All year Winter Tyres

[purplefleece]

I live in a rural area and my 2018 Prius Hybrid slips easily on mud and ice. I’m thinking the car would have better road and verge grip with year round winter tyres. Any experience or recommendations for using all year winter tyres? 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Do you mean 'all season tyres'? Winter tyres will wear quicker in the summer and are not the best for year round use in the UK.

For example: https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/browse-tyres/by-season/allseason

https://www.goodyear.eu/en_gb/consumer/why-goodyear/vector-4-seasons.html

 

 

[Stopeter44]

Get the best you can afford. Check out All season tyres

Many on here swear by Michelin Crossclimate 2 or Goodyear Vector. I have the Goodyears on my Yaris but have yet to try them on snow.

There a several topics on the forum with comments from long term users.

[TonyHSD]

Goodyear All season or Michelin all season all weather tyres are good choice, you can’t go wrong, great all year around for the uk climate. Summer tyres that are most popular here usually are not the best when temperatures goes down below 7C° or on muddy and greasy roads. V shaped thread pattern is what you need to look for, these are also softer and quieter than standard summer ones. 

[purplefleece]

Thanks all. This is really helpful. Clearly I’ve got something to learn about this. Snow and ice and mud common too where I live to have just summer tyres. 

[Anthony Poli]

I can recommend the Michelin crossclimate tyres, performed well in all weathers and didn't impact the economy either.

They claim they are still good down to 1.5mm

[purplefleece]

I’ve ordered Michelin Cross Climate 2 tyres. Thanks all. 

[TonyHSD]

5 hours ago, purplefleece said:

I’ve ordered Michelin Cross Climate 2 tyres. Thanks all. 

Good choice 👍 

[Rosgoe]

I would suggest you change all 4 as you will have loads of grip on the front( assuming they are going on the front) and not that much on the rears I know someone who just put them on the fronts although they were winter tyres and the back end slid out on a roundabout that had not been gritted. 

[Stopeter44]

14 minutes ago, Rosgoe said:

I would suggest you change all 4 as you will have loads of grip on the front( assuming they are going on the front) and not that much on the rears I know someone who just put them on the fronts although they were winter tyres and the back end slid out on a roundabout that had not been gritted. 

Yes, I agree. I have friends that live in the lowlands but regularly go to the Uplands to visit family, I am surprised by their choice to only have the winters on the front!

[purplefleece]

Yup four ordered. 

[Rosgoe]

1 minute ago, purplefleece said:

Yup four ordered. 

👍

[TonyHSD]

39 minutes ago, Stopeter44 said:

Yes, I agree. I have friends that live in the lowlands but regularly go to the Uplands to visit family, I am surprised by their choice to only have the winters on the front!

That’s worse than having all 4 summer tyres👍

[Cyker]

I'm pretty sure it's also illegal in this country! (Having mixed sets of tyre types that is)

I think the Crossclimates are a good choice. They aren't particularly good on mud, but have just enough winter performance for the relatively milder winters we tend to have, and can still work in summer almost as good as a summer tyre. As you get further north where there tends to be heavier snowfall, 'normal' all season tyres like the Vector 4Seasons and such may be a better choice as they tend to have better winter performance due to more siping (little cuts n the tread that help to 'grab' snow) but also sacrifice more summer performance vs the Crossclimates, which don't suffer from the softer compound wearing in heat as much as more winter-biased all-seasons..

 

 

[TonyHSD]

Or perhaps that🤫🤣 

[ian rooke]

Hi i think that the cross climate 2 is the name of the tyre not the number of tyres

[Stopeter44]

On 1/7/2022 at 7:21 PM, Cyker said:

I'm pretty sure it's also illegal in this country! (Having mixed sets of tyre types that is)

Might be for the UK, I don't know, but I checked on Michelin.fr and although there are many regions in France where winter tyres are required between 1/11 and 31/3, they law doesn't state how many! (Kind of like the law that says crash helmets have to be worn when riding a motorcycle but doesn't say where it should be worn - I did a quick check, for France, and couldn't find where it says that it has to be on the head)

[valmiki]

I've been running my Prius (and the wife's Auris) on Michelin Cross Climates for many years now. They are a little more expensive but if you check between suppliers you can make some good savings (especially ATS) who offer cash back etc. They also last longer, which helps justify the additional cost.

[FROSTYBALLS]

4 minutes ago, valmiki said:

especially ATS

ATS are owned by Michelin (as are Black Circles).

[valmiki]

10 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

ATS are owned by Michelin (as are Black Circles).

That'll explain it! Their current offer is £50 off a set of 4 and an Amazon Echo Show 5 (whatever one of those is, straight on eBay!)

[johalareewi]

On 1/7/2022 at 6:21 PM, Cyker said:

I'm pretty sure it's also illegal in this country! (Having mixed sets of tyre types that is)

Only if mixing cross ply and radial tyres (can you still get cross ply?).

I had a blowout last month and Toyota rescue took me to nearest tyre fitter with a tyre in stock who could fit right away. I now have a summer tyre and an all season tyre on the rear.

[Stopeter44]

2 hours ago, johalareewi said:

I had a blowout last month and Toyota rescue took me to nearest tyre fitter with a tyre in stock who could fit right away. I now have a summer tyre and an all season tyre on the rear.

Are you going to leave it like that ?

[Cyker]

Huh, you're right! To my surprise and mild shock there is no law about it, and apparently you can even mix radial and crossply as long as they're not on the same axle and the crossply is on the fronts...

A surprising omission in the road rules!

Everyone says it is dangerous because of the different grip levels tho', and it gives an opening for insurance companies to get out of covering you in the event of an accident...

 

 

[Kojac]

I too went for the CrossClimate-2 range - on all corners.

Costco often do offers as well on these tyres, and I was very impressed by the proficiency & skill of their fitters. 
 

The chap I met was Michelin trained. The job was done - "By the book".