[TW]Fox;26714974 said:
I appreciate what you're saying but for me over and above the importance of cost comes the shift of feel from dry to wet to cold roads and the safety that inherrantly provides. I'm not sure if you've driven you gf's car on the winters much but certainly for me they didn't degrade in feel like any summer tyres I've used and seemed to provide a similarly predictable type or grip and control on a wet, cold or wet cold road to that on a dry.
The wear level is also acceptable for the benefits I feel I'm getting. TBH 36-37k miles is perfectly fine in my mind and reflects well against standard summer tyres I've had (in fact the summers were likely effected by the fact I had little grip in the winter anyway meaning wearing probably wasn't even happening to the same degree!
). All in the actual yearly cost of these sits under £100 for me.
If I were to get summer tyres too I'd need to get extra rims or have the tyres swapped each time (cost), then either make space in the house (not happenning) or have them stored (more cost) to maybe gain a couple of thousand miles max if previous experience is anything to go by. That is just not worth it.
P.S: With regards to your standing water comment have you actually seen any testing re: winter tyres vs summer tyres in the wet? I only ask because I saw one a while back which had a video review suggesting the opposite. Showed that they were infact very well suited to keeping a car under control in extremely wet conditions like that.
I'll see if I can find the link to the review...
Not the video but found a tyre test site with group testing information:
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2013-Auto-Bild-SUV-4x4-Winter-Tyre-Test.htm
Specific quote here:
The summer tyre took the advantage in wet handling and braking, but again the best winter wasn't far behind, with the Dunlop and Goodyear almost matching the summer tyre in the handling and braking tests respectively. During the curved aquaplaning tests the winter tyres dominated, proving they're far more effective at dealing with the standing water we experience in our long, wet winters.
Like I said - I know they won't compete toe to toe with summer tyres but they do perfectly well and then are obviously better with road hazards like standing water and ice. Standing water is a particular issue here since roads are rarely flat, are poorly surfaced and often don't drain.
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