Winter car tyres

[G.P]

Anybody use them?
My golf needs new fronts and was considering a set of "cross climate" Michelins. Any noticeable benefit in improved grip?

TIA

[KungFooBob]

Winter tyres are supposed to be awesome.

Problem is, if no one else uses them then you're still going to get stuck in the same queue of cars that can't make it up the hill, etc... and you may be able to stop much quicker, but the car behind won't on normal tyres.

[Silly Car]

Having trashed* one of my front tyres yesterday by driving over a broken bottle in the mighty BMW**, I did consider consider swapping out both fronts** for a split second then just ordered a like for like replacement.


* it wasn’t me with the poor observation, it was the Mrs and in her defence the bottle was tossed in a pile of leaves right outside of the garage door.

** admittedly very stinky bait but it is an xdrive so in theory could be appropriate

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The Michelin Pilot Sports on my car seem fine all year round, and given that you don't live in the artic waste that is East Anglia in winter, I think you'll be okay on normal tyres.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Winter tyres are supposed to be awesome.

Problem is, if no one else uses them then you're still going to get stuck in the same queue of cars that can't make it up the hill, etc... and you may be able to stop much quicker, but the car behind won't on normal tyres.

That.

They are great, but if its bad enough you really need them then you want EVERYONE to have them! That's why they're compulsory in countries where it is reliably cold.

[MrLongbeard]

I compromised and run Michelin Cross Climates year round.
They do me well enough, never not gotten to where I was going with them on and they have a decent life span to them.

[slowsider]

The Michelin Pilot Sports on my car seem fine all year round, and given that you don't live in the artic waste that is East Anglia in winter, I think you'll be okay on normal tyres.

Are there lots of old trucks out your way then ?

[G.P]

I compromised and run Michelin Cross Climates year round.
They do me well enough, never not gotten to where I was going with them on and they have a decent life span to them.

Its cross climates I was looking at, they're not full on winter tyres, but look like they'd be more useful on shitty muddy roads than P7s and the like.

[v8-powered]

Only ever heard good things about Cross Climates, people seem to run them year round with no abnormal or rapid wear issues.

[Mussels]

I've been a bit meh about winter tyres I've had in the past, all season tyres were awful but I really like the design of cross climates and think they will be really good. Just a shame that when I looked they seemed limited to smaller sizes and none for my car.

[demographic]

Think in the last 20 years at work there's been about 5 days I couldn't get into work because of snow.
Thats working all over Cumbria with a bit of Southwest Scotland in the mix and driving a rearwheel drive van.
I reckon I can live without proper winter tyres for a bit yet.

[Supermofo]

A guy at work had a set of winter tyres he fitted just for Winter to his BMW M2, he raved about them. Other than that I know no one who's bothered.

Having until recently run small run around cars I tended to fit economy tyres and other than being exciting round roundabouts in the wet they coped fine in full on winter. Including 30 mile cross country trips in the snow. Obviously you had to drive carefully, but they worked.

[Mr Moofo]

I have some winter tyres with 8 mm plus tread on them, on wheels.
Will fit a 2011 - 2019 BMW three series.
If anyone is interested let n]me know, and I will take some pictures.
Ex my company car - and given to me when I left
I am in Brighton (unfortunately)

And they do make a huge difference on snow, ice and really cold conditions

[G.P]

I took an early lunch break Got Cross climates fitted on the front and also got a wheel alignment at the same time. Its transformed the steering.
I will report back once I've put some miles on them.
Mrs GP will be using the car for her very rural commute which is totally covered in leaves and mud from tractors at this time of year, so hopefully she'll appreciated them

[Kneerly Down]

I have winter tyres on 4 cars.
Grip is supposed to be better when the temp gets below 7degC (which is quite a lot of the year here) due to compound differences.

Proper winter tyres get destroyed pretty quick if you drive fast in warmer conditions in my experience.
That said, I absolutely loved the Goodyear snow tyres I had on my old XJ8 (4.2V8, RWD...obv) that were grippier in ALL conditions than the standard Pirellis.
I drove back from Dalwhinnie one winter in it in just under a foot of snow and only had trouble when too much collected under the front, at which point I'd plough it to the side, reverse then drive on until repeating.

I have a couple of pairs of snow chains and a pair of snow socks in case I have to travel on some of the steeper, slippery roads in bad conditions.
Our, sadly now sold, CRV was pretty much unstoppable on the chains.

[Skub]

I'm using Maxxis All season tyres on the racing Auris. We live on a fairly steep hill and tyres make the difference of getting somewhere and being stuck.

I use them all year around,as the name suggests. They don't offer the same levels of grip in the Summer as 'ordinary' tyres,but I like them because I know I'll get where I'm going in snowy schitt and for my needs they aren't that far off. I'll take the hit of less dry grip over Winter success any day. After all you don't buy a friggin' Auris if you are pretending to be Lewis Hamilton anyway.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

After all you don't buy a friggin' Auris if you are pretending to be Lewis Hamilton anyway.

I hear Seb Ogier insisted on an Auris as part of his Toyota WRC contract

[Skub]

After all you don't buy a friggin' Auris if you are pretending to be Lewis Hamilton anyway.

I hear Seb Ogier insisted on an Auris as part of his Toyota WRC contract

What do I know eh?

[derek badger]

I swapped mine out for the last 4 or 5 years. I've got them on another set of steel rims so it's an easy job in the driveway. The set not in use stop the trampoline from taking off in the wind.

[slowsider]

I swapped mine out for the last 4 or 5 years. I've got them on another set of steel rims so it's an easy job in the driveway. The set not in use stop the trampoline from taking off in the wind.

That's the recommended storage conditions