the winter tyre discussion

Stephster · October 28, 2011, 21:11

Excited (sad I know) - new Dunlop winter tyres going on the Pug in a week's time. Hope it was £325 well spent !

danm89 · October 31, 2011, 12:47

I've just bought some Nankang SV-2s for the MR2. Delivered today so may get fitted at the weekend.

185/55/15 for the front and 205/50/16 for the rears. I know this is slightly incorrect size on the rear, but I figured slightly skinnier may be a good thing.

Time will tell.

aluk49 · November 16, 2011, 22:43

Quote from: "danm89"I've just bought some Nankang SV-2s for the MR2. Delivered today so may get fitted at the weekend.

185/55/15 for the front and 205/50/16 for the rears. I know this is slightly incorrect size on the rear, but I figured slightly skinnier may be a good thing.

Time will tell.

I have been looking for winter tyres too, these seem reasonable value, keep us posted as to how they feel please? I want to get some within the next week, so if you could let us know early thoughts, much appreciated. £272 at Mytyres?

Al

kentsmudger · November 17, 2011, 00:55

Fitted my Kumho KW23 winter tyres to the car today- Maybe a little premature as in spite of the cold and damp weather the roads are still dry, but I wanted to try them out.

First impressions - Not a bad feel to the car, though slightly softer ride (which is nice) and grippy enough with a confident turn-in. Slightly soft or 'squirmy' if you accelerate hard or change direction quickly, but that is to be expected coming from the T1-Rs (which I never found to be soft as others have) and a little floaty at (high) motorway speed. No more road noise than the Toyos, some winter tyres are said to be noisy in some reports.

Generally feel OK but may still have release agent on them so will see if the squirm improves over time, will post more info as I go.

danm89 · November 17, 2011, 12:53

Right Nankangs are fitted. Seem alright to be honest. I've been taking it easy on them as I know it's still quite warm. Feel more comfortable than the lower profile summer tyres. Not as grippy but that's to be expected at this temperature I guess.

Does any one know the effects of running winter tyres in slightly warmer conditions than the 7 degrees recommended? Will they wear out much quicker?

Cheers!

aaronjb · November 17, 2011, 13:30

According to a friend who runs them every year - they'll wear a 'little' quicker, but not that much quicker than normal.

Apparently he knows someone who runs them year round and still gets a couple of years out of a set (and where he lives it can be 2ft of snow in winter and 30C+ in summer)

danm89 · November 17, 2011, 16:11

Cheers mate. That's good to know. I can stop driving like a nun now then!

stargazer30 · November 17, 2011, 17:39

Well my kumho's are on my spare rims ready to go on the MR2 as soon as the weather man says its going to stay below 7 Degrees s:D

s:D

Anonymous · November 17, 2011, 19:15

Ive got the Kumhos (sounds like a euphemism!). Cost £275, popped them on this week. Blasted over to Cheshire Oaks today, cant tell any difference yet.

Stephster · November 17, 2011, 21:27

Had Dunlops 3D fitted to the Pug last week... running fine and can't tell much difference.
Read up on it - apparently you can run winter tyres all year and they will give you better grip in greasy conditions. Due to softer compound they will just wear out more quickly.
Seeing as I spent £325 I am pretty annoyed at the balmy (barmy) weather for November - I want to give them a really good try !

mrzwei · November 17, 2011, 22:33

Slight drift (pardon the pun) but not worth a new thread.

Lidl have got snow chains on offer from 24th.
£19.99 TUV / GS approved, three year warranty sizes 70,80,90 or 100 (whatever that means).
I don't know anything about them being a softy southerner but may be of interest to you northern lot.

EDIT: That should read from the 28th

stargazer30 · November 22, 2011, 12:18

Well my kumhos went on thte car today. Car twitchy as hell, felt really wrong so I pulled into the local ASDA and checked. 29 PSI in all corners! s:roll: :roll: s:roll: put the pressures right 26 front 32 rear and its back to its old self.

So I'm good for when the cold does finally arrive this year?

loadswine · November 22, 2011, 14:18

The advice I've seen on pressures for winters, is that they should be inflated 0.2 Bar above normal pressures. It worked on my front wheel drive barge last year, but has anybody seen anything for a sports car anywhere?

Anonymous · November 22, 2011, 15:56

The scandinavians run skinnier tyres to cut down through deep snow to reach some grip underneath. As our roads are mostly cleared, you are normally trying to grip a thinish layer of snow/compacted snow/ice. Ive gone for the standard size on my motors. In the handbook of my merc are recommended sizes for winter wheels/tyres.

kentsmudger · November 22, 2011, 20:50

Quote from: "loadswine"The advice I've seen on pressures for winters, is that they should be inflated 0.2 Bar above normal pressures. It worked on my front wheel drive barge last year, but has anybody seen anything for a sports car anywhere?

Sounds about right - I am running 4psi over manual settings at the moment as they felt a bit soft, may still drop back to stock if I get traction issues in snow though - Softer tyre, more grip apparently

DannyN · December 6, 2011, 09:34

Blackcircles are doing 25% off Hankook winter tyres with code WINTER25 don't know what sizes they've got tho

trevsmr2 · August 29, 2013, 19:11

Done a search for winter tyres and this thread came up , so being a good boy and not starting another thread ill add to this

where do you buy winter tyres in the correct size for the 2 ,ive tried lots of places and cant get a matching set of 4
and what makes are available

stargazer30 · August 30, 2013, 14:54

Quote from: "trevsmr2"Done a search for winter tyres and this thread came up , so being a good boy and not starting another thread ill add to this

where do you buy winter tyres in the correct size for the 2 ,ive tried lots of places and cant get a matching set of 4
and what makes are available

Try Blackcircles or Mytyres. Kumho KW23 are what I used. Have you got pre-facelift wheels? the facelifts have 16" rear rims which are a pain to get tyres for. If you have those your best bet is a old set of 15" pre-facelift rims off ebay for £60, thats what I did.

trevsmr2 · August 30, 2013, 17:54

Quote from: "stargazer30"
Quote from: "trevsmr2"Done a search for winter tyres and this thread came up , so being a good boy and not starting another thread ill add to this

where do you buy winter tyres in the correct size for the 2 ,ive tried lots of places and cant get a matching set of 4
and what makes are available

Try Blackcircles or Mytyres. Kumho KW23 are what I used. Have you got pre-facelift wheels? the facelifts have 16" rear rims which are a pain to get tyres for. If you have those your best bet is a old set of 15" pre-facelift rims off ebay for £60, thats what I did.

pre face-lift ,what sizes did you get ,standard ?