Winter tyres: Goodyear Eagle Ultra Grip GW3

[Satch]

After a lot of scratching around eventually settled on these as they had good reports all round. Picked up some second hand W211 OEM alloys, had them refurbished and all fitted up.

Decided to fit them on Saturday evening as weather is getting a bit on the cool side. Roads round my way do not get treated and frost sticks around thanks to trees and, most important of all, only two weekends away from a skiing trip to a glacial resort in Austria :bannana:

Overall very impressed. Early morning start on Sunday and stuck to icy & frosty roads extremely well. (day before I had been skittering around a bit) But, best of all, the ride and noise level is better than the Pirelli P7's that came off, in fact surprisingly so for a winter tyre with quite an aggressive tread pattern. V rated and coped with motorway speeds very well indeed.

http://www.goodyear.co.uk/services/tyreguide/feat_eagle_ultra_grip_gw-3.html

So far well impressed but time and some 1800 miles through Europe will tell

 

[SG CL500]

Thanks for the info - thinking of doing the same but having difficulty getting a second hand cheap set of 17' wheels with the correct offset etc. (although I do wonder if I am just trying to fight a losing battle - 5ltr engine, 2 ton car isn't exactly going to do well in snow under any conditions!)

Had traction control flicking on the whole way up our road this morning - quite steep and angled directly away from the sun so always very frosty at this time of year.

 

[Satch]

http://www.goodyear.co.uk/services/tyreguide/feat_eagle_ultra_grip_gw-3.html

So far well impressed but time and some 1800 miles through Europe will tell

And it did. These are absolutely stonking winter tyres. Spent 10 days driving around Austria where off the main roads the conditions were as pictured (all of the time) and the main roads were often not much better

Traction control light flashed remarkably few times and never once had to use chains. Expected to slip or get stuck on a number of occaisions but always pulled away.

On Autobahn wholly secure in vile conditions and low noise. Cannot speak too highly of these tyres

 

[Pierre Levegh]

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=14582&page=3

there is a guy in another place that has these tyres as well.

 

[Anders]

As per another thread on how bad RWD is in winter conditions, I would like to chip in. Have the Goodyear Eagle GW3 fitted this November in 225/55/16, as I have come to realise that winter tyres are a must with RWD in winter conditions. Can't rate the GW3s highly enough, has transformed the behaviour of the car, and they always find amazing traction.

To those that slate the RWD, I can only say: Go and get some winter tyres!

 

[grober]

I found Nokian WR'S from www.mytyres.co.uk to be very good also and available in v ratings. If the Finns dont know about winter motoring who does?

 

[SG CL500]

grober (or anybody else who has used mytyres) - how did you find getting them fitted? I know mytyres has their own 'authorsied' fitters but they're all 20ish miles away and I cannot find anybody local (NE of Cambridge) who would fit without supply.

 

[Sp!ke]

I just rang around to find a fitter. Its getting expensive now with many trying to charge £15 per wheel for fitment which I think is an absolute rip off.

 

[grober]

Negotiate!

I found a local commercial tyre outfit and after I "crossed someones palm with silver" he fitted and balanced the 2 tyres for £10 on a "one to one" basis if you know what I mean. Maybe I was lucky but I find the smaller independants or garages are much more accomodating. they wont advertise much. You can forget the big chains unless you know someone who works there and owes you a favour! I reckon £5-10 a tyre fitted and balanced is reasonable.

 

[SG CL500]

hmm, guess I just live in the wrong area! Always found our local fitter to be really accommodating, including solving a rattling exhaust (main chain - replacement at about £180) for free as when he took it apart there was just a bit of loose metal in it (some kind of bracket for the muffler? gave him a tenner and told him to buy his employees a Christmas drink!) but he refuses point blank to fit tyres not purchased through him.

Having no success with any other fitters until I get about 20 miles away, which is just too far for the savings involved.

Agree £5-10 is reasonable, especially when you consider they're not getting the mark up on the tyre.

Thansk for your help though.

 

[Shude]

Most places I spoke to weren't interested in fitting the tyres for me.

This place did however:

£38 all-in.

 

[grober]

hmm, guess I just live in the wrong area! Always found our local fitter to be really accommodating, including solving a rattling exhaust (main chain - replacement at about £180) for free as when he took it apart there was just a bit of loose metal in it (some kind of bracket for the muffler? gave him a tenner and told him to buy his employees a Christmas drink!) but he refuses point blank to fit tyres not purchased through him.

Having no success with any other fitters until I get about 20 miles away, which is just too far for the savings involved.

Agree £5-10 is reasonable, especially when you consider they're not getting the mark up on the tyre.

Thansk for your help though.

Maybe he is wary of the provenance of the tyres and feels he might be liable in case of an accident! Dont think Delticom which is the German parent company of mytyres is a problem but there are dodgy tyre suppliers out there! For that reason I personally wouldnt buy tyres on EBAY but lots of folks on this forum do.

 

[Doodle]

...but he refuses point blank to fit tyres not purchased through him.

But if you went to him to have the 4 "unknown" tyres on your car rotated, would he refuse to do that if it involved remounting the tyres to achieve this?

On initial appearances, there's very little difference between that and fitting loose tyres.

 

[SG CL500]

I think the main reason shy he wouldn't fit them was due him not making any money on the tyres themselves - he wouldn't elaborate (odd) - I did offer to pay over his 'normal' fit price to compensate him.

I don't have an issue with any garages refusing to fit, it is after all their business, just seems odd to turn away £.

 

[jaymanek]

Well if anyone in the Midlands (around Nuneaton) wants tyres changed, then just let me know... Special discount for members

 

[Shude]

Whitefield offered to fit the tyres at normal workshop rates, basically 1 hour plus parts. Quote was £115. They were actually quite serious, I declined of course

 

[Apial]

I have never had a problem getting a tyre place to swop tyre carcases around. I just ask them to take the summer tyres off and put the winter ones back on. In the spring they get asked again to swop them back. It makes them double the money, so they have no gripes. Along with all the flat tyres I take them too, they can't afford to cut off their nose to spite their face.

 

[Pierre Levegh]

I've never had a problem getting them fitted. If you go to small garages, they usually have the equipment to fit tyres. Let them see you are going to pay with cash and you won't have a problem.