Do you use winter/all-season tyres on your car?

[veggiechicken]

What do you use FB?

[FB.]

What do you use FB?

I have a small front-wheel-drive runabout permanently fitted with 'all-season' tyres (*) and a large four-wheel-drive family car fitted with 'summer' tyres.

(*) All-season tyres are hybrids of summer and winter tyres.

[FB.]

What do you use FB?

What got me thinking about winter tyres is the talk of Beast from the East mk2 in a couple of months time along with the warning signs being given by some of my fruit trees and other plants (mentioned on the old thread I resurrected several weeks ago).

[veggiechicken]

I wondered what had prompted your question!

[Stan79]

Great video FB!

[Philthy]

This thread caught my attention as a few weeks back I decided a set of winters would be worth a try. Brighton doesn't see a lot of snow to be fair, ice an issue now and again like anywhere but certainly not enough to warrant whole other tyres. My work though is back up the A23, my preferred route in involving a bit of cross country, while my mum is perched on the North Downs, which actually sees quite a lot more of the white stuff despite the latitude and proximity to London, so getting to her can still be tricky. I've had a few nights in various supermarket car parks before having had to give up trying to get there when the weather has been bad. So I was hoping this buy would bring a little peace of mind if nothing else.

I was considering Dunlop or Continental as viable brands - in the event I went with the (warmly endorsed) garage recommendation of Falken which until now I'd never even heard of. I've read up on them since though and found largely mixed opinion, with them scoring just an average overall mark across the range of performance tests (they're apparently good in the wet but then that is disputed elsewhere so who do you believe), but the two points everyone seems to agree on is that snow traction with this tyre is mediocre (great) and mpg is poor (even better).
I am discovering the latter to be true certainly as my fuel economy has dropped off a cliff in the space of a week. What is most galling is these tyres are advertised as being value for money ??

I'm thinking this could be an expensive mistake. Unless anybody can prove me wrong.. ?

[FB.]

MPG drops a lot during cold, wet weather regardless of which tyres you have.

Wet roads cause a lot of drag on the tyres, colder air means more air resistance, the need to use demisters, lights and wipers adds to the engine load.
Fuel blends tend to change to 'thinner' (lower energy but easier to start the engine) around the clock change time.

Which Falken tyre did you have fitted? Eurowinter HS01?

One of my cars has Michelin Cross Climate Plus which have dropped the mpg by about 5% compared to the tyres fitted in the past. They drive just as well as regular tyres in warm weather and are unbelievably grippy on cold, damp, muddy back roads where normal tyres would slide.
Notice I didn't even mention snow or ice.

I would never go back to normal tyres. All-season tyres for normal cars and sporty tyres for sports cars. Well, maybe normal or eco tyres for a car that spends all of its time on motorways.
Personally I always buy premium brands if I can get hold of them (Continental, Michelin, Goodyear, Bridgestone).

[ESBkevin]

Why would you have specialist 'Summer Tyres' and not specialist 'Winter Tyres' as in the video.
That just doesn't make sense.
I'm told modern all season tyres are much better than even 10 years ago. I have no proof or evidence to offer.

[FB.]

Why would you have specialist 'Summer Tyres' and not specialist 'Winter Tyres' as in the video.
That just doesn't make sense.
I'm told modern all season tyres are much better than even 10 years ago. I have no proof or evidence to offer.

What doesn't make sense? People not having two sets of tyres?
It's probably the cost and hassle of changing and storing the out-of-season wheels. And the fact that some insurers need to be informed and will charge an admin fee plus maybe add a few quid to the premium.

All season tyres are better than ten years ago. They used to be basically winter tyres bodged to be a bit less clumsy in summer.
When Michelin's original Cross Climate arrived about four years ago it really moved things on and other manufacturers have upped their game.

[FB.]

Why would you have specialist 'Summer Tyres' and not specialist 'Winter Tyres' as in the video.
That just doesn't make sense.

Or did you mean why would someone have 'summer' tyres?
Summer tyres are what most people have on their cars.
They also tend to help improve fuel consumption compared to other types of tyre and in general are optimised for mild weather - wet or dry - as long as nothing comes between the tyre and the road surface (mud/leaves/gravel/snow/ice/slush).

Probably at least three out of four cars parked in the street outside will have summer tyres (whether sporty, eco or regular). That's why modern cars have no grip on slippery surfaces.

[Philthy]

Which Falken tyre did you have fitted? Eurowinter HS01?

Hi FB, apologies for late reply!

Yes, Eurowinter HS01. Not had much cause to properly test them so far this winter. In the fortnight leading up to Christmas it was very wet with localised flooding, so wet roads and standing water the only challenge of note. The tyres do perform well in the wet to give them their dues, certainly better than what I had before - Michelin, summer grade - but those tyres were due for replacement anyway as in MOT advisories so probably not an accurate comparison. Good wet braking on the Falken and cornering seems assured. Managed to improve a little bit on the MPG figure in recent weeks too. Comments noted re drag and resistance but my old summers (latest and others over the years) were much more economical at this time of year i.e. I don't recall much difference on MPG figures between summer and winter months when it was just cold rather than excessively slippery as well.