All season tyres

[Starfish Primer]

I need to replace my tyres and I'm considering buying All Season tyres (Goodyear). I'm living in UK (Milton Keynes), anybody has experience with this type of tyres?

Thanks in advance

[Adam43]

I find that in summer on summer tyres all cars have more than enough grip. So I wouldn't worry about compromise there.
I have winter tyres which rock in the cold, not lived with all weather. I've heard that the concerns about longevity of these tyres when it warms up is a thing of the past.

[GORDON STREETER]

I don't know about "all season" tyres as they can only be a compromise !
but I would agree about winter tyres, I have a customer that lives up a long uphill drive without a decent approach so you can't get any speed up for a start.
I couldn't drive the car up to the top on snow but after fitting some Yokohama winter tyres it drove up quite easily.
If someone had told me that I wouldn't have believed them , being the cynic that I am !

[Tim Falce]

I've just got a set of winter tyres for my Landcruiser to replace the all seasons that were on there which we're useless in the wet, and snow.

[Mike E]

I have been wondering about these tyres as well. The tests I have read seem quite inconclusive because they are done either when it is warm or cold but not both (for obvious reasons).
I will fit a set when I need to replace my tyres otherwise I will just keep wondering. And living in Yorkshire means quite cold winters...

[GORDON STREETER]

Mike,I don't know what car you have but the best thing is to get a set of steel wheels from a breakers yard and fit some winter tyres on them so you can keep your original set and the salt won't sod them up !
I personally haven't got a set of "winter tyres" on any of my vehicles and the case I was talking about was a customers car with non switchable traction control, so you couldn't get up any speed to have a decent go before the engine ecu detected a spinning wheel and killed the engine.
In snow I use my old 1997 Escort diesel on skinny crap tyres, with no performance and loads of weight over the wheels it will climb a mountain ! and normally being in Spain in Dec/Jan we don't get snow and ice in our area

[Starfish Primer]

Thanks. I haven't problems in the past with my previous cars that had reasonable tyres. My current car with 110bhp has a ridiculous 225/55R17 tyres and I guess they'll have problems in the snow.

[GORDON STREETER]

Yes it's true that wide tyres aren't the best in conditions like snow/mud and to be honest I wouldn't use a decent car thats still worth loads of money in snowy conditions anyway.
I count myself lucky in that I have a varied collection of vehicles that I can use for different applications throughout the year.

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

I count myself lucky in that I have a varied collection of vehicles that I can use for different applications throughout the year.

Kent's answer to Lord Montagu and Tom Wheatcroft, eh?

It just remains to be seen when Gordon is going to expose his remarkable cluster to the gaze of his adoring public....

[garcon]

From what I've heard, Gordon only dares expose his remarkable cluster in Spain. Those extra few degrees centigrade are important to him.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by garcon

From what I've heard, Gordon only dares expose his remarkable cluster in Spain. Those extra few degrees centigrade are important to him.

At my age the only thing that gets hard are my arteries !!!!
and Clive my complete collection of cars at the moment (8) that I can think of are probably worth about 12K all in

[bravo]

I ran a Fiat Marea Weekend 130JTD (Estate with the 5 cylinder diesel) for 15 months continuous on Goodyear Ultragrip 8 winter tyres. I covered about 25,000 miles and took 2mm off the fronts, and 1mm off the rear. To say I was astonished at the lack of wear would be a serious understatement since my previous car chomped through its OEM Continental Sportcontact 3s in only 8,000 miles for the fronts.

During the summer months I did not notice any difference in handling to summer tyres. I think you would have to push beyond 9/10's to notice. In winter on cold roads I had more confidence, and when it finally came to snow and ice on the roads the difference was night and day. Pushing a £40k Audi A5 up a hill out of the Metro Centre in my £1000 Fiat had me in stitches.

Anyway, as for all seasons. The phrase 'Jack of all trades, master of none' springs to mind. This video from tyrerack explains it best (skip 30 seconds in)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2wTg0l3_wI

[JHamilton]

On this side of the pond, we call all-season tyres "tyres"... Or tires actually. If you're looking for a standard tire, I suggest the good ol Michelin LTX or BF Goodrich Traction T/A (if they sell those there). In my experience, Goodyear is not good at making a tire quiet nor round.

They make ultra-high performance all-seasons now that have the same or similar compounds to the summer versions but with different patterns.

[M Greenslade]

I run a BMW 330d M Sports Tourer, it is utterly useless in snow and ice, so two choices, either buy a secondhand set of wheels and fit winter tyres which would not be cheap or buy another (second) car, I opted for this option and bought a Peugeot 106 and fitted it with a set of Kumo All season tyres. All I can say is previously I run a Golf GTi with Bridgestone All Season tyres fitted and it transformed the Winter handling and got me to and from work in the snow, I live in Chipping Norton which is the highest town in Oxfordshire and it often cut off.... With regards to Summer grip/wear, not a problem, I still got 18k miles out a set of fronts - not bad.

If I was not running a high performance car, I would always fit All Season tyres and keep them on all the time. They they be a bit more expensive than 'normal' tyres, but they work. Hope this helps.

Bladders

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by M Greenslade

I run a BMW 330d M Sports Tourer, it is utterly useless in snow and ice, so two choices, either buy a secondhand set of wheels and fit winter tyres which would not be cheap or buy another (second) car,

Most RWD (or should I dare say all !) cars/vans are useless in snow anyway plus the fact that you are more likely to have a "ding" in seriously bad conditions whether it's your fault or not.
As I said in an earlier post I use different vehicles for variying conditions/trips and lets face it if you were involved in a crash in the snow in a decent car it would normally cost more in repairs and aggro that it would to buy an old cheapo runabout in the first place !
Obviously age and cost of insurance plays a big part in this as I am aware of how much some people have to pay, however people could take their decent car off the road for a while in the winter.

[BertMk2]

I thought about buying a set of steel wheels to put winter tyres on given how crap my car is is the snow/ice - my insurance wouldn't cover me though as it counts as a 'modification'

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

I thought about buying a set of steel wheels to put winter tyres on given how crap my car is is the snow/ice - my insurance wouldn't cover me though as it counts as a 'modification'

Also I suppose the insurance company would try and wrangle their way out of a claim if it was proved that the rating of the tyres were lower than what the car should be specified with.
Typical' even if the tyres were safer in the said conditions !

[M Greenslade]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

I thought about buying a set of steel wheels to put winter tyres on given how crap my car is is the snow/ice - my insurance wouldn't cover me though as it counts as a 'modification'

Get a decent insurance company, try the NFU……..

Bladders….

[JasperClan]

As above get a decent insurance company, I've spend the last week getting insurance quotes for my latest high performance vehicle and the mention of a second set of wheels with winter tyres has caused no problems.

Pete Richards

[BertMk2]

If I get a set of OEM alloys and put winter tyres on that's fine - it's the non OEM wheels bit they didn't like. Might have a look at options when the insurance comes up for renewal though.

[GORDON STREETER]

What is it about Alloys ? we all know they can't be straightened any sense after a clout, they corrode and crack, they leak round the rims and most of the standard road ones are heavier than a steel ! also the pikey boys nick them for scrap (along with anything else that's about).
Most cars only come with a steel spare anyway (if at all) time the insurance companies woke up !!!

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

If I get a set of OEM alloys and put winter tyres on that's fine - it's the non OEM wheels bit they didn't like. Might have a look at options when the insurance comes up for renewal though.

Holy crap, I'd completely nut up if my insurance company told me this.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by GORDON STREETER

What is it about Alloys ? we all know they can't be straightened any sense after a clout, they corrode and crack, they leak round the rims and most of the standard road ones are heavier than a steel!

Have you been sneaking a look at my car Gordon? Both of my front wheels are now corroding quite badly and are losing air. I'm on the hunt for some replacements (oem of course )

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Holy crap, I'd completely nut up if my insurance company told me this.

In every dealing I have had with insurance companies they have proved themselves to be weasels beyond compare.

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by BertMk2

In every dealing I have had with insurance companies they have proved themselves to be weasels beyond compare.

It's about time we went the Australian route and have compulsory 3rd party insurance as part of the road tax and registration so the car is insured not the driver. If we had this I don't think I'd bother with comprehensive as you do get stitched up all ways by insurance companies here.

[GORDON STREETER]

Originally Posted by Tim Falce

It's about time we went the Australian route and have compulsory 3rd party insurance as part of the road tax and registration so the car is insured not the driver. If we had this I don't think I'd bother with comprehensive as you do get stitched up all ways by insurance companies here.

I'm suprised by how many people have fully comp when they are running about in a car that the insurance company will only give them a couple of bob for !
I have to have a fully comp traders policy because although I don't tear about in customers cars and never had a claim, that's not to stop some as***le crashing into me without any cover at all !