Winter tyres

[JJ0063]

Do many of you bother? 
 

Im seriously debating what to do this year. My 335D is shall we say unpredictable in the wet so I’m not looking forward to ice and potential snow. 
 

Hopefully picking up a 4x4 in the next few days for winter dog duties but I still want to use the BMW. Do winter tyres really make that much of a difference? 

 

Seem to be a few sets of winter tyres on basic alloys/steels for £3/400 on Marketplace.. just wonder if it’s worth the investment.

Ambers Bini came with some fitted and they were rubbish to be honest.

Cheers

[Agila]

Only ever used them on an is200 lexus (153bhp so not massive)

It was like night and day difference for me on proper winters, used all season stuff on an old cougar and they were shite.

I also added 4 bags of sand to the boot and that seemed to help massively as well.

[Supernaut]

Yes. They do make a difference.

They're made of a different compound of rubber that stays soft below circa 7 Celsius, compared to non-winter tyres that don't.

Of course, if you use winter tyres in summer temperatures they're very soft, and wear out quite quickly. I do remember @The Moog driving a Starlet round Knockhill on winter tyres in the middle of summer once. The howling it made round corners was hilarious.

[Dead_E23]

Decent winter tyres make a big difference when it's icy and a noticable difference when it's very cold.   

When I had winter tyres on my V70 I used to leave the Defender at home if there was snow or ice on the road because its tyres were a harder compound and had no grip.

[sierraman]

I buy a full set of Vredenstein Quatracs every winter then come about March time I buy some spring tyres and chuck the winter ones away. Few months after that I buy a set of Summer compound Michelins. The rest of the money I have I hand over to my debt councillor. 

[Jazoli]

I used to fit summers and winters but now just fit all seasons such as Michelin Cross Climates or Vredstein's, they make a huge difference when the weather changes and give me piece of mind through the winter months that the wife has got the best chance of getting home if it snows, 'summer' tyres are generally shit below 8 degrees anyway which a large proportion of our winter is below this.

[leafsprung]

That's a big old can of worms you've opened there! They do make a huge difference of course but so much depends on your location and budget. Full winter tyres only really make sense where cold temperatures and snow are common. Anything over about 8 degrees and a summer tyre will still be better.  All Seasons bridge that gap.

All season tyre technology has really really improved and most manufacturers have caught up with Michelin's Cross Climate and at a much lower price. I live in a rural spot where the roads are wet and muddy and the gritters don't come off the main routes. I ran Quartrac's last year through the snow and the worst that winter offered and am about to bung some on Mrs Leafsprungs Up! I won't bother with summer tyres anymore.

I do recommend having a look at https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/2021-Tyre-Reviews-All-Season-Tyre-Test.htm 

And watching this.

 

[fraser.innes.3]

I've got a set of M+S tyres to go on my BMW. Some unknown brand that came with the wheels, but plenty of tread. I will report back.

Sent from my EML-L29 using Tapatalk

[barefoot]

Winter tyres have transformed my way of life. 

I have a full set on Billy & whatever I said the silver car was called & I'm about to buy a set for Olly the orange one. Their behaviour in the snow & ice is superb and you can also show your arse to some big powerful motors on a wet summers day around the twisties. I cannot reccomend them highly enough, I run them all year round. Hankook Icebears are brill.

Go Go Icebears!

[chadders]

1 hour ago, Jazoli said:

I used to fit summers and winters but now just fit all seasons such as Michelin Cross Climates or Vredstein's, they make a huge difference when the weather changes and give me piece of mind through the winter months that the wife has got the best chance of getting home if it snows, 'summer' tyres are generally shit below 8 degrees anyway which a large proportion of our winter is below this.

I used to swap between summer and winters as well but Cross Climates have worked well for the last few years.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Here in the North, winter tires are absolutely necessary and you can be fined and, in the worst case, lose your driver's license if you do not have it on the car when necessary. And we have 2 types of winter tires, the traditional studded tires which are the best and provide good grip on ice. And then there are the studless tires which are not so good but have become more popular in recent years and especially in the cities due to dust. I have had 1 winter on studless and never again will I drive on it as they are shit.

[LoftyvRS]

I used to switch between winters and summers as i was doing 35,000 miles per annum, did it for 5 years, and still doing it!

I decided to leave the winters on the one full year and found them to wear at similar rates to summer tyres, granted my mileage was all motorway commuting so not cornering on the door handles which obviously helped their longevity. 

I changed cars earlier this year and i'm just finishing off a set of Continental summer tyres so i'll be fitting 4 x winters again next month and i'll leave them on all next summer as well.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, fraser.innes.3 said:

I've got a set of M+S tyres to go on my BMW. Some unknown brand that came with the wheels, but plenty of tread. I will report back.

Sent from my EML-L29 using Tapatalk
 

If... you make it back based on some people’s opinion of budget tyres. I’ve heard it said in here that it’s almost a Russian Roulette driving in the wet on budgets. It’s a miracle half of us haven’t been killed riding about on Linglongs. 

[colino]

Really depends where you live and the weather we're going to get this year.  In central Scotland proper winters will transform your 3 series (or 5 or 7) in a good old fashioned freezing winter, especially with the weird BMW, lets reduce the power until we come to a complete halt, "Assist".  Reality though is that the only sure fire guarantee for us to have a mild winter, is for me to go to the expense of putting winters on to the main two cars.

In general, we get fairly mild winters now, the hazard to shipping are the people who can't drive at the best of times, then think it is a good idea to venture out for that necessary daily paper and abandon their Micra at 90 degrees to the pavement and shuffle home.

[JimH]

It's been a while since I bought some non-snow tyres. I gave up swapping them for summer tyres and just use the winter ones all year. 

Apart from anything they make driving on waterlogged motorways less bicycle clip timey. 

[loserone]

6 minutes ago, JimH said:

bicycle clip time

I thought it was only my dad who used that expression.  GRIM.

 

 

 

[horriblemercedes]

Massive difference. I don't get why most people don't use them. It's not more expensive overall because you just swap back to the summer tyres in spring, meaning that they will last longer.

[JimH]

1 hour ago, loserone said:

I thought it was only my dad who used that expression.  GRIM.

 

 

 

Oh come on. Bottom "Apocalypse" (S1, E4)

Quote

 

-How's it looking out there Eddie?

- I'd say on a scale of one to ten it's bicycle clip time. 

 

 

[big_al_granvia]

had a set of michelin cross climates on the volvo for almost a year now, great in thee wet and cold, good in dry

[w00dy]

Never had any before, but the Vectra came on a set of Michelin Alpins. Given that they're now 10 years old they've probably hardened up into some performance summer tyres now though (I assume that's how it works)

[Toe]

Here in sunny Suffolk and being in the middle of a town snow is rarely on the agenda and even ice doesn't seem survive long so all seasons here,  don't see the need to have 2 sets, plus don't have the room or the inclination to buy a set of wheels and then the tyres as well

[Dead_E23]

Anyone ever heard of anyone getting done for using studded tyres on the road?   

They're not allowed in the UK, but having watched someone on YouTube 'snowplowing' with and without them fitted to their truck they look highly effective.

[cort1977]

I have seen people driving with studded tyres in summer on tarmac and it's not pretty, made a terrible noise, like the whole street turning to look.  

I do have a set of winter tyres in rural Aberdeenshire, was very handy last winter which was fairly severe up here.  I made a few attempts to get my van stuck in unploughed car parks and couldn't manage it until the bumper was ploughing and then reversed out easily.  I got them off gumtree on a set of BMW X5 wheels hardly used.

Worth having up here but probably not in most of England, those cross climate things seem like a good compromise for the couple of days of snowmageddon in the South East.

[95 quid Peugeot]

4 hours ago, JimH said:

It's been a while since I bought some non-snow tyres. I gave up swapping them for summer tyres and just use the winter ones all year. 

Apart from anything they make driving on waterlogged motorways less bicycle clip timey. 

Same as me, both XC90  and the Yeti on winters the whole time 

[UltraWomble]

I run winter tyres all year around on my car. Have done for years. But then I buy cheap retreads or no name Chineseium brands for much cheapness.

I still need to be mobile if we get snow

[JJ0063]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Ive seen these on the book, just can’t decide whether to or not.

 

 

 

[loserone]

how old, how much tread left?

[JJ0063]

5 minutes ago, loserone said:

how old, how much tread left?

2 winters use, lowest point on any of them is 4mm

[loserone]

Just now, JJ0063 said:

4mm

scrap em.

 

Seriously, they will not be worthwhile.  

 

[Macscrooge]

I had a second set of wheels with winter tyres on my Saab 9-5. Even with 250bhp through the front wheels it was pretty good in snow. 2 of the 3 CR-Vs we’ve had ran M&S tyres year round. Many years ago I had winter tyres on the rear of my Volvo 940. RWD and none of your new-fangled traction control frippery but astonishingly capable in snow. Fucking useless in the wet though!