# Winter tyres for year round use?



## Scattycat (Mar 29, 2011)

What is the difference between winter tyres and summer tyres? 

Is it tread depth and pattern or are winter tyres made from a different compound?


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

Yes, yes and yes.
I keep winter tyres on my van all the time as I can't afford to keep another set. Also my mileage is relatively small.

I don't notice any difference in the ride or noise but I do notice the wider tread picks up gravel and stones from car parks and lanes. They then fly out with a bang after picking up speed.

Ray.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*winters*

put the following into the search box

+Winter +Tyres +Teemyob

I have written pages and pages of replies to the same question.

In Short.

Different tyre compound
Different tread with a shoulder tread
Yes you can use them all year

TM


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

Have a read of this thread about winter and summer tyres.

There is no way that I would run winter tyres in the summer months due to the loss of performance, although other people will do. I am particularly concerned about the increase in braking distances and as I said in a previous thread, if I need to make an emergency stop in my +4 ton van then I want to know that I am going to stop as quickly as possible.

I put winter tyres on our people carrier in November generally and keep them on until March. There is no doubting that the performance of the winter tyres in bad road conditions, particularly snow, ice and colder conditions is vastly improved. However the trade-offs are poorer performance in temperatures above 7c or so, increased road noise, quicker tyre wear and worse mpg. I swapped my summer tyres back on at the beginning of this week and did a 500 mile round trip which I do once a month or so and my fuel economy was 2 - 3 mpg better than it has been on the last 3 trips with the winter tyres on. So saying I will put them back on come next winter.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

peribro said:


> I am particularly concerned about the increase in braking distances and as I said in a previous thread, if I need to make an emergency stop in my +4 ton van then I want to know that I am going to stop as quickly as possible.


If ALL summer tyres performed better than ALL winter tyres in ALL conditions that statement might have some validity.

But they don't.

Some summer tyres MAY perform better than some winter tyres under extreme conditions, but we don't get enough extreme conditions to make it worth worrying about.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*agree*



Stanner said:


> peribro said:
> 
> 
> > I am particularly concerned about the increase in braking distances and as I said in a previous thread, if I need to make an emergency stop in my +4 ton van then I want to know that I am going to stop as quickly as possible.
> ...


For the UK, I agree 100% with that statement.

But as I said in one of my post re "getting stuck" recently. Some Big Brand summer tyres are just no good at anything. So many of you may be running around on summer tyres in the belief that you are getting good performance from them.

TM


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## Spacerunner (Mar 18, 2006)

I've just started to use winter tyres to get more grip on wet grass . Fist thing I've just noticed is that the tyres don't scrabble to get up wet plastic ramps .
Only done about forty miles on them so far so its too early to get give a full. verdict, but so far so good .
Big bonus was that they only cost £78 each.


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## Scattycat (Mar 29, 2011)

I asked the question based on my motorcyling days

In my opinion, Soft tyres in the winter because they give better performance in cold conditions as they warm-up quicker and therefore give better adhesion, and harder tyres in the summer, they'll warm-up fairly quickly anyway because of ambient temperatures but being harder give better longevity.

Yes, you can use the softer tyres all year round but in the MH I do most of my touring in the summer months, and on past experience with the bikes when I've had softer tyres on for the warmer summer months the longevity drops by upto 50%. 

With the cost of tyres it's worth considering whether it's worth using winter tyres all year for the odd occasions you might get stuck on soft ground in the summer when most folks do the most mileage. 

In my opinon it's better to be aware of where you park and invest in a set of scrabble boards.

As I've said before, we're new to this game so I'm quite prepared to be shot down by the more experienced contributors.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Bikes*

I can understand your experience with bikes.

But with a motorhome, completely different set of circumstances and factors.

TM


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## rogerblack (May 1, 2005)

As I have posted before, the difference now that I have fitted TOYO H09 M+S (mud & snow) marked tyres is significant. The point about grip on summer tyres changing as the tread wears is valid, but even when they were new we had real problems with grip even on short wet grass on a slight incline, to the point where Mrs B became almost neurotic about pitching other than on hard standing. 

I was looking at getting something like 4x4 treaded tyres until I was advised on here to look at H09s and since fitting them have not had a grip problem plus the obvious benefits in the snow we've had in Scotland and even down south the last couple of winters, since we use our 'van all year round.

Early indications are that they do possibly wear a bit faster but with our mileage we'll probably still get the same five years out of them and the design of the tread is that they should still continue to offer better grip on difficult conditions.

As previously mentioned, we still drive onto the Monster Mats to prevent settling on soft surfaces as a precaution as well as when using levellers.


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## Cherekee (May 1, 2005)

Hi,

I have run for the last 3 years on Winter tyres and done 20k, with I would reckon another 15 k of usable legal tread left or my 5 years on the tyre. I am getting 29 mpg the ride is a lot quieter then the camping tyres and have never got stuck in a field in summer. The tyre tests are ok on a test track using the same conditions and drivers but if you are a driver that has slow reactions then the stopping distance claims are not an issue in my opinion. There are so many variables, tyre pressures, speed, road conditions, load at the time. Not worth worrying about.

Alan


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## spatz1 (May 19, 2011)

i ve been looking at tyres just in case and if this is the camping tyre we re all using it doesnt fair too well in tests....

http://screencast.com/t/djjEkTvJrH


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

spatz1 said:


> i ve been looking at tyres just in case and if this is the camping tyre we re all using it doesnt fair too well in tests....
> 
> http://screencast.com/t/djjEkTvJrH


Exactly - if you compare winter tyres with the best summer tyres there MAY be a "loss" of one particular index of performance, but if you compare winter tyres with poor summer tyres it may be a loss of life.

People forget that "summer" tyres do not have to meet any standards whatsoever, dry grip, wet grip, cold grip, warm grip, nothing, nowt, zilch, nada. 
To get a snowflake rating winter tyres MUST meet a minimum standard.

There endeth the lesson. :wink:


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

Stanner said:


> Some summer tyres MAY perform better than some winter tyres under extreme conditions, but we don't get enough extreme conditions to make it worth worrying about.


Other way round, I think - certainly in England. If you look at historic weather and temperature charts you will see that "extreme" conditions are those that suit winter tyres. In other words summer tyres are better suited most of the time in this country.

ps unless you do most of your driving during the winter months and / or in the early hours of the morning - which most motorhomers don't, I dare to suggest.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

peribro said:


> Other way round, I think - certainly in England. If you look at historic weather and temperature charts you will see that "extreme" conditions are those that suit winter tyres. In other words summer tyres are better suited most of the time in this country.


I most certainly do not agree with that observation - my observation is that we get far more "winter" conditions than "summer".



> ps unless you do most of your driving during the winter months and / or in the early hours of the morning - which most motorhomers don't, I dare to suggest.


In my experience many motorhomers DO - especially in the early morning - certainly many of the ones who use aires and stellplatzes seem to be very keen to make an early start on cold tyres. :lol:


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Camping XC*



spatz1 said:


> i ve been looking at tyres just in case and if this is the camping tyre we re all using it doesnt fair too well in tests....
> 
> http://screencast.com/t/djjEkTvJrH


Thos are the Old Michelin XC camping tyres that I have been slating for years. Have mentioned them many times on MHF>

The new ones are much better but I think you can buy equal if not better quality for a lot less money.

TM


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## peribro (Sep 6, 2009)

Stanner said:



> I most certainly do not agree with that observation - my observation is that we get far more "winter" conditions than "summer".


Perhaps your observation is based on your experiences in Cambridgeshire which may well be colder than other parts of England. However, you will see from the Met Office charts here that even in Cambridge the average minimum temperature between 1971 and 2000 never fell below 7C in 5 months of each year and that there wasn't a single month when the maximum daily temperature was below 7C.



Stanner said:


> In my experience many motorhomers DO - especially in the early morning - certainly many of the ones who use aires and stellplatzes seem to be very keen to make an early start on cold tyres. :lol:


Aires and stellplatzes in England? :?


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