Winter Tyre Information - info / threads / posts / vids

[sars]

Just gone online to buy the Falkens and they have gone up in price by about 10% in the last week

As if they aren't expensive enough!!!

Glad I bought mine last week then

I payed £119 each for the fronts and £156 each for the rears. What are they now out of interest?

For 225/45/R17 they are now £137.00 fitted from my tyres.....Grrrrr

 

[JDM]

Just gone online to buy the Falkens and they have gone up in price by about 10% in the last week

As if they aren't expensive enough!!!

Glad I bought mine last week then

I payed £119 each for the fronts and £156 each for the rears. What are they now out of interest?

For 225/45/R17 they are now £137.00 fitted from my tyres.....Grrrrr

My price of £119 was for 225x40x18 but not fitted.. Im having my local garage fit and balace 4 tyres for £10

I guess the prices will just keep going up and up. Better to get them now

 

[DanEvs]

Anybody used any of the cheap ebay winter tyres? Hifly and Jinyu. :?

I'm sceptical when it comes to tyres and generally go for Michelins as I know they offer the best grip on the market but I don't know where I stand with the winter stuff.

 

[oli445]

I bought some 'cheap' winter tyres from eBay, not used hem yet but they look and feel like they will be 100 times better than summer tyres when the snow comes! Bought them from:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/205-55-16-91H-JINYU-YW51-WINTER-TYRE-2055516-205-55-16-SNOW-TYRES-X-4-/160670717883?pt=UK_Cars_Tyres_RL&fits=Tyre+Width%3A205%7CAspect+Ratio%3A55%7CDiameter%3A16&hash=item2568b897bb#ht_500wt_689

Negotiated fitting and balancing for £6 per tyre too. They also offer a storage facility that was £12 a tyre when they swap over. (£24 to fit the winters then £48 every March to put your summers on and £48 every November to put your winters on)

Based in Macclesfield

 

[Marco]

When are you having these fitted, would love to know how you get on with them!

Are you having these fitted to your current Alloys or buying new ones? If you are fitting them to the current Alloys, I have heard storeis of tyres getting ruined by putting them on and taking them off numerous times, any thoughts on that?

 

[sars]

Ordered my Falkens HS-439 (225/45/R17 94V XL) on Thursday night from http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyres/car-winter-tyres-falken-225-45-r17 at £110.00 each, they arrived this morning, have to say they look very good (yes sad I know) and well impressed with the service from openeo, they came from Germany according to the shipping history.

Having them fitted on Thursday

Rang my insurance company today (MORE TH>N), explained that I was fitting winter tyres and that they were non RFT's and all they said was that as long as I did not alter the rolling diameter from the manufacturers specification they didn't care.

Just going to join a car recovery service......

It's Going to be the mildest winter on record, now that I have finally purchased a set

 

[adey]

i used oponeo they were very good just had the tyres fitted to winter wheels so like you said going to be the mildest winter ever !!

 

[oli445]

When are you having these fitted, would love to know how you get on with them!

Are you having these fitted to your current Alloys or buying new ones? If you are fitting them to the current Alloys, I have heard storeis of tyres getting ruined by putting them on and taking them off numerous times, any thoughts on that?

Marco if you were referring to me I bought a spare set of 16's from a forum member and have had the tyres fitted to those wheels so when the time is right (temps below 7C) I just have to swap the wheels over and swap back again next year!

 

[KWK]

Hi,

This is my first post - I am a total newby and not a petrol head, just like to drive a pretty Z4 - photo to follow. Can any of your guys proffer up some words of wisdom?

I recently bought a 2008 plate 2.01S Z4 (Zebbedy!) with summer tyres fitted on Front- 225/40R 18 292 and Rear - 255/35 R 18 292

I will fit winter tyres however, local garages are giving me conflicting advice (is it because I'm a girl?).

One has offered me winter Avons £151.81 on front and winter Kumhos £169.91 on rear - they tell me they cannot get a matching set of 4! Is this advisable and are these tyres any good?

Another (Kwikfit) has told me winter fronts 225/40R 18 292 - in this size not available - what the?

This is a lot of hassle to the uninitiated, any advice guys?
KWK

 

[a11y]

KWK, welcome along

Have a search on online shops such as mytyres or blackcircles - will be the easiest way to determine if winter tyres are available in the sizes you need. Personally I'd be surprised if winter tyres aren't made by the same brand in both those sizes, although the availability might be the issues. I'd rather have the same brand on all 4 corners. IMO prices don't seem too bad given the sizes.


All,
EVO magazine have quite a comprehensive test on winter tyres in this month's issue. Very quick summary was that premium winter tyres perform better than budget winter tyres, but that even the budget winter tyre out-perform premium summer tyres. No surprises there. That was taking into account snow/ice conditions, wet-but-cold conditions, and dry-but-cold conditions. So according to that it's still "worth" getting winter tyres for cold-weather driving even if the likihood of snow is minimal.

 

[WLH]

KWK, welcome to the forum...
The best solution is to purchase a set of 17 inch wheels for use in the winter to which you fit 225/45-17 winter tires all around.
As an alternative you can fit 225/40-18 winter tires on all 4 of your 18" rims.

 

[JDM]

Hi KWK.. Welcome to the forum

I bought a set of winter tyres recently from Mytyres in the same staggered sizes as you have stated. They are Falken HS-439 (225x40x18 and 255x35x18) so they are definately available, just probably not from Kwik Fit as they arent a common size.

Hope you manage to get sorted

 

[PawnSacrifice]

a11y, yeah, Evo seem to be all over winter tyres... as are most other mags for that matter.

On another matter...
Obviously there is some risk involved, but I have been seeing some people buying part worn winters on eBay - partly for stock and partly for the savings. You need to exercise care, but I think there are some good deals to be had where people have changed their cars and sold the winters separately. Especially in the south of England or similar climates where the winters will only be getting a few month's use each year this could make good sense, the tyres are likely to start perishing before they wear out anyway.

 

[a11y]

Obviously there is some risk involved, but I have been seeing some people buying part worn winters on eBay - partly for stock and partly for the savings. You need to exercise care, but I think there are some good deals to be had where people have changed their cars and sold the winters separately. Especially in the south of England or similar climates where the winters will only be getting a few month's use each year this could make good sense, the tyres are likely to start perishing before they wear out anyway.

Yep, and also the fact that winter tyres are pretty much useless below 4mm tread depth. The drop off in performance with wear is greater with winter tyres than summer/regular tyres. I think there's going to be a big market in part-worn winters with time as more folk change cars - I know when I eventually sell my Z4 I'd give the buyer first opportunity to buy my winter wheels/tyres too, but if they didn't want them then they'd be straight on the classifieds.

 

[Ewazix]

I've shelled out for winters, now where's the friggin snow? :roll:

 

[sars]

Had my winters fitted Yesterday, have to say they seem a little floaty, steering is definitely lighter. On the plus side they are quite quiet

 

[a11y]

IMO it's too early to change to winter tyres - barely getting below 7degC overnight let along the majority of the daytime. Saying that, it was less that 4 weeks from now last year that I had 2' of snow!

I'm not planning on changing mine for another couple of weeks judging by the long-term forecast for temps.

 

[sars]

IMO it's too early to change to winter tyres - barely getting below 7degC overnight let along the majority of the daytime. Saying that, it was less that 4 weeks from now last year that I had 2' of snow!

I'm not planning on changing mine for another couple of weeks judging by the long-term forecast for temps.

Autocar have just issued a video test on wet road at 10c

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-video/winter-tyres-tested-in-the-wet-video-review/

In my view a mixed result, the winter tyres had better lateral grip in the wet but a longer breaking distance, overall they stated that in their view the winter tyre was better at this temperature.

 

[WLH]

Autocar have just issued a video test on wet road at 10c

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-video/winter-tyres-tested-in-the-wet-video-review/

In my view a mixed result, the winter tyres had better lateral grip in the wet but a longer breaking distance, overall they stated that in their view the winter tyre was better at this temperature.

Why in the world would you switch from all season tires to winter tires....
The test would have been more useful if it was between summer tires and winter tires.

 

[Bing]

Welcome to the forum KWK - pics in the newbies thread would be great when you get a chance

... And 'being a girl' means nothing on here, so get your advice from the very knowledgeable folks on the forum, then go tell your local 'expert' what you want

As I'm in Kent where we get about 5 days of proper snow in a year, I went mid-range and had some Avon Ice Touring STs (225x45x17) fitted to a set of105s bought from Koolchris on the forum -thanks Chris ! Bought the tyres from mytyres.co.uk, £114 per corner fully fitted at a local garage of my choice (from mytyres list of fitters). Have to say they look like they will do the business - 'chunky' is an understatement. I'm looking forward to my first RFT-free experience, but the darned temperature is still at 12 or 13 degrees at 5.30am when I get up for work :x