Using summer tyres all year round

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Ricochet J

Soldato
Joined
29 Jun 2004
Posts
12,957
Hi there,

I'm going to buy some Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 summer tyres. They have good reviews and performed well under wet braking tests.

What are your thoughts about using summer tyres in all conditions incl wet roads, icy roads, snowy roads etc?

Thanks!
 
The best UHP summer tyres are excellent in the wet. They are, however, crap in ice and snow.
I'd be looking at F1A5s if getting Goodyears, not EfficientGrips.

If you want to ensure you can drive 365 days a year, get a spare set of winters or get some good all-season tyres. There are so many discussions on this topic; do a search.
 
I really miss having a set of winter rubber to throw on from November to March. In my experience it wasn't just the snow and ice where they had an advantage. General cold greasy winter roads they were more sure footed, I assume due to the sipes in the tread blocks.

I think the "Two days of snow" argument people use against them does somewhat under play the advantages of a set of winter tyres.

Horses for courses of course. If you don't drive un gritted roads or slippery country lanes then the benefits do rapidly drop off.

Also as I've just reminded myself on my company car. New summer tyres are massively better than ones with 3mm of tread left and rubber which has hardened to feel more like plastic (aka any Bridgestone over two years old...)
 
The question is why you are keen on getting summer tyres for such an mundane car in the first place.

I have summer yokos on mine and with the Mercedes AWD system they are a nightmare in cold and damp conditions as it creates a really pronounced crabbing/bumping effect at low speed.
 
Have done for years without issue. Mostly Continental Premium contact 5’s on my old Ford Focus and never once got stuck. Not sure how I’ll manage with my 428i non XDrive but it was snowing a few weeks ago and again managed fine on Pirelli Cinturato run flats.
 
Ricochet J said:
What are your thoughts about using summer tyres in all conditions incl wet roads, icy roads, snowy roads etc?
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Unless you live in Scotland or somewhere equally rural, then summer tyres will 99% of the time be absolutely fine.

I've never run anything other than Summer tyres on either of my cars and never had a problem, even when we have had snowy conditions.

Neither of my cars have a suitable tyre size for UHP tyres, so have mostly just been Goodyear Efficentgrips, Dunlop Bluresponse and similar.

Good driving technique in most cases outweighs the "I've got Winter tyres so I'm invincible" crowd :)
 
Armageus said:
Unless you live in Scotland or somewhere equally rural, then summer tyres will 99% of the time be absolutely fine.

I've never run anything other than Summer tyres on either of my cars and never had a problem, even when we have had snowy conditions.

Neither of my cars have a suitable tyre size for UHP tyres, so have mostly just been Goodyear Efficentgrips, Dunlop Bluresponse and similar.

Good driving technique in most cases outweighs the "I've got Winter tyres so I'm invincible" crowd :)
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Exactly this ^^ For 20+ years I've driven many hundreds of thousands of miles all over the UK in a company car that was only ever fitted with summer tyres with no issues. Providing you drive to the conditions it's absolutely fine. This obsession nowadays with having a spare set of wheels in the garage purely for Winter I find a little odd given the UK's climate. I guess if you've really got nothing better to spend your money on......
 
Ricochet J said:
They're going on a bog standard 2 litre petrol automatic estate @ 205/55 R16. I don't think the F1A5s come in that size - and I won't be aggressively cornering when I turn left into a Tesco.
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Braking distances are better as well. What about little Johnny running into the road between parked cars at Tesco? :p
 
coupe69 said:
This obsession nowadays with having a spare set of wheels in the garage purely for Winter I find a little odd given the UK's climate. I guess if you've really got nothing better to spend your money on......
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If you are happy to run steel wheels you really don't end up spending much, if anything, extra. Especially if you run a different tyre size, ie. I ran higher profile 16" winters which had the same circumference as my 17" summer tyres.

Obviously if you go and buy a new second set of OEM wheels from the dealer then it is a costly option, especially if you change cars regularly.

I've also never had "an issue" running summer tyres in the winter but I can still confidently say that having used both I'd much rather be on winters this time of year.

If I ever end up running my own car again I'll probably go the compromise option of all season tyres just because swapping them over at home is a bit of a pain.
 
what is the price difference between efficientgrip (which I'v used for last n years) and F1A5S, last egrip were circa £70 corner at f1auto,
when I had a irreperable puncture(uninsured),
if f1a5 is £100, you could throw the egrips away at 5mm too and get some new egrips that would on average, then give better safety.
 
coupe69 said:
Exactly this ^^ For 20+ years I've driven many hundreds of thousands of miles all over the UK in a company car that was only ever fitted with summer tyres with no issues. Providing you drive to the conditions it's absolutely fine. This obsession nowadays with having a spare set of wheels in the garage purely for Winter I find a little odd given the UK's climate. I guess if you've really got nothing better to spend your money on......
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Where I live there is a small slope out of the village. When I had "normal" cars with low profile summer tyres, I couldnt even get up the slope on icy, wintery days. Nothing to do with driving ability, just wrong tyres for the job. once the gritter/snow plough had come through around lunchtime then I could get out but its a bit late to be setting off for work at 12 noon?

The issue I find why its so polar is that everybody's answer is based on where they live. I dont doubt that in some parts of the country, esp down south, running summer tyres all year round makes perfect sense and is all you need. Which is why when there has been the odd few days when there has being a splattering of snow down south, it hits the news headlines as all the roads turn to chaos with cars stuck. We often look in amazement up north and pass comment thats a normal winter day for us, why are they struggling? But by then we are all running winter or all season tyres.

We own a tyre shop and November is our busiest sales month by a huge margin due to the number of all season/winter tyres we fit that month.

Have a look at the maps. if you live in the areas with the white or light purple colours then you will probably be fine

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/united-kingdom/articles/uk-extreme-weather/
 
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Greebo said:
Where I live there is a small slope out of the village. When I had "normal" cars with low profile summer tyres, I couldnt even get up the slope on icy, wintery days. Nothing to do with driving ability, just wrong tyres for the job. once the gritter/snow plough had come through around lunchtime then I could get out but its a bit late to be setting off for work at 12 noon?
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part of that equation too is the proliferation, for cosmetic reasons, of wide tyres, so the pressure is inherently less ?
 
jpaul said:
part of that equation too is the proliferation, for cosmetic reasons, of wide tyres, so the pressure is inherently less ?
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old cars with tram tyres were much better in the snow than modern low profile tyres, certainly. Ive seen a citreon 2cv overtake modern cars like Bmws and Audis who couldnt get up icy, snowy slops and the 2cv made it no problems.
 
Greebo said:
You should qualify that based on where you live. Some parts of the Uk have 76 days of snow per annum. Plus ice on other days.
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Greater Manchester.

I used to drive an mr2 turbo as a daily for 3 years come rain or snow, now a bmw 125i on Eagle ays.

Given the current work from home etc and outlook for the next year or two, unless you live in Scotland etc anything else is likely overkill.
 
Winter tyres weren't even a thing in the UK until about 2010 when we had unusually heavy snow fall. It was either regular tyres or snow chains, and I've never known anyone need the latter. Maybe if you've got a farm in the Peak District.
 
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