Winter Tyre Review

[RedditchJay]

OK... some of you may remember I purchased some cheap n cheerful winter tyres a month or so ago....

Today was the 1st time I used them in anger and this is how they faired.

Where we live its called Callow Hill so the clue is in the tittle, it has a long reasonable steep hill that is never gritted and always becomes the accident spot in the winter as cars fail to stop at the bottom and likewise cars can not get up this hill.

I was in my normal Passat Estate today with brand new standard Continetal tyres on, I got stuck on this hill for 30mins, trying all the usual tricks to get up, plodding on tickover, revving, using the kerb, digging the ice away.... nothing... rang the wife who plodded down with our defender and towed me up without an issue.

SOOOOO..... once home I then jacked the VW Golf up and put two snow tyres {already built on rims} onto the drive axles and thought sod it.... go for a play.... I have never had grip like this before in the snow, I went down the hill and stopped hard, the ABS didn't even kick in and the car planted itself and stopped, span it around and drove back up the hill at a steady 20mph passing 7 cars that were stuck.......... my only error was only fitting the front tyres as I span twice when the backend came around on me as I was getting cocky with how much grip the front end had......  downside will be the rate they wear on tarmac once the snow goes and the road noise is quite high at 60mph......

so..... either 4x snow tyres and 4xrims which cost me in total £202.00.

or a Defender  

[Boxerman33]

what make of snow tyres did you buy, I'm after some for a freelander?

[RedditchJay]

These particular tyres for the Golf were 195/65/15 91H TRACKMAX WINTER TYRES

Trackmax are made in China BUT major suppy to the USA, i paid less that £40 each for them from a tyre place in Worcester

Not sure about what is best for the Freelander ?

[a4gom]

Just wish i'd been as ready as you. Noticed I was struggling a bit the other day, looked at tyres and there on the wear bars, to make it worse they're the sort which just has 3 groves running round the tyre. Even worse there's not a single winter tyre to be had anywhere round here.

[RedditchJay]

Last year we got snowed in for 3 weeks solid, we borrowed the wife's bosses "spare" defender 90 as he has a Discovery also, so impressed with the defender we bought one {the red one in the pic} and I then thought about winter tyres for the golf a month or so ago, the prices have now gone silly..... BUT they do {at the moment} appear to work.....

[Matt Seabrook]

Tell me about it you cant buy them unless you want to pay megabucks for them. I go a price of more than £40.00 each plus vat each trade. They really do work and make a massive difference to driving in adverse conditions. They work best at temp below 7c in snow rain or dry roads. Wear rate should not be too bad below these conditions. Noise is likely to be higher due to the tread design. It never ceases to amaze me how unimportant people seem to think the only thing they have in contact with the road are.

[7sRWild]

It's a fact of life here in Canada, summer tyres and Winter tyres. An absolute must......as said earlier, the importance of what is in contact with the road.(Or snow and ice)

[RedditchJay]

I am kicking myself for not investing in them last year........... I lost hundreds of ££££ not getting to work....... never get caught again, these tyres {if I only fit the two fronts} should last me a couple of years as I have two other new ones on rims also..... I purchased four with the intention to fit all four ......... see how bad it gets

[windy]

Got some for the Astra after last year being fed up of putting up with the usual elastic band summer tyres on 17" rims which are useless. Went for some 16" Vredestein Snowtrac 3's, taller profile, narrower and more comfortable ride. They were on for about 4 months and the fronts only wore by 1.5mm in about 6K miles. Providing the temps are low enough it seems they don't wear out.

Don't wait til winter to buy your tyres, do it in the summer, far cheaper.

Yesterday I drove out of the estate at normal speed, passing a wheel spinning merc trying to get up the hill. The road was later closed after 3 shunts and the police called the gritters out.

When the main roads are blocked with muppets it'll be safe to come home via the country lanes.

[RedditchJay]

dead right Windy.... I paid £40 per tyre, the exact same tyres are now £85.00 and currently out of stock {found 1 single tyre one ebay} ..... I am kinda chuffed I planned ahead both with the wife's defender {bit extreme just for the winter i know} and for getting 4 x golf steel rims from ebay for £10 and the tyres at a good price....

BRING ON THE SNOW.......

       

[RedditchJay]

Just for useless info, reason I chose the tyres pictured is because the tread pattern is almost the same as my Defender General Grebber TR tyres....... nothing more technical than that....

[pistonbroke]

All I ever do is let a "lot" of air out of my everyday michelins , never had problems with grip in all the snow and ice ive been through  

[RedditchJay]

lol..... that sounds even cheaper......      

[echoz]

i just drive, worked fine for me lol, dont see what all the fuss is about

[Nic Ayre]

Spotted this article on AutoExpress regarding Winter Tyres

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news....61d9aa8

Watch out for the insurance numpties!!