I'm in the process of ordering a set of Goodyear Vector 4 tyres for my 4x4 TA, a demonstrator I bought in August 2013, first registered in March that year. The original tyres have done 43000 miles and still have a few thousand miles left in them, no punctures or other issues. I'm on the northern fringes of Dartmoor - if there's anyone who could use the old tyres and it would be practical to hand them over - no charge - let me know in the next week or so; if not they'll be recycled.

What a potentially great 'recycling' thread! I too will have a set of OEM Conti CrossContact Winters (175/65R15) available to anyone near Guildford soon, with approx. 4.5mm tread remaining.

So that's the South West and South East covered for 'free' tyres - might we have anyone in the Midlands and up who wants to join the Panda Free-Cycle scheme too

If the new 2017 model year 4x4 is as the Fiat website suggests, 16' wheels now. While we know tyres last a good few years and miles, replacing them in the bigger size sounds horrific. Continental 15' winter ones for a 1.2 Lounge 185 55 15 nearly 3 figures fitted. Am happy paying somewhere in the 60's for my 4x4 and that's sticking with exact replacements. Mine have good few years left until I bin them.

Al D said:

If the new 2017 model year 4x4 is as the Fiat website suggests, 16' wheels now. While we know tyres last a good few years and miles, replacing them in the bigger size sounds horrific. Continental 15' winter ones for a 1.2 Lounge 185 55 15 nearly 3 figures fitted. Am happy paying somewhere in the 60's for my 4x4 and that's sticking with exact replacements. Mine have good few years left until I bin them.

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Just ordered a set of Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons G2 175/65 R15 for my 4x4 TA for 60 pounds each, fitting will be 10 pounds a wheel. Fiat's Italain web site, and the listing in Quattroruote give 175/65 15 inch as the tyre size for the 4x4 so I suspect that's right.

The Goodyears have now done 400-odd miles, hardly any of them on completely dry roads, damp and slightly mucky but no deep water. Positive so far. Road noise is definitely reduced (and lower in pitch) but the road noise from the Continentals was useful on entering a bend. I suspect the ride is slightly improved. My only real issue with the original Continentals was dry road braking - the ABS chirped in a couple of times when I didn't feel I was really pushing the braking - haven't had occasion to try this but I'll find an empty stretch of the A30 in the next week or two to see how the Goodyears compare.

Al D said:

If the new 2017 model year 4x4 is as the Fiat website suggests, 16' wheels now. While we know tyres last a good few years and miles, replacing them in the bigger size sounds horrific. Continental 15' winter ones for a 1.2 Lounge 185 55 15 nearly 3 figures fitted. Am happy paying somewhere in the 60's for my 4x4 and that's sticking with exact replacements. Mine have good few years left until I bin them.

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I think the website is wrong. The brochure for the 2017 model lists the wheel size as 15" not 16" for the 4x4 and Cross.

I'm somewhat pondering if it would be worth having separate summer and winter tyres for the 4x4, as opposed to a single set of all seasons.

My Goodyear Vectors have now seen out the best part of two winters, but have encountered zero snow

They seem fine the rest of the year - decent grip in the wet, great bump absorption, OK braking, reasonably quiet - but for all I know, they could be absolute pants in the snow.

At this rate, I'll never know!

Al D said:

If the new 2017 model year 4x4 is as the Fiat website suggests, 16' wheels now. While we know tyres last a good few years and miles, replacing them in the bigger size sounds horrific. Continental 15' winter ones for a 1.2 Lounge 185 55 15 nearly 3 figures fitted. Am happy paying somewhere in the 60's for my 4x4 and that's sticking with exact replacements. Mine have good few years left until I bin them.

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The std 4x4 is 15 inch and only the cross is 16 inch wheels on the 2017 model.

gar074 said:

but for all I know, they could be absolute pants in the snow. At this rate, I'll never know!

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Doris Day might provide some entertainment, if she is coming anywhere near your locality.

Sounds like Doris isn't going to venture this far south (not the white stuff, anyway).

I have been out and about in mid-Norfolk today and am amazed, and nearly astonished by the number of trees down and branches everywhere. The maximum wind gust measured 4ft above my garage roof was 47.8mph so I shudder to think what is is like when it gets up to 80 or so!

petercresswell said:

I have been out and about in mid-Norfolk today and am amazed, and nearly astonished by the number of trees down and branches everywhere. The maximum wind gust measured 4ft above my garage roof was 47.8mph so I shudder to think what is is like when it gets up to 80 or so!

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It was a bit frisky up on Dartmoor this morning.

Maximum gust in Hertfordshire was over 60mph...

Back to the tyres: the Goodyears are 'on road' tyres, all season rated. The Cross Contacts are on and off road tyres (and winter rated). Does this mean they are any 'better' at resisting stones, sidewall nicks etc that the Goodyears? I don't know... but just a thought before changing them...

That's one of the other things... I spend 90% of the time driving on road, either in the city or long distance. The remaining 10 percent is the yearly camping trip that itself only has about 2-3 days of actual off road driving. I would probably see all the benefits (grip, noise, longevity) of switching to a decent road tyre for the majority of my driving. The dilemma revolves around that one time in all the year where I might actually get stuck in the forest in the mud or on the dusty rocky bank by the sea where I'd kick myself in the head for having road tyres. Then I'd continue to kick myself in the head for the rest of the year for putting up with off-road tyres all year. There's no winning this one.

No complaints about the Gen 1 Vectors on my Cross after two winters, no snow but a fair bit of ice, leaves & mud. Got a slow puncture on the driver's side rear though. Need that looked at.

Fitted new Maxxis AP2 all-season tires last year, on a 2007 non-4x4 Panda. Put on them around 10.000 miles, with a heavy winter just passed. No issue at all. Also, we do use our Panda a lot on forest roads and "everywhere". Until now, these were the best tires fitted on this car. Also, surprisingly good economy on the road, better then before (tried: Continental oem, Pirelli all-season, debica all-season).

And a quick bit of feedback on my recently fitted Nokian Weatherproof All-Seasons. I decided to go for the Cross-sized versions - 185/65R15 - and chose the Weatherproofs as they always do well in the tests (beating a full winter tyre in one of them) and are a little more open-treaded than the Cross Climates or 4Season Vector Gen-2's, which is slightly better for occasional forays into deeper mud.

They do look a little higher in profile of course, but only a true tyre or Panda geek would notice. There's a measurable improvement in speedo accuracy, as the rolling radius is mildly increased and it's now only about 2mph out on GPS at an indicated 70mph, so happy with that.

But, the biggest improvement (and a surprising one at that) is in the ride quality - really smooth and comfortable now. Not that it was anything other than brilliant, but there's a layer of 'cushion' to the secondary ride now that I like.

Cornering grip is easily a match of the OEM CrossContact Winters and overall I am very pleased. And that they only cost about £52/corner delivered and fitted for £15 cash-in-hand by a local tyre place made the swap uber-cost effective.

Even better, 2 of my old tyres were donated to a neighbour with a blue 13-plate 4x4TA who'd smacked into a pothole and holed the wall of one of her OEM Conti's, so a win-win all round.