Winter Tyres?

[silverhorse]

Here in Norfolk we have had a mad week with snow and ice so am thinking of getting winter tyres for next winter. 18 inch pirelli p zeros are officially §§§§e in snow. I had to be pushed by school kids 3 times. Embarrassing!!
Obviously I don't want to fork out for 18 inch winters, so will buy 15 or 16's and put them on some steel rims.
Will the car throw a wobbler if I fit smaller wheels? It seems to throw a wobbler if I do anything else!

[Harvey]

You will have 235-40-18 on now you would need 235-45-17 if 17" rims ,235-50-16 if 16" rims if they will clear the brakes.
The car will read correct speed as well if you fit these size tyres.

[silverhorse]

You will have 235-40-18 on now you would need 235-45-17 if 17" rims ,235-50-16 if 16" rims if they will clear the brakes.
The car will read correct speed as well if you fit these size tyres.

So, what you are saying is if I reduce the size of the rim, I need to increase the profile of the tyre to compensate. This way I will have the same rolling circumference?
If not I will get an error message??

[M-R-P]

You won't get a message or a light, as all the wheels will be turning at the same speed. the speedo may overread tho.

[Redbrick]

You need a narrower winter tyre. I run 235/40 18 on Nebulas in the summer and 205/55 16 on ex-Police Metis.

Use this to work out speedo differences:

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

[graemewelch]

im running 225 45 17. about 5" 0f snow on ungrit street thats on a incline. never been stuck once

[silverhorse]

im running 225 45 17. about 5" 0f snow on ungrit street thats on a incline. never been stuck once

I was getting stuck on the tiniest incline. It was embarrassing. People were saying 'here comes a chap in his Volvo, he will have no problem. They are built in Sweden' I then sat like a tw4t as the school kids were laughing

[Harvey]

So, what you are saying is if I reduce the size of the rim, I need to increase the profile of the tyre to compensate. This way I will have the same rolling circumference?
If not I will get an error message??

Yes you got it,so long as all 4 tyres are the same size the car won't care less,it's best to stick to the size that volvo say for the car if you fit 17" rims use what they say ,or the insurance might have something to say if you have a bump.
Also some insurance company's still need to be told if you fit winter tyres most don't charge for this ,they just like to know. See link below.

http://www.abi.org.uk/Information/Co...eral/64525.doc

[JamesT5]

Ok, there's a catch with these, they are remoulds and H rated so not everyones cup of tea, but for those of us with the 172 Amaltheas or other rims on a budget, I've found these 225 45 R17 winter tyres at £49.50 per tyre including delivery! You'd have to them get a garage to fit and balance them for you but that's still a massive saving on the circa £140 price tag from a national tyre chain...

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.p...mpaign=froogle

Regards

James

[LiamT4]

Ok, there's a catch with these, they are remoulds and H rated so not everyones cup of tea, but for those of us with the 172 Amaltheas or other rims on a budget, I've found these 225 45 R17 winter tyres at £49.50 per tyre including delivery! You'd have to them get a garage to fit and balance them for you but that's still a massive saving on the circa £140 price tag from a national tyre chain...

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.p...mpaign=froogle

Regards

James

Not sure if it applies to winter tyres, but when fitting normal tyres to your car you need to have tyres with the a speed rating to match your car, otherwise it can invalidate you insurance. H is not high enough for our cars.

[The White Knight]

What car/wheels are you running?

[silverhorse]

Not sure if it applies to winter tyres, but when fitting normal tyres to your car you need to have tyres with the a speed rating to match your car, otherwise it can invalidate you insurance. H is not high enough for our cars.

Think you are right there. Sure I have heard that before

[LeeT5]

I couldnt handle having winter tyres on my car for 3 months on steel rims! So i bought 4 x 18" Pegasus rims off eBay for about £400 and stuck a set of 18" Vredestein Wintrac Extremes. I put them on around early November and they stay on until the blue bells pop up!
People assume that winter tyres are only for when it snows but there not. They should be used when the temperature drops below 7 degress celcius. This is the temperature at which a normal summer tyres massively under performs and will hugely increase your stopping distance, even on a dry road. Its because of the make up of the rubber compound. A winter tyre is made of a different compound and still deforms at low temperatures, unlike summer tyres that become very hard. A hard tyre compound cannot deform and mould to the road surface, therefore, the result is a dramatic loss of traction.
Last year i never got stuck in the snow once. They really are brilliant!!
As far as the speed rating goes, all winter tyres have a lessor speed rating due to the compound. I believe the MAX speed on my winters is 110mph, but lets be honest....why would i want to do anything close to that in such crap weather?
I highly recommend winter tyres for the UK for obvious reasons. For anyone that has not used them before...the difference is night and day. A decent winter tyre can almost halve your stopping distance. Safety wise, i would never run summer tyres in the winter again.

My Wintrac extremes are 235/40R18. not sure what the speed rating is but i do not think you can get a winter tyre that is speed rated to 155+ mph for obvious reasons.

[LiamT4]

Some people must push there cars closer to the limit than me in the winter, as my tyres feel no difference in the dry, winter or summer. They feel different in the wet but thats the same in the summer.

[graemewelch]

winter tyres are best thing i ever bought. 6" of snow 2wd and still havnt been stuck yet. wouldnt like to try summer tyres wear i live

[silverhorse]

Definitely going to get some for next winter. won't be shelling out for 18 inchers though! Will look like a plonker on 16 steelies for a few months and save some pennies.

[The White Knight]

I had 15" steels with winter tyres on my s60, worked well.

I will be selling these if you're interested as they don't clear the calipers on my v70r.....

[silverhorse]

I had 15" steels with winter tyres on my s60, worked well.

I will be selling these if you're interested as they don't clear the calipers on my v70r.....

I need to check the size of the discs on my car. I have a feeling 15 inchers might be a bit tight.

[JimmyBurnWorld]

I was getting stuck on the tiniest incline. It was embarrassing. People were saying 'here comes a chap in his Volvo, he will have no problem. They are built in Sweden' I then sat like a tw4t as the school kids were laughing

What is with these cars! My V70 has Eagle F1 Asymetric 2's with a reasonable ammount of tread left and doesn't seem to have any traction in snow/ slush. I'm guessing that it's mainly the fact that to make the car look and handle more like the German marques they put these 225 width tyres on them. Either way, embarrassing.

I can never justify shelling out for a second set of wheels & tyres just for the 3 days a year of chaos we get though:

3 days/ year
Additional 1hr each way added to commute for wheelspinning = 2 hrs
2 x 3 = 6hrs/ year inconvienience.

Set of wheels = £100
Set of half decent winter tyres = £500

£600/ 6hrs = £100/hr - If only my time was worth that kind of money!

(PS: I know you can't put a price on safety for when the winter tyres stop you short of the precipice or truck you're skidding towards!)

[LeeT5]

I need to check the size of the discs on my car. I have a feeling 15 inchers might be a bit tight.

If you have a V70R/S60R i dont think you can go smaller than 17" because of caliper clearance.

The V70R/S60R discs are 330mm front AND rear.