Winter tyres for 15" wheels

[amarshall]

Does anyone have any thoughts/experience re fitting winter tyres to an Excel with 15" wheels ?

My hand book only seems to mention them for 14" wheels but I think I'd like a set this year after experiences last year.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Have been thinking about this too. Need to go down in section size but maintain as large a diameter as possible so 185/60 -15 would be ideal for the snow as they have a 1.2% bigger rolling radius than 215/50s and the narrower section will mean more weight per square inch is applied to the snow to cut through.

If you want to still have some sort of driving experience when it's dry I'd go for the asymmetric patterns like the dunlop or toyos below and steer clear of the ultra cheap end that consists mainly of large blocks. the more sypes the better too like the Pirelli clearly shows. Prices and pictures all from mytyres.

And I'd fit them to a spare set of wheels and then at least you can easily swap them back if the winter goes really mild for long spells....and they are ready waiting for the following year.



dunlop winter response 185/60/15 M&S - 58 GBP plus fitting



Pirelli Snowcontrol 185/60/15 M&S - 61 GBP Plus fitting



Toyo snowProx 185/60/15 M&S - 56 GBP Plus fitting

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I also like the idea of those Toyota Supra 14 inch alloys fitted to the Excel narrow bodies. I wonder what they'd look like on a wide body fitted with 185/65/14 winter tyres (plenty available from mytyres)?

The good old seventies Eclat Sprint had 185s as std and was a lot of fun according to the Motor Test of the day so shouldn't worry about snowploughing a lonely furrow on 185s!

[Ozzy_UK]

i bought my Toyo R1-Rs as my winter tyres! lol! still proper track day compound and now the cars off the road
the R888s were excellent in the winter for a semi slick, the R1-Rs were amazing in the brief bit of rain they saw.

so this:


instead of this:


Oz.

[Ozzy_UK]

that said, the R888's were amazing on snow! lol! think it was the large flat surface area!

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Can't knock your real experience OZ but did you try actually try to climb a gradient in old compacted icy/snow with those tyres? Fresh snow is pretty grippy and even my lightweight Clan on 205 SP9000s will cope on the flat in fresh snow...but it don't stay fresh for long!

Last winter I watched loads of moderns fail to get up quite gentle slopes around Darlington on modern wide rubber (195 /205 is pretty std)..most were front wheel drive mind you! And once one had spun their wheels and made an ice rut it was curtains for the rest on ordinary tyres. Even 4x4 cars struggled on modern summer tyres....big SUVs managed OK though.

[Ozzy_UK]

Can't knock your real experience OZ but did you try actually try to climb a gradient in old compacted icy/snow with those tyres? Fresh snow is pretty grippy and even my lightweight Clan on 205 SP9000s will cope on the flat in fresh snow...but it don't stay fresh for long!

Last winter I watched loads of moderns fail to get up quite gentle slopes around Darlington on modern wide rubber (195 /205 is pretty std)..most were front wheel drive mind you! And once one had spun their wheels and made an ice rut it was curtains for the rest on ordinary tyres. Even 4x4 cars struggled on modern summer tyres....big SUVs managed OK though.

the jan snow this year i went to brands hatch for a track day, and it was snow'd off, the car was fine in the snow, was running the pressures about 22psi rear, 24psi front tho! (in prep for the track day...)
It got me home no probs!
Oz.

[amarshall]

the jan snow this year i went to brands hatch for a track day, and it was snow'd off, the car was fine in the snow, was running the pressures about 22psi rear, 24psi front tho! (in prep for the track day...)
It got me home no probs!
Oz.

Can't help wondering how deep and solid that snow was though Oz. We get proper weather up here in North Yorkshire

[Pete Boole]

I fitted Pirelli snow tyres on our Audi last year - the difference was astounding - I'm getting ready to put them back on soon(spare rims as Peter K suggests). I'd recommend them to anyone.

Pete

[amarshall]

Well - my Federals have done sterling service this year - kept the snow away nicely.

They'll be coming off as soon as a pair of new Avons arrives from Germany (struggled to get anywhere locally so ordered them from mytyres.com - hugely cheaper than anywhere else btw.). Just hope they arrive in time for the trip to Sweden!

[Lotus-e-Clan]

Angus, which Avons have you ordered?

[amarshall]

Angus, which Avons have you ordered?

A fresh pair of ZV5s to match the ones that came off in November. (205/50/15)

[fueltheburn]

Thought I would attach my problem to an old thread instead of starting a new one.
I am getting a set of 16" wheels. I want to keep the original rolling radius give or take. Living in aberdeen though, the chances of snow or poor weather is highly likely. After extensive searching there doesn't appear to be any all seasons tyres in the size 215/45/16
I did originally want to go for yokohama advan AD08 but read that they become damaged at temperatures lower than -10deg.C
I am therefore faced with a choice of summer tyres and likely to have to walk to work in the winter or buying a cold weather tyre that I use all year. I do not have room to store a winter and summer set of wheels and tyres.

The choice of tyre I see are the dunlop sp sportmaxx as a warm weather tyre at £120 a corner inc. fitting
Probably not ideal for the winter months though I guess?

or the Pirelli Sottozero as the cold weather tyre at £130 a corner + fitting
http://www.ears.co.uk/p2955/215/45-16-P ... 42mickss72

Any ideas??

[KevW]

In my experience running winter tyres in summer, like running summer tyres in winter, really does have an adverse effect on roadholding.

I store my tyres in the loft of my house.

[Lotus-e-Clan]

I'd go for a no compromise summer tyre to bring out the best in the car and find a way around storing a relatively cheap /narrow pure winter tyre even if it meant boarding-out the loft or buying a cheap small bike shed to put in the yard, or ask a relative or friend to store them for you.

Alternatively KwickFit do a fee-based Hotel service for the set of tyres you are not using and then swop them over each season (+ fitting charge).

I can't see the point of a summer /winter tyre compromise on a car that has a specially developed performance chassis .. you won't be having the best of any world.