When to put on your winter tyres?

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When to put on your winter tyres?

I normally aim to remove mine for Easter. My local tyre centre is well used to me. I drive in, set of wheels in boot. I always put the air to the right pressure at home so it's just a matter of one set off, other set on. They've never charged me more than a tenner. 😁
Thats a very reasonable charge for someone who wont be buting to many tyres for quite a stretch!! I do my own and do the cleaning and tread depth checks as they come off marking where they will go back to even out wear. I think Easter is about right. My last insurer asked to be kept informed on which tyres the car was wearing.
 
I just took to using cross climate+ first fitted in 2018.

Found they lasted ages (36k), grip good all year and added protection for when it sporadically snows in the north of England.

I’d say 3-10 days a year snow.
 
My 7yr-old winters have been binned. With both the summers and winters sharing the low annual mileage, both sets are getting old, with plenty of tread left. The valve on one of the winters perished, releasing the air. That destroyed the tyre, and no point adding a new one to a set of old ones. Will run the summers, hopefully until needing replacement due to wear, and replace with all-seasons. Not enough snow to justify two sets any more. When I bought them, the choice was summer or winter, as all-season was not an option on 155/80 13.

Will eventually go all-season on all three vehicles, Fabia (refusing to wear out the summers, but prone to punctures), Panda (summers only half-worn), Doblo (only 13k from new, fronts looking good, rears hardly worn). Doblo uses 'van' tyres, with greater load rating, so tyres are rather pricey. They can definitely wear out before replacement.
 
@The Panda Nut
I do exactly the same, on my old set they were non directional so could swap them to wherever I wanted…once got pulled as fuzz saw all yellow markings on tyres wehn I came out of a junction. Had to explain the numbers and letters in yellow China-graph crayon (year 1 osf, year 2 nsr etc)…now I mark them on inside of tyre/wheel
 
Will eventually go all-season on all three vehicles, Fabia (refusing to wear out the summers, but prone to punctures), Panda (summers only half-worn), Doblo (only 13k from new, fronts looking good, rears hardly worn). Doblo uses 'van' tyres, with greater load rating, so tyres are rather pricey. They can definitely wear out before replacement.
I’m not a fan of the ‘all season’ tyres, at least not on the cross, (Goodyear vector 4Seasons) the 1.2 panda 4x4 (Continental AS) or the wife’s Jeep Renegade (BF Goodrich) all have been next to useless in snow, crap on anything other than dry grass and wore heavily on edges wehn cornering like you should in a Fiat.
The wife’s Jeep now has Riken SUV Snow on, they’ve proved good in wet, dry and, for an 80% on road tyre, remarkably good in the mud on the farm. I may treat the cross to a set as they’re half the price of the Continental and Goodyears and have lasted 3yr still with loads of tread. The 2005 panda 4x4 now wears some rather aggressive Maxsport RB1s on and is a hoot in mud and snow
My caveat is that we do use all our cars on the farm for farm work so the tyres have to do the job, just not convinced, through personal experience, that all season really are all season, unless all those seasons are dry, wet but not too wet and definitely no mud or snow
 
I’m not a fan of the ‘all season’ tyres, at least not on the cross, (Goodyear vector 4Seasons) the 1.2 panda 4x4 (Continental AS) or the wife’s Jeep Renegade (BF Goodrich) all have been next to useless in snow, crap on anything other than dry grass and wore heavily on edges wehn cornering like you should in a Fiat.
The wife’s Jeep now has Riken SUV Snow on, they’ve proved good in wet, dry and, for an 80% on road tyre, remarkably good in the mud on the farm. I may treat the cross to a set as they’re half the price of the Continental and Goodyears and have lasted 3yr still with loads of tread. The 2005 panda 4x4 now wears some rather aggressive Maxsport RB1s on and is a hoot in mud and snow
My caveat is that we do use all our cars on the farm for farm work so the tyres have to do the job, just not convinced, through personal experience, that all season really are all season, unless all those seasons are dry, wet but not too wet and definitely no mud or snow
I understand Yorkshire has worse winters than south Oxfordshire. Snow here tends to last no more than a day or two. More just cold and wet here.
 
I understand Yorkshire has worse winters than south Oxfordshire. Snow here tends to last no more than a day or two. More just cold and wet here.
Recently, well, last 10 years, it’s been here today, gone tomorrow…prefer snow to rain, everything turns to mud…
 
They were predicting more snow for Easter, but if there isn’t I will swap over then.

I’m going to see if I can break the 30 minute barrier for swapping them all over.
I have a draper air lift jack thingy that lifts the whole side in about 20 seconds. A boon for this but too bulky to keep in the Panda all the time. Its cleaning the wheels and de-stoning the tyres that takes the time. If you dont do it when they come off they never get done when your putting them back on!
 
My last insurer asked to be kept informed on which tyres the car was wearing.
When I had winter tires on my Mk2b punto (silver 1.3 multijet) I phoned the insurance company to tell them and they literally couldn't care less. The guys response was "that's fine we don't care about that"

Now it never seemingly gets cold enough or snowy enough to warrant snow tires or winter tires in this part of the country. When the beast from the east struck in 2018 We got snowed in, in all directions out of the town so no snow tires would have helped and when I did venture out on the day it struck my Bridgestone Potenza tires which are apparently Summer tires had no problems coping in the snow.
 
When I had winter tires on my Mk2b punto (silver 1.3 multijet) I phoned the insurance company to tell them and they literally couldn't care less. The guys response was "that's fine we don't care about that"

Now it never seemingly gets cold enough or snowy enough to warrant snow tires or winter tires in this part of the country. When the beast from the east struck in 2018 We got snowed in, in all directions out of the town so no snow tires would have helped and when I did venture out on the day it struck my Bridgestone Potenza tires which are apparently Summer tires had no problems coping in the snow.
Im sure your right on the number of days, but I have had good use this year when I went to Manchester / Cheshire in December. Ther was lots of snow and ice. The Mich Alpins are a bit noisy but definitely more grip on cold wet days and our muddy Norfolk lanes. They will never wear out before tehy need replacing. The Summer tyres are COnti Premium 6 and the wear rate is poor but they are quiet and provide good grip and handling. Once they are gone I will not replace them. My driving is pretty sedate on the whole so winter / snow and mud tyres are what I will run. I shall take your insurance remarks on board and not bother telling them any more. Ive explained the situation as the start of the insurance so they can consider themselves told!
 
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