Winter Tyres

[jetskidia]

I went with Blizzaks from Mytyres - dealer is putting them on and storing the summer ones for £75 so all in it will be just over £900

Was surprised by the wet rating on the Blizzaks, however reading the US forums there are a lot of good things said about them.

Let me know what you think of the Blizzaks?

I'm getting a set from my dealer for the same sort of money in a couple of weeks

[powdav]

I have just bought four winter tyres, Pirelli Sottozero Series 2.

I tried all the usual sources and they all came in at about £1400.00

I eventually got them from Oponeo off the net at £964.00 inc.VAT and delivery.

The only problem is getting someone to fit them, all the usual dealers will not touch them but I have now fond someone who will.

Dave.

[johnm112]

I have just bought four winter tyres, Pirelli Sottozero Series 2.

I tried all the usual sources and they all came in at about £1400.00

I eventually got them from Oponeo off the net at £964.00 inc.VAT and delivery.

The only problem is getting someone to fit them, all the usual dealers will not touch them but I have now fond someone who will.

Dave.

I was offered a set of these in 235/45R18 94Y by Lexus Newcastle at £867 fitted and my summer tyres stored. I decided against and went for Continental ContiWinterContact TS 850P at £847

[Cougar]

Have you not thought have getting a set of winter tyres on a spare set of wheels that would save a lot of messing around

[Stuart Aspey]

Hi

I just enquired at my dealer re Winter Tyres.

They quoted me £940 for a set of Bridgestone Blizzak's.

Is that a good price? Are the tyres any good?

Thanks

It may be worth checking www.blackcircles.com , www.valuetyres.co.uk and www.camskill.com I know Lexus Cardiff beat the prices quoted when I was ready to purchase my Hankook tyres, I attempted to do the same with the winter tyres, but the ones I wanted were no longer in Stock. Hankook had sold out of their UK supply of Winter I*cept EVO tyres . . .

[JonP]

I've been running round on my winter tyres for a month now, not that there has been much cold weather to really see how they perform, so..

My 2011 IS-F takes Front 225/40/19 93Y and Rear 255/35/19 96Y tyres.

It was a complete sod finding front and rears from the same supplier however I am now running round on a set of Michelin Pilot Alpin P4s. They are not Y rated however I don't think I will be doing 170 in the UK in winter so I'm not too worried about that.

They are pretty good to drive on, a little more road noise from the tyres, (a lot more on one short concrete stretch of motorway I use occasionally) however I can say they are very good in the wet. I travel a lot in my job and I've been up and down the motorways during a lot of the bad weather recently and so far they have performed excellently, no hint of aquaplaning on flooded road surfaces and provide really good grip on wet and greasy surfaces.

So far, I'm really pleased I forked out for them.

[Stuno1]

Winter tyres are not something I am willing to buy at the moment. I only use my car on the weekends as don't commute in it. Also when speaking to a tyre company they said they only offer noticeable performance improvement under 7 degrees. That has barely happened so far this year and they recommend fitting from October for 6 months!

[JonP]

Fair enough, I average about 25k a year and it's my only car at the moment, so for me it's a worthwhile investment.

[Valkirk]

I ended up going for a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks, read good things about them on the US forums so hopeful on performance.

Had them on about 1 month now, first impressions are that there is quite a bit less grip than the normal tyres (as to be expected when temps are anything above 4/5 degrees) and more tyre noise as well. Time will tell if Winter tyres were worthwhile or not, 2 years ago it was massive snow storms this year so far just massive storms and floods.

Will review again if / when we get some snowy weather.

[Valkirk]

Well it's been another month and although there hasn't been any snow there has been large amounts of standing water as well as low temps.

Have to say I am very impressed, the tyres offer considerably more grip now than a month ago (now they are properly scrubbed in with about 500 miles on them) car feels very surefooted at all times even with large quantities of standing water. Driving conditions that would have normally felt a bit twitchy are dealt with with zero drama.

Overall very impressed - although still no snow to report on that side.

[Peter P18]

Presumably using them when there isn't snow or freezing conditions will wear them out quicker? Guessing its a bit like using wets in F1 on a dry track??

I'm only using mine at the weekends like Stu, but haven't had any issues despite lots of rain and standing water. The summer Bridgestones seem like quite a good all rounder?

Had runflats on the Z4, very noisy and cost a fortune to replace (they wear faster than non-runflats).

I just drive slower and with more care when it's raining.

If it snows, I'd use the wife's Civic, or not bother driving anywhere. Let's face it, it's not normally more than a week or two per annum.

[Valkirk]

It's more temperature related to wear, they will wear faster in hot weather but anything below about 10c and they wear the same as summer.

[Argento]

<Have you not thought have getting a set of winter tyres on a spare set of wheels that would save a lot of messing around>

Yes, but I've been told that you've got to careful with the rim and tyre sizes.

Overall wheel diameter is critical on our cars.

They feed data to the many systems we have such as satnav, vsc, abs etc. etc.

Argento

[lotusdave]

down in the south during the day its in the region where winters and summers cross over. Just be aware they wont stop as well as summers so leave a bigger gap to the car in front if its sunny and dry roads. my winter shod lotus is really squirmy hard on the brakes in such conditions. Normally stops on a dime so its noricable...