Which tires; winter, summer, or all round for Ireland?

daithi55

hi all im looking to get new tires for my 09 vw jetta and was just wondering what was the best type of tire to get for irish conditions.. i do a lot of mileage so something that lasts is a big bonus.. is there any good online sites to purchase from

CiniO

Winter tyres would be great for winter conditions, and would incredibely improve your traction on snow or slush, but they are not best suited for warmer days.
If you do so much mileage that you could wear down a set before end of March, then probably it's not a bad idea. Otherwise, you'd need to take them off before the summer to put regular summer tyres.

Good places online for tyres are oponeo.ie eiretyres.com or camskill.co.uk (but they charge in sterling which is bit dear those days).

However when buying online, make sure beforehand if you can find a garage which will fit and balance them at reasonable price, as this sometimes might be problematic in Ireland.

Anjobe

This article on tyrereviews.co.uk makes interesting reading - if you are looking for one tyre to rule them all then the Michelin CrossClimate is that tyre. Bit expensive though.

CJhaughey

I ran a set of Conti wintercontact TS850 for a year and 24k miles. it could be more I don't have the exact mileage to hand but they were very good for a winter tyre.
I changed this year for a set of the Nokian Weatherproof and they are much quieter and very grippy. Test winners in some tests already.
I'll see how long they last but I was very impressed by the Conti's before them.

serarra

Got the Michelins crossclimate last week, for 215/60 R16, online they were 135, got them fitted in lc tyres for 140.
Great tyres (had federal before, and they were still ok, but on wet pavement, little bit of uphill, first gear, car would do a wheel spin), not noisy, annd great traction.
And look cool too.
A wet rating. And I think B on fuel economy. So really good specs.

blade1

I'll be buying a full set of these babies soon.
http://www.oponeo.ie/details-tyre/vredestein-quatrac-3-235-45-r17-97-v-xl#101469908

Alun

serarra wrote: »

Got the Michelins crossclimate last week, for 215/60 R16, online they were 135, got them fitted in lc tyres for 140.
Great tyres (had federal before, and they were still ok, but on wet pavement, little bit of uphill, first gear, car would do a wheel spin), not noisy, annd great traction.
And look cool too.
A wet rating. And I think B on fuel economy. So really good specs.

I was in Discount Tyres the other day getting my winters fitted and they had a Michelin Crossclimate tyre on display in the lobby. They have a seriously weird tread pattern but it seems to work in the snow at least if all the tests are to be believed.

This is a good one ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cgtmmtsqFA

biko

I'm a city slicker and have never had need for winter tyres.
Uniroyal RainExpert works just fine on wet roads and occasional snow.

CiniO

biko wrote: »

I'm a city slicker and have never had need for winter tyres.
Uniroyal RainExpert works just fine on wet roads and occasional snow.

They probably work much better on wet roads than any winter tyre (even the best) would do.
They surely also work way worse on the snow, than even the worst chineese winter tyre.