Winter tyres all year ? Hankook Icept Evo2

[mr wilks]

Answer is yes why not .
Wanted to wait until I returned from covering 1500 touring miles onto the continent at temps up to 27deg before I made my mind up but certainly with these Hankook Icepts you can have the cake & eat it :wink: http://www.1010tires.com/Tires/Reviews/Hankook/Winter+i-cept+evo
I fitted a brand new set of 225 45 18 fronts / 245 40 18 rears to our C Class Sport estate last Oct , cost was around £300 bought in Sept & i figured for te lowish miles my wife covers in the car plus the odd France trip i wasn't going to switch to summers at any point
So predominant miles have been 10/15miles a day town driving weekdays , not much more at weekend so i checked the depths after 3500 miles & virtually full tread on all 4 so mid June it was 650 each way Mway journey next up , supposedly summer temps , reality was 20/27deg for the most part , MPG did not appear to suffer , averaged 36.5mpg on C180K petrol auto fully laden both ways at around 72/74mph
Gave the car a clean earlier & checked the depths , again all 4 measure the same
So that's 5000miles covered from Oct - July 7 virtually zero wear
Now i wouldn't say run these on a Z4 that you want max performance but for many who are all year rounders at legal speeds not looking to push their car to the max these could make perfect sense :wink:

 

[AlfaScozzesi]

I put on Hancook Winters onto the M last Novemberish and ran them through until April.

For me they took four hundred miles to "scrub" in and felt pretty terrible up to then. I had very little confidence in them at the start. Much worse than any tyre I have ever had before although these were my first ever winter tyres.

After this I think they drove pretty well and even with the odd sported drive during what was a very mild Winter with only a week or so of snow they felt good.

When I put the MPSS on in April the difference was night and day although so was the cost and the application was correct.

I will probably put the Hancooks back on this Winter as I have them and as you have noticed they have worn very well despite the high winter temps and the softer compound.

I dont think I will buy winter tyres again though.

 

[mr wilks]

Can't really compare a mid priced winter tyre with a high performance Michelin PSS especially on a rwd 300+ bhp sports car
I was merely pointing out that many who haven't tried winters worry they wear down if you run them through summer
Another upside is last night 11-30/midnight after 9-10 hrs behind the wheel I just wanted to be home , it was pouring down yet fast lane at 75ish :wink: the car felt planted & ploughed through any standing water with ease .
They certainly have merits & with our painfully short summer season for many they could be a good move all year :?

 

[Geezah]

I've always used All Season tyres, as opposed to Winter or summer tyres since they became available on my other 2 cars. They are of course a compromise but nevertheless a good compromise, they absolutely last forever and grip absolutely fine with decent braking distance. I tend to go for Goodyear, Hankook and Vredestein, no complaints.

On my Zed, however I go for the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti summer tyre all year around as I like to drive it how it was meant to be driven and tend to use the other wheels if it's icy or snow.

 

[AlfaScozzesi]

Can't really compare a mid priced winter tyre with a high performance Michelin PSS especially on a rwd 300+ bhp sports car
I was merely pointing out that many who haven't tried winters worry they wear down if you run them through summer
Another upside is last night 11-30/midnight after 9-10 hrs behind the wheel I just wanted to be home , it was pouring down yet fast lane at 75ish :wink: the car felt planted & ploughed through any standing water with ease .
They certainly have merits & with our painfully short summer season for many they could be a good move all year :?

Yeah as I said a different cost and application to the winters but once this set of winters are done I think I will just keep the summer tyres on all year.

In the wet the MPSS are the better tyre as well. I unfortunately get a lot of rain where I live

 

[mr wilks]

In the wet the MPSS are the better tyre as well. I unfortunately get a lot of rain where I live

Aye well they didn't build those loch's up there for no good reason

 

[Fishy Dave]

I've tried exactly the same experiment this year with my 325ti on Dunlop Winter Sports. I use the 3 series for most of my commuting, especially if it's wet and so far I'm really pleased I haven't changed to summer tyres. Yes, they squirm a bit in the dry but when driving to and from work there isn't a lot of point in trying to drive quickly. The wear rate is fine too.