Volvo winter wheel packages

[Kev78]

Originally Posted by AngloScot

I,m sure I have read (in a few places) that people now use "winter tyres" all year round. If I recall correctly they seem to be fine in all weathers. Who wants to swap tyres or wheels every 6 months or so when the "winters" are perfectly fine. I could be wrong of course as I am no expert on the subject.

Bad idea. Emergency stopping distance would be increased in warm/hot weather.

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by Kev78

Bad idea. Emergency stopping distance would be increased in warm/hot weather.

Hmmmm dare I start talking about tyres again??? What the heck....

Winter tyres can be used all year round but keep in mind the following:

- There will be increased wear in the summer months. Whether this costs more than the price of changing the tyres over twice a year is debatable, depending on your mileage also. Remember you really must keep either all winter or all summer tyres on a car so if you need a tyre in July, make sure you can still get one.

- Although they are stickier, in warm conditions summer tyres will have slightly less grip in the dry. This is due to the tread block distortion that is caused by the siping (additional fine grooves) on the tyre. The loss of grip is typically i.r.o. 10% - ironically the greater the tread depth the more likely the loss of grip. In the wet conditions (standing water) winter tyres are usually still better.

The other thing that I have found is that some makes of winter tyre (Goodyear UltraGrip) tend to get noisier in warm weather. I have winter tyres all year round on my XC90 (Cooper Discoverer MS2's) and summer/winter on my daily driver.

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article...erformance.htm

My personal opinion is that if you are a gentle driver, using winter tyres all year round in the UK should be fine. If you are more spirited, or do a lot of motorway and/or heavy loads - having a set of winters/summer tyres or going to all season might be a better option.

[tem]

Originally Posted by Kev78

Bad idea. Emergency stopping distance would be increased in warm/hot weather.

Please submit concrete evidence for this statement.
As we live in a wet climate, the sips on the winter tyres shift more water than any summer tyre can.

tem.

[MikeIOW]

Take a look at http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accesso...t-blueresponse
There is the evidence for summer tyres being 117% better than the best winter tyre in the dry braking test.

Plenty more to read there too. Go ahead and research for your own eyes what actual testers have found, we are just a bunch of folk on a forum with opinions

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by MikeIOW

Take a look at http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accesso...t-blueresponse
There is the evidence for summer tyres being 117% better than the best winter tyre in the dry braking test.

Plenty more to read there too. Go ahead and research for your own eyes what actual testers have found, we are just a bunch of folk on a forum with opinions

Now I may have misread it because it's not very clear and I've had a few tins but I read that to mean the best winter tyre is the 100% benchmark and the Dunlop Summer tyre performed at 117.8% in the dry braking test (i.e. 17.8% improvement in stopping distance) ?? The results in all other tests favor the winter rubber or are too close to call.

Dry handling is close to call but I did used to notice the front end my my Passat used to get "vague" in warm weather with winters on.

[Considered1]

Like Nigel my Nokian Weatherproof all seasons have been amazing throughout the summer, where we still had a few massive downpours! and some very hot days, can't fault them at all. Been on about a year and I think I've done around 15,000 miles in that time and we still have 7mm of tread.. great for another winter and another summer then..

[Kev78]

Originally Posted by tem

Please submit concrete evidence for this statement.
As we live in a wet climate, the sips on the winter tyres shift more water than any summer tyre can.

tem.

It's no secret. Every tyre manufacturer states this. That's why we have summer, winter and all season tyres.

Even halfords website says the same, aswell as the AA website.

[80sman]

Nobody has mentioned the fuel economy aspect. I typically lose 2 mpg when I fit my winter wheels. I put this down to extra drag from the winter tyres.

My mileage is around 20k a year so it adds up. On my wife's car we have fitted goodyear vector 4 seaons but she only does about 6k a year.

[SuffolkBoy]

Originally Posted by 80sman

Nobody has mentioned the fuel economy aspect. I typically lose 2 mpg when I fit my winter wheels. I put this down to extra drag from the winter tyres.

My mileage is around 20k a year so it adds up. On my wife's car we have fitted goodyear vector 4 seaons but she only does about 6k a year.

This could be due to the lower temperatures in the winter months rather than the winter tyres.

Fuel consumption is always worse in the winter than the summer - I have driven Diesel engine cars since 1977 and have always recorded lower mpg over the colder months.

[SuffolkBoy]

Originally Posted by tem

I use Nokian winter tyres all year.
Usually sell the summers, as soon as I put the winters on.

Picking up a V90 tomorrow and by the middle of next week, I should have a set of Nokian WR A4's fitted.

tem.

I wanted to keep my Nokian winter tyres on all year round, but my insurance company, Ageas, would not insure the car if the winter tyres were kept on once temperatures rose above the threshold of 7C for this type of tyres.

I changed over to Nokian Weatherproofs instead, which were acceptable.

I couldn't change insurer because my renewal date is in June.