Winter Tyres - Know these makes?

Marco · Post by **Marco** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 5:55 pm

I'm looking to fit Winter Tyres (225 40 18) so I went to a few of the usual high street Tyre shops. I have been offered the following:

Syron Everest (German made)
Marangoni Meteo (Italian made) {http://tyre.marangoni.com/}
Fullrun (I believe chinese made) {http://www.fullruntyre.com/}

I quite like the look of the Marangoni's, they also offer a lifetime warranty against damage (certain stipulations apply no doubt), but I was wondering if anyone has heard of or used any of the above tyres and what the general consensus is on them?

Thanks!

Marco · Post by **Marco** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 12:11 pm

I was also offered the Avon Ice Touring's (which I believe are decent tyres?) but they are not in stock and they don't know when they will get them in...

a11y · Post by **a11y** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 1:38 pm

Only brand out of the furst 3 I've heard of is Fullrun, and I wouldn't touch them witha bargepole! Not to say that any of them are rubbish as some budget tyres are OK - I'd suggest checking out the tyretest website and see if you can find any reviews on there.

Avon Ice Touring's are certainly one I've heard of and get decent reviews IIRC.

If you don't want to spend a fortune on winter tyres then perhaps check out Falken and Kuhmo, or even Nankangs. We've got Kuhmo KW23 and KW27 on the wife's car and mine, and Nankang CV-2's on the campervan - all bought on basis of good online reviews, even the Nankang which isn't normally a brand I'd have considered.

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:07 pm

Got Avons on mine, £114 each fitted - they took a while to come, but no complaints yet and they look the part. Of course, winter has not arrived yet, and if it's too warm I can get the DSC light winking at 60 when I floor it, but then I guess that's normal with any winter tyre at 13 degrees... Don't know any of the others, and had I had more pennies I'd have had either of a11ys suggestions.

mmm-five · Post by **mmm-five** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:11 pm

I know Marangoni make the Mythos & Zetalinea summer tyres. Fullrun are just another-IMO-ditchfinder tyre made cheaply to maximise profit. I'd take Marangoni over Fullrun any day - even if the Fullruns were 50% cheaper.

Although out of the 3 I'd probably trust the one I've never heard of, as if they're made in Germany I assume it will have to pass their TÜV test (although their website only says 'engineered in Germany'). The website does say they're M&S snowflake marked. They've even got a very strange looking track tyre...

You can normally find Nokian winter tyres for about the same price as Marangoni, and have a good reputation in Scandanavian countries for their winter tyres.

Adamski · Post by **Adamski** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:19 pm

Bing wrote:Of course, winter has not arrived yet

Snow here last night

Lovely roof down drive in 0'c today though, but on summer tyres, so wasn't too enthusiastic as the DCS light appeared on a number of occasions, and I wasn't really pushing on

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Bing · Post by **Bing** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:57 pm

Adamski wrote:
Bing wrote:Of course, winter has not arrived yet
Snow here last night

I know - good luck with that. Just damp all the way down here, and when it does snow everyone acts like the world is ending

Adamski · Post by **Adamski** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:37 pm

Yeah I'll be keeping the zed drives to a minimum. Don't want winter tyres on smaller wheels as it compromises the look IMO.

Agreed on the snow down south thing

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Marco · Post by **Marco** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:56 pm

Thanks everyone. Tyretest is a great site - first time i've seen it! The reviews on there of the Marangoni's are not bad, and from the research I've done, it appears they have been around for a long time and are also heavily involved in motorsports - I get a good feeling about these ones so I think I'll probably go for those. May get this done at Kwik-Fit, anyone had any experiences using them?

adey · Post by **adey** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 7:38 pm

i've got nankang snow viva 2 on mine and they are brillant 225/45/17 got them for £77 each from www.oponeo.co.uk then got a local tyre fitter to fit them for £20 haven't tried them in snow yet but ordinary driving on wet and dry roads is excellent

Bing · Post by **Bing** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 7:40 pm

If you up from mytyres.co.uk you pay a fully fitted price and choose one of their local installers, or you up the tyres only then cart them wherever you can ind the cheapest price / best service. I did the former, would choose a different installer next time tho - they damaged the edges of the rims slightly. Have to say, never used Kwik Fit.

Marco · Post by **Marco** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 7:53 pm

The winter tyre sizes I have been looking at have been 225/40 18 (which is currently the summer tyre size on the front). But I currently have 255/35 18 on the back. What is the recommended size for winter tyres then? and should all four tyres be the same size (for winter tyres)?

jonno · Post by **jonno** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:56 pm

I found the cheapest internet price of my Kumho KW27 winter tyres on mytyres.co.uk which was much cheaper than I found through phoning around locally. Then went to my local fitter and they said they'd match mytyres' price and throw in fitting/balancing for free.

Smart move from them as I'll go back there and give them my business next time

cj_eds · Post by **cj_eds** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:06 pm

I bought Avon Ice Tourings because they were the cheapest brand I recognised as being good. That and I've had a couple of pairs Avon ZZ3's in the past which were superb tyres.

Marco · Post by **Marco** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 10:01 am

Well I've booked my Tyre fitting online with KwikFit. In the end I have decided to go with the Marangoni Omneo's - done quite a bit of research into them and the reviews are all good and the company itself seems to have been around for a long time - I'll let you know how it all goes!

Anyone that's interested in Winter Tyres, book online with KwikFit (not in store) as they do a much better deal. I was originally quote around £480 for the Marangoni tyres (fitted) when I went in the store (and that was a special), got them online for just over £100 each fitted! Also, if you are doing Wheel Alignment (with or without tyre purchase), book it online with Kwik Fit and use the following offer code to get 50% off the normal £25 charge:
KFGC-WA50-0611

Thanks everyone for your input.....

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