Mega Winter Tyres thread, all questions here!!

okane1

Sitec wrote: »

If you were in a serious accident could your insurance be void for not having the correct spec tyres on the vehicle?

Technically speaking if your tyres do not have the correct speed and load rating it can void your insurance. However I understand it is overlooked here.

tossy

Sitec wrote: »

If you were in a serious accident could your insurance be void for not having the correct spec tyres on the vehicle?

If you have the correct sized and spec winter tyres then nothing is void

monkeypants

Is there a temperature range for winter tyres and would running them outside that range have any legal or insurance issues?

No1J

monkeypants wrote: »

Is there a temperature range for winter tyres and would running them outside that range have any legal or insurance issues?

I would say that there would be different temps for different tyres, too messy.
A good winter tyre would probably be better than a cheap summer tyre in Ireland all year round, most years.
Winters, November-March, up the country a couple of weeks extra each side, imo.

tossy

No1J wrote: »

I would say that there would be different temps for different tyres, too messy.
A good winter tyre would probably be better than a cheap summer tyre in Ireland all year round, most years.
Winters, November-March, up the country a couple of weeks extra each side, imo.

I ran my winters up until June of this year and the performed better than the crap federal super steels that were on the car when i bought it.

No1J

tossy wrote: »

I ran my winters up until June of this year and the performed better than the crap federal super steels that were on the car when i bought it.

"Yeah, what he said".:D

b318isp

I put the winters on yesterday - the morning temperatures are forecasted to head low this week. The weather has been so mild, there has been little justification to get them out.

Blazer

any opinions on Yokohama..
tyre dealer nearest to me has those in stock..
€210 a pop though (they're runflats).
I can get hte dunlop M3s ROFs for €232 from eire tyres

joolsveer

Sc@recrow wrote: »

any opinions on Yokohama..
tyre dealer nearest to me has those in stock..
€210 a pop though (they're runflats).
I can get hte dunlop M3s ROFs for €232 from eire tyres

I had Yokohamas on mine. They were original (from new). They weren't great on wet grip.

Can you fit run flats to any car?

opinion guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt-Dq2zkCTc

Blazer

joolsveer wrote: »

I had Yokohamas on mine. They were original (from new). They weren't great on wet grip.

Can you fit run flats to any car?

nope..your car has to be set up for it as suspension needs to be adjusted.
But honestly your better off on non-runflats..I've only gotten about 3 punctures I think in 9 years of motoring plus run flats are more expensive.

Blazer

Ordered 4 x dunlop M3 runflats for my car this morning from camskill.
Price €823 incl delivery compared to €932 from eiretyres.
Very impressed with Camskill's response to a query I had..within a minute they had replied back to me.

rafaetha

Hi everyone. Whoa, long thread! Sorry if my question has already been answered here before.

Well, I've learned already that it's very dangerous to put 2 new winter tyres on the front wheels, thanks to the videos some of you posted here.

But what about having the new winter tyres fitted on the BACK wheels and keeping the all-season tyres I have that are about 4mm now on the front? How would that work out?

b318isp

Assuming you have a front wheel drive car, what benefit would you expect from having them on the rear? Although not ideal, putting the all seasons on the rear and getting benefits in traction, steering and braking on the front would appear to be the better option.

Blazer

b318isp wrote: »

Assuming you have a front wheel drive car, what benefit would you expect from having them on the rear? Although not ideal, putting the all seasons on the rear and getting benefits in traction, steering and braking on the front would appear to be the better option.

winter tyres always go on the rear first..and you should only ever put them on in sets for 4.
Regardless of fwd/rwd/4wd winters/new tyres always on the rear.

CJhaughey

The reason that new tyres go on the rear first is that under braking weight transfers forward and a tyre with less grip can start to slide.
I know it sounds counterintuitive but that is the recommended advice from most of the major manufacturers.

rafaetha

Yeah I've seen the videos of tests with new tyres on the front, lots of sliding on wet and icy conditions. No doubt I'd only put new tyres on the rear.

Hence my question: In this recessive times and as it's not looking like I'll get any Xmas bonus this year (AGAIN :mad:), I was thinking about just getting 2 new winter tyres and getting them fitted on the rear. The 2 all-seasons that I have that are halfway through - 4mm - would be moved to the front axle.

Would it be benefitial to get winter tyres in my case, or should I stick with 2 new all-season ones?

b318isp

I'm aware of manufacturer recommendations, but the poster has all weather tyres that should afford some level of improved performance over summer tyres - but not as good as winters of course.

Also, the videos and recommendation to put them on the rear don't quite make sense. While I agree there is a risk of losing the rear of the car, the benefits from braking, low force cornering and indeed traction on the front IMO would be greater.

From my experience of our FWD cars, it is always the front that struggles - the rears don't have to do so much work.

Can anyone EXPLAIN (I know the recommendations) why they shouldn't go on the front, if that is the only choice? BTW, I would always recommend 4 winters, as currently fitted to my own car!

b318isp

CJhaughey wrote: »

The reason that new tyres go on the rear first is that under braking weight transfers forward and a tyre with less grip can start to slide.
I know it sounds counterintuitive but that is the recommended advice from most of the major manufacturers.

OK. This weight transfer will be proportional to braking force and brake balance. At increasing brake loads the bigger risk is that the fronts will lock up first, or if fitted with ABS, will reduce the overall braking ability of the car?

No1J

b318isp wrote: »

I'm aware of manufacturer recommendations, but the poster has all weather tyres that should afford some level of improved performance over summer tyres - but not as good as winters of course.

Also, the videos and recommendation to put them on the rear don't quite make sense. While I agree there is a risk of losing the rear of the car, the benefits from braking, low force cornering and indeed traction on the front IMO would be greater.

From my experience of our FWD cars, it is always the front that struggles - the rears don't have to do so much work.

Can anyone EXPLAIN (I know the recommendations) why they shouldn't go on the front, if that is the only choice? BTW, I would always recommend 4 winters, as currently fitted to my own car!

I'm with you on this, BTW 4 winters fitted also, I only live about 3/4 miles from the city center and about 2 miles on the school run so most of my roads will be gritted, but last year caught us all out.
The biggest problem I had was getting out of our estate/ice rink and 2 winters on the drive wheels would have done that for me.
I was not going to be going around corners at 30km/h just wanted to travel about 400m to the house at 5km/h.
I know what has been said before about loosing the back end due to over confidence and speeding up but I would not forget the fact that I only had 2 up front.
I am aware that some would compare only having 2 Winters on as similar to going running on ice with a cleat on 1 shoe and a clog on the other foot, but surely if your budget cant stretch to get all winters, 2 would be better on the drive wheels than none at all, just be very careful.

CJhaughey

b318isp wrote: »

OK. This weight transfer will be proportional to braking force and brake balance. At increasing brake loads the bigger risk is that the fronts will lock up first, or if fitted with ABS, will reduce the overall braking ability of the car?

If you lose the back end you go into oversteer which is harder to control than understeer.
You are assuming braking in a straight line, in many cases braking also involves some element of sideways motion and this is where the increased grip at the back provided by new tyres should help to stabilise the car.

Well hung

its not gonna snow, you all wasted your moneys.

Blazer

Well hung wrote: »

its not gonna snow, you all wasted your moneys.

investing in winter tyres is not losing your money...you're actually just front-loading the cost of your replacement set of tyres and prolonging your current set by upto a year depending on current mileage.

Mine for example was replaced in July so good for about another 15k, winters are brand new, will last me for 3-4 years so that's another 12 months or so that I save on my normal tyres.
Probably only 4 months for this set but I'll definitely save at least 8 months out of the next set.

So...it mightn't snow this year but we still get frost and ice plus I'm sure we'll see some next year or the year after

WestWing

Well hung wrote: »

its not gonna snow, you all wasted your moneys.

Once again, we are talking about WINTER tyres, not snow tyres.


Will it snow in the next few months? Possibly.

Will it be winter? Definitely.

b318isp

CJhaughey wrote: »

If you lose the back end you go into oversteer which is harder to control than understeer.
You are assuming braking in a straight line, in many cases braking also involves some element of sideways motion and this is where the increased grip at the back provided by new tyres should help to stabilise the car.

Braking should be mostly done in a straight line, especially in the snow.

I'm not convinced that oversteer is such a bad thing either. Steering into the skid usually is effective unless you lose it in a big way. With understeer you have less scope to correct -reduce steering input or to to scrub off speed. Granted, not everyone is experienced in correcting oversteer, but I'd also suggest that not everyone is experienced in correcting understeer either. Many people react to understeer by increasing the steering lock.

Don't get me wrong, I accept that having winters only on the front increases the risk of oversteer as you describe. However, my thinking and experience suggests that this risk is significantly outweighed by the benefit of improved grip on the front tyres that have to do the most work.

CJhaughey

b318isp wrote: »

Braking should be mostly done in a straight line, especially in the snow.

Yup but should doesn't always work.:D
I am only referring to the available advice that tyre companies recommend about fitting 2 tyres, Personally I always go for 4 tyres as I rotate mine so they wear evenly.
Let us know how you get on with the new ones on the front and the worn ones on the back?

No1J

CJhaughey wrote: »

Yup but should doesn't always work.:D
I am only referring to the available advice that tyre companies recommend about fitting 2 tyres, Personally I always go for 4 tyres as I rotate mine so they wear evenly.
Let us know how you get on with the new ones on the front and the worn ones on the back?

both b318isp and my good self are on 4 winters and agree with what you are saying but if I had to only put 2 winters on, knowing the way I drive/experience etc they would be on the front.

b318isp

CJhaughey wrote: »

Yup but should doesn't always work.:D
I am only referring to the available advice that tyre companies recommend about fitting 2 tyres, Personally I always go for 4 tyres as I rotate mine so they wear evenly.
Let us know how you get on with the new ones on the front and the worn ones on the back?

Yep, 4 is the way to go - as I have.

Shane732

Only noticed I have a sticky now.....

Success!!!

robbie_998

Shane732 wrote: »

Only noticed I have a sticky now.....

Success!!!

congratulations on becoming a man.