Summer, Winter, or All Season Tyres

HC1

HC1

Permabanned
Joined
23 Jul 2023
Posts
194
Location
Cheshire
I've got 4 super premium summer tyres on at the moment that came as standard on a new car and but I need to change one due to a slow puncture that can't have a permanent fix. These tyres aren't cheap and we'll be heading towards winter soon so I'm trying to decide if I should just replace the damaged summer tyre to save money or change both tyres on that same axle at the same time with all seasons rubber ready for winter? I could also keep using the punctured summer tyre and put air into it every day so I get my moneys worth out of it and then switch to all seasons when winter actually arrives here? It feels like a wasteful expense swapping a tyre now that's only got 1000 miles on it and then swapping tyres again in a few months for winter. Any ideas?
 
I had Firestone Multiseason 2 on my Ford B-Max (fitted to the car when I bought it) and were my first experience of all season tyres. I was impressed with them especially in heavy rain and snow/slush becuase of the amount of water/slush they are able to shift. I have never aquaplaned with them and they have got me out of some tricky situations in the winter that summer tyres wouldn't have coped with. In thr dry they have been pretty good as well, the only downside is that they can be noisy on certain road surfaces. I had Goodyear Efficient Grip Performance on the rear and they were getting below 3.5mm plus there was cracking on the sidewalls as I believe they were the original tyres for the car so I did some research and settled on a pair of Hankook Kinergy 4 Season 2 H750 tyres as they did extremely well in proper tyre tests and were a good few steps up from the Firestones. I put the Firestones on the rear and the Goodyears on the front so that I would have the new Hankooks on the front and had the new tyres fitted last Friday. I haven't driven them in the rain yet but they are really grippy in the dry and some of the reviews dropped their score due to road noise but I find them quieter than the Firestones and no louder than the Goodyears they replaced.

If you want the best all season tyres look no further than the Michelin Crossclimate 2 as they came top in all the road tests I looked at but they are quite a bit more expensive. The Hankooks I bought came a close second in some of the tests which is why I chose them.

One thing I will say is don't have winter/all season tyres on the front with normal summer tyres on the rear. In the snow we had last winter for the first time ever I was very close to having the rear come around on me through corners and it was like driving on a knife edge. I wasn't even pushing it as I always drive to the conditions and between up here, Germany and the Falklands have driven several thousand miles in the snow so know to respect the weather. I don't know why it was like that as I had winter tyres on the front of my old Astra with the same Goodyears on the rear and never experienced the car wanting to swap ends so whether it's something to do with this particular car or the roads degrading so badly I don't know. All I know is that my sphincter muscles had a good workout!! :eek:
 
  • Like
Reactions: HC1
I personally really liked the Bridgestone all season tyres i had on my old Yaris, im sure they weren't giving me 10/10ths of dry grip in the summer but they seemed WAY better than the budget summer tyres i took off it, they were also fantastic in the cold, wet and slushy conditions in winter. They coped really well in snow too which i was surprised with.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HC1
Where do you live, do you rely on the car daily, what car? If you live in an area that doesn't see frequent adverse conditions, two sets of wheels (summer and winter) simply do not make sense for the 4 days a year where winters really work.

Do not mix summer / UHP on one axle and all seasons on the other. Their characteristics are too different.
 
i will be going all season............ in the uk we rarely get extreme weather, and if we have terrible weather i will be WFH anyway so wont be venturing out..... possibly a waste having a 4WD car but .............................

PS what is the tyre issue which cant be fixed? if it is that new i would be wondering if it is a manufacture defect if not an obvious damage and may be tempted attempt to get it swapped under warranty (may be a long shot but.......................)

edit i just saw your other thread................. a screw, so you are SOOL on that!.
 
Last edited:
If you want the best all season tyres look no further than the Michelin Crossclimate 2 as they came top in all the road tests

I was actually considering them to replace the 2 Michelin e-primacy I've got on the front right now but these are brilliant tyres with great grip in the wet and dry and very quiet too so it's annoying that I need to change them with only 1000 miles on the clock. I'm really tempted to not change the punctured one and see how long it lasts if I pump it every day. I'm not doing a lot of mileage at the moment or high speeds so maybe it will be okay just for shopping? The RAC guy who came out said he suggested fitting a new tyre within 40 hours of his temp fix but that was 4 days ago and it's not gone fully flat again yet...
 
Where do you live, do you rely on the car daily, what car? If you live in an area that doesn't see frequent adverse conditions, two sets of wheels (summer and winter) simply do not make sense for the 4 days a year where winters really work.

Do not mix summer / UHP on one axle and all seasons on the other. Their characteristics are too different.

It's just a daily shopper with a bit of short distance commuting on well maintained main roads. I do rely on it though to avoid walking, cycling, getting buses.
 

I actually thought a neighbour did it at first in retaliation to being a bit weird with his missus last week but I've since I found she is his ex and he only goes round there just to see his kid and he swears he doesn't care what I do or say to her and wouldn't pop my tyre. The RAC guy also said the position of the screw doesn't look like sabotage so maybe i'm being paranoid :D
 
I actually thought a neighbour did it at first in retaliation to being a bit weird with his missus last week but I've since I found she is his ex and he only goes round there just to see his kid and he swears he doesn't care what I do or say to her and wouldn't pop my tyre. The RAC guy also said the position of the screw doesn't look like sabotage so maybe i'm being paranoid :D
probably not worth it but have you considered a 2nd opinion on the repair, probably at a small indie.... i mean if it is a cut and dry case then you may be out of luck, but perhaps another garage would be happy to repair.

not sure what effect the RAC guy injecting his splooge into your tyre will have on a repair however.
 
My dad has all seasons on his XC60 and they are great. Spot on in hot temps, heavy rain, standing water, and low temp / freezing conditions. The only thing is that in bad-ish weather when you go out on the roads and get stuck still because every other person is using regular tyres. lol.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HC1
I'm only buying all season tyres for the all season cars from now on. They are used for commuting, family days out, shopping etc. so any compromise on all out dry weather performance is irrelevant. I used to run summers and winters but the winters were a bit too compromised for the few days a year where they really come into there own. Plus it was a faff changing them and the cars looked a bit rubbish for half the year wearing steel wheels.

I'll only be running summer tyres on the MX5 which doesn't see bad weather anyway.

Michelin Cross Climate 2 and the Hankook Kinergy 4 Season 2 mentioned in this thread seem to be the go to choices. I put my money where my mouth is and went Michelin on my wife's car. My company car does currently have a mix with summer up front and all season on the rear but I should be within the realms of replacing the fronts with all seasons before the winter gets here.

In your situation though... it sounds like you have basically a new set of tyres but one needs replacing. I think I'd just buy one new matching tyre and then swap them out per axle with all seasons as they wear out.
 
I've very mixed feelings on this. In southern UK 99.999% of the time summer tyres aren't a problem but in that tiny percentage of times they are a problem there is no real compromise. Personally I can be driving any time of the day or night, any weather, so tend to lean towards having options but ironically the last few years I've managed to dodge the 1-3 days of the year, the years we've had snow at all, we've had snow anything like enough to be a problem and not needed to be out those days :cry: despite spending 1000s on being prepared LOL.

I definitely think enhanced wet weather tyres are worth it though - all-seasons depends what you do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HC1
I've very mixed feelings on this. In southern UK 99.999% of the time summer tyres aren't a problem but in that tiny percentage of times they are a problem there is no real compromise. Personally I can be driving any time of the day or night, any weather, so tend to lean towards having options but ironically the last few years I've managed to dodge the 1-3 days of the year, the years we've had snow at all, we've had snow anything like enough to be a problem and not needed to be out those days :cry: despite spending 1000s on being prepared LOL.

I definitely think enhanced wet weather tyres are worth it though - all-seasons depends what you do.
Even in Central Scotland I’ve never been stuck with so called summer tyres, even with my RWD BMW.
 
Even in Central Scotland I’ve never been stuck with so called summer tyres, even with my RWD BMW.

To be fair I'd probably still manage in all but the worst of conditions with the Qashqai on Avon ZX7s but no point doing that for the sake of it. The Bridgestone Turanza t005s definitely struggled in light snow though in RWD but coped fine in 4H.
 
probably not worth it but have you considered a 2nd opinion on the repair, probably at a small indie.... i mean if it is a cut and dry case then you may be out of luck, but perhaps another garage would be happy to repair.

not sure what effect the RAC guy injecting his splooge into your tyre will have on a repair however.

A lot of garages wont remove the tire once its been filled with that
 
I've got 4 super premium summer tyres on at the moment that came as standard on a new car and but I need to change one due to a slow puncture that can't have a permanent fix. These tyres aren't cheap and we'll be heading towards winter soon so I'm trying to decide if I should just replace the damaged summer tyre to save money or change both tyres on that same axle at the same time with all seasons rubber ready for winter? I could also keep using the punctured summer tyre and put air into it every day so I get my moneys worth out of it and then switch to all seasons when winter actually arrives here? It feels like a wasteful expense swapping a tyre now that's only got 1000 miles on it and then swapping tyres again in a few months for winter. Any ideas?


first of all, do NOT mix all season and summer tyres

so, if you want to change to all season tyres, you will need to replace all 4

i did, and not looked back

my Cross climates are still going after 4 years
 
My dad has all seasons on his XC60 and they are great. Spot on in hot temps, heavy rain, standing water, and low temp / freezing conditions. The only thing is that in bad-ish weather when you go out on the roads and get stuck still because every other person is using regular tyres. lol.


I've got an old jeep stashed away for harsh winters, snow, ice, and floods, with massive Goodrich All Terrains booted on. I've even got snowchains and other kit in the back to make that thing unstoppable. I'm confident I go anywhere in that while everyone else is stuck in traffic...
 
I've got an old jeep stashed away for harsh winters, snow, ice, and floods, with massive Goodrich All Terrains booted on. I've even got snowchains and other kit in the back to make that thing unstoppable. I'm confident I go anywhere in that while everyone else is stuck in traffic...

PS all terrains are good on snow but won't help much on proper ice, usually slightly better than summer and some all-season tyres but not a patch on higher end winter tyres on ice. I've got a set made up for my pickup as an eventuality I'll probably not actually use for that LOL, though they do get used a bit for light to moderate off-road.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HC1
Back
Top Bottom