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Winter tires or normal?

magnus500

Hi all

I need four new tires on my Octavia 1.6 petrol and just wondering if I should get winter tires or if new normal tires would have good enough tread? Are there in between tires that would do both? I'm living near Blessington and commute to bray each day so a mix of back roads, a bit of up the hills and then m50.

Thanks for any input.

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whomitconcerns

LucidLife wrote: »

€600??? So you reckon they are worth more than €10 a week? Answer in February please

Erm...this is their second winter..and they will last a few more at least. My summer tyres are in hibernation so they will also last longer..The cost over 4/5 years is a non issue. I accept of course that the initial cost may be an issue of course.

Nolan Dry Leakage wrote: »

What about the cost of either swapping the tyres onto your wheels (and risk of damaging them), or the cost of a new set of alloys which if you want your oem wheels will be big money, then there is tracking each time you change over to make sure nothing was put out each time you change etc all for minimum gains.

95%+ of people don't use winter tyres and in all but bad snow the country keeping moving and without any drama.

It costs me 50€ all in to get them swapped over and tracked etc, takes 40mins. I could prob get it cheaper but the guy is relaible and convienient

gramar

I put four winter tyres on the car a few years ago and the difference was huge in wet, cold and snowy conditions.
The only issue was that on the back axle (front drive car) the tyre wear wasn't even and both tyres had a flat patch that made a bumping noise and had to switch them to the front. Since then I've put two winters on the front and two normals on the back and had no issues. For a few extra quid I'd definitely recommend them.

CJhaughey

Nolan Dry Leakage wrote: »

What about the cost of either swapping the tyres onto your wheels (and risk of damaging them), or the cost of a new set of alloys which if you want your oem wheels will be big money, then there is tracking each time you change over to make sure nothing was put out each time you change etc all for minimum gains.

95%+ of people don't use winter tyres and in all but bad snow the country keeping moving and without any drama.

You are the one that is making a drama out of this, buy a set of steels and stick the winter tyres on them, you don't have to use OEM alloys.
In the continent they either fit steels with winters or change the tyres with no issues about damaging the tyres.
No need to track unless you are changing suspension parts or tyre sizes.
You never answered my question, which winter tyres have you used?

[Deleted User]

CJhaughey wrote: »

You are the one that is making a drama out of this, buy a set of steels and stick the winter tyres on them, you don't have to use OEM alloys.
In the continent they either fit steels with winters or change the tyres with no issues about damaging the tyres.
No need to track unless you are changing suspension parts or tyre sizes.
You never answered my question, which winter tyres have you used?

Drive around for months on steel wheels ruining the look of the car? Not a chance.

I've never tried winter tyres and never will as they are not necessary in this country. It's a fad that kicked off after the bad winter a few years ago, nobody even heard about them before that.

CJhaughey

Nolan Dry Leakage wrote: »

Drive around for months on steel wheels ruining the look of the car? Not a chance.

I've never tried winter tyres and never will as they are not necessary in this country. It's a fad that kicked off after the bad winter a few years ago, nobody even heard about them before that.

Thank you for clarifying your position on your experience of winter tyres.

Gazzmonkey

CJhaughey wrote: »

You can broadly categorise winter tyres into 3 camps, splitting out All-season tyres .
For the worst conditions, constant snow cover, ice etc you have Nordic studded tyres. These are not suitable for use here except in extreme conditions like 2009/2010 as the studs restrict speed and can wear badly on dry roads.

Then you have Nordic unstudded which give most of the performance of studs but in a tyre that can be used in dry conditions and higher speeds.
Again not really necessary for this country as temps are higher on average and wear rates can be excessive at higher temps.

Lastly you have winter tyres designed for Central European conditions that are designed for occasional snow but mostly cold, wet and slushy conditions these are the tyres that are most suitable for winter conditions here as they perform better than summer tyres in winter and wear rates are good compared to Nordic type tyres in warmer conditions.
Their snow performance is much better than summer tyres but not as good as Nordic type tyres.
Have a look at the Autoexpress test above^^
Swapped for summer tyres if necessary you should get a few years from a set if your mileage is average.

Thanks for the info...

You got me thinking about why they perform better in snow than normal tyres so I did a little online reading.

Seems they have a special ribbed surface on the thread blocks that makes snow stick to the tyre and since snow sticks to snow it means the tyre sticks to the ground better, very clever using snow to increase grip.

I'm convinced enough to get me a set, now to choose which ones!

whomitconcerns

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

Thanks for the info...

You got me thinking about why they perform better in snow than normal tyres so I did a little online reading.

Seems they have a special ribbed surface on the thread blocks that makes snow stick to the tyre and since snow sticks to snow it means the tyre sticks to the ground better, very clever using snow to increase grip.

I'm convinced enough to get me a set, now to choose which ones!

as one of the sites said its like rolling a snowball..snow sticks to snow.

And as for ice/frost, the softer compound and lower "hardening point" of the rubber means you arent driving around on 4 hockey pucks.

And yes thats what summer tyres become under 5' or on ice/frost

CJhaughey

Gazzmonkey wrote: »

I'm convinced enough to get me a set, now to choose which ones!

What size are your tyres?

Frog Song

I got Nokian winter tyres. €540 for the set, tracking etc. Expensive coming up to Christmas but I live in a very rural location where there's no chance of roads around me being gritted for at least 8/9 miles. I also leave the house at 7am every morning. They might not be needed and be a waste of money this winter but for peace of mind to me they're worth it. I found the difference huge with the last bad ice we had here.

Some people wouldn't be without them, some laugh at the thought....each to their own. For me they're worth it on the roads I drive.

whomitconcerns

Frog Song wrote: »

They might not be needed and be a waste of money this winter

You may be speaking to soon...MT is usually pretty accurate on his forecasts

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93475275&postcount=3536

M.T. Cranium wrote: »

Wednesday, 17 December, 2014

Forecasts for Ireland
CHRISTMAS DAY into ST STEPHEN'S DAY -- The latest output from the leading European model shows extreme wintry weather sweeping into Ireland from the northwest behind a rapidly deepening low. If correct, this would bring strong winds and a rapid shift from rain to snow. Temperatures would be likely to start out around 5 or 6 C and then slide down towards -2 C by the 26th and 27th with colder readings possible if snow cover develops

Frog Song

whomitconcerns wrote: »

You may be speaking to soon...MT is usually pretty accurate on his forecasts

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=93475275&postcount=3536

Like I said, they might not be needed or they might. You never know what kind of winter we'll get so it's good to have them either way.

Gazzmonkey

CJhaughey wrote: »

What size are your tyres?

225/50/R17

The Backwards Man

I rack up a lot of miles, most of them on untreated roads, and I have yet to find a winter tyre that is more beneficial than a good quality rain tyre on Irish roads The only conditions my Uniroyals don't perform great in, sheet ice, the winters wouldn't perform any better.

creedp

christy c wrote: »

How does that work? Different size rims or something?

Summers on alloys 225/50/17 - a minimum of €150 per tyre for Hankooks. Winters on steels 215/60/16. the 215 size is cheaper that the 225.

CJhaughey

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I rack up a lot of miles, most of them on untreated roads, and I have yet to find a winter tyre that is more beneficial than a good quality rain tyre on Irish roads The only conditions my Uniroyals don't perform great in, sheet ice, the winters wouldn't perform any better.

Which model Uni's?

The Backwards Man

CJhaughey wrote: »

Which model Uni's?

Rainexpert, can't fault them at all

whomitconcerns

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The only conditions my Uniroyals don't perform great in, sheet ice, the winters wouldn't perform any better.

Beg to differ there too....to come to a stop on (literally!)sheet ice from 10mph
47 ft on Summer
39ft 10in on all seasons
21ft 2in on winter tyres

The Backwards Man

whomitconcerns wrote: »

Beg to differ there too....to come to a stop on (literally!)sheet ice from 10mph
47 ft on Summer
39ft 10in on all seasons
21ft 2in on winter tyres

No harm, but I'll take my own experience over a promotional video from a tyre company with the comments disabled.

The only thing any good on ice is chains, but I don't think they'd be to keen on letting them trial those on an ice rink.

whomitconcerns

The Backwards Man wrote: »

No harm, but I'll take my own experience over a promotional video from a tyre company with the comments disabled.

just checked....comments arent disabled for me..anyway...as I said each to their own. It was just an FYI video. Interesting either way:cool:

joujoujou

The Backwards Man wrote: »

[...]

The only thing any good on ice is chains, [...]

Not really.

Studs.

Mandatory/recommended in Scandinavia, mostly not allowed in Continental Europe (few exceptions IIRC) and perfectly legal in Ireland.

Tail Docker

Nolan Dry Leakage wrote: »

One car length is nothing, you could have more than that between two different cars or a person having split second slower reaction times.

The difference between bald tyres or budget tyres is multiple car lengths compared to premium tyres so it's a poor comparison as I said. The difference is marginal. Except in the bad snow (very rare) I've never seen anybody have a difficulty getting around in my rural area and winter tyres are unheard of.

Winter tyres are an expense I or most people could not justify.

So, the verdict of a lad who happily goes around on bald tyres and preaches that Winters are rubbish, or the verdict of people who are actually worth listening to? Hmm, that's a toughie.

[Deleted User]

Tail Docker wrote: »

So, the verdict of a lad who happily goes around on bald tyres and preaches that Winters are rubbish, or the verdict of people who are actually worth listening to? Hmm, that's a toughie.

I never said they were rubbish just not required in Ireland.

I have arguably the best tyres available on my car, what I did a few years ago is irrelevant to this discussion.

Zubeneschamali

Nolan Dry Leakage wrote: »

I have arguably the best tyres available on my car, what I did a few years ago is irrelevant to this discussion.

By your own argument, the fact that you were grand on baldy old rubbish tyres means you are wasting your money on Premium summer tyres now. But in fact, you know premium tyres will do better in a test than baldy rubbish, and they are safer.

Just like Goodyear Ultragrip winters will beat your Goodyear Eagle F1 summers down near zero degrees.

stimpson

Nolan Dry Leakage wrote: »

Drive around for months on steel wheels ruining the look of the car? Not a chance.

I love the attitude. My car may go backwards through a hedge, but by God it's going to look good when it does!

Garvan

Hi all

I recently bought a 9 year old rear wheel drive motor with 225/45/17 on the front and 245/40/17 on the rear all with Continental summer tyres.

Given our mild (compared to some) winters and the occasional snow/ice spells is it worth investing on a spare set of wheels with winter tyres on them?

If I did what size wheel and tyre combination should I go for? Common opinion seems to be drop an inch or two on the diameter anyway

Advice appreciated

Thanks

G

Alanstrainor

Hey Garvan, there's been a lot of talk of Winter tyres on here, so you might find some of the info in this thread useful.

I don't think you can go too far wrong with another set just to have if they're reasonable money tbh! But whether or not they're essential...is something that people have greatly differing opinions!

Garvan

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Hey Garvan, there's been a lot of talk of Winter tyres on here, so you might find some of the info in this thread useful.

I don't think you can go too far wrong with another set just to have if they're reasonable money tbh! But whether or not they're essential...is something that people have greatly differing opinions!

Hi.

Thanks for that. I can pick up a set reasonably enough but I'm wondering if anyone has info on what size I should go for

G

VeVeX

Garvan wrote: »

Hi all

I recently bought a 9 year old rear wheel drive motor with 225/45/17 on the front and 245/40/17 on the rear all with Continental summer tyres.

Given our mild (compared to some) winters and the occasional snow/ice spells is it worth investing on a spare set of wheels with winter tyres on them?

If I did what size wheel and tyre combination should I go for? Common opinion seems to be drop an inch or two on the diameter anyway

Advice appreciated

Thanks

G

205/55R16 or 195/65R15 would be the compatible smaller sizes.

Garvan

VeVeX wrote: »

205/55R16 or 195/65R15 would be the compatible smaller sizes.

On all 4? It's a staggered summer set.

Ta

G

micks_address

Hi guys,
tempted to put a set of winter tyres on my car, either Michelin alpine or Continental TS 850, anyone experience of either? Those with winter tyres do you swap tyres or have second set of rims? Any issues with storing tyres ?