Winter Tyres, Both Front And Rear Wheels?

[Atari Boy 11]

An odd topic for a sunny day, but my mind works oddly too.

On a RWD car, would/should one fit winter tyres to both front and rear wheels or just the rear?

I don't want to get caught out again so I cam going to start looking for them now.
If anyone has had a good experience with a particular brand I would welcome a steer (boom boom).

 

Edit: I assume 'tyre socks are rubbish, am I correct?

 

Thanks,

 

Jonny.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Atari Boy

[Anthony 1,000]

Yes, you should have them on all four corners. After all, you also need to steer and stop, not just get traction when accelerating.

 

You don't have to, but it's no different in effect to having some good tyres on one axle, and some Linglongnakas*itty remoulds on the other, and the resulting mismatched handling and grip levels that would give.

 

It's snow chains that you normally only put on the driven wheels.

[Atari Boy 11]

Thanks Anthony, wisdom as always.

This could be expensive....

[Anthony 1,000]

It's expensive as a one off cost buying the tyres and a 2nd set of wheels to mount them on, but the ongoing cost is minimal as you're obviously only wearing one set of tyres at a time, and thus your summer tyres will last longer as they aren't getting used (and thus worn) over the winter months.

 

Another option is to buy some all season tyres when the summer ones wear out - not as effective as having two different sets for summer and winter, but a reasonable compromise and you'll see a good improvement in the cold, winter months. Only thing is that you'll need to time it right, as you want a decent amount of tread left on them when you get to winter - the minimum recommended on my Michelin Alpins (which were good) was 4mm from memory.

 

Remember, winter tyres are of benefit over summers when it's cold (something like sub 9 degrees) not just when there's snow on the ground.

[Atari Boy 11]

Is there a benefit on reducing the size or the tyres? The rears in question are 265/35/18's.

I remember reading on hear that 205's are good in the snow as the tyres are quite narrow compared to newer cars.

[Anthony 1,000]

Narrow tyres are better on snow (and standing water) as they'll dig in easier rather than floating over the top (akin to aquaplaining I spose) but you'll have reduced grip the rest of the time using a narrow tyre on tarmac thanks to the reduced footprint - as an over-exageration, think what happens when you run a space saver over a standard tyre.

 

It's a trade off basically, although certainly I would have thought you could slim down from 265's a fair bit with minimal impact on grip, especially with smaller/narrower wheels to fit them to.

 

What do BMW recommend? Winter tyres are either a legal requirement or strongly recommended in many European countries, so there should be recommendations on sizes I would have thought.

[Atari Boy 11]

The car is a Merc, I just spoke to my local dealer, yes the do a winter package and keep the car on 18's for calliper clearance.
£1475 for 4 tyres and wheels, ouch.

[Batfink 201]

i wouldnt be buying tyres from a dealer!

[Atari Boy 11]

i wouldnt be buying tyres from a dealer!

 

It gets better, they can't even get them yet and he thinks the price will go up by the time that can. I agree, never get tyres from a dealer.

[Tom Fenton 1,528]

£1475 for 4 tyres and wheels, ouch.

 

Go and buy a cheap 4x4?!

[Anthony 1,000]

Ah, for some reason I thought you had a BMW 5 series. Still a Germanic barge anyhow

 

£1500 odd is a bit eye watering, although to be fair, going to the dealer for any wheel and tyre package is always going to be expensive. Sounds like an costly headache though if you need to retain 18's for brake clearance, as I'm guessing the tyres are going to be expensive regardless in that size, and used wheels likely neither cheap nor plentiful second hand.

 

It would be probably little more than a tenth of the cost to do on the 205 (probably £40-50 ish a tyre, and a few quid for some used 14" steelies from a 306 or whatever) such is the joy of modest tire sizes and wheels being ten a penny

[Atari Boy 11]

Ah, for some reason I thought you had a BMW 5 series. Still a Germanic barge anyhow

 

£1500 odd is a bit eye watering, although to be fair, going to the dealer for any wheel and tyre package is always going to be expensive. Sounds like an costly headache though if you need to retain 18's for brake clearance, as I'm guessing the tyres are going to be expensive regardless in that size, and used wheels likely neither cheap nor plentiful second hand.

 

It would be probably little more than a tenth of the cost to do on the 205 (probably £40-50 ish a tyre, and a few quid for some used 14" steelies from a 306 or whatever) such is the joy of modest tire sizes and wheels being ten a penny

 

Yes BM gone, I have even more of a barge now.

I can get new 16" steel wheels for my wife's Passat for £45 each. Tom's idea starts to become VERY tempting....

 

Go and buy a cheap 4x4?!

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/land-rover-series-3-diesel-plus-a-v8-petrol-as-spares-/111066377098?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item19dc126b8a

[TT205 42]

Pal of mine has a 5 series diseasal BMW with winter tyres - he says they are good in cold weather etc but still only marginally better than useless in snow

 

At that price I'd have a cheapie car for the snow

[welshpug 1,629]

Right now is THE time to go looking for winter tyres, I noticed a week or two ago that a 195 50 Alpin A3 (or 4) was down at about £70 IIRC, they were over the £100 mark each in October, they last bloody ages, stick them in the shed about the beginning of may each year covered up and they'll last you a few years.

 

much as a second winter hack is a great thought, you've got the added expense of a second vehicle, tax mot insurance, somewhere to hide the sodding thing...