**Unofficial Tyre Thread**

Associate
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Haha, I have to travel a bit for work and would rather not end up stranded across the country or attempt to drive up on hills with summer tyres on a RWD car. That and a road trip across the continent made it a pretty easy decision to get a pair of winters. :p
 
Associate
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It really depends on how much and what kind of snow. For a country with hardly any sort of mountains (the 3 peaks are some hills by international standards) there are quite a few hilly areas in the UK. Sure, when you're the only one on the road you gather momentum and try to keep going. In real world driving conditions you'll have to stop halfway through the hill, and then you won't be doing much with a wide summer tyre RWD vehicle.
 
Man of Honour
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To be fair if it wasn't the best part of 2 grand I'd have a spare set for mine if only to keep the summer ones nice over the winter. We do it on the Mini and although they've proven thoroughly worthless this winter, the summer wheels and tyres remain in impeccable condition whilst the winters take all the brunt of the time of the year when you can't clean it often.
 
Associate
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I get that, if I had access to another vehicle and not risk being stranded somewhere across the country then I would wonder if it's worth the effort.
As for the price, I think that's not necessarily true. Whilst I'm an absolute tyre snob and will only look at UHP tyres (despite me considering Michelin Cross Climates for a few hours, they're not exactly ditchfinders) I am a bit more flexible about wheels.

I've done this about 4 times already twice for an e92 with 17" wheels once for an A4 B8 with 18" and once for the F30 with 18" wheels) you can easily get a set of genuine OEM wheels off ebay for about 200-£300 net total cost at most. They might cost a bit more initially, but you can recoup another £100-£150 by sticking the part worn UHP tyres on ebay afterwards. I even managed to get the set of Audi wheels for a net outlay of about £50 that way. :) And you can get reasonably good looking ones, they won't be the uber popular syle 313 for example, but style 189 on eBay or 400M can certainly be sourced.

4x winter tyres in 17" or 18" non-staggered size are around £450-£600 fitted (and I'm thinking nice UHP tyres) so the total outlay is well under £1000. Last but no means least, I managed to sell the set of complete winter tyres+wheels for pretty much the price of the tyres (giving the alloys for free though) after one year/10k miles of usage. Repeated this 3 times as I kept changing cars.

It does involve a bit of a faff, but hardly more than half day of total effort - well worth it for the peace of mind it gives me. :)
 
Caporegime
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We don't need any advice from you sir crash-a-lot.

I do however get the feeling you have probably already tried your suggestion!

Perfect for snow-nuts! (TM)

Nah I haven't. We hardly get enough snowy days to be experimenting with tyre combinations. :(

I've driven in the snow 2 or 3 times ever, every time it has been in a red MX5. But two different ones. :p
 
Associate
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Perfect for snow-nuts! (TM)
Not really, since you'll struggle to move at all haha. Winter tyres meet that purpose very well though, so I've heard. ;)
Joking aside, having winter tyres on only one axle is incredibly dangerous. For FWD cars, it would be very easy to swap ends, whilst for RWD cars, you'll be ploughing ahead in the ditch at the first corner since the gripless summer tyres won't be doing much in terms of braking or steering.
 
Soldato
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Dead impressed with the PS4's today. On a drizzly morning with greasy roads they were absolutely planted during some spirited spells with @Steedie. Completely confidence inspiring.

Superb in the dry and I've never really pushed them in the wet (they've been on 6 months, Pilot Super Sports prior) but they really are fantastic.

Even with a bucketload of extra torque going through them.

Non RFT ofc.
 
Soldato
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I had my M3 on track a couple of weeks ago and the Michelin 4S tyres were nothing short of phenomenal - the grip and confidence they was far in excess of my expectations. I would say they are definitely better than the Yokohama AD08R's I had on my Mini, coupled with the fact that they aren't one trick ponies like the AD08R's are (dry road/track only with no ride comfort).

The Michelins resisted overheating much better (on an E92 M3 that is about 350kg heavier than the Mini and achieved much higher speeds around the track) and had better grip out of the corners. The only things the AD08R's had on the Michelins is a slightly crisper turn in and feedback, but tbh, this is because the sidewalls are very stiff and ride is bone crunching on the road compared to the Michelins. Oh and the AD08R's I had were super hard wearing considering they went through about 10 track days on the Mini! The Michelins wear well, but would probably only do half of that.

I'd really like to see what the Michelin Pilot Cup 2's could do on track but I don't have £800 to waste on a set of tyres
 
Soldato
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Just fitted a set of Goodyear F1 AS5's today. Only done 50 miles down the road since, but the difference over the Bridgestones that were on before was noticeable (they weren't running that low on tread either, I just knew I wanted something better soon, and a screw in one of them decided the timing for me).

Anyway, we will see how they get on over the next weeks / months. Hope they have some longevity in them.
 

mjt

mjt

Soldato
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Assy 5s are out? And there was me looking at Assy 3s an hour ago.. :o

-edit
Not available in 245/40 18 evidently. I'll probably go with Pilot Sport 4s anyway; the current Pilot Super Sports have worn extremely well so happy to pay a little extra.
 
Soldato
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I would have went for PS4's, but, to be honest, they are going on a 1.5 TDI Focus, ha ha. So thought PS4's might be overkill. Was considering Primacy 4's though, or cross-climates. But since I could get Asy5's, I thought why not?
 
Man of Honour
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I can't praise my Assy 3s enough. The ride is excellent and it's lovely and smooth on the motorway. I also rarely ever see the DSC light, I saw it all the time with the factory PZero fitted.

Hard to believe these are runflats.
 
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