Winter tyres. Discuss.

[campbell]

Skodas are ace on CrossClimates, Steve

Credit to G L Fraser for the referral 2 years ago.

[ed]

I have some Honda Civic steel wheels and winter tyres. Free to a good home.

Suitable for Gen 8, 2005-2011 model. May fit other models.

Based in Bo’ness

Very kind offer, thanks matey but sadly they don’t fit.

[Sanjøy]

Interesting to hear the real-life views on all-seasons.

I did read (and think it’s maybe already been mentioned in this thread) that all-seasons actually suit a typical British winter better than full M+S tyres.

I do like to change the wheels in the winter, just for a different look and to get the diamond cut wheels away from the salt so I think summer tyres and all-season tyres may be the right combo for our climate.

Edit to add- having said that, the winters on the Skoda needed replaced this winter but I didn’t bother, have just kept it on the summers.
Plan is to swap the summer tyres out for all-seasons when those need replaced as I’m sure all seasons will be fine on that all-year as it never gets driven hard at all.

Running both the panzer and the i3 on cross climates this winter.

[campbell]

Will be putting CrossClimates on the MINI as soon as budget avail.

The runflats are horrific.

[Stevoraith]

I took the plunge and bought cross-climates for the Skoda in January 2022. Did about 300 miles on them and then 2 weeks later the fuel pump disintegrated leaving the car beyond economical repair so didn’t really get a feel for how good they were.

Replaced the Skoda with a MINI but the OE Hankooks are absolutely awful in damp conditions. They are ok in the dry and reasonable in full wet but downright scary when it is greasy. So the plan is to go cross-climate as soon as I can get my head around replacing barely worn tyres!

[campbell]

Lol, snap, then!

Except for the Skoda demise

They do say that fuel pump failures can be terminal. Seems extreme though.

How long had you had it overall then Steve? Longer than us I reckon !!

What spec of MINI?

[douglasgdmw]

We got rid of the runflats on the Mini JCW and replaced with Mitchelin PS4's (N2) and car felt so much better.

Did not get rid of rumble on some roads but a lot less harsh.

Very lucky that we picked up from OE winter wheels/tyres from FB marketplace for a steal last year so they will be going on in November probably

[Stevoraith]

Lol, snap, then!

Except for the Skoda demise

They do say that fuel pump failures can be terminal. Seems extreme though.

How long had you had it overall then Steve? Longer than us I reckon !!

What spec of MINI?

Had the Skoda from new in April 2011 and it died Feb 2022 so about 6weeks short of 11 years and 90k miles.

High pressure fuel pump disintegrated sending shrapnel all through the engine. Needed new high and low pressure pumps and four new injectors plus all the fuel lines and tank removed and cleaned out. A lot of the cost was labour but the bill was about £3700. The car was worth probably £6k and WBAC offered £3k as a non-runner so it didn’t make sense to fix it.
In the end the VW specialist who I had used for years and knew the car inside out bought it for what WBAC were going to offer and kept it for his wife.

We then needed to find a car quick and fortunately found a really well specced 5dr Cooper Sport 1.5.
It was actually Holly Boag at Grassicks in Perth who we bought it from. It’s a great wee car but the wife complains it’s too slow- if we’d had more time to look then a Cooper S would have been more suitable but it’s fine and the 3 cylinder actually sounds pretty cool.
And it didn’t come on runflats which is a bonus!

I’ll stick a pic up in the new car thread.

[Sanjøy]

Put All Seasons on the wagon last year, silly 35 & 30 profiles. Taking 2 weeks to get matching Vredsteins from Germany.

[neil]

Put All Seasons on the wagon last year, silly 35 & 30 profiles. Taking 2 weeks to get matching Vredsteins from Germany.

Are you getting them from mytyres? 19 days since I ordered and no sign yet

[Sanjøy]

Put All Seasons on the wagon last year, silly 35 & 30 profiles. Taking 2 weeks to get matching Vredsteins from Germany.

Are you getting them from mytyres? 19 days since I ordered and no sign yet

Yes Bugga

[alicrozier]

Recently picked up a new MINI JCW 3DR for Mrs C and wanted some summer/winters rather than all seasons this time.

Not a fan of the MINI recommended narrow rims and 185 Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D. I think they are narrow to allow snow chains (which I’d never use). Maybe good in deep snow but quite a compromise the rest of the winter I suspect - can't imagine they look great either! Those Dunlop’s are pretty old tech now, good 10 years ago but have had iterations 4D&5 since.

I've instead gone for a second set of identical 17” JCW 501 Track Spoke, TPMS and latest Michelin Alpin 6 from:
www.alloywheelsdirect.net

[campbell]

First test of Cross Climates on our MINI last night.

Transformation from the bloody runflats. But also v good through standing water. Traction out of damp corners impressive.

Not tried braking in anger yet but pleased so far.

[douglasgdmw]

Not a fan of the MINI recommended narrow rims and 185 Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D. I think they are narrow to allow snow chains (which I’d never use). Maybe good in deep snow but quite a compromise the rest of the winter I suspect - can't imagine they look great either! Those Dunlop’s are pretty old tech now, good 10 years ago but have had iterations 4D&5 since.

I've instead gone for a second set of identical 17” JCW 501 Track Spoke, TPMS and latest Michelin Alpin 6 from:
www.alloywheelsdirect.net

We have the Mini OE alloys and narrower rim tyres (got them for a bargain price last year as nearly new). Put them on Saturday due to anticipated temp drop and notice the understeer compared to wider width summers. Not a bad thing for the daily as it does keep you speed down on the back roads.

However getting wider alloys and Michelin Alpin 6's is a good shout.

[alicrozier]

Good to have my suspicions confirmed. lol
Do they look OK? Thought they'd look weirdly narrow and inboard.