Tyre Choices - Completely Confused & Frustrated...

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Venomous

Active Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2007
Messages
407
Location
South Derbyshire
Car
C250 CDI AMG Sport Plus Coupe
My rear tyres - 255 35 R18's are now down to 4mm of tread depth, they're a fairly cheap brand that came with the car when I bought it in March.

With the bad weather this week, there were two near incidents of the back end breaking away.

My daily commute is 110 miles round trip - Derby - Rugeley - Penkridge - Telford.

Having looked at both Winter and Summer tyres, I'm in a quandary... :wallbash:

My normal view on snow is that - if I know it's coming I work from home, and the car just sits on the drive.

In summary, I'm looking for the best tyres to provide grip in wet / poor weather conditions for cross country driving (dual carriage ways / A roads).

Any help here would be most appreciated...
 
Been debated to death... :D

The main downside of winter tyres is that they don't last as long as summer tyres. If your daily commute is 110 miles, it will show.

But in terms of ride and traction they do not offer significant compromise on warmer days.

The official advise form the AA is that if you can not change tyres twice a year, you are better-off driving with winter tyres all year round.

There is no simple answer.... I drive on summer tyres all year round, when snow is predicted I do not use the car.
 
Last edited:
Brian,

All the clues come in your first sentence. There was a *lot* of water earlier this week, and under those circumstances it's all about water displacement. You have wide tyres that are about 60% worn, and budget tyres usually show their weaknesses when asked to deal with extremes - the odds are not in your favour.

Some fresh tyres of good quality will make all the difference. Goodyears usually seem to have the edge in the wet, if the tests are to be believed.
 
Been debated to death... :D

The main downside of winter tyres is that they don't last as long as summer tyres.

I beg to differ, I bought my first set 8 years ago and the fronts are only now reaching the 4mm limit. I'll get another winter out of them before they will need replaced, so that's 9 years at approx 3 months per year's use. Still on the second set of rears too, but the other point is the summer tyres now last longer before needing to be replaced as they have a winter break! After the intitial outlay of a spare set of wheels, (£300 Genuine brand new on Ebay) it doesn't cost anymore than running summer tyres only.

Russ
 
Russ, what Mark means is that their wear rates in summer are usually higher, if used as a year round option. You're using them in their optimal conditions.

Age is largely irrelevant as a measure of longevity...someone who only does 4000 miles a year will make their tyres last a lot longer than the person that does 4000 miles a month.
 
Sounds like you just need new, reasonable quality tyres capable of dealing with a bit of water.

It may have been wet this week (where you are, here it was dry, warm and sunny) but it wasn't cold.
 
Russ, what Mark means is that their wear rates in summer are usually higher, if used as a year round option. You're using them in their optimal conditions.

Well aware of that, but my point was that after the expense of a spare set of wheels, it should not cost you anymore money than running one set all year, but you have the advantage of always running the best tyre for winter or summer.

Russ
 
My normal view on snow is that - if I know it's coming I work from home, and the car just sits on the drive.

That's your answer right there; winter tyres would be pointless.

Go for a good premium set of 'summer' tyres and they'll be a revelation to what's on there now.
 
I run Conti 5's and have no complaints , rain or shine !
 
Should be pointed out at this juncture that the all weather tyres come in a limited range of sizes/speed load rating - 255 35 R18 may not be one of them-- meaning your choice is either symmer or winter tyres. Based on how you deal with driving in very cold /snowy weather then summer tyres would a better bet for you personally. Even with summer tyres there's going to be a degree of compromise between wet weather grip and wear. Best to trawl the reviews but beware tyres sometimes change their tread pattern with speed rating so a V or H rated tyre may not have exactly the same pattern/tread/handling as a X/Y rated one so you can't extrapolate from a H rated model review to to Y rated one with nominally the same model name.
 
Last edited:
Well with 4mm of tread,one wonders just how you were driving in the rain to get the back end to break away,maybe less of the right foot at certain times might help.
 
Well with 4mm of tread,one wonders just how you were driving in the rain to get the back end to break away,maybe less of the right foot at certain times might help.

It's far from just the tread depth that counts. Poor tyres are simply that poor even from new.

I must agree with several of the above comments a premium summer tyre with an 'A' rating for wet performance should do the job.
 
I must agree with several of the above comments a premium summer tyre with an 'A' rating for wet performance should do the job.

Again, I disagree. I bought Michelins that are A rated for wet performance and they perform worse in the rain than my well worn C rated Falkens that preceded them.
Turns out the wet weather rating is solely based on a braking test, it has no bearing on how much traction you have pulling out of a junction or cornering on wet roads.
Maybe the OP would consider the new Michelin Crossclimates? A winter tyre for all year use.

Russ
 
Looked at the All Season ones, and there is nothing for my rears at present.

Did a bit more research on the forum, and have opted for a set of MO rated winter tyres - which will be fitted on Sat 24th.

- 2 x Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 (Winter Tyre) - 225/40 R18 V (92) - Front
- 2 x Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D (Winter Tyre) - 255/35 R18 V (94) - Rear

These will get about 8K miles of wear up to the end of Feb, then they will be swapped out and put away.

Thanks for the advice. :thumb:
 
Turns out the wet weather rating is solely based on a braking test, it has no bearing on how much traction you have pulling out of a junction or cornering on wet roads.

Yes, you are correct the wet rating sticker on tyre is for wet braking thus buying a premium tyre like the Conti 5 suggested which has an 'A' wet rating would imply that it's also performs very well overall in wet performance like handling, cornering, aquaplaning and braking. That's my logic without having the benefit of being able to carry out back to back tests.
 
Yes, you are correct the wet rating sticker on tyre is for wet braking thus buying a premium tyre like the Conti 5 suggested which has an 'A' wet rating would imply that it's also performs very well overall in wet performance like handling, cornering, aquaplaning and braking. That's my logic without having the benefit of being able to carry out back to back tests.


That was my logic too, hence my purchase of "premium" A rated Michelins. Sadly though, the A rating only means it passed a test for wet weather braking, in all other aspects of wet weather driving it does not perform as well as mid range Falkens. Which just goes to prove, no tyre can do it all, they all have to compromise in some way or another.

Russ
 
That's your answer right there; winter tyres would be pointless.

Go for a good premium set of 'summer' tyres and they'll be a revelation to what's on there now.


Winter tyres are not Snow tyres. They are winter tyres, because they are better in winter. They are better at pretty much all aspects of driving, at temperatures of less than 7 degrees, which is when summer tyres performance falls away (being outside of the parameters they are designed for).

It is totally wrong to think that there would be no point in having winter tyres if there's no snow. Remember, premium summer tyres, are designed to be high performance in summer conditions.

To be honest, if you don't want summer/ winters, you'd probably be better off with all seasons, compromising a little on summer performance, and not wrecking your car in the winter.
 
Looked at the All Season ones, and there is nothing for my rears at present.

Did a bit more research on the forum, and have opted for a set of MO rated winter tyres - which will be fitted on Sat 24th.

- 2 x Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 (Winter Tyre) - 225/40 R18 V (92) - Front
- 2 x Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D (Winter Tyre) - 255/35 R18 V (94) - Rear

These will get about 8K miles of wear up to the end of Feb, then they will be swapped out and put away.

Thanks for the advice. :thumb:

Good choice. Only problem I find, now I have proper winter tyres, I feel compelled to use them, so end up driving to the Alps for skiing. Though usually go at Easter, so don't need them so much. Still have to carry chains though!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom