Finally got round to swapping to summer boots. The "winter" tyres that came off are actually cross climates.  They've been on for a combined 24 months give or take. I do about 10k miles a year so around 20k miles on these. The photo is of the worse one. This was a front tyre. The other front isn't much better. The rears at least have legal depth tread across the full width.  All tyres are slightly affected by UV damage in the form of mild cracking.

 

This brings me to the possibility of replacing. I promised myself that I would change them for full winters when they wore out. What would briskoda do? Use them for another winter season? With a worn shoulder my gut says don't compromise on safety. Especially as they are for the colder, wetter months.

What is the tread depth over 75% of tyre? Is the scrubbing on the inside edge? if depth getting close to 3mm, I'd say replace for confidence.  

Depth is definitely close to 3mm. Worn shoulder is the inside. I need to get the tracking redone. Drive on the motorway today the steering wheel was slightly out. Didn't notice it on the old tyres. Maybe due to the scrubbing.

That worn shoulder is almost down to bottom of tread.   

All season tyres (with V shape tread pattern) throw water in puddles out of the side, I can't see how the water could exit if that was in contact with the road so would significantly increase risk of aquaplaning.

 

I would be very tempted to get tracking sorted and replace them.  Also if you want new winter tyres, then don't wait until prices go up in autumn when demand is high.

 

 

Edited 28 May, 20242 yr by SurreyJohn

Change them.  If you re bothering to change between all-seasons/winter tyres and "summer" tyres then now is the time to go the whole way with winter, "summer" swaps or all-season all year. 

I’ve just ordered 4 Goodyear Vector Gen 3 All Season tyres.

 

Was surprised to find ASDA are cheapest. Coming in a few days. Less than £500 delivered.

 

As an aside - I was considering re-coating the black 17” winter wheels till I found it would cost at least £350.

 

They’re not really in bad condition so I’ll just clean them and touch up a few bubbles.

In all honesty are all season tyres not more appropriate for most areas of the UK in winter than a dedicated winter tyre? A pretty large chunk of the time the temperatures are over 7 degrees so I now use all seasons as my winter tyres.

They performed pretty well in Germany last winter in the snow (off road!)

15 hours ago, Dieselgate said:

In all honesty are all season tyres not more appropriate for most areas of the UK in winter than a dedicated winter tyre? A pretty large chunk of the time the temperatures are over 7 degrees so I now use all seasons as my winter tyres.

They performed pretty well in Germany last winter in the snow (off road!)

Don't get too hung up on the +7c figure.  It goes back at least a decade (before Eco biased summer tyres were common).

 

In reality vs modern eco summer tyres it is more like +4c in dry, and +11c in wet and damp, and UK has lots of cold rain and damp weather from October to April

 

As a very rough guide (and exact numbers vary by brand and tyre spec, so treat as guide, not definitive)

Eco summer tyres : best above +18c  (ok above about +10c)

All seasons : best +4c to 20c (ok -5c to +4c and 21c to 30c)

Euro winter best -5c to +11c (ok -15c to -6c and 11c to +18c)

Nordic winter (snow)  : best -15c to +4c (ok below -16c and +5c to +12c)

 

Difficult to say what is best, as varies depending on where you live.  Where I am have roads that hedges mean they stay shady when sun is low in winter months and number of local fields seem to get muddy run off onto country roads which often forms icy patches, also have some quite steep hills (and the field run off washes away any salt).  But of course someone living in flat city will not get these problems 

 

 

 

 

People seem to forget how cold and wet it can be in other than winter.  In my mind it was put in the past that tyres (weren't called "summer tyres" then) were starting to go off below +10c, that could be a summer's day in UK, certainly easily at night.  I can't remember the rain statistics but outside of snow (which were generally don't get much of here) winter seemed dry to my memory.

 

North East Scotland this week , Royal Deeside and across the Cairngorms, but people often just drive to the conditions in what ever, many visitors from anyplace will be on Summer Tyres. 

21 hours ago, nta16 said:

People seem to forget how cold and wet it can be in other than winter.  In my mind it was put in the past that tyres (weren't called "summer tyres" then) were starting to go off below +10c, that could be a summer's day in UK, certainly easily at night.  I can't remember the rain statistics but outside of snow (which were generally don't get much of here) winter seemed dry to my memory.

 

Of course weather can vary a lot even across one day let alone seasons but it obviously isn't practical to change tyres so often, with that in mind then I think using the mean daily average for your area is probably the most sensible thing when deciding what you need and when to change.

I'm in SE UK and the average daily mean is 10c or above from April to October so IMO summer tyres are most appropriate then.

On 12/06/2024 at 08:10, SurreyJohn said:

Difficult to say what is best, as varies depending on where you live.  Where I am have roads that hedges mean they stay shady when sun is low in winter months and number of local fields seem to get muddy run off onto country roads which often forms icy patches, also have some quite steep hills (and the field run off washes away any salt).  But of course someone living in flat city will not get these problems 

 

This describes my area (and commute) quite well. 

I often get people asking me why I bother with seasonal tyres.  Then I get to work on a cold winters day and they are complaining about the traffic because every man and his dog is using the main road.  I can manage on roads that transition from between open fields to steep tree covered hills in a few seconds.  In those situations I like to have the best tyres possible.

Thanks all for the comments.  I think I will go for cross climate 2's or similar in another brand. I'll take a look at the tread patterns to see if any are ambidextrous as that will be handy for evening out tread wear.

3 hours ago, Dieselgate said:

Of course weather can vary a lot even across one day let alone seasons but it obviously isn't practical to change tyres so often, with that in mind then I think using the mean daily average for your area is probably the most sensible thing when deciding what you need and when to change.

I'm in SE UK and the average daily mean is 10c or above from April to October so IMO summer tyres are most appropriate then.

I wasn't going against this just making another point.  I live in the middle of the country but have driven all over, I have only ever used what's now called summer tyres in all places in all seasons and weathers but I've not used over weight / wheeled / tyred modern cars.  My point was more that people seem less prepared now to adjust their driving to the prevailing conditions, be it summer or winter, summer tyres or winter or all-seasons tyres, they rely too much on the driver and safety aids built into the car to keep going at the same speeds regardless of conditions.  Now we know the tyres themselves don't have all these electronic aids and just obey the laws of physics but many don't seem to and are more interested in playing around with the infotainment, following the ****Nav without question, talking on the phone, taking a photo of something or themselves, or possibly all four.

 

On 27/05/2024 at 22:28, MarkyG82 said:

Finally got round to swapping to summer boots. The "winter" tyres that came off are actually cross climates.  They've been on for a combined 24 months give or take. I do about 10k miles a year so around 20k miles on these. The photo is of the worse one. This was a front tyre. The other front isn't much better. The rears at least have legal depth tread across the full width.  All tyres are slightly affected by UV damage in the form of mild cracking.

 

This brings me to the possibility of replacing. I promised myself that I would change them for full winters when they wore out. What would briskoda do? Use them for another winter season? With a worn shoulder my gut says don't compromise on safety. Especially as they are for the colder, wetter months.

I'd get my tracking sorted if that's what's caused the scrubbing, and then if I was stuck for cash, I'd pump them up to the higher "economy" pressure rating and see how I got on with them.

If the scrubbing is purely caused by hard driving, I'd change them.