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Winter Tyres

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That time of year again where we start thinking about them. Personally I've never bothered but with tread on the 86 due to run out next month it makes sense to get winters and light weight wheels in the Spring. Had a look on Camskill and there are Khumo's that look reasonable at £72 each. These should be OK? The car won't be pushed too hard with them on anyway. What have others gone for or have you not bothered?

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I've got some Dunlop Wintersports on mine, great when it's cold cold cold, but very floaty above about 12 degrees. Surprising amount of grip in all conditions, but easier to slide than summer tyres. I'm hanging on with summer tyres for now, it's still pretty warm (11 degrees in the morning) in the Southeast.

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I have Continental TS830P on my dedicated 16" steel wheels in 195/50/16.  They're stunning in snowy conditions.  Not sublime in normal weather though, but I don't care as I switch wheels (and thus tires) almost on a daily basis :)

That way I always drive on the right tires :)

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I'm running Nokian WRA3's in 215/40/17. Very impressed upto now but abit early to comment on real winter performance. A lot better than Primacys in all conditions though!!

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I did run the WRA3 and I've just picked up the WRA4's which should be going on tomorrow (probably). 

I'd never use anything but the Nokians. So we'll suited to the UK and mine even held up well to a CAT DT day in 32 degree heat! 

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On 24/10/2016 at 0:47 PM, Tom B said:

I'm running Nokian WRA3's in 215/40/17. Very impressed upto now but abit early to comment on real winter performance. A lot better than Primacys in all conditions though!!

Also running these for the second year and cracking tyre. I have them on the standard wheels and OE tyres on my Works wheels 

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The only reason I can see for having 'winter tyres' is to put a crap set of wheels on the car over winter to keep the originals in good nick, I'm 60 years old and have been driving for 43 years and have had no need to fit winter tyres on any car I've owned, experience has taught me to drive within the limits of the prevailing conditions, and that's served me well over the years.

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11 minutes ago, chelseablue said:

The only reason I can see for having 'winter tyres' is to put a crap set of wheels on the car over winter to keep the originals in good nick, I'm 60 years old and have been driving for 43 years and have had no need to fit winter tyres on any car I've owned, experience has taught me to drive within the limits of the prevailing conditions, and that's served me well over the years.

So you've never used them but know they're pointless? 

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17 minutes ago, Deacon said:

So you've never used them but know they're pointless? 

Well, as I say, I've been driving for 43 years in all weather conditions and never needed special tyres, so for me, they seem pointless, but of course you can do what you like, I'm only giving you my opinion of what has worked for me.

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19 minutes ago, chelseablue said:

Well, as I say, I've been driving for 43 years in all weather conditions and never needed special tyres, so for me, they seem pointless, but of course you can do what you like, I'm only giving you my opinion of what has worked for me.

I just find it a little surprising to suggest something is pointless if you've never actually tried it. 

I've been driving for 21 years. 17 without winter tyres and 4 with. I'd never not run winter tyres again. 

As you said each to their own though. 

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I agree they are pointless also. But this is based on my geographical location as even if we do get ice & snow it doesn't last for long around London. I also CBF with a multitude of wheels & tyres. It comes down to storage space & money

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Ignoring the cynics who believe age adds validity to their point of view, I'd probably opt for of Nokians, they seem well received and offer good consistent performance (even if they aren't all out the grippiest tyres). Once I've managed to kill my Primacy's I'll be trying something from their product line.

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Went for Khumo's in the end as the Nokian's seemed quite a bit more at all my usual places. Turn in feels quite good with them at lower temps, traction on rear is better but will still slip. Although they haven't be broken in yet they seem promising. Can't wait to get Michelin's on with lighter wheels come spring time. 

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Do let us know how you get on with them. I have been driving 28 years (well nearly 29 seeing as people post this stuff) and tried out winter tyres for two winters running on my GT86.

Whilst they were amazing on the handful of occasions there was five minutes of snow and good when it was below freezing, I found them a liability the rest of the time and would have preferred to have been on regular tyres. I found it also meant that on a sunny winters day when temperatures were at their usual 7C and above, I couldn't have any fun in the car, as it was nowhere near as sharp as it would have been on what I usually run. Last year I ran a mix of Yokos at the front and Contisport Contact 5's on the rear. This was due to needing a set quickly and I wanted to give the Contis a go.

I found it was fine, though I had one occasion where I had to drive in snow and it was a nightmare, though I managed to avoid getting stuck with some serious clutch kicking. I could have done with the winter tyres for those 20 minutes where I was at a serious disadvantage. But for me, on balance it just isn't worht it as it hardly ever snows in Manchester and temperatures are rarely below freezing. 

But if I lived in the Lakes or the Peak district or North Wales etc, I'd definitely fit them. 

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On the contrary, I live and work in an area with one of the highest snow and rain fall figures in the UK (outside of Scotland anyway) and I find winter tyres to be nothing more than a fad.

In extreme winter weather, such as heavy snowfall, there are very few road based tyres that will help. Sure, if you can get away with fitting skinny studded tyres you might get somewhere, but a 7+ inch wide road tyre with some slightly deeper tread doesn't make a scrap bit of difference.

In heavy rainfall (with lots of standing water), light snow or slush, winter tyres have some benefits, but sensible people drive in those sort of conditions with extreme amounts of care. With that sort of driving, a decent all season tyre is every bit as good as a dedicated winter tyre. The only difference is the limit of grip. If you're never getting close to the limit of grip on an all season, you don't need the extra margin for error.

For the conditions we have, I have found winter tyres to be a complete waste of money. If the weather is really awful (6+ inches of snow) I'm not even using my car anyway. If the weather is poor (heavy rain or light snow) I just drive more carefully.

Another consideration. We all get heavy rain and ice for a few months of the year, but it isn't constant (maybe 1 week in 4). In the 3 weeks where the weather is ok again, winter tyres are a complete liability. In fact, I would say winter tyres perform comparably worse on a dry road than all seasons do in the winter, which is just a poor trade off.

For the record, I have personally had winter tyres for 3 out of 8 winters since I started driving. My dad has also had 3 or 4 sets over the past 10 or so years. This also covers all ranges of cars (my Porsche Boxster, my old Ibiza Cupra, dad's old 911, dad's old Civic Type R, his current T5 camper and my mum's Scenic) and none of those experiences have persuaded us to go down that route again.

If you have the money, or are curious to try for yourself, go right ahead, but it's really a pointless exercise.

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5 hours ago, chelseablue said:

The only reason I can see for having 'winter tyres' is to put a crap set of wheels on the car over winter to keep the originals in good nick, I'm 60 years old and have been driving for 43 years and have had no need to fit winter tyres on any car I've owned, experience has taught me to drive within the limits of the prevailing conditions, and that's served me well over the years.

I fell different. `buy a nice new set for summer and use the originals for winter. I've only been driving 20 odd years and this is also the first time I'e used winters. But as I intend to keep the 86 for 5 plus years. I can't see the small amount of buying the winter tyres and wheels a big issue 

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Plenty of videos like this on YouTube. It's pretty clear Winter tyres make a difference. Personal circumstance is the biggest factor if your asking are they 'Worth it'.

 

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Yes they make a big difference on snow. The only thing is, it hardly ever snows and even if it does, it's at best two hours of inconvenience where I live. 

If you drive regularly up in the hills where snow is a big factor, they they'll be worth it. But if you don't... 

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26 minutes ago, Tom B said:

Plenty of videos like this on YouTube. It's pretty clear Winter tyres make a difference. Personal circumstance is the biggest factor if your asking are they 'Worth it'.

 

As I said in my reply, winter tyres might make a difference in snow, but realistically you have to question your decision to drive a sports car in those conditions anyway.

If the weather is that bad that winter tyres would make a big difference, you probably shouldn't be out driving.

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36 minutes ago, S18 RSG said:

As I said in my reply, winter tyres might make a difference in snow, but realistically you have to question your decision to drive a sports car in those conditions anyway.

If the weather is that bad that winter tyres would make a big difference, you probably shouldn't be out driving.

If I was on my own, I'd happily go out in the snow (got caught a couple of winters ago in some snow - enough to cover the kerbs - and didn't have major issues once I accepted that accelerating wasn't going to happen :D) - it's the other people out there that would stop me going out. Even with winter tyres, just because you've got grip, chances are other people don't and someone could easily end up sliding straight into you...

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15 minutes ago, Mike said:

If I was on my own, I'd happily go out in the snow (got caught a couple of winters ago in some snow - enough to cover the kerbs - and didn't have major issues once I accepted that accelerating wasn't going to happen :D) - it's the other people out there that would stop me going out. Even with winter tyres, just because you've got grip, chances are other people don't and someone could easily end up sliding straight into you...

I go out in the snow to have fun in some of the wide open spaces around here, or in an emergency, but I certainly wouldn't be going far or commuting to/from work or whatever. Need a 4x4 for that around here, especially when it's really bad.

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An issue seems to be in winter tyre choice. Just like any tyres if you put bad ones on you're not going to have a great experience . 

I'm a big fan of the Nokian WRA3 and now the WRA4's as they're designed for the sort of winters we have in the UK - cold, wet, frost, ice and slush with very occasional rain. They're also classed as an ultra high performance winter tyre. A lot of manufactures winter tyres are biased to snow which isn't that useful in the UK and a lot of them don't have an ultra high performance winter equivalent (Yokohama being one) so putting their winter tyres on would be the equivalent of putting a lower grade summer tyre on and obviously the poorer performance that would go with that. 

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