2 or 4 winter/snow tyres - NOW FITTED 20/11/10

Trev.

I hope that Avon Ice Touring grip better in the wet, than Avon ZV3s. They were 'deadly' bad on the Audi. Wet grip and wet braking were atrocious! I switched to Bridgestone's ER300s and the change was unbelievable. The bridgestones still gripped when worn to the legal limit and beyond.

I don't believe all that is quoted in tyre tests. The Falkens, now on the Audi, are supposed to be relatively quiet. They are the noisiest road tyres I have ever run. M&S Mk2s were quieter! They are driving mrs daved mad, and myself madder, on a long run.

 

^^^ Daved the Avon ZV3's are possibly the worst tyre i've ever had and glad no where sells them now. Their later efforts with the ZZ3 is very good from experience and the ZV5 i've been told is a massive improvement and recommended by a local tyre fitter.

 

Yeah, the tyres on the wife's Toledo now are ZV5s and I thought they were pretty good.

I ordered the Avon Ice Tourings from Camskill as those tyres have had lots of good reports.

 

Vredestein



Vredestein vs Yokohama

 

Just saw my tyre man I use and he told me that he's finding it hard to source winter tyres at the moment as most are out of stock.

He got on the phone to his supplier when I saw him who could only offer me 'Ovation' winter tyres for my 225/45/17 at 63 a corner fitted. Now its cheap, but its the only one's he can get in but they're budget.

So having a ponder as don't want to throw 63 a corner away but going by the net the tyres are these:

 

Of interest ... http://www.tyrepress.com/News/1/22/20196.html

 

Saw the test from Whatcar - tyre was based on an all season tyre but the results are below:

Dry Braking


Wet Braking


Lateral Grip


Dry braking for that tyre by Ovation was the same as the Goodyear, wet braking was a lot worse at 13.9m down (based at 70mph) but lateral grip was 0.02g less than that of the Goodyear.

Someone on Seatcupra.net said he bought some on his Astra and they weren't too bad, but basically far better than his original all season tyres.

 

I've taken a punt on some cooper weathermaster winter tyres which camskill say are good... but then, they're not going to say "they're poo don't buy them" are they?

It seems to stand a chance of getting winter tyres from a decent selection in this country you need to get them in June!

 

Yep! Just saw my tyre supplier this evening and the only two he could get were those Ovation and some Avon Ice Tourers. He said he has literally bought his suppliers stock to hold as he can't get anymore

Winter tyres don't really have much of a market here at the moment, but i'm getting some as i'm hoping to get 2 seasons out of then I'd rather make my car more stable as a week off work unpaid is more expensive to me than a set of winter tyres!

The budgets actually felt and looked ok to be honest, with the M&S snowflake symbol, decent block tread which was nice and soft and had the usually small slits. Yes the winter tyre tests show full brake and bends at 30mph, but with the snow and ice I wouldn't dare take a corner that fast.

 

Got them fitted today; 282 all in with tracking.

Funny thing was 2 ordinary family cars were also having winter tyres put on spare alloys and a Scooby was having his fitted with some too.

Tyre fitter said he's shifting loads at the moment and even he uses them on his fleet vans.

So i'll update how well they work when the snow and cold weather turns up - oh and I did go for 4 wheels as no point having a twitchy car with 2 wheels done

Brand I went for was Ovation as that's what he had in stock and they have the mountain/snowflake symbol. Tread looks well up to the job with a nice soft compound and many slits in the blocks to move around freely.

 

282!! Im bloody 500 for my 4[:^(], and thats Nankangs as there is next to none available in any other brands.

 

Yep for 225/45/17 with Extra Load rating too for the Volvo Not great at the moment, but you can feel the tire move with the soft blocks so hopefully will help when it gets bad.

The chap in front paid 110 a corner for the same size for Avon Ice Tourers on his scooby so 500 is expensive! Must be a very large wheel size?

 

Same as yours.....must be Aberdeen tax.

 

I got the four Ice Touring tyres from Camskill in the end for 200, and I paid 30 to have them fitted to the steelies. I found a tyre place that actually doesn't take the p*ss over fitting charges (the local ATS wanted 15 per corner FFS). So pretty good going.

To replace the alloys on the Toledo with these MK4 steelies I need different wheel bolts don't I?

But thinking about it, the spare wheel in that Toledo is the same type of steelie as the MK4 ones I got.

 

If they are oem alloys then generally you won't need a different kind of bolt. Steelies generally have radius seat bolts as do oem alloys.

Generally aftermarket alloys use tapered bolts so then you would beed different for swapping to steelies.

 

Got the winter wheels on my other halfs mx5 now, a set of hankook icebear's or something....seem grippy so far, but still awaiting some serious winter conditions

 

Got my other halfs winter tyres on too, cue one flat tyre within 4 hours. They are pretty crap ones to be honest, but better than the slicks it had

 

In the past, I have looked for narrow steels, 4 x 100 - 15", to take winter tyres.

Something in the region of: 4 1/2" J or 5" J

Are there such sizes available?

ps. I know that competition wheels from Compomotive, etc., are available, but they are without my price range!

 

New Mini have narrow 15" 4x100 steels as standard, think 175 tyre width

 

What would be the cheapest 16" tyre and size to go for?