This year I thought I'd try winter tyres on my old 16" wheels so I took off the 18" 108s with Contisports and put on the 16". So I now have Dunlop SP winter sports on the front and Goodyear Ultra Grips winters on the rear. They've been on for about a month now and the temperature lately on most journeys has been in the 3-8 deg range. I know they are marked M&S but on cold damp roads I haven't really noticed an improvement over the Contis especially at the rear. Will they only come into their own in snow or would the Dunlops be better on the rear?
First Time with Winter Tyres
- Thread starter bladeowner
- Start date
bladeowner said:
M&S are all weather tyres and not proper winter tyres, they get classed as Mud & Snow due to the extra tread around the edges and DONT pass official winter tyre tests. M&S is just a marketing ploy for people to buy them who think they will perform in the snow. Google M&S tyres you'll see for yourself.
Proper winter tyres are made of a softer compound that stays soft in lower temperatures, where as regular tyres (inc M&S) get firmer in colder temperatures.
johnnnnnnyy said:
Goodyear state there M&S tyres stay softer below 7deg.
http://www.goodyear.eu/uk_en/tires/passenger/index.jsp
I have Vredstein winter tyres on my other car, they make a world of difference to the grip available..... reading the link you posted, they suggest yours are 'proper' winter tyres, rather than just a M&S grip pattern.....so would have thought they would make more difference.
I'm not saying they are ditch finders 
, far from it but I thought I'd notice the extra grip more in the cold and wet over the contis.
, far from it but I thought I'd notice the extra grip more in the cold and wet over the contis.And remember, if you want to so good winter tyres that you can get with your money, invest Nokian Hakkapelitta R2 or Michelin XI3 friction type tyres. I think UK is illegal to use _real_ winter tyres with studs, like nokian hakkapelitta 8 for example? We have real winter here 2-3 months normally which means almost everyone drives with stud tyres. I bought Nokian hakkapelitta R2 (friction type) for my dailydriver, interesting to see how those tyres perform when we have -30celsius, lot of snow and ice. So far my new set of R2 have been really brilliant to drive when we have wet 0celsius conditions and snow. Tyres are so quiet.. E46 is like a 7-series because of quiet tyres.. 8)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4nS55ZhRrQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4nS55ZhRrQ
In my third winter now so I can say that my Winters offer less grip in normal cold driving conditions and I put that down to less rubber being in contact with the road. (Some Kuhmo Snow Tyre that did well in Winter tests)
Where they will function better is on snowy or even heavily frost covered roads where summer tyres would spin up. In Snow in 2012 I climbed inclined that every other car was going sideways on.
Where they will function better is on snowy or even heavily frost covered roads where summer tyres would spin up. In Snow in 2012 I climbed inclined that every other car was going sideways on.
Eviltad said:
That could be the issue for me as the contis are 255 and the Ultra Grips are 225. I'm sure they'll prove themselves if we have snow.
