Had my Octavia for a month now but I'm a huge advocate of winter tyres and missed the reassurance today when blizzards came in. I've had winter tyres on several cars going back to 2011 and am well versed on the subject in terms of the theory and the practice. 

 

There's still decent tread left on the Dunlop Sport Maxx that are fitted but I read up that they are truly awful in snow and slushy ice conditions. To be expected from a summer tyre. 

 

Taking into account the faffing about of changing tyres over twice a year and storage, I've opted for the award winning Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2.

 

Paid £374 including fitting from black circles and got the £40 fuel voucher promotion. Being fitted Thursday morning so I'll report back with my findings. 

 

Full set of Dunlop's available soon for anyone interested. 

6 hours ago, Doctor_Strange said:

 

Taking into account the faffing about of changing tyres over twice a year and storage, I've opted for the award winning Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2.

Not used them myself but, I use Michelin CrossClimates & they were a very good combination, even when pressing on in hot summer weather.

8 hours ago, Doctor_Strange said:

Had my Octavia for a month now but I'm a huge advocate of winter tyres and missed the reassurance today when blizzards came in. I've had winter tyres on several cars going back to 2011 and am well versed on the subject in terms of the theory and the practice. 

 

There's still decent tread left on the Dunlop Sport Maxx that are fitted but I read up that they are truly awful in snow and slushy ice conditions. To be expected from a summer tyre. 

 

Taking into account the faffing about of changing tyres over twice a year and storage, I've opted for the award winning Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2.

 

Paid £374 including fitting from black circles and got the £40 fuel voucher promotion. Being fitted Thursday morning so I'll report back with my findings. 

 

Full set of Dunlop's available soon for anyone interested. 

 

I went from Sport Maxx to Vector 4 in December.  I changed them because the Sports were too loud, nothing to do with winter conditions.

 

 

As I understand it the vectors are a winter-biased all season tyre.  Its for this reason that I chose them when replacing a pair of yokohama winters (due to puncture) a couple of months ago.  I intend to replace the remaining winter pair with vectors too.  So far they perform very similarly to the Yokohama (BluEarth something) but yet to get them into full winter conditions.  They both performed as expected over the weekend to the point I had to explain to MrsG82 why I was able to push the car so much more compared to others on the road.  Some of the most confidence inspiring driving in a while.  I'm now very much looking forward to the spring when I can start using my brand new efficient grip performance to see how they compare with the worn sport contact 5s that came off in October.

57 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

I went from Sport Maxx to Vector 4 in December.  I changed them because the Sports were too loud, nothing to do with winter conditions.

 

 

 

I must say I thought the noise levels were higher with these Dunlop's. Did you find a noticeable difference in noise? 

6 minutes ago, Doctor_Strange said:

 

I must say I thought the noise levels were higher with these Dunlop's. Did you find a noticeable difference in noise? 

 

It's the biggest difference in any car I've owned. I'd been looking around to change the Octavia because the road noise was awful, thought I'd give all-season a try - I got mine on a Costco Black Friday special offer and couldn't believe the difference. It's far too soon to obtain mpg affect with any accuracy, but it looks like I'm loosing around 2-3mpg. If I'd known it was going to make that much difference in sound I'd have accepted a 10mpg difference ! 

That's quite an endorsement 😀

 

I'm also wondering if they will make a difference when pulling away from standstill. If I accelerate even slightly briskly I get the traction control stepping in to stop wheel spin as the wheels can't put the power down. 

I really considered going the all season route myself after much reading and some debate (although I was looking at the Vredestein Quantrac Pros myself).

Many people seem to be concerned about road noise and also grip on the summer tyres.

 

I actually just stuck with my summer tyres (Michellin PS4s) as I don't actually find it a problem in either category for normal road driving.  I find it strange that others with ~150bhp are getting traction issues when I'm not getting that with 50% more power.

 

Either it's down to the location as it's pretty mild down south in comparison or the PS4s are way above the rest of the summer tyres.  I have to admit I did have a bit of an ABS based slide this week in my Honda when braking on a slip road and that has Conti-Sport Premium 6s on the front.  I've not suffered any of that with the Skoda and the PS4s.

Interestingly I've not heard of anyone switching out from the PS4s to all season, people seem to be ditching P-Zeros, Sport Maxx, Goodyear Efficientgrips and sometimes Conti-Sports, complaining about the noise also.  I can't say I notice the noise on the Michellins.

 

Just something to bear in mind, people label summer tyres are bad, but there's a whole range of summer tyres out there and the performance can vary hugely.  

I don't have anything against summer tyres generally it's just that its a fact of the type of tyre that they are poorer in winter and when it does snow, they simply won't perform well.

 

I have some dashcam footage of when I purposely went out in snow onto a quiet housing estate to test the Avon winter tyres I had at the time. I came to a stop on a snow covered incline and pulled away without the wheel spin drama that would come with even the finest summer tyres in the same situation. 

 

I also did a brake test full emergency stop and pulled up when summer tyres would have taken far longer. Obviously winter tyres are poor in summer hence in the past I changed tyres twice a year. This time, especially with a trend of mild winters, I've gone for the acclaimed Goodyear all season's. 

4 hours ago, MarkyG82 said:

As I understand it the vectors are a winter-biased all season tyre.  Its for this reason that I chose them when replacing a pair of yokohama winters (due to puncture) a couple of months ago.  I intend to replace the remaining winter pair with vectors too.  So far they perform very similarly to the Yokohama (BluEarth something) but yet to get them into full winter conditions.  They both performed as expected over the weekend to the point I had to explain to MrsG82 why I was able to push the car so much more compared to others on the road.  Some of the most confidence inspiring driving in a while.  I'm now very much looking forward to the spring when I can start using my brand new efficient grip performance to see how they compare with the worn sport contact 5s that came off in October.

 

Unfortunately I couldn't get Goodyear vector 4 season for my car (choice was just Vredestein Quatrac 5 or Maxxis AP2) due to stupid wheel size on my Arona (which is also used on Kamiq)

Ordering from Germany complete wheels only few pounds more than a set of 4 Quatrac 5 

 

I bought full winters (on Borbet Y rims) with Goodyear Ultragrip 9+   (visually similar to 4 season with directional V tread)

Has proved to be a stunning tyre, can drive through muddy field run off at 1c or on damp treated roads at -4c and sticks like road is dry summer day.

Was able to spin wheels pulling out of side turnings in rain with summer tyres during the Autumn, can't do it now.

 

Alas haven't had any snow to really test them out though, but difference at lower temperatures makes it worth it.

Edited 11 February, 20206 yr by SurreyJohn

4 minutes ago, SurreyJohn said:

 

Unfortunately I couldn't get Goodyear vector 4 season for my car (choice was just Vredestein Quatrac 5 or Maxxis AP2) due to stupid wheel size on my Arona (which is also used on Kamiq)

Ordering from Germany complete wheels only few pounds more than a set of 4 Quatrac 5 

 

I bought full winters (on Borbet Y rims) with Goodyear Ultragrip 9+   (visually similar to 4 season with directional V tread)

Has proved to be a stunning tyre, can drive through muddy field run off at 1c or on damp treated roads at -4c and sticks like road is dry summer day.

Was able to spin wheels pulling out of side turnings in rain with summer tyres during the Autumn, can't do it now.

 

Alas haven't had any snow to really test them out though, but difference at lower temperatures makes it worth it.

Same here with the R19's on the Superb and I opted for Quatrac 5's.  I've used them on both FWD and AWD cars across a wide range of conditions and they've been faultless.  Obviously more surefooted on snow covered inclines with the AWD but I still never got stuck with them on a FWD car either.  They are also very good as a Summer tyre too, as good as or better than the majority of dedicated Summer tyres I've used in the past.  Wear rate is also astonishing; I still have 5.5mm on a set that have covered ~25K miles 

 

We have GY Vector 4 seasons fitted to our Fabia 3 and also had them on our Golf GTI; great tyres, another great all-season choice IME.  They have a little more 'bite' in the snow Vs the Quatracs and seem to be more grippy at lower temperatures but the down side is that they can squirm (particularly in the Summer months) as the sipes are moving around but it's a very good tyre IME and is also very quiet on the motorway. 

 

I would agree with the general consensus that the GYV4S' are a more Winter biased tyre and the Quatrac 5 is more Summer/performance bias; both good tyres though and I'd happily buy them again.  

 

My last dedicated Winter tyres were the Ultragrip 9's and they are very good, especially on frozen/cold and damp roads.  Really feel surefooted; we were in Scotland in February, a few years ago and pretty much everywhere was snow covered and temps barely above zero; no issues whatsoever.  We were one of the only cars to not get stuck near Eilean Donan on the A87 when heavy snow fall and drifts seem to catch everyone off guard.  This was in a FWD car too.  

 

 

Michelin PS4 are the reason I take my winter tyres off in the spring, their feel and handling are at a level that no-all season can touch (at the moment). The winters are TS860, chosen to match the conditions I see and have to drive in the most . Winter tyres have their limits in some conditions and you have to drive accordingly.

 

All season tyres have come on a huge amount in the last few years to the point I use Vector 4S G2 on SWMBO's daily driver because they behave better across all the conditions she may see spring/autumn and she doesn't have to drive in the times of day or conditions I tend to. I still put Conti premium contact 6 on in the summer but when they wear out I may just leave all-seasons on if they are as good as I think they will be by then.

7 minutes ago, flybynite said:

Michelin PS4 are the reason I take my winter tyres off in the spring, their feel and handling are at a level that no-all season can touch (at the moment). The winters are TS860, chosen to match the conditions I see and have to drive in the most . Winter tyres have their limits in some conditions and you have to drive accordingly.

 

All season tyres have come on a huge amount in the last few years to the point I use Vector 4S G2 on SWMBO's daily driver because they behave better across all the conditions she may see spring/autumn and she doesn't have to drive in the times of day or conditions I tend to. I still put Conti premium contact 6 on in the summer but when they wear out I may just leave all-seasons on if they are as good as I think they will be by then.

Aye, I removed the Quatrac 5's this Summer and tried the PS4......wow.  I agree, on a different level.  My new tyre rotation will be Quatrac 5's for Nov-April'ish and PS4 for everything else.  I did try put an end to running two sets of tyres/alloys when I changed to all-seasons but I've cocked up...I'm getting some new alloys for Summer.

 

Just to be clear though so I'm not contradicting my earlier post.  The Quatrac 5's are still a very good tyre for the Summer months and If I could only have one tyre then it would be that as I do like the security of having something that inspires confidence in Winter but....The Michelin PS4 make a noticeable difference to how my car feels and is the best UHP/Summer tyre I've tried, and trust me the Superb 3 needs all the help it can get 😆

2 hours ago, Doctor_Strange said:

That's quite an endorsement 😀

 

I'm also wondering if they will make a difference when pulling away from standstill. If I accelerate even slightly briskly I get the traction control stepping in to stop wheel spin as the wheels can't put the power down. 

 

Can't say as I drive like Ms Daisy. I never experienced wheelspin on the Dunlops. I was a little less confident going around corners at normal speeds with the Goodyears, the car felt a tad nervous, but that may well have been the newness of the tyres. No issues after a few hundred miles.

7 hours ago, Scot5 said:

 

Can't say as I drive like Ms Daisy. I never experienced wheelspin on the Dunlops. I was a little less confident going around corners at normal speeds with the Goodyears, the car felt a tad nervous, but that may well have been the newness of the tyres. No issues after a few hundred miles.

Had 15 inch SportsMaxx on my mk2 that were really good initially but misaligned geometry from the factory meant bad scalloping and a dreadful 'wheel bearing failure type' noise developed and the tyres were ditched at 15k km for dealer recommended Yokohama which were quiet but unremarkable performers.

 

Mk3 had 17 inch SportMaxx which I ran to about 45k km with no complaints at all re noise/handling/rolling resistance. For some reason they did pick up nails/screws off the road like a pin cushion and provided no kerbing protection to the alloys at all.

 

Got a very good deal on Michelin Premacy replacements but the first  50 to 100 km were awful, with the steering very light and lacking feel, and no confidence for braking or cornering. Then the newness was eroded off and they are now exemplary and provide good kerbing protection.

 

Over the years of Briskoda comments I got the impression that SportsMaxx suffered from quality control issues. Get a good set and no problems but at the other extreme one road warrior failed to wear his out after 80k miles and claimed they gave the worst ride/performance of any tyre he had fitted.

 

Added Note: Living in Adelaide, South Australia the fitting of winter tyres is not even considered. Even rare to get wet weather to be honest.

Edited 11 February, 20206 yr by Gerrycan

1 hour ago, Gerrycan said:

Added Note: Living in Adelaide, South Australia...   Even rare to get wet weather to be honest.

 

Adelaide - 30th January 2020  

 

 

 

 

 

7 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

Adelaide - 30th January 2020  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Believe me a rare but welcome event locally... just not for that car's owner.

 

Of course nationally the drought has been broken with a huge deluge in the Eastern states and the North West of the continent being hit by a major cyclone.

 

I think I have driven on wet roads about 3 or 4 times in the last 6 months and most of that was just drizzle.

20 hours ago, Alex-W said:

I really considered going the all season route myself after much reading and some debate (although I was looking at the Vredestein Quantrac Pros myself).

Many people seem to be concerned about road noise and also grip on the summer tyres.

 

I actually just stuck with my summer tyres (Michellin PS4s) as I don't actually find it a problem in either category for normal road driving.  I find it strange that others with ~150bhp are getting traction issues when I'm not getting that with 50% more power.

 

Either it's down to the location as it's pretty mild down south in comparison or the PS4s are way above the rest of the summer tyres.  I have to admit I did have a bit of an ABS based slide this week in my Honda when braking on a slip road and that has Conti-Sport Premium 6s on the front.  I've not suffered any of that with the Skoda and the PS4s.

Interestingly I've not heard of anyone switching out from the PS4s to all season, people seem to be ditching P-Zeros, Sport Maxx, Goodyear Efficientgrips and sometimes Conti-Sports, complaining about the noise also.  I can't say I notice the noise on the Michellins.

 

Just something to bear in mind, people label summer tyres are bad, but there's a whole range of summer tyres out there and the performance can vary hugely.  

PS4S'S are good through the winter with exceptional wet grip however, they totally hopeless in snow, don't even bother if there's an incline anything more than 1 in 8. I failed 3 times to get over a long humped back bridge & chose another route fortunately, it was early so no other road users around but, it certainly showed they're limits.

 

Only downside of that level of grip is that if you use ALL the grip, the wear rates can be very extreme with 5 or 6k miles per pair of fronts, though to put that in context, I do need to replace my brake pads all round after 9-1/2k miles🤔🤔🤔

Yep, accepted that they'll be terrible in the snow.  Pretty much all summer tyres are, however I think the last time it snowed here was 2018 for maybe a week and I either get the train or just drive really slowly.  No snow last year and it's looking like none this year.

My road is gritted, as are all the roads between my home and work, so generally it's not a big deal anyway.  But I know that's not the norm around the country.

Keeping an eye on temps this year and most of the time it's been about 5-8 degrees or so in the winter, so for me it's mild enough to make summers all year practical.  It dips down sometimes, but certainly not daily.  If I was regularly seeing freezing it would be different story.

 

On our 3 cars (Octavia, 69 plate Fiesta & a Peugeot 108) The Skoda & Ford are on Cross Climates & the Peugeot is on Quadtrac 5 as the size was not available in the Cross Climate.  I am happy with the Quadtracs and they are quieter than the Continental Premium Contacts that were on before.

Our road & the next road aren't gritted so best to be safe than sorry.  Also a few days before I had the Cross Climates fitted to the Skoda the temperature dropped to around freezing & I was surprised how light the front felt (even with only a 1.0) on country roads on the factory Michelin Energies even though they had only done a few hundred miles.

I'm in the middle of a sudden trip to Heathrow and back. Snow and a hail covered M1 yesterday. On  Quatrac 5. A few mpg down compared to eco tyres. But the re assurance of being "weather- proof" is great. 

Well I've had them fitted today and had a drive up to Buxton on slightly wet roads with air temperature at 3C. It could be placebo effect but they felt more grippy to me. 

 

I'll get a better test of them on my way to and from work on Saturday during storm Dennis. There will be a lot of rain on Saturday. 

 

Best thing is I now have a full set of brand new tyres which can tackle hot summers, rainy days and also snow. They won't be quite as good as the finest summer and winter tyres in their respective seasons but no changing tyres hassle for me and we do tend to get mild winters with cold interludes. 

 

SWMBO's family will still be up in Buxton even when we've got our first place together this year so the tyres will help for any winter journeys there. It's a whole different ball game up there in winter. 

SWMBO's family will still be up in Buxton even when we've got our first place together this year so the tyres will help for any winter journeys there. It's a whole different ball game up there in winter. 

That's the original reason I got my Vredesteins in 2018. I was fully responsible for an ailing Buxtonian  friend, so I got prepared. Never drove in the snow and he has now passed away. Stiil happy with them in all weathers. 

 

Drove home about an hour ago and storm Dennis has certainly provided some good testing for the tyres! 

 

Absolutely torrential rain with some flooded roads in the area and surface water aplenty. The car felt grippy going around a roundabout fairly briskly with lots of standing water and I hit a very large patch of standing water and the tyres brushed it off. No sign of the typical aquaplaining feeling.

 

Very pleased with the performance in the wet.

First taste of snow today. Went up to Buxton and the tyres performed effortlessly on steep side streets covered in a mixture of snow and icy slush.

 

Other half's street: