I think unless you have the ability, tools, spare cash and space to buy, store and fit a set of winter wheels and tyres then all-seasons seem to make more sense.
**Unofficial Tyre Thread**
- Thread starter rossk26
- Start date
Tools wise isn't too bad - jack/chocks, breaker, ideally calibrated torque wrench, depending on vehicle and surface it can be quite a quick process or more time consuming - if you've got a hard flat surface and a trolley jack can be in and out much more easily - especially if a vehicle you can jack up at one point and do both wheels on an axel at once (though I'm not a fan of that method personally).
Man of Honour
I'm looking at putting some Eagle F1s Asym 6 on my VRS estate. They seem to have slightly better overall capability than the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 - any other tyres I should consider?
Man of Honour
That's kinda what I thought. It's a daily, I don't do track days, but do have fast flowing b-road where I live so just something that can handle that, brake well, works well in the wet.
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I'm taking guidance from here - as you say those 2 tyres are closely matched.
I had the same decision to make at the end of last year. I spend a lot of time in places like the Lakes or Scotland over winter and more than once, I've had to dig my car out of a car park as I'd struggled to get out with summer tyres. Ideally, I'd have two sets, but storage would have been a pain so all seasons were a good compromise.
There was a good offer on Goodyears, so I bit the bullet and changed to the V4S and they've been fantastic. For me, they've been absolutely fine over the summer and I've never once felt they've lacked grip. With our unseasonably warm winter, I didn't get much chance to properly test them out, but the couple mornings I did have to deal with snow, they were great and so much more confidence inspiring. I don't think I'd go back to standard summer tyres now.
Man of Honour
Soldato
They look good. My biggest gripe with the PS4S is the rubbery feel of them on turn in.
Soldato
I've not measured but I'd imagine they are the same. They don't look quite as meaty as some other tyres.
First couple of weeks with the SC7's have been positive though. They seem lovely and quiet and feel positive.
The Falken Wildpeaks I've got for my truck are crazy - even with a few thousand miles on them they look new - can't remember the starting tread depth but they are pretty meaty and have barely gone down at all. Bit different story to the average car tyre though.
New tyre day for the R26 tomorrow. SC7's to match the pair already on there and replace the Pilot Sport 4's that like to fall apart on the shoulders. The SC7's have been great on the rear so looking forward to having them on all corners!
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Hi team - I’m a total noob at all things cars so please be kind.
My wife has returned from the tyre shop and they’ve put on some of these on our A1:
From a quick look, these appear to be ‘summer tyres’. Hmm.
From reading around these seem to be ‘not ideal’ in the winter. Is this just marketing bull? Or will we need to change them? Asking on here as Google just gives a mess of info.
I can’t give my wife a hard time as I wouldn’t have thought to check either. I don’t want to be a problem customer… nor can I tell if this is a legit non issue!
Many thanks.
My wife has returned from the tyre shop and they’ve put on some of these on our A1:
From a quick look, these appear to be ‘summer tyres’. Hmm.
From reading around these seem to be ‘not ideal’ in the winter. Is this just marketing bull? Or will we need to change them? Asking on here as Google just gives a mess of info.
I can’t give my wife a hard time as I wouldn’t have thought to check either. I don’t want to be a problem customer… nor can I tell if this is a legit non issue!
Many thanks.
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I suspect the general opinion you'll get is that they're 'not ideal' at any time of the year.
Being a 'summer tyre' is not necessarily going to be a disaster in the UK, if that summer tyre isn't crap (or super performance/track focused) in the first place. You don't necessarily need winter tyres to get through a UK winter, unless you're in the highlands of Scotland or we happen to get 3ft of snow - where arguably even with winter tyres, you'd be better off not driving and risking some idiot on half bald summer tyres crashing into you.
Audi have blessed you with an awkwardly expensive tyre size unfortunately, which I guess is why you've ended up here, because a quick look on BlackCircles suggests anything with a name i'd consider using is over £100 per tyre.
Personally, i'd not want to be running 'RoadX' tyres, whatever the **** they are and would probably replace them with something like Hankook Kinergy 4S if you wanted a decent reassuring all season, mild snow capable tyre that won't completely break the bank. If you wouldn't venture out in the snow/ice anyway, then a Hankook Ventus Prime or Kumho Ecsta would probably be OK for the usual British wet weather but they're a similar sort of price anyway.
Being a 'summer tyre' is not necessarily going to be a disaster in the UK, if that summer tyre isn't crap (or super performance/track focused) in the first place. You don't necessarily need winter tyres to get through a UK winter, unless you're in the highlands of Scotland or we happen to get 3ft of snow - where arguably even with winter tyres, you'd be better off not driving and risking some idiot on half bald summer tyres crashing into you.
Audi have blessed you with an awkwardly expensive tyre size unfortunately, which I guess is why you've ended up here, because a quick look on BlackCircles suggests anything with a name i'd consider using is over £100 per tyre.
Personally, i'd not want to be running 'RoadX' tyres, whatever the **** they are and would probably replace them with something like Hankook Kinergy 4S if you wanted a decent reassuring all season, mild snow capable tyre that won't completely break the bank. If you wouldn't venture out in the snow/ice anyway, then a Hankook Ventus Prime or Kumho Ecsta would probably be OK for the usual British wet weather but they're a similar sort of price anyway.
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Never even heard of them before, the reviews seem to have consensus that they are average in the dry and poor in the wet though (which would have me taking them straight off personally - even budget options from Avon and Falken handle the wet OK). The word dangerous comes up in like 80% of the reviews...
Summer tyres aren't necessarily bad as such in UK winters - I've done 10,000s of miles on Bridgestone Turanza t005s in all kinds of conditions from roughly -10C through to ~40C and they even did OK even on mild amounts of ice only struggled with snow and handling only really noticeably dropped off around freezing and was still acceptable. Where the budget ones have a problem is that handling will become sloppier once temperatures drop into single digits a lot sooner than better brand summer tyres even.
Personally I wouldn't lean towards all-seasons unless you either do a lot of mileage all year around or like myself live in a relatively rural area with a job and lifestyle which means you can be out and about at all times of the day and night and all weathers - a lot of the time you won't need them but that like 5% of the time you do there is no substitute.
Summer tyres aren't necessarily bad as such in UK winters - I've done 10,000s of miles on Bridgestone Turanza t005s in all kinds of conditions from roughly -10C through to ~40C and they even did OK even on mild amounts of ice only struggled with snow and handling only really noticeably dropped off around freezing and was still acceptable. Where the budget ones have a problem is that handling will become sloppier once temperatures drop into single digits a lot sooner than better brand summer tyres even.
Personally I wouldn't lean towards all-seasons unless you either do a lot of mileage all year around or like myself live in a relatively rural area with a job and lifestyle which means you can be out and about at all times of the day and night and all weathers - a lot of the time you won't need them but that like 5% of the time you do there is no substitute.
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Hmm thanks both.
We do very little mileage and close to nil motorway driving - 6-8K a year… 70k total for a 9 year old car. We’re also down south, away from terrible weather, in an urban area with a daily 20 min commute.
With all that considered, I suppose it doesn’t matter too much. Very unlikely that we’ll be driving in icy conditions aside from the odd ‘snow day’.
The annoying bit is I really don’t care about ‘paying for the best’ - I’d rather be safe and be done with it.
I think we ended up paying £360 all in for four tyres swapped. We’re only just around the corner. I don’t really think they’ll be too keen with us wanting to ‘swap them’… bah!
Will mull it over…
We do very little mileage and close to nil motorway driving - 6-8K a year… 70k total for a 9 year old car. We’re also down south, away from terrible weather, in an urban area with a daily 20 min commute.
With all that considered, I suppose it doesn’t matter too much. Very unlikely that we’ll be driving in icy conditions aside from the odd ‘snow day’.
The annoying bit is I really don’t care about ‘paying for the best’ - I’d rather be safe and be done with it.
I think we ended up paying £360 all in for four tyres swapped. We’re only just around the corner. I don’t really think they’ll be too keen with us wanting to ‘swap them’… bah!
Will mull it over…
don't forget the only thing between you and hitting that silly kid that suddenly ran out is your tyres (and reflexes)
it doesn't matter how good the brakes are if the tyres don't grip