All Season Tyres....

[croquemonsieur]

The comparative tyre reviews this year indicate different effects on economy.  I suggest you assume the Hancocks might cost 1-2mpg in worse petrol consumption, compared to the most economical AW tyres tested.

[Carlston]

5 hours ago, Dieselgate said:

I live in the south east UK and thinking to go for all seasons during the winter as we don't normally get too much cold weather but a bit unsure which would be best to go for.

The Hankook looks a pretty good bet but just slightly concerned about the high rolling resistance on it as mpg is reasonably important to me. Is this likely to make much difference versus those with a slightly better rating in this area?

 

Narrower tyres such as 215/60R16 and 215/55R17 should have lower fuel consumption than wider 235/45R18 and 235/40R19, although the increased fuel consumption of the wider tyres could be due to the increased weight and the increased wind drag rather than increased friction with the road.

 

I would be more concerned about the high wear rate of the Hankook all-season tyres. The wear rate was only about 63% of the best in one of the tests.

 

Maybe take a look at Continental all-season tyres. Some of them are given a B rating for rolling resistance.

 

Edited 22 December, 2022 by Carlston

[numskull]

Now I have a few hundred miles on them, I can say I’m really happy with the Conti All Season tyres I had fitted before Christmas.
Grip in the wet and dry are excellent but the biggest improvement over the P7’s is the reduction in the tyre roar noise in the cabin; I estimate it’s down by 70%. Also I haven’t really noticed a reduction in MPG either. 

[Dieselgate]

Got fitted up with Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons on Saturday and having my summer tyres stored at the tyre shop over the winter. Now to see how they perform over the next few months!

Was pleased to see that the summers still had 5-6mm of tread remaining after 18,500 miles which seems pretty good to me.

[gregoir]

I've just changed from Vredestein Quatrac 5 to Vredestein Quatrac. Sounds like a bit of time traveling, but they are the latest version. Working great in snow and ice and a slightly quieter ride.

[Ootohere]

@gregoir Lots of Quatrac on the go with differences. 

 I went Old Skool with Quatrac Pro,s and really pretty crap on snow last week.

Many Vresestein about for much cheapness. 

 

There are Quatrac Pro + & Quatrac Pro EV,s.

Edited 13 December, 2023 by Rooted

[BTandSid]

Been running CrossClimates on my Karoq having previously had them fitted to a SubaruForester and Freelander. No issues although appreciate there’s probably less deep snow in SE London than up north

[Ootohere]

They come in plenty flavours now and different tread depths by size and name.

CrossClimate.

CrossClimate +

CrossClimate 2

CrossClimate SUV

CrossClimate SUV2

CrossClimate Agilis (Van)

 

Many types of snow and temperatures, but most are talking driving roads here.

Fresh Snow, Powder Snow, Snow on ice, Thawing snow, slush, ploughed roads, ploughed and gritted / salted etc etc.

 

Not often in London it will be snow that fell days or weeks before and is hard packed and slick.

It will be if roads open driven by vans, taxis, bin lorries, coaches / busses and motor bikes, scooters and push bikes and lots with the tyres the vehicle came from the factory with.

Just as in Scotland or Wales or RofUK.

Edited 14 December, 2023 by Rooted

[Dieselgate]

My Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons seemed to perform well in the snow when in Germany last week. Certainly felt far more secure than summer tyres. Went up a fairly long forest track (uphill) which obviously isn't treated/cleared and went straight up (and down!) with no spinning or drama at all. Was about 40cm of fairly fresh snow (just slightly packed from a very small number of previous vehicles).

[kodiaqsportline]

Some years ago I changed to Vector 4 on my Octavia estate for no other reason then to reduce the noise levels generated by it's 17! Dunlop Sport factory supplied affair. It transformed the car. I bought them at Costco for a ridiculous price - something like £240 for all four.

 

Just over I year ago I changed to Maxxis All season on the Karoq for much the same reason - the 225/40/19 standard tyres were quite noisy. Think I paid around £400 from memory which was much less than what other brands were asking - all the reviews I read were positive towards Maxxis. If there was a difference is noise then it was minimal. To me it wasn't worth the outlay if noise was the only factor.

 

Yesterday I changed to CrossClimate SUV 2 on myKodiaq with 20". This time noise wasn;t the issue - last year I was caught out with traction in very light compacted snow. I guess 20" tyres on a heavy FWD isn;t a good combination. Swore that whenever I saw I deal I'd change them. Could have bought Vector 4's again but the Cross Climates weren't that much more so why not.

 

In the short distance I've driven so far I have to say I regret the decision. Despite the official noise rating being 1db less than the standard Conti summer tyres the car was delivered with, there is defo a higher noise  inside the cabin now. Not sure if Vector 4's would have been any different as the tread pattern look similar to the Michelin's ( ratings had the Vectors 1db higher ), but I'm kinda wishing now I'd gone for seperate winter / summer tyres. It's far, far too early to make a judgement on fuel consumption but given the typical drive I did today in this temp and road conditions, I'd have expected slightly lower mpg from my old tyres. Even if the mpg proves to be no different, that's impressive for All Seasons.

 

 

[Paws4Thot]

1 hour ago, kodiaqsportline said:

Despite the official noise rating being 1db less than the standard Conti summer tyres the car was delivered with, there is defo a higher noise  inside the cabin now.

Somehow not an actual surprise; the "official" (actually manufacturer self-certified) noise level is for external drive-by noise, not cabin noise.

[kodiaqsportline]

6 hours ago, Paws4Thot said:

Somehow not an actual surprise; the "official" (actually manufacturer self-certified) noise level is for external drive-by noise, not cabin noise.

If a tyre is deemed quieter in the outside then why no surprise it's louder on the inside?  What's the reasoning behind it?

 

I'd have assumed if it's quieter on the outside it'd also be quieter or at least the same on the inside. Can't think of any reason why it'd be louder.

Edited 15 December, 2023 by kodiaqsportline

[Paws4Thot]

12 hours ago, kodiaqsportline said:

If a tyre is deemed quieter in the outside then why no surprise it's louder on the inside?  What's the reasoning behind it?

 

I'd have assumed if it's quieter on the outside it'd also be quieter or at least the same on the inside. Can't think of any reason why it'd be louder.

Drive-by noise for a given installation is controlled primarily by tyre tread pattern, wear and road surface. Interior noise is controlled more by tyre construction and suspension design.

[nta16]

Tyres throw off a lot of mess one of which is noise, all modern cars have larger and wider fashion wheels than they used to so even more mess and there are more cars on the rougher roads with more homes nearer bigger and busier roads so the authorities and tyre manufacturers had to do something about the noise at least, or at least look like they are.

 

Personally I take the tyre labelling with a pinch of salt, things might have improved but when it first came in tyres I'd used that were good for grip were rated lower on the label than the tyres I had to swap to next that weren't as good but were rated higher on the label.  I'd have no idea about noise level as the cacophony of other car noises were greater.

 

 

[Wildmoose]

After 7 years of summer / winter wheels I can now only store one set, so I've retained the one's I had for the Audi & gone all season on the Superb. Original Themisto's looking pretty scuffed these days, but now wearing Cross Climate 2's. Good so far, but early days.

[Schtum]

4 minutes ago, Wildmoose said:

After 7 years of summer / winter wheels I can now only store one set, so I've retained the one's I had for the Audi & gone all season on the Superb. Original Themisto's looking pretty scuffed these days, but now wearing Cross Climate 2's. Good so far, but early days.

 

I'm a big Michelin and even more, CrossClimate fan.   I've got CrossClimate+ on the Yeti.  In the winter I run Dunlop D5 Winter Sport on the Karoq.  A couple of winters ago I did a bit of back to back testing on the same piece of snow and ice covered road.

The only discernible difference was that the Karoq braked slightly better on the low friction surface.  Thinking about it, some of that may have been because the Karoq is on 215's and the Yeti is on 225's so there's a bit more lbs per sq ins bearing down on the Karoq's tread.

In anything above 7-10 deg C it's no contest.  CrossClimates are superb in standing water and I've thrashed them in temperatures up to 30 deg C.   I also like the steering feel imparted by the slightly convex tread pattern.

[keystonedriving]

My Scala is on it's original Dunlop tyres, it has only done 23k, so shouldn't need replacements for a while yet.

 

We also have had a 4wd Mk2 CRV which served as the dogs' trainsport (one is a large Greyhound), and we got about 40k out of a set of Hankook Icecepts which were on the car permanently.  We were very happy with them, but it was time to replace the vehicle as it was coming up to 20 years old (and as it was a petrol engine it averaged about 30mpg - lots of steep hills in Cornwall).  Last year we replaced it with a 4wd Mk4 CRV which had done about 40k on its original Goodyears, so got a set of Yokohama All Seasons put on.  They set me back just a gnat's under £500 (17" wheels).  They are definitely noisier but otherwise feel fine.  It will be interesting to see how they fare. The new one is a diesel - 45mpg is much better and it's Euro 6 to boot.

 

I still have the 15 inch wheels with Kumho winter tyres which served on the Roomster and the Toledo (effectively a Rapid with Alcantara seats) though the Scala needs wider tyres according to the TuV information.  If it's that bad I'll just use the CRV!

[Wildmoose]

On 22/12/2023 at 21:10, Schtum said:

 

I'm a big Michelin and even more, CrossClimate fan.   I've got CrossClimate+ on the Yeti.  In the winter I run Dunlop D5 Winter Sport on the Karoq.  A couple of winters ago I did a bit of back to back testing on the same piece of snow and ice covered road.

The only discernible difference was that the Karoq braked slightly better on the low friction surface.  Thinking about it, some of that may have been because the Karoq is on 215's and the Yeti is on 225's so there's a bit more lbs per sq ins bearing down on the Karoq's tread.

In anything above 7-10 deg C it's no contest.  CrossClimates are superb in standing water and I've thrashed them in temperatures up to 30 deg C.   I also like the steering feel imparted by the slightly convex tread pattern.

 

I've turned into a big Michelin fan. PS4's & Alpin 6's were the tyres that the Cross Climate's have replaced. I've got PS4S's on the Audi as well. The only non-Michelin tyres I have left now are the Audi winter's, Bridgestone Blizzack's, which have been very good to be fair.

[Skobia59]

I kicked this post off back in November 2019 when I decided to fit All Season tyres on my car.

 

4 years on and it was time to replace my tyres again.

 

The Maxxis AP2s that I opted for previously had served me well. Actually Far better than I anticipated.

 

No matter the season, heatwave or cold snap, or the weather conditions, I found they always gave me confidence.

The tyres provided excellent grip, (including the odd times on my steep snow covered road and drive which neighbours struggled or failed to negotiate), braked effectively.

They also gave a comfortable ride, and were quiet too. I couldn't have wanted much more.

 

So, what tyres to buy this time around, as unfortunately, the Maxxis AP2 appears to have been superseded.

A pity as I'm fairly sure that I would have opted for another set of AP2s in a flash.

 

As was the case 4 years ago, I made my decision after reading reviews & test results, as well as considering my location (the Midlands, UK), my driving style (Mr Average), my car (see below) and annual mileage (very low).

 

I still own my humble but trusty and much appreciated 13 year old Fabia 2 HTP estate. But no matter what the car, I still like to have a set of decent tyres that give me confidence when driving in any weather but without paying a fortune.

 

My choice of tyre in the end was the Hankook Kinergy 4S 2.

 

I had a set fitted last month and It will be interesting to see what I think of them compared to the Maxxis AP2s.

Since having the tyres fitted the weather has been unseasonably mild so I'll report back next month when we may have had cooler temperatures and maybe even some snow!

 

In the meantime.....

Merry Christmas everyone.

[kodiaqsportline]

On 25/12/2023 at 09:50, Skobia59 said:

The Maxxis AP2s that I opted for previously had served me well. Actually Far better than I anticipated.

 

It was Maxxis I used on my Karoq. All reviews were positive considering their price. From memory they were 2/3rd price of the bigger brands. Did you have trouble sourcing them? Even my local Maxxis dealer couldn't get them in the size I wanted so ended up buying them online from MyTyres. Couldn't find them anywhere else online.

I don't drive fast or hard enough to be bothered by handling, they were bought purely to reduce noise but that never really worked out. I guess with 225/40/19, any tyre wuld stuggle in the noise department.

 

The cross climates I put on the Kodiaq are now almost silent. Not sure why they were noisy when they first went on. Newness? I dunnio. The noise reduction was instant with the Vectors on my Octavia - it's taken them a few hundred miles to settle down. Anyhow, I'm hearing more wind noise from the wing mirrors now which I guess means they're doing their job. When I drove off the other day, my passenger asked if the car was electric or 'one of those hybrid things' .  

Edited 27 December, 2023 by kodiaqsportline

[Skobia59]

47 minutes ago, kodiaqsportline said:

 

It was Maxxis I used on my Karoq. All reviews were positive considering their price. From memory they were 2/3rd price of the bigger brands. Did you have trouble sourcing them? Even my local Maxxis dealer couldn't get them in the size I wanted so ended up buying them online from MyTyres. Couldn't find them anywhere else online.

 

 

At the time that I purchased my Maxxis AP2s they were available from quite a few places.

I ended up buying them from a tyre supplier who also sold through an onsite auction site.

They were based somewhere in Wales and their price, including delivery, was extremely competative.

 

Edited 27 December, 2023 by Skobia59