

 

 

49 minutes ago, MTwedVRS said:

Tyre size is 225/40/18, 2018 vrs 4x4 

 

Just after something sure footed in the snow but doesn’t wear down too fast on drier winter conditions. I know the rubber is softer, but I want to be able to use them for a few winters rather than them being useless after their first few months in winter! 

 

They all all seem to be between 100-120 per tyre, don’t really want to be spending much more than that! 

 

 

Nexen winguard sport 2 trust me 74 quid each. Read the reviews on the German sites 

Edited 25 June, 20196 yr by Esseesse200

The Michelin crossclimate tyres get a good review, both for warmer and colder weather performance. It's a tyre I've my eye on for when my current set wear out on my car.

7 hours ago, tunedude said:

The Michelin crossclimate tyres get a good review

 

The OP said he already tried them in the first post. He wants a winter tyre not an all-season.

 

15 hours ago, MTwedVRS said:

I had Michelin Cross Climate + on my old Octavia and they were good, but looking for a more dedicated winter tyre

 

For me it is the Conti, every time. I used the 830, 850 and now the TS860 They have been on for two winter seasons and I simply cannot fault them. They are not available in 18" but my winters are 17".  I have not tried them but for 18" the new TS860S would be top of my list without question on the basis of how the 860 perform. These are winter tyres that are also good in snow.

 

If you want a dedicated snow tyre then you need to be looking somewhere else at the likes of the Nokian Hakkapeliita or Snowproof but they are not as good on the road. Pick the tyre for the conditions you see most.

 

 

@flybynite apologies. I'll put my glasses on 👀

11 hours ago, MTwedVRS said:

Tyre size is 225/40/18, 2018 vrs 4x4 

 

Just after something sure footed in the snow but doesn’t wear down too fast on drier winter conditions. I know the rubber is softer, but I want to be able to use them for a few winters rather than them being useless after their first few months in winter! 

 

They all all seem to be between 100-120 per tyre, don’t really want to be spending much more than that! 

 

 

 

I had exactly those thoughts for my 16 VRS 4x4 so ended up with a set of GY Vector 4 Seasons G2 for the mixed bag of winter weather we get in the Midlands. (+12'C one day, -5'C the next). For the small margin lost in outright winter tyre performance, the 4x4 system makes up the difference in traction but they still wear well and aren't so squishy cornering when temps are at around 10 to 13'C. Snow performance is still excellent and got me though a snowy Snowdonia and local roads in March 18 without a problem. Also really good in very heavy rain and not as noisy as a full winter spec tyre.

 

I've done around 10K winter Miles on them so far and they are still at 7 mm tread depth. (November to Easter). Fitted them to a set of Dezent TD 5 spoke.

 

And currently around £99 per tyre from MyTyres (Delticom) before fitting. £800 in total including the extra rims also from Delticom.

Edited 26 June, 20196 yr by BigEjit

15 hours ago, SurreyJohn said:

What size are your tyres ?

some of the best recommendations may not be available in required size

 

Any of :

Vredestein Wintrac Pro   (new)

Continental Winter Contact TS 860  (replaced TS 850)

Goodyear Ultragrip 9+   (the 9+ is new)

Michelin Alpin 6   (replacing Alpin 5)

 

Others 

Nokian WR snowproof (coming soon)

Dunlop Winter Sport 5

 

 

 

 

 

@MTwedVRS for 225/40 R18 winters suggest any of

Continental TS 850P, Michelin Alpin 5, Vredestein Wintrac Pro

 

If you want all-seasons then

Michelin CrossClimate + or Vredestein Quatrac Pro or Goodyear Vector 4 season Gen 2

36 minutes ago, SurreyJohn said:

Continental TS 850P

Now replaced by the TS860S I believe

 

43 minutes ago, BigEjit said:

ended up with a set of GY Vector 4 Seasons G2

Have a set of these on one of mine that I don't swap winters and very good they are too. They are a winter tyre built for the summer, wheras the Crossclimate are a summer tyre built to cope with winter.

get yourself on ebay and mytyres, 20% off till tomorrow

 

i have had michelin alpin a5's on, and am going for A6's this time.

 

my last set managed 6 winters on 3 different cars

An important question; are you planning on swapping these over each summer / winter until they wear out?

 

I'd be concerned the bead on the tyres may become damaged with the constant swapping.

 

Wouldn't matter too much if they're getting a lot of mileage and will wear out after a couple of seasons use

17 minutes ago, tunedude said:

An important question; are you planning on swapping these over each summer / winter until they wear out?

 

I'd be concerned the bead on the tyres may become damaged with the constant swapping.

 

Wouldn't matter too much if they're getting a lot of mileage and will wear out after a couple of seasons use

 

I do on average 18k miles per year, so let’s say I keep these on for 6 months of the year (probably be slighly less in reality) then around 9k per year will be done so I guess they will last 2 or 3 winter seasons?

 

1 minute ago, MTwedVRS said:

 

I do on average 18k miles per year, so let’s say I keep these on for 6 months of the year (probably be slighly less in reality) then around 9k per year will be done so I guess they will last 2 or 3 winter seasons?

 

 

Let won't be too bad then. It's if you're swapping them over year after year after year where the problems start. 

21 hours ago, MTwedVRS said:

 

I had Michelin Cross Climate + on my old Octavia and they were good, but looking for a more dedicated winter tyre

 

Thanks

Matt

Genuine question...why are you looking for a dedicated Winter tyre over the Cross Climates?  Have you had a bad experience with them in the snow, or would you just like the added confidence of a dedicated Winter/Summer setup.

 

I've switched from Winter/Summer wheels to running all-seasons for the last two years and I was very happy with them (Vredestein Quatrac 5) but have recently decided to see what all the fuss was about the Michelin PS4's...so I'm back to thinking do I try and pick up some cheap alloys and go back to having two sets as I do like having a tyre that I'm confident will continue to stop/turn when the mercury drops. 

 

There's always an element of compromise with an all-season tyre.  What makes some good in Summer is their weakness in Winter and vice versa.  I'd have liked to have tried CrossClimates myself but they aren't available in the S3 R19 size.  

 

 

27 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

Genuine question...why are you looking for a dedicated Winter tyre over the Cross Climates?  Have you had a bad experience with them in the snow, or would you just like the added confidence of a dedicated Winter/Summer setup.

 

I've switched from Winter/Summer wheels to running all-seasons for the last two years and I was very happy with them (Vredestein Quatrac 5) but have recently decided to see what all the fuss was about the Michelin PS4's...so I'm back to thinking do I try and pick up some cheap alloys and go back to having two sets as I do like having a tyre that I'm confident will continue to stop/turn when the mercury drops. 

 

There's always an element of compromise with an all-season tyre.  What makes some good in Summer is their weakness in Winter and vice versa.  I'd have liked to have tried CrossClimates myself but they aren't available in the S3 R19 size.  

 

 

I have certainly not had any bad experiences with all season tyres, in fact during my ownership of the cross climate + tyres I encountered only a light dusting of snow, something that summer tyres would also not have struggled on and as for wet conditions I did not notice a huge increase in grip or performance, so my feelings are quite neutral.

 

However I have just ‘traded up’ my Octavia vrs fwd for a newer 18’ plate Octavia vrs 4x4 which have come with some pretty decent summer tyres with a load of tread left, so instead of scrapping them for an all season I thought i’d go with some dedicated winter tyres so i get the best of both worlds in each season. If I needed to replace my current summer tyres I would definitely go with an all season as here in the midlands we don’t encounter too many freak snow storms, but in this situation I am after some decent and affordable dedicated winter tyres that are comfortable in snow as well as dry/ wet driving for 90% of the winter!

Edited 26 June, 20196 yr by MTwedVRS

5 minutes ago, MTwedVRS said:

I have certainly not had any bad experiences with all season tyres, in fact during my ownership of the cross climate + tyres I encountered only a light dusting of snow, something that summer tyres would also not have struggled on and as for wet conditions I did not notice a huge increase in grip or performance, so my feelings are quite neutral.

 

However I have just ‘traded up’ my Octavia vrs fwd for a newer 18’ plate Octavia vrs 4x4 which have come with some pretty decent summer tyres with a load of tread left, so instead of scrapping them for an all season I thought i’d go with some dedicated winter tyres so i get the best of both worlds in each season. If I needed to replace my current summer tyres I would definitely go with an all season as here in the midlands we don’t encounter too many freak snow storms, but in this situation I am after some decent and affordable dedicated winter tyres that are comfortable in snow as well as dry/ wet driving for 90% of the winter!

Ah fair enough.  I did something similar but the other way round....I fitted the Quatrac 5's in December and took delivery of my new car the following May and was so impressed with them I asked the dealer to swap the tyres over for me.  The dealer got a brand new set of tyres to go on my p/x so he was happy and I was happy because I avoided another set of Pirelli P7's .  I still have 5/6mm of tread on the Quatrac 5's so I've kept them just in case we get a bad Winter and whilst I decide if I'm going to go back to having two sets of wheels. 

I have used Dunlop Winter Sports, Nokian WR A3 and now Goodyear Ultragrip. They are are all good in snow but do not have a direct comparison.

I would get a asymmetric winter tyre next as you can control tyre wear better and do not have 2 lefts and 2 rights.