Winter Tyres

[Keef 0]

Hi all,

Am in the 2nd week of ownership and already doing what I said I wouldn't do with a BRZ - buying bits for it and thinking about upgrades!

Can't believe the lack of grip in the wet, so will probably get some Dunlop Sport Maxxs next year.  However, facing a winter of needing to use it down south and in Scotland, I'd like to get some winter tyres. On previous cars I've gone down a wheel size so enjoyed better ride and improved resistance to aqua planing with higher profile tyres. Has anyone tried 16" wheels or do winter tyres on the 17" rims work fine?

thanks

keef

[remal 85]

A few have used 16" wheels and I think thats what recommended with the BRZ/86. I'm going for a set of 17" winters and buying a new set of wheels for summer tyres to go on soon

 

Lots of thread about this over the past year or 3. Worth a search 

[Deacon 1357]

Winters on 17's for me for the past 2 years. Be careful of your tyre choice though - we don't have particularly bad winters here - so choose your tyre accordingly. I run Nokian WRA3's. They are sold as a full winter over here but in some parts of Europe are sold as an all season tyre. They work fantastically for UK winters. When I had the car on primacy's for the summer and the Nokian's for the winter I prefered the car on the Nokian's by quite some margin.

[remal 85]

I was going for winters last year but decided against. Glad i did as we had about 3 morning  frosts over the winter and that was it. Going to buy a set this year as we cannot keep getting mild winters and don't want to get caught out. just in case  

[Keethos 842]

Welcome to the club, most people on here run 17" wheels, some 18" and only a couple of 16". Don't think it makes much difference on the diameter of the wheel besides the price of them and possibly availability. The only advantage of going 16" is possibly going narrower which can help but with handling in snow but I wouldn't about it.

[mike-p 116]

I have a set of winter tyres on 17" rims that I'm about to put on eBay, having just bought a second set of track rims and tyres, so I need the space! They are Graphite colour WRX alloys with Michelin Alpin 205 50 17 tyres which have about 5-6mm on them.

pm me if you're interested

[Lauren 2259]

It's far easier to fit them to your 17's. Lots of people have spare sets of OEM wheels which are virtually worthless, so maybe pick up a second set?

[Keef 0]

Many thanks for the replies, always much appreciated. Good point about the snow - if it is that bad will use a work car!  Sounds like keeping the 17" and either going for a tyre swap and storage or a spare set of alloys.

Begs the next question, 18" and good summer tyres???? But I'll spend some time reading older posts and wait till I've seen 18" wheels on the car. I'm a bit too old for max power, just want a nice balance of handling & grip. 

Having just spent the weekend away from the car, can't wait to drive it again - best thing I've owned since TVR days  (argh the temptation of the Nurburgring....)

 

[Captain Duff 79]

Deacon is right about the balance to aim for with winter tyres for the UK, on the whole snow is not the main worry but low temperatures, morning frosts and black ice all are. Most winter tyre treads mean that wet grip is worsened compared to summers. That said as someone based in the north who often needs to drive into Cumbria for work I always fit winters on a 2nd set of OEM rims (Yoko ones in my case). They certainly stopped me getting stuck in the hills around Blackburn last Dec when a snow storm hit and I was the only car that could get up a steep incline (passing a seriously struggling 4x4 on the way up), but it is very much a swings and roundabouts issue as for much of the winter I'd have still preferred to be on my summers on wet roads.

[keelerad 256]

Here's what I did first winter with mine back in 2012, 16" with 205's, wheels dirt cheap as 2nd hand Imprezza ones fit

Alec

[Keef 0]

Nice, can doesn't look too bad on the 16"s. I've used Avon Ice Touring before and they were pretty good.  Either 16 or 17's and I'd get the same again

[Lauren 2259]

I think Yokohama Advan V105's are a good choice. They are a good all rounder on the road and can take a bit of track abuse too. 

[remal 85]

Just a update. After reading reviews and such like I've just ordered a set of 17"  Nokian WRA3 from Camskill Going to fit them to the OE wheels and then get somes works 17" for the spring and add the OE tyres for now

[Fenhopper 22]

I also opted for Nokian WRA3's a few weeks back, also got a cheap set of 16" rims. Beginning to think it was a bit of a waste of money now, with no sign of winter so far!  I do hope the weather changes, I'd love to find out how it drives in snow.

Fenhopper.

[Lauren 2259]

In two years using winter tyres, I managed to drive on snow once for 3 mins. They were really good, though it was totally unnecessary to drive on a snow covered lane of a dual carriageway. Good luck with that. 

[Gringosteve 213]

Have never owned winter tyres. I use summer year round and just drive to the conditions. If it's too bad to drive the 35 miles to work I don't bother.

[Lauren 2259]

They are better when it's cold, but it needs to be cold. 

[Nicebiscuit 655]

Yeah well, the weather is just taking the p*ss now isn't it? You can normally count on the morning commute being in single figure temperatures, but not this year.

Mind you still find I'm getting better grip on my 205/55 Kumho winters than I did on the stock Michelins! :-D

I'll get my money's worth in February in the Alps I hope, though knowing my luck it'll be 14 degrees C there as well...

[Gringosteve 213]

The stock tyres are ice skates

[Mark-in-Stoke 488]

From someone who's out in the weather each and every day "I hope it stays like this all winter"

[Lauren 2259]

I think it's horses for courses. A winter like we had 5 years ago, would make winter tyres a huge advantage over summer/all year round tyres. But the last two years I've had winter tyres fitted, it just has not been cold enough to reap the advantage and in fact they've been more of a disadvantage more of the time. So this year I'm running Yoko Advans V105s on the front and trialling Contisport Contact 5's on the rear. Yes, both 'summer' tyres but very good ones. The Contis are exceptional in regard to wet weather longitudinal traction, but I'm less convinced about their grip levels under high speed lateral G in the wet. But I need more time to reach a conclusion on that one really. 

I do wonder after reading about a recent tyre test on winter tyres whether the Michelin Cross Climate tyres are best suited to the generally mild UK weather conditions?

http://www.michelin.co.uk/tyres/michelin-crossclimate

 

 

[Twigman 93]

Winter tyres?? It's 17C outside!

[Lauren 2259]

Yes indeed and therein lies the problem! No brainer to be on your all year/summer tyres today.

[Captain Duff 79]

I've still not swapped to my Yoko winters that are still sleeping in their jackets in the garage, normally it would be by the middle of November but it's just not been cold enough (or dry enough to want to be outside messing around outside with the trolley jack) to do it. 

[nerdstrike 186]

Last New Year, we went on a trip to the Peak District to escape everything. Great holiday, but packed my pants on the snow there. The car parks were deadly and heavily cambered roads scary as anything.

Now I have some Dunlop wintersports and they're struggling in this darned heat! Who knows what the climate will throw at us next? They feel fairly good down at 6 degrees though, where I know the Primacies would be skittering in search of traction.