I've tried lots of winter tyres and The Goodyears were shocking compared to others, I thought that was the point of this thread? To give opinions?
General New winter tyre thread
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General New winter tyre thread
I've tried lots of winter tyres and The Goodyears were shocking compared to others, I thought that was the point of this thread? To give opinions?
OP
OP
the whole point is to give advice to owners of 500's as to what is good in the sizes that the 500 uses.
I appreciate your comments and, as it happens following a price review, I'm now buying some Continental TS850's and so canned the Goodyears anyway. I had a read of the ADAC report on them and I'm quite happy they're a good choice.
Remember though, tyre opinions will vary wildly. Unless you are a professional tyre tester, the rest of us are just playing at it. As for the Vredestein Snowtrac 3's, can't heap enough praise on them, a really excellent tyre. Bought the set 3 years back following maxi's recommendation of them and they performed superbly through two snowy winters.
OP
OP
You tell yourself that
I did miss people getting uppity because they didn't like someone else having more knowledge or being able to reason better.....
OP
OP
http://www.evo.co.uk/features/15600/michelin-cross-climate-vs-winter-and-all-season-tyres like I said, compromise.... It's good, but it's not a full winter or proper summer.
This is all just typical Michelin hype trying to suck in the ill-informed public into supposedly saving their families lives by buying something that's stuck in front of them thanks to slick marketing that you pay for when you buy the product (yes hello Castrol...).
What that review shows is what I suspected.. basically it IS just an all-season tyre when you need its characteristics i.e. autumn / winter / spring, and as such is not materially different to e.g. the Goodyear Vector 4S tyres that have been around for a few years and are standard fitment to the 500X. Even the tread pattern is fundamentally the same.
You can bet they will also have the standard Michelin feature of decaying rapidly after 6 or 7 years, and having a new improved variant released after 3 or so years.
Unlike some I don't have a problem with all-season tyres for the British climate and certain geographic locations, asnd maybe these will be a bit better in the summer or in terms of economy / noise, but that is not what is being sold to the public.
What that review shows is what I suspected.. basically it IS just an all-season tyre when you need its characteristics i.e. autumn / winter / spring, and as such is not materially different to e.g. the Goodyear Vector 4S tyres that have been around for a few years and are standard fitment to the 500X. Even the tread pattern is fundamentally the same.
You can bet they will also have the standard Michelin feature of decaying rapidly after 6 or 7 years, and having a new improved variant released after 3 or so years.
Unlike some I don't have a problem with all-season tyres for the British climate and certain geographic locations, asnd maybe these will be a bit better in the summer or in terms of economy / noise, but that is not what is being sold to the public.
ahmett
Prominent member
Mitches in my opinion are the softest tires on the market! Excellent grip, but really dont last long.
As it happens, my Peugeot Expert van is fitted with Michelin tyres all round (as it left the factory with but they're standard tyres not winters/all season). Just had my front tyres, 13.5 months old, changed at 39k miles at a tread depth of 3mm (my company policy is to change all tyres at 3mm), so actually, I think I got damn good mileage out of them. Can't fault them, great tyres.
I did ask if I could have all season tyres fitted, but was informed that our tyre contract is now with Goodyear, so when my back tyres need replacing, that's what I'll get and I'd imagine they'll be standard tyres.
OP
OP
Not quite sure what your point is here? They are a set of tyres that will perform well in the summer and not be absolutely dire in the winter. That's what they're being sold as. Our Panda runs Michelin Alpin A3's all year round (it generally only does short journeys) and if these had been available at the time, I'd have gone for them.
The Goodyears are a different proposition, still an all season tyre, but one that is biased more towards winter performance.
Why the Goodyears are worthy of recommendation and the Michelins are a case of marketing over substance only you seem to know. Personally I wouldn't have either on a car that does longer journeys but that's just me.
So if you had these new Michelins on your Panda you would use it more? Currently it just does slow-speed shopping runs and waits for 3 months of cold weather?
The point is that Michelin haven't invented or created anything fundamentally different then the Goodyear Vector product that has been around in various forms since the late 1980s.
I would suggest that if you followed Fiat's lead and fitted the Vector 4S to your Panda 4WD you would get more use and pleasure out of it, with only a small trade-off in full winter performance. And no detectable difference compared with the Michelin Cross-Climates.
The point is that Michelin haven't invented or created anything fundamentally different then the Goodyear Vector product that has been around in various forms since the late 1980s.
I would suggest that if you followed Fiat's lead and fitted the Vector 4S to your Panda 4WD you would get more use and pleasure out of it, with only a small trade-off in full winter performance. And no detectable difference compared with the Michelin Cross-Climates.
OP
OP
Thankyou for showing me the error of my ways, I was too unintelligent to realise!
OR perhaps I wanted my wife to never have issues in the winter and not have the faff of changing tyres over. Being that the Panda does 30-40mpg on a run and the 500 does 50-65 perhaps I just don't bother taking it on longer runs because it costs more money to run, doesn't have air con, the stereo is crap, it's slow as hell........ I could go on.
Again, I don't quite understand why the Goodyear is so great and the Michelin is just marketing? They're essentially both all season tyres, the Michelin is more biased towards summer driving and the Goodyear towards winter driving. Never before has an all season tyre delivered that level of performance in the summer and all the tests seem to back this up.
OR perhaps I wanted my wife to never have issues in the winter and not have the faff of changing tyres over. Being that the Panda does 30-40mpg on a run and the 500 does 50-65 perhaps I just don't bother taking it on longer runs because it costs more money to run, doesn't have air con, the stereo is crap, it's slow as hell........ I could go on.
Again, I don't quite understand why the Goodyear is so great and the Michelin is just marketing? They're essentially both all season tyres, the Michelin is more biased towards summer driving and the Goodyear towards winter driving. Never before has an all season tyre delivered that level of performance in the summer and all the tests seem to back this up.
I'm not saying that Goodyear are better than Michelin as a company or in terms of their products, just that Goodyear have had equivalent product for a long time now that they have evolved and not made a song-and-dance about it.
You seem to be saying that the Michelin is better in summer etc. but I see no evidence... that is just implied. That Evo review (part 1 of 2 I think) is vague and seems like a Michelin PR piece... I didn't see what All-Season tyre they compared it against but if it is the Goodyear then there was no difference. Let's see if the summer-condition comparison is any more revealing.
Personally I suspect that Michelin finally decided to get in on the action, and there was probably a high-level breakfast board meeting to discuss strategy, perhaps something like this....
[ame]https://vimeo.com/122760927[/ame]
Je propose zat we make... Compromise Tyres!!!
You seem to be saying that the Michelin is better in summer etc. but I see no evidence... that is just implied. That Evo review (part 1 of 2 I think) is vague and seems like a Michelin PR piece... I didn't see what All-Season tyre they compared it against but if it is the Goodyear then there was no difference. Let's see if the summer-condition comparison is any more revealing.
Personally I suspect that Michelin finally decided to get in on the action, and there was probably a high-level breakfast board meeting to discuss strategy, perhaps something like this....
[ame]https://vimeo.com/122760927[/ame]
Je propose zat we make... Compromise Tyres!!!
TrevC
Established member
The evidence quoted here:
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/2015-02/michelin-crossclimate-tyres/
suggests that TUV etc. found the Michelins have better dry road grip than the Goodyears.
Surely all tyres have compromises. From what I've read, I'd fit the Cross-Climates as the best alternative to buying a seperate winter set, which is too much expense and faff for most people.
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/2015-02/michelin-crossclimate-tyres/
suggests that TUV etc. found the Michelins have better dry road grip than the Goodyears.
Surely all tyres have compromises. From what I've read, I'd fit the Cross-Climates as the best alternative to buying a seperate winter set, which is too much expense and faff for most people.
Well that link to the tests is useful, maybe Michelin have tried to do a proper compromise with a summer-ish compound and a wet / winterish tread and that will do OK for many motorists.
But it's pretty academic anyway since the sizing table shown says that they don't do it (AFAIK) to fit the 500 or other small / medium sized Fiats...
But it's pretty academic anyway since the sizing table shown says that they don't do it (AFAIK) to fit the 500 or other small / medium sized Fiats...
Actually Goodyear HAVE brought their tyre up-to-date, and available in sensible 14" and 15" sizes too...
Now in Gen 2:
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Goodyear-Vector-4Seasons-Gen-2-Press-Release.htm
Now in Gen 2:
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Goodyear-Vector-4Seasons-Gen-2-Press-Release.htm
OP
OP
Are you on commission or something?
TrevC
Established member
Yeah, I saw they didn't list 195/45 15s, which my 500 has. Didn't realise they don't do the other 500 sizes, although apparently they are continuing to roll more out. (Whoops, sorry!). I'll probably get some for our other car next year when its Continentals have expired.
Interesting that Ahmett has found Michelins wear quickly - I've found them quite good, it's the Contis I've scrubbed through fastest over the years.
Interesting that Ahmett has found Michelins wear quickly - I've found them quite good, it's the Contis I've scrubbed through fastest over the years.
Just thought I'd mention I ended up changing my mind - again! I kept meaning over several days to order the Conti TS850's from MyTyres, but with work and stuff, I just kept putting it off. Unfortunately due to my procrastination, the Contis increased in price from a low £41 odd a tyre, to £50 a piece!
I was left in a situation, where I still have four Vredestein Snowtrac 3's (175/65/R14/82T) with 6mm of tread on them still in the garage, but I can't use them because of the load rating (86T) on my new i10 and Hyundai apparently state that to change to tyres with a different load rating, will invalidate the warranty. Not only that, I would have insurance issues.
So in the end, I settled for Toyo Snowprox S943's 175/65/R14/86T, (these are the standard tyre size on my new i10). So I ended up paying £125 for four brand new Japanese made tyres, manufactured in June this year.
I bought them from Giga Tyres. They arrived today within four working days of ordering.
https://www.giga-tyres.co.uk/toyo/snowprox-s943/175/65/r14/86t/p/GI-R-241509GA
Here's a link for Conti TS850's in 82T load rating for 14 inch tyres:
https://www.giga-tyres.co.uk/continental/wintercontact-ts-850/175/65/r14/82t/p/GI-R-244378GA
https://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tes...14.aspx?ComponentId=216869&SourcePageId=31821
