who has their winter tyres on?

[Andy.M]

Put them on Sunday, Tuesday morning one of the rears is flat :mad

Put the summer rears back on and dropped the wheel off at the tyre shop . No signs of nails though

 

[Lexman8]

Put the winter wheels/tyres on my 4x4 at the weekend. Ready for anything now.

The Merc will be getting tucked up in the garage later this week, as soon as I've made space for it. I'll give it a spin on nice dry days over the winter just to keep it ticking over.

 

[Rotorhead500]

Winter tyres on, but noticed I now have two dinged alloys courtesy of tyre shop's air-guns! :-(

 

[exjag]

Interesting, and relevant to this subject, review of the Jaguar XKR-S in last week's Autocar where the reviewer was driving on Sottozero winter tyres through an ice storm where other cars were getting stuck 'left, right and centre', but the Sottozeros got him home without problem. Further, these tyres were so good that he kept them on for the rest of the year because they made the ride smoother on all surfaces, although there was a small trade-off in body control and road noise, but he preferred the way the car - a very powerful sports car, don't forget - behaved overall on the tyres.

 

[Mic]

Interesting, and relevant to this subject, review of the Jaguar XKR-S in last week's Autocar where the reviewer was driving on Sottozero winter tyres through an ice storm where other cars were getting stuck 'left, right and centre', but the Sottozeros got him home without problem. Further, these tyres were so good that he kept them on for the rest of the year because they made the ride smoother on all surfaces, although there was a small trade-off in body control and road noise, but he preferred the way the car - a very powerful sports car, don't forget - behaved overall on the tyres.

My cold weather tyres on the SL are Sottozeros and they are very impressive indeed......but for me too squidgy once April and plus 7C ambient temperatures arrive by when I cannot wait to get my ''summer'' tyres back on.

Mic

 

[turbopete]

never heard of sottozero's until now!

 

[Mic]

never heard of sottozero's until now!

Pirelli cold weather tyres.

Mic

 

[rf065]

5mm is still ~60% tread remaining, I know that they work best above 4mm but I would expect more than another winter out of 5mm of tread

I've found my tyres exceptional in snow & slush, but have to admit, once they were down to 4mm you could notice them spinning and sliding where they never did before.

Still better than summer tyres though, never got stuck anywhere, but a lot less grip than were capable of.

Russ

 

[gizze]

5mm is still ~60% tread remaining, I know that they work best above 4mm but I would expect more than another winter out of 5mm of tread

Winter tyres work down to 3mm, but they tend to start at 8-9mm.
The snipes, the hundred of little slits on each block, are almost gone by 4mm and gone by 3mm on the tyres I have used.

Hence why they start to act like a summer tyre when they get down to 3mm.

 

[Rotorhead500]

Can report after 200 ish miles today. 1-8 degC, lots of rain at times, the Avons seem pretty good!

Can't discern any more noise than the summer Contis, seem smoother over cats eyes and didn't tramline in motorway ruts. Fuel consumption seems comparable too but will have better idea on that by end of week.

Just need some frosty stuff now...

 

[brandwooddixon]

Well it's all covered now.
As I was ordering two new Vredstein quatrac 3 and a replacement wheel for my wife's Micra I thought that I may as well add two replacements for my car to the list. That way, even if I don't fit them immediately I've got them to hand before any snow comes along and the prices rise!

 

[television]

Just need some frosty stuff now...

No thank you, you keep it down there.

 

[Comand]

We fitted winter tyres onto Richards W166 ML63 yesterday.

 

[Andy.M]

On a front wheel drive car/van would you only fit winter tyres on the front?

 

[triumphstag]

On a front wheel drive car/van would you only fit winter tyres on the front?

No, absolutely not. You must have snow tyres all round, not just on the driven wheels as in this scenario the rear will have no grip which would be exacerbated by the extra grip at the front. Great fun, but very dangerous!

 

[discoking]

My 129 is booked in for Friday to swap over to my winter alloys/tyres and I've also ordered some winter tyres for my 123 to be fitted the same day.

Going to try and find an extra set of wheels for my 123 as it makes the whole swapping over job much easier.

 

[Ricardo_e220]

On a front wheel drive car/van would you only fit winter tyres on the front?

I have done this in the past but after a nearly fatal spin in the French alps... Possibly due to having normal tyres on rear I always fit 4 now.

Have a look on YouTube some demos on there a out what can happen with snap oversteer...

 

[brandwooddixon]

I have done this in the past but after a nearly fatal spin in the French alps... Possibly due to having normal tyres on rear I always fit 4 now.

Have a look on YouTube some demos on there a out what can happen with snap oversteer...

This is why, even for front wheel drive cars, if you're only replacing a pair of tyres they should be put onto the back axle. Under steer is far easier to control than over steer for most drivers.

 

[Rez]

I bought a s/h set of 16" alloys with partworn set of winter tyres and fitted them today.

The 19" rims are tucked away in the garage, one is in need of a bit of TLC to repair some kerbing (thanks wife!) and dents big enough to cause regular pressure loss.

As expected the ride quality has jumped! :mrgreen:

Rez

 

[discoking]

Winters are on both cars now and just washed them.
129 tyres


123 tyres




And I'm off to Paris in the 129 on Thursday for my 40th