Winter tyres

BailMeOut

I have four new winter tyres that came with a car I bought a few years ago but have never used them as not sure how or when to use them!

Do drivers typically keep an extra set of wheels with the winter tyres already installed and then switch themselves as weather gets icy or do you just get local tyre guy to put on and take off each year. If the latter when do I do this?

Apologies if this question gets asked a lot!

Tail Docker

I put some on the van on friday - brilliant job, the grip is exceptional. I just got them swapped onto the existing rims and put the normals into the shed. Do you have a set of spare rims you could use?

BailMeOut

Tail Docker wrote: »

I put some on the van on friday - brilliant job, the grip is exceptional. I just got them swapped onto the existing rims and put the normals into the shed. Do you have a set of spare rims you could use?

I do not have spare rims but thinking buying four steel rims would be cheaper than cost to switch back and forth from normal to winter tyres. Also give me flexibility to change myself.

Sorry one more question. The car is front wheel drive so do you really need to switch all four?

visual

Yes switch all 4, if rear loses grip can can swap ends.

CiniO

I got a set of second hand alloys to put my winter tyres on, so now I have two sets, which I can swap myself whenever I need it or weather requires it.
In Ireland cost and availability of service of swapping tyres on rims by tyre place is too limited and too expensive to have them swapped over rims twice a year.

For comparision, f.e. in Poland, where such service is widely available and costs about 10-15 quid (to change over 4 tyres over rims) many people have only one set of rims, and two sets of tyres. And swap them around October-November for winters, and then March-April for Summers.

Del2005

If you pick up a 2nd set of wheels you can use something like this to store them so there is less risk of damaging the tyres with incorrect storage.

CiniO

Del2005 wrote: »

If you pick up a 2nd set of wheels you can use something like this to store them so there is less risk of damaging the tyres with incorrect storage.

And if someone doesn't have one, storage should be as follows.

Tyres on rims - horizontally stocked up on each other.
Tyres on it's own - vertically next to each other.

chicorytip

CiniO wrote: »

I got a set of second hand alloys to put my winter tyres on, so now I have two sets, which I can swap myself whenever I need it or weather requires it.
In Ireland cost and availability of service of swapping tyres on rims by tyre place is too limited and too expensive to have them swapped over rims twice a year.

For comparision, f.e. in Poland, where such service is widely available and costs about 10-15 quid (to change over 4 tyres over rims) many people have only one set of rims, and two sets of tyres. And swap them around October-November for winters, and then March-April for Summers.

Given our relatively mild climate a set of summer tyres with decent wet grip should suffice in most cases.

Limbo123

Are winter tyres really necessary? I can understand their need in places like the States/Russia/Eastern Europe where temperatures REALLY dip but in Ireland?
Spend money on a decent set of all rounders and you'll be grand.

biko

In places like Scandinavia etc people usually have their winter tyres on steel rims and just swap the whole wheel over when needed.

micks_address

i've had a few different conversations with people re winter tyres... some say they are not necessary here with the climate, others say they are a great job and you can offset the cost because your summer set last longer being off the car.. i guess it is very much weather dependent.. i assumed that if the weather is mild - say above 6 degrees that winter tyres would a) wear quicker, and b) provide less grip than the summer equivalent?

Cheers,
Mick

Del2005

micks_address wrote: »

i've had a few different conversations with people re winter tyres... some say they are not necessary here with the climate, others say they are a great job and you can offset the cost because your summer set last longer being off the car.. i guess it is very much weather dependent.. i assumed that if the weather is mild - say above 6 degrees that winter tyres would a) wear quicker, and b) provide less grip than the summer equivalent?

Cheers,
Mick

Summer tyres will still work well enough in our mild climate but winters are designed to work at lower temperatures so will be in their optimum zone unlike summers. If you have the space and money winters are a no brainer, no space or little money buy the best tyres you can afford.

creedp

micks_address wrote: »

i've had a few different conversations with people re winter tyres... some say they are not necessary here with the climate, others say they are a great job and you can offset the cost because your summer set last longer being off the car.. i guess it is very much weather dependent.. i assumed that if the weather is mild - say above 6 degrees that winter tyres would a) wear quicker, and b) provide less grip than the summer equivalent?

Cheers,
Mick

Talking to a lad on Saturday and noticed he had a set of winter tyres on. He said got tyres replaced a local tyre place a couple of months ago and was offered winters or summers. Advised winters are a good option as winter coming up and they will work well all year around. The guy new nothing about tyres and agreed. He was surprised I could tell the difference until I pointed out the sipes in the grip pattern and then the brutally obvious snowflake on the side wall.

Bottom line many people know fect al about tyres and will swallow anything the tyre places throw at them.

Personally I have a set of winters on steels and put them on on Saturday. While there is an up front cost in year one to have 2 sets of tyres .. overall there is no additional cost as you can only wear 1 set of tyres at a time. Great for me as my summers are 225/50/17 and cost €150 a corner for Hankoks while I have 215/60/16 on the steels so I'm actually saving money by running 2 sets of tyres.

CJhaughey

creedp wrote: »

Bottom line many people know fect al about tyres and will swallow anything the tyre places throw at them.

Round and Black yep they are tyres!
Probably a good thing he is running winters now.