The cars are what the cars are. Manufactured by Central European Manufacturer owned by a Central European Car Manufacturing Group that should know something about winters in Europe and driving in winter.  (As poor as heating and demisting can be that might not be true. They can not even design Fuel flaps that do not tend to freeze closed.

 

So if All Season / Winter Tyres from European Tyre Manufacturers have issues in winter conditions it is down to the car manufacturers or the tyre manufacturers and their global testing and actual 'Media Spin guff' that comes from many including the Corporations Media Teams and the Motoring Journalists & Reviewers that are highly unlikely to tell it like it is in the 'Reviews'.

It is drivers that know how there car behaves in various seasons. 

If they are going to review tyres for European / UK Winters and the condition then if they have no experience of using the car with the tyres fitted when there is snow then it is good that they say that.

If they find issues then it is good that they say that.

If tyre manufacturers improve tyres and their performance in different conditions it is good that they say that, but even better if they say why they improved them and why what went before was lacking.

One unintended but most welcome consequence of changing to my winter wheels and tyres has been much improved fuel consumption. On the 18" alloy wheels (225 width I think) my Superb diesel would return just about 50 MPG, I took the car to Norfolk last week (130 mile round trip) and it did 58 MPG (on 16" wheels, 205 width I think). That was a nice surprise.

 

Alan

I guess having less rubber on the tarmac has significantly reduced the rolling resistance.

 

I've noticed no difference going from Summer to All season tyres but then the size has remained the same.

17 hours ago, Othen said:

One unintended but most welcome consequence of changing to my winter wheels and tyres has been much improved fuel consumption. On the 18" alloy wheels (225 width I think) my Superb diesel would return just about 50 MPG, I took the car to Norfolk last week (130 mile round trip) and it did 58 MPG (on 16" wheels, 205 width I think). That was a nice surprise.

 

Alan

I would be very interested if you could post the exact make and size of both sets.  A 16% improvement in mpg seems a lot.  I will try and discover their rolling resistance.  Were the tyre pressures changed?

It's possible the pressures are higher. When ever I've ever had new tyres fitted they have always massively over inflated them!

^^^

Which is why you ask the fitter to put the tyres to the pressure you want after they have the tyres on the beads and balanced.

Then you check they did as asked and reset the TPMS.

Never trust your life to people you do not know and that do not love and cherish you.

I live in ne scotland just 5 miles inland from Peterhead up a couple of single track roads that can be pretty bad at times, even seen the snow plough getting stuck once or twice 

I just got an a 2014 Octavia that is fitted with 17'' Michelin Crossclimate tyres. I have always kept snow chains in the boot as i have needed then in the past for various cars but apparently we can not fit snow chains to the 17'' wheel tyre combo we have (guess there is no clearance).

In the past i have tried various winter and all season tyres and the only time i was disappointed with one was when the michelin cross climates first came out i had a set fitted to my Lexus and i got stuck at the top of a hill, the same hill i had driven up a little time before with the wifes smart forfour fitted with winter tyres that went up the hill with hardly a wheel spin so given the choice i would go with full winter tyres every time.

 

We also have a little 4WD Toyota that runs year round on winter tyres so it tends to get used most when snow threatens 

On 20/11/2020 at 16:36, Othen said:

One unintended but most welcome consequence of changing to my winter wheels and tyres has been much improved fuel consumption. On the 18" alloy wheels (225 width I think) my Superb diesel would return just about 50 MPG, I took the car to Norfolk last week (130 mile round trip) and it did 58 MPG (on 16" wheels, 205 width I think). That was a nice surprise.

 

Alan

Not enough data!

You need to add tyre profile into your sums then use Tyre Fitment and Calculator to get a more accurate figure.

Alternative is to measure circumference using a tape measure. Most of your 8mpg 'gain' is from the increase in wheel width alone.

Also check your speedo is correct before the nice man with the Talivan does!

According to @Othenthe width was reduced from 225 (he thinks) to 205, so not an increase in width.

As it is the width is the widest part of the tyre and not all 225, or 205's are equal on the width of the tread.

 

The tyres circumference is really quite important  though and checking is the speedo and milometer reading accurately, or at least reading the same since seldom are they accurate on the OEM tyre sizes.

On 21/11/2020 at 10:06, farty said:

I would be very interested if you could post the exact make and size of both sets.  A 16% improvement in mpg seems a lot.  I will try and discover their rolling resistance.  Were the tyre pressures changed?

Yes, of course: the summer tyres were Continental 225/40R18 (OE fitment ) running ar 2.2 bar, the winter tyres are Yokohama 205/55R16 at 2.4 bar. I checked the pressures were exactly as per the recommendations myself.

 

I was pleasantly surprised at such a big improvement.

 

Alan

Edited 22 November, 20205 yr by Othen

19 hours ago, punyXpress said:

Not enough data!

You need to add tyre profile into your sums then use Tyre Fitment and Calculator to get a more accurate figure.

Alternative is to measure circumference using a tape measure. Most of your 8mpg 'gain' is from the increase in wheel width alone.

Also check your speedo is correct before the nice man with the Talivan does!

See above for the details. The sizes are both standard for the car (225/40R18 and 205/55R16 - which is the same as my full size spare), so I’m pretty sure the rolling circumstances will be the same (although I have not checked). I can only put it down to a 10% narrower tyre and slightly higher standard inflation pressure.

Alan

19 hours ago, e-Roottoot said:

According to @Othenthe width was reduced from 225 (he thinks) to 205, so not an increase in width.

As it is the width is the widest part of the tyre and not all 225, or 205's are equal on the width of the tread.

 

The tyres circumference is really quite important  though and checking is the speedo and milometer reading accurately, or at least reading the same since seldom are they accurate on the OEM tyre sizes.

See above. I have checked, and the width is indeed reduced from 225 to 205, so about a 10% reduction. The running pressure for the 16” tyre is also higher at 2.4 bar (as opposed to 2.2 bar for the 18”). The car runs well on the winter tyres, they are certainly quieter (due to the higher aspect ratio I think). It is easier to spin the front wheels with them, particularly in the wet, which is unsurprising.

On 21/11/2020 at 09:12, Phil-E said:

I guess having less rubber on the tarmac has significantly reduced the rolling resistance.

 

I've noticed no difference going from Summer to All season tyres but then the size has remained the same.

Agreed, I don’t think this is anything to do with summer and winter rubber, just the narrower and higher profile tyres.

20 hours ago, punyXpress said:

Not enough data!

You need to add tyre profile into your sums then use Tyre Fitment and Calculator to get a more accurate figure.

Alternative is to measure circumference using a tape measure. Most of your 8mpg 'gain' is from the increase in wheel width alone.

Also check your speedo is correct before the nice man with the Talivan does!

Many thanks, the calculator is really useful. I’ve just put in 225/40R18 and 205/55R16 and get rolling circumferences of 2001 and 1985mm respectively, 6mm difference is 0.3%, and the 16” wheel has the slightly smaller dimension.

Edited 22 November, 20205 yr by Othen

9 minutes ago, Othen said:

Many thanks, the calculator is really useful. I’ve just put in 225/40R18 and 205/55R16 and get rolling circumferences of 2001 and 1985mm respectively, 6mm difference is 0.3%, and the 16” wheel has the slightly smaller dimension.

However winter wheels often start with about 8mm tread, and summer tyres about 6.5mm tread (I use about as varies by brand so can’t be precise)

 

So if you wear the tread 1mm, diameter reduces by 2mm and circumference therefore goes down 6mm.   Therefore not worth worrying about as no one replaces tyres when tread depth changes just 1mm

 

15 hours ago, Othen said:

Yes, of course: the summer tyres were Continental 225/40R18 (OE fitment ) running ar 2.2 bar, the winter tyres are Yokohama 205/55R16 at 2.4 bar.

Thanks.  Do you know which Contis and which Yokohamas they were?  Tyre manufactures often make several ranges.  Conti make Eco, Premium and Sport and versions 5 and 6 for summer tyres in that size.

 

Yokohama make BlueEarth and W.Drive winter tyres in your size.

Edited 23 November, 20205 yr by farty

8 minutes ago, farty said:

Thanks.  Do you know which Contis and which Yokohamas they were?  Tyre manufactures often make several ranges.

... I'll have a look after I've taken my son to school - does it make that much difference?

Alan

3 minutes ago, Othen said:

... I'll have a look after I've taken my son to school - does it make that much difference?

I don't know.  If you have both sets, could you photograph the markings?  Or include the speed and load ratings as well?  I will search on TyreReviews.co.uk and other websites where they measure rolling resistance.  That will keep mr busy for a few hours   Were the summers on alloy and the winters on steel wheels?  Smaller wheels will have less mass and reduced gyroscopic forces but offset if different metal.

2 minutes ago, farty said:

I don't know.  If you have both sets, could you photograph the markings?  Or include the speed and load ratings as well?  I will search on TyreReviews.co.uk and other websites where they measure rolling resistance.  That will keep mr busy for a few hours   Were the summers on alloy and the winters on steel wheels?  Smaller wheels will have less mass and reduced gyroscopic forces but offset if different metal.

Okay. I'll photograph both tyres when I get back. The 18" wheels are alloy, the 16" are steel.

Alan

1 hour ago, Othen said:

Okay. I'll photograph both tyres when I get back. The 18" wheels are alloy, the 16" are steel.

Alan

There is a good fuel savings calculator (attatched) which suggests that changing from the least fuel-efficient tyres to the best, would only save about 7.5% on mpg.

So 20% cannot be due to the tyre change alone.  How did you measure mpg?  Do you drive like a loony on dry, summer roads?  

 

 

fuel_savings_calculator_en.xls

21 minutes ago, farty said:

There is a good fuel savings calculator (attatched) which suggests that changing from the least fuel-efficient tyres to the best, would only save about 7.5% on mpg.

So 20% cannot be due to the tyre change alone.  How did you measure mpg?  Do you drive like a loony on dry, summer roads?  

 

 

fuel_savings_calculator_en.xls 790.5 kB · 2 downloads

Okay, here are some photos of both tyres, the Continental (18”, on an alloy rim) and the Yokohama winter (on a 16” steel rim).

 

I measured the consumption using the onboard computer. It was on a route I do quite often from Corby to Pentney (near King’s Lynn) - about a 140 mile trip, probably half dual carriageway and half good A roads. I normally get just about 50 MPG (maybe a tiny bit more) with the summer tyres, driving exactly the same way (60-70 MPH, just me and the dog in the car, full tank of fuel, no stops) gave 58 MPG on the winter tyres.

 

Akan

Edited 23 November, 20205 yr by Othen
Spelling

19 minutes ago, Othen said:

Okay, here are some photos of both tyres, the Continental (18”, on an alloy rim) and the Yokohama winter (on a 16” steel rim).

Thanks.  I can see that the Contis are SportContact 5  92Y  MO Extra Load

 

and the Yokohamas are W.Drive 91H

25 minutes ago, farty said:

Thanks.  I can see that the Contis are SportContact 5  92Y  MO Extra Load

 

and the Yokohamas are W.Drive 91H

Many thanks. You have already exceeded my knowledge of car tyres (I'm better at motorbike tyres, they are a bit more critical). Whenever I need to replace 18" tyres I always just ask for an exact match (I think it is best to keep with the OE, manufacturers don't often get it wrong). 

8 hours ago, Othen said:

Many thanks. You have already exceeded my knowledge of car tyres (I'm better at motorbike tyres, they are a bit more critical). Whenever I need to replace 18" tyres I always just ask for an exact match (I think it is best to keep with the OE, manufacturers don't often get it wrong). 

Except the awful Bridgestone Turanzas that my previous Octavia came with.

 

Noisy, squirmy ride and uneven wear even after full geometry checks.

8 hours ago, Othen said:

(I think it is best to keep with the OE,

 

9 hours ago, farty said:

I can see that the Contis are SportContact 5  92Y  MO Extra Load

 

 

The Conti's are OE for a Mercedes Benz ( MO ) ?

 

Thanks, AG Falco