All season tyres..a new option?

[Pbondar]

Let’s not get into personal related spats..(I know that’s rich coming from me)

To square the circle between various statements...

It would appear that I drive my car harder than some others as I never get close to other people’s tyre mileage expectations..

Also I think it’s a truism that whilst most tyre reviews applaud the general performance of most Conti products a common thread seems to be an above average wear rate..at least until the arrival of the latest Conti tyres this last year.

So the Conti TS830s fitted to my Zed did wear out much faster than the same tyres fitted to SWMBO F56 Cooper SD Mini..

Also the Sports Contact 3 and Sport Contact 5 also wore out quickly...

So in under 20,000 miles I’ve gone through two sets of summer tyres and one set of winter tyres...

When I say ‘gone through’ ..in all cases the rears have either close to the legal limit or have gone well below the manufacturer’s specified replacement limit..

Of course other people with other tyres experience may well be different..

Hope that clarifies the matter..

[Flyingfifer]

Being a proper lazy bass (and not having a spare set of wheels or anywhere to keep them) I have never swapped out my "normal" tyres over winter and have (mostly) managed except where Siberian levels of snow came our way. I have driven cars with winter tyres however and it is undeniable that in the more icy and snowy conditions they do perform noticeably better. Unfortunately that just deprives me of being able to wag the tail with little to no effort

[sars]

I would have probably gone with the Goodyear’s if they did them in that size and unfortunately they don’t

[Z4M-2006]

Let’s not get into personal related spats..(I know that’s rich coming from me)

To square the circle between various statements...

It would appear that I drive my car harder than some others as I never get close to other people’s tyre mileage expectations..

Also I think it’s a truism that whilst most tyre reviews applaud the general performance of most Conti products a common thread seems to be an above average wear rate..at least until the arrival of the latest Conti tyres this last year.

So the Conti TS830s fitted to my Zed did wear out much faster than the same tyres fitted to SWMBO F56 Cooper SD Mini..

Also the Sports Contact 3 and Sport Contact 5 also wore out quickly...

So in under 20,000 miles I’ve gone through two sets of summer tyres and one set of winter tyres...

When I say ‘gone through’ ..in all cases the rears have either close to the legal limit or have gone well below the manufacturer’s specified replacement limit..

Of course other people with other tyres experience may well be different..

Hope that clarifies the matter..

I did 3 rear sets of Conti’s in 9k on my first C63

They are made of bubblegum, didn’t seem to offer any better grip either

[mmm-five]

What is this new option the title suggests?

Is it simply the Gen 3 of the Goodyear Vector?

The Goodyear Vector itself is not a new offering...my dad's last Motability car (went back in March this year) had the Vector Gen 2 fitted as standard and is used all year round?

For 'midlands' use commuting in all weathers between Liverpool & London (and a couple of hoons) I've stuck to either Michelin Cross-Climate, Cross-Climate Plus or the Bridgestone WeatherControl. Each of those have lasted more than 20,000 miles on either a FWD Alfa or the RWD e46 330D.

If you're in London or 'The South'...then a high performance summer tyre may be fine all year round - and just get an Uber on surge pricing when the weather turns

If you're further north then a winter-biased all-season (Goodyear) will be the better choice to a summer-biased all-season (Michelins)...with the Bridgestone in-between (cold/wet).

[Pbondar]

What is this new option the title suggests?

Is it simply the Gen 3 of the Goodyear Vector?

The Goodyear Vector itself is not a new offering...my dad's last Motability car (went back in March this year) had the Vector Gen 2 fitted as standard and is used all year round?

For 'midlands' use commuting in all weathers between Liverpool & London (and a couple of hoons) I've stuck to either Michelin Cross-Climate, Cross-Climate Plus or the Bridgestone WeatherControl. Each of those have lasted more than 20,000 miles on either a FWD Alfa or the RWD e46 330D.

If you're in London or 'The South'...then a high performance summer tyre may be fine all year round - and just get an Uber on surge pricing when the weather turns

If you're further north then a winter-biased all-season (Goodyear) will be the better choice to a summer-biased all-season (Michelins)...with the Bridgestone in-between (cold/wet).

The article was driven in part by the rapid evolution/improvement in the all season segment with their ability to compete better at both ends of the spectrum thereby extending the range of deployment..in the context of a more sporty car...

So the Gen3 Goodyear is stated as being a marked improvement over Gen 2 as was the Bridgestone All Weather Evo over the previous version etc etc

As discussed given the wild swings in temperatures that occur between November and April certainly in the Scottish Borders what was the trade off / best choice for running a Zed through that period...

So the discussion revolved around the ‘traditional’ view of summer vs winter plus now all season..

Adding to that is it’s difficult to get some or all of these tyres in sizes that suit asymmetric wheel sizes..

For those that have already reached their own conclusions this article is clearly redundant...

[sars]

I found this to be quite enlightening and certainly helped making the decision not to go full winter



and this one too

[Pbondar]

Those guys seem to (IMHO) do some of the best objective and subjective assessments

[brillomaster]

if you like tyrereviews videos, then these two are definitely worth a watch, if you havent already.





Up to now i've never really considered all seasons as the climate in warwickshire doesnt really dictate it, but with the latest crop of all season tyres, i might consider it for an all weathers daily driver. A few years ago the only choice was Michelin Cross Climates, now there are numerous choices for every budget, and every suitabilility depending on what performance you want in warm dry, warm wet, cold dry, cold wet, ice and snow conditions.

heres the data from the first test:
https://www.tyrereviews.com/Article/202 ... e-Test.htm

based on that i've considered the vred quatrac pro, since its probably the closest to a summer tyre... the review states 'low levels of grip in the snow' but as the data shows, any all-season tyre is miles ahead of a summer tyre on the snow!

[Zedebee]

I get that Michelin Cross-Climates aren’t at the cutting edge any more, but I can say from my experience of running them on a RWD car: (i) they made it driveable in the snow, which it wasn’t whilst on the standard Michelin Primacy tyres; and (ii) they wore really well, I had done 20,000 when I sold the car and I’d say they were about halfway worn.

As for pure winter tyres, I think they are overkill in the UK’s temperate climate. OK for continental Europe or North America were it can get REALLY cold, but you probably wouldn’t drive a Z4 very much in those conditions anyway.

[beanie]

My girlfriends Z3 came with some Kleber all seasons fitted and they’ve been pretty good on the whole. They’ve seen all kinds of weather from heavy snow to almost 40deg heat and have lasted well. Braking is definitely not as good as her summer tyres but they cope with snowy days far better which means you get to do skids in the office car park

7EA0A54B-4238-496B-A569-FE3C2FFB3B35.jpeg (95.57 KiB) Viewed 544 times

Given the uk doesn’t often see the extreme ends of the weather scale I’d have though a decent set of all seasons would be perfect for a daily.

[mmm-five]

For those that have already reached their own conclusions this article is clearly redundant...

...not sure it's redundant, as it shows how quickly development is moving on.

A decade ago you wouldn't have found a summer-oriented tyre with acceptable snow traction...now there's loads...albeit some of them are just winters advertised as 'all seasons' as they're as useless in summer as winter

After all, a winter or all-season tyre all year round is much less of a compromise than trying to run a summer tyre all year round. The reviews show some of the premium/mid-range all-seasons performing better in the summer tyre tests than some budget summer tyres

[Pbondar]

My girlfriends Z3 came with some Kleber all seasons fitted and they’ve been pretty good on the whole. They’ve seen all kinds of weather from heavy snow to almost 40deg heat and have lasted well. Braking is definitely not as good as her summer tyres but they cope with snowy days far better which means you get to do skids in the office car park

7EA0A54B-4238-496B-A569-FE3C2FFB3B35.jpeg

Given the uk doesn’t often see the extreme ends of the weather scale I’d have though a decent set of all seasons would be perfect for a daily.

Lovely doughnuts

I think the biggest changes looking at the reviews is how the gap has closed between all seasons and summer tyres when it comes to dry braking and dry handling..

I would think for a daily where out n out handling isn’t the top priority and you are likely to be driving on untreated winter roads then an all season seems pretty good for most people most of the time ..certainly in more northern climes..

[beanie]

Lovely doughnuts

I think the biggest changes looking at the reviews is how the gap has closed between all seasons and summer tyres when it comes to dry braking and dry handling..

I would think for a daily where out n out handling isn’t the top priority and you are likely to be driving on untreated winter roads then an all season seems pretty good for most people most of the time ..certainly in more northern climes..

It’s not bad for an open diffed car, once it gets going it’s pretty predictable. My girlfriend wasn’t hugely impressed with her car being used in this way but at least I was smiling.

As a fit and forget solution a decent all season is probably all the tyre most people will ever need. If I could have found some in the right size for the 17” wheels on the Z3 I’d have gone for them.