General Which winter tyres are people going for

[jrkitching]

I'd like to see how these would look on a Pasodoble 500 .

I'd imagine they'd be a nightmare to keep looking like that.

 

[loveshandbags]

No worries people! I wouldn't go with any 'never-heard-of-before' tyre just because someone recommended it, but also- if someone recommends something and it sounds plausible I'd research it before coming to any conclusion... Thanks for all your input. Btw, at the moment I'm leaning either towards original Pirelli ZN or Nokian Z G2 (just because they are underdog and I'm sucker for underdogs - I'm driving a Fiat for goodness sake!

Mytyres have the Nokian Z G2 for £101.90 !
If you remember these got 2nd in the EVO 2012 tyre test.

And Ebay have a set of Lusso alloys in 16 inch that should fit your AGP with a nice set of Contis (I'd take the Summers off your hands if I was over there ).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221010998...AX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_500wt_1055

EDIT:
To 'throw a spanner in the works'...
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2012-Subjective-Shootout-Battle-of-the-heavyweights.htm
£112 for these...
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=56139690.110.28941&typ=R-217379&ranzahl=4&Breite=215&Herst=Dunlop&Quer=45&Felge=17&Speed=W&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=So

 

[ahmett]

Mytyres have the Nokian Z G2 for £101.90 !
If you remember these got 2nd in the EVO 2012 tyre test.

And Ebay have a set of Lusso alloys in 16 inch that should fit your AGP with a nice set of Contis (I'd take the Summers off your hands if I was over there ).
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221010998...AX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649#ht_500wt_1055

EDIT:
To 'throw a spanner in the works'...
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2012-Subjective-Shootout-Battle-of-the-heavyweights.htm
£112 for these...
http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?details=Ordern&cart_id=56139690.110.28941&typ=R-217379&ranzahl=4&Breite=215&Herst=Dunlop&Quer=45&Felge=17&Speed=W&weiter=0&kategorie=6&Ang_pro_Seite=15&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=So

Nokian is a finnish company! They are born to slide over there. Id rather buy from Fins than Koreans if you ask me!

 

[frupi]

A friend of mine is currently sorting out buying winter tyres for next winter and has decided on Maloya tyres. Maloya is a long standing Swiss tyre maker who have partnered with Vredestein and apparently share research and development.

Maloya winter tyres appear to have quite good reviews.

http://www.tyretest.com/wintercar_tyres/maloya/davos/index.html

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop...._pro_Seite=20&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

They are available in 175/65/14 82T size, Maloya 'Davos', but it would appear are not available in the UK. Looking at German tyre sites, the Maloyas for 14 inch rims can be had for 69€, but I suppose there wil be delivery etc on top.

 

[306maxi]

A friend of mine is currently sorting out buying winter tyres for next winter and has decided on Maloya tyres. Maloya is a long standing Swiss tyre maker who have partnered with Vredestein and apparently share research and development.

Maloya winter tyres appear to have quite good reviews.

http://www.tyretest.com/wintercar_tyres/maloya/davos/index.html

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop...._pro_Seite=20&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

They are available in 175/65/14 82T size, Maloya 'Davos', but it would appear are not available in the UK. Looking at German tyre sites, the Maloyas for 14 inch rims can be had for 69€, but I suppose there wil be delivery etc on top.

A couple of things.

The ADAC tests show the Maloya's to be towards the bottom of the pile, still in the recommended pile, but they don't appear to offer particularly great performance. I would take subjective reviews like those on tyretest or tyrereviews with a bad of sodium chloride because at the end of the day those people may never have used winter tyres before, might be comparing a brand new set of winters to a set of bald summers etc etc. I much prefer to place my faith in objective tests like those offered by ADAC.

http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/reifen/default.aspx -> If you're going to spend all that money then it makes sense to buy from someone at the top end of the scale than someone at the bottom end or in the middle.

Secondly, I wouldn't bother buying winter tyres now. It's going to be another 5-6 months till we need winter tyres on and as tyres have a shelf life, you're just wasting that 5-6 months of the tyres shelf life. Much better to wait till late August and into September/October and buy then.

 

[frupi]

A couple of things.

The ADAC tests show the Maloya's to be towards the bottom of the pile, still in the recommended pile, but they don't appear to offer particularly great performance. I would take subjective reviews like those on tyretest or tyrereviews with a bad of sodium chloride because at the end of the day those people may never have used winter tyres before, might be comparing a brand new set of winters to a set of bald summers etc etc. I much prefer to place my faith in objective tests like those offered by ADAC.

http://www.adac.de/infotestrat/tests/reifen/default.aspx -> If you're going to spend all that money then it makes sense to buy from someone at the top end of the scale than someone at the bottom end or in the middle.

Secondly, I wouldn't bother buying winter tyres now. It's going to be another 5-6 months till we need winter tyres on and as tyres have a shelf life, you're just wasting that 5-6 months of the tyres shelf life. Much better to wait till late August and into September/October and buy then.

Thanks for sharing your opinions Maxi! Well done, keep it up!

 

[306maxi]

Thanks for sharing your opinions Maxi! Well done, keep it up!

Not a problem Tbh I wouldn't even advise people to buy snowtrac 3's this coming winter, since their good testing in 2008 or 2009 other tyre companies have moved forward and Vredestein have stood still and been overtaken. They still provide a good level of performance in ice and snow, but the competitors have overtaken them in pretty much every other respect. Such is life!

 

[loveshandbags]

Just though I'd put a 'marker' on the prices of what was selling last year...
WinterContact TS 800 175/65 R14 82T £54
ULTRA GRIP 8 175/65 R14 82T £53
SNOWTRAC 3 175/65 R14 82T £48

A friend of mine is currently sorting out buying winter tyres for next winter and has decided on Maloya tyres...

Noticed that your friend is getting 15 inch in the 'cheapie' width and for extra few pounds he could buy a premium brand.

...Secondly, I wouldn't bother buying winter tyres now. It's going to be another 5-6 months till we need winter tyres on and as tyres have a shelf life, you're just wasting that 5-6 months of the tyres shelf life. Much better to wait till late August and into September/October and buy then.

I would agree with you that it is too soon. After my saga last year buying a set of steelies that are practically useless now for the current motor and looking at Melanabb's AGP - it would nearly pay one to have a smaller car with small wheels given the cost of buying big winter tyres. When I was looking to order the Contis & then the Goodyears last November I couldn't get them in the 15s.

Not a problem Tbh I wouldn't even advise people to buy snowtrac 3's this coming winter, since their good testing in 2008 or 2009 other tyre companies have moved forward and Vredestein have stood still and been overtaken. They still provide a good level of performance in ice and snow, but the competitors have overtaken them in pretty much every other respect. Such is life!

Good advice. And that's clearly demonstrated on a Summer's performance tyres in 17s where a RT edition Dunlop is better than a much more expensive Conti for a lot less money. If one came across a discounted winter tyre it would have had to be the best on the market in the size you were looking for.

 

[frupi]

Not a problem Tbh I wouldn't even advise people to buy snowtrac 3's this coming winter, since their good testing in 2008 or 2009 other tyre companies have moved forward and Vredestein have stood still and been overtaken. They still provide a good level of performance in ice and snow, but the competitors have overtaken them in pretty much every other respect. Such is life!

Well, for the relatively short time we had the Vreds on our POP winter just gone, they did ok for the couple of day's of snow we got and they seemed to perform reasonably well on some of the wet road days, according to 'er indoors'. Certainly far better than our old MX5 which couldn't even make it up our road with its rear wheel drive and slick summers on.

As for my friend, well we were chatting the other day and he's made his mind up about the Maloyas. Lives in the same area as I do and says he thinks they will be perfectly adequate for normal winter use, they'll certainly be better than summers, and if it does snow, he thinks they'll be fine. As for the logic behind buying them now, winter tyre stocks sold like crazy around October/November time, well they did round where we live. I went to several of the local tyre fitters who were struggling to get them.

I see your logic about tyre life, but I suppose if you can keep them stored ok, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Our Vreds are safely mounted on a tyre tree in the garage in the dark, so they should be ok. The tyre tree was a fantastic buy, by the way, only 15 quid.

 

[frupi]

Noticed that your friend is getting 15 inch in the 'cheapie' width and for extra few pounds he could buy a premium brand.

Sorry, that post wasn't really clear. I put that page in for the Maloya's purely as an example. I'm not sure if that size will even fit a 500 for instance.

My mate's got a Vectra and he's going to put Maloya Cresta 300's in size 215/55/16 97H, on a spare set of steelies.

 

[loveshandbags]

Sorry, that post wasn't really clear. I put that page in for the Maloya's purely as an example. I'm not sure if that size will even fit a 500 for instance.

My mate's got a Vectra and he's going to put Maloya Cresta 300's in size 215/55/16 97H, on a spare set of steelies.

That's a big tyre. Can he not fit a smaller wheel ?

 

[frupi]

That's a big tyre. Can he not fit a smaller wheel ?

Well the Vauxhall Vectra is a reasonably large sized family car and it is a 2.0 litre I think and it normally runs 17 inch alloys, so the 16 inchers 215/55/16 97H on steelies is probably correct.

 

[loveshandbags]

Well the Vauxhall Vectra is a reasonably large sized family car and it is a 2.0 litre I think and it normally runs 17 inch alloys, so the 16 inchers 215/55/16 97H on steelies is probably correct.

Probably but sometimes you can drop another size even though it's not in the manual. E.g. the OH's MiTo can take 15s & with the release of the MiTo MJ 1.3 85bhp they now use 15s so she get away with that size and it's in the 'new' handbook. Significant difference in price between 15 x 185/65 and 16 x 195/55.

Just had a quick look in your friend's size and it's kinda pricey. I often wonder if you would be better off with a top class all season tyre even though there are not ideal in difficult conditions.

 

[frupi]

Probably but sometimes you can drop another size even though it's not in the manual. E.g. the OH's MiTo can take 15s & with the release of the MiTo MJ 1.3 85bhp they now use 15s so she get away with that size and it's in the 'new' handbook. Significant difference in price between 15 x 185/65 and 16 x 195/55.

Just had a quick look in your friend's size and it's kinda pricey. I often wonder if you would be better off with a top class all season tyre even though there are not ideal in difficult conditions.

Well this is what he's buying:

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop...._pro_Seite=20&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

Personally, I don't think £70.70 in that size tyre is expensive?

You have to remember too, that just because you might be able to get away with putting a smaller wheel on, it depends what the manufacturer states in the handbook. If you don't at least comply with what it says in the manual, there is a possibility that one could invalidate their insurance if an accident occurs.

 

[306maxi]

Well, for the relatively short time we had the Vreds on our POP winter just gone, they did ok for the couple of day's of snow we got and they seemed to perform reasonably well on some of the wet road days, according to 'er indoors'. Certainly far better than our old MX5 which couldn't even make it up our road with its rear wheel drive and slick summers on.

As for my friend, well we were chatting the other day and he's made his mind up about the Maloyas. Lives in the same area as I do and says he thinks they will be perfectly adequate for normal winter use, they'll certainly be better than summers, and if it does snow, he thinks they'll be fine. As for the logic behind buying them now, winter tyre stocks sold like crazy around October/November time, well they did round where we live. I went to several of the local tyre fitters who were struggling to get them.

I see your logic about tyre life, but I suppose if you can keep them stored ok, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Our Vreds are safely mounted on a tyre tree in the garage in the dark, so they should be ok. The tyre tree was a fantastic buy, by the way, only 15 quid.

Not saying the Vred's are bad tyres because they're definitely not and I know through personal experience just how good they can be on snow. Just that I would spend the extra 5 or 6 quid on the Conti's or Goodyears that Loveshandbags has posted if I was buying now

As I said, whilst I wouldn't buy now, I wouldn't wait till November to buy tyres as prices start rising and then if there is snow then you won't get any tyres. September is a good time to buy.

 

[loveshandbags]

Well this is what he's buying:

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop...._pro_Seite=20&Transport=P&dsco=110&sowigan=Wi

Personally, I don't think £70.70 in that size tyre is expensive?

You have to remember too, that just because you might be able to get away with putting a smaller wheel on, it depends what the manufacturer states in the handbook. If you don't at least comply with what it says in the manual, there is a possibility that one could invalidate their insurance if an accident occurs.

That seems a good price but in a branded make it's £114.
Fully agree with you about going outside the sizes listed in the handbook - I had too many issues with my own insurance company.
If your friend is on a budget I can see why he's gone for the £70 ones. It will be interesting to see if they 'perform' when the time comes.

 

[frupi]

That seems a good price but in a branded make it's £114.
Fully agree with you about going outside the sizes listed in the handbook - I had too many issues with my own insurance company.
If your friend is on a budget I can see why he's gone for the £70 ones. It will be interesting to see if they 'perform' when the time comes.

With respect to all, I think we might be indulging in 'brand snobbery' here again.

Maloya, a Swiss company, is a branded make and they've been around since 1936, so admittedly, whilst they may have started out making bicycle tyres, they are still a player in the automotive tyre market, especially since they teamed up with Vredestein.

Look, we can't all be experts on tyres here and tbh, most people will sit down and read tyre reviews and just because some organisation or another say's 'yeah, these tyres are great', it should be considered that these tyres may well be tested under very different conditions to what we here in the UK will ever likely face. I don't think it's fair to just 'diss' a tyre brand that people may not necessarily be familiar with. Let's face it, is there anyone on this forum who has experience of driving on this particular brand of tyre? If so, it would be useful if someone could speak up and give us the benefit of their personal experience.

Yes I agree, we should probably take notice of some of the top named brands because after all, they invest a lot of money in research etc, but similarly, some of these top name brands sometimes don't score so well as some less well known brands. It's far too easy to get caught up in all of the marketing hype I think.

As far as the observation that one may buy a 'branded tyre' for £114, that may be so, but when you add up the difference between the Maloya and that 'branded' tyre, whatever that may be, the difference is over £170. That can be quite significant for 'someone who's on a budget'.

http://www.car-addicts.com/latest-news/winter-tire-test-adac-tire-test-2011

Maloya is ninth on this list and this is for the 175/65/14 82T which is the same size we would put on our POP. Personally, I can't see there's much wrong with them?

 

[306maxi]

With respect to all, I think we might be indulging in 'brand snobbery' here again.

Maloya, a Swiss company, is a branded make and they've been around since 1936, so admittedly, whilst they may have started out making bicycle tyres, they are still a player in the automotive tyre market, especially since they teamed up with Vredestein.

Look, we can't all be experts on tyres here and tbh, most people will sit down and read tyre reviews and just because some organisation or another say's 'yeah, these tyres are great', it should be considered that these tyres may well be tested under very different conditions to what we here in the UK will ever likely face. I don't think it's fair to just 'diss' a tyre brand that people may not necessarily be familiar with. Let's face it, is there anyone on this forum who has experience of driving on this particular brand of tyre? If so, it would be useful if someone could speak up and give us the benefit of their personal experience.

Yes I agree, we should probably take notice of some of the top named brands because after all, they invest a lot of money in research etc, but similarly, some of these top name brands sometimes don't score so well as some less well known brands. It's far too easy to get caught up in all of the marketing hype I think.

As far as the observation that one may buy a 'branded tyre' for £114, that may be so, but when you add up the difference between the Maloya and that 'branded' tyre, whatever that may be, the difference is over £170. That can be quite significant for 'someone who's on a budget'.

http://www.car-addicts.com/latest-news/winter-tire-test-adac-tire-test-2011

Maloya is ninth on this list and this is for the 175/65/14 82T which is the same size we would put on our POP. Personally, I can't see there's much wrong with them?

Again, whilst there may be nothing wrong with them per se, there are tyres out there which are better all round for only a few more pounds per tyre.

Let's be honest, the 500 is not a cheap car and if you can afford a 500 you can't really plead poverty and claim that an exta £20 on tyres is going to break the bank can you?

Is 9th out of 14 different tyres really that great? The Vredestein's were 7th and IMHO I don't see 7th as being something to crow about either. The Vredestein's were strong in the 2008 tests scoring a 4th place and a highly recommended ranking. They scored the best on snow and ice. Hence why I bought them at the time, but things have changed and unless testing shows things to be different, I'll be buying something else to replace mine when the time comes.

 

[frupi]

Well I guess as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to our own 500, we'll be stuck with the Vreds now for probably at least 4 winters, so I personally won't be looking for replacements for quite some time!

I realise we all have our own opinions here, but I really do think there is an element of tyre brand snobbery going on. Sorry, but that's just my opinion

 

[306maxi]

Well I guess as far as I'm concerned, when it comes to our own 500, we'll be stuck with the Vreds now for probably at least 4 winters, so I personally won't be looking for replacements for quite some time!

I realise we all have our own opinions here, but I really do think there is an element of tyre brand snobbery going on. Sorry, but that's just my opinion

Not really. If I was a proper tyre snob I never would have gone for the Vredestein's in the first place.

It's hardly snobbery if there are objective measurements of the performance of the tyre to go by......