# New tyres for a Hymer Van 522 - used all year round



## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

It's about time the tyres were changed on our Hymer Van as they are getting quite tired :roll: now.

Reading various threads, there seems to be some good reason in going for winter tyres for all year use - we use the van when skiing, general all year round use, and often end up on wet grassy fields which (and certainly this year) end up muddy. The current tres are now struggling in wet grass so it's time for them to go.

We also do a fair bit of motorway/autoroute/autobahn driving so the new ones need to cope with highish speeds - we usually cruise at 70mph on open motorways.

I'm kind of torn between Toyo H09 and Conti VancoWinter 2's - so given the choice of these 2, what's the general conclusion out there for best one? Or are they so close that it doesn't matter?? Or perhaps another tyre altogether??

One final question - the Michelin Agilis Camper tyre - is it really suited for proper winter use?? 

Recommendations please!

ta in advance


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## aguilas389 (May 18, 2008)

Halfords are doing Michelin Agilis Camping Tyres 215/75 16R 113 Q marked M&S fitted including balancing and high pressure valves for £150 each.
Mike & Marion


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## UncleNorm (May 1, 2005)

Here's a thread from 18 days ago...

It's about Toyo HO9s, of which I now have a full set. The price was interesting... in November, they were £135 each; less than 3 weeks ago, they were £85 each!! You'll notice that they ARE M&S, and have a very good safety record.

TOYO TYRES through "mytyres.co.uk" http://tinyurl.com/bwosy72

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopict-128796-.html

As a PS, late last night, I emailed ToyoUK, stating my actual axle weights and asking for suitable tyre pressure recommendations.

The chassis sticker says FRONT 73psi REAR 80psi. 
Continental suggested FRONT 47psi REAR 61psi and 
TOYO advise FRONT 47psi REAR 54psi

Make of it what you will. :wink:


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

thanks for the replies so far

the main thing that concerns me about winter tyres for all year use is the wear on them given that we do a fair bit of motorway driving in the van

I'm coming around to M&S tyres rather than pure winter ones but I guess whatever I go with then only time will tell if it was the right decision!!


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

fatbuddha said:


> It's about time the tyres were changed on our Hymer Van as they are getting quite tired :roll: now.
> 
> Reading various threads, there seems to be some good reason in going for winter tyres for all year use - we use the van when skiing, general all year round use, and often end up on wet grassy fields which (and certainly this year) end up muddy. The current tres are now struggling in wet grass so it's time for them to go.
> 
> ...


I have written a bit about cont vanco winter2 tyres on here. They are absolutely brilliant, we had a full set on our last van. We now have Toyo H09 on the front and x4 Bridgestone Blizzak winters on the rear. Still good tyres but the vancos were amazing.

The only reason we did not go for the vancos was price, they were almost £200 each.

Paul.


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## UncleNorm (May 1, 2005)

Hi Paul. I'm intrigued by your £200 price for Vancos. 

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl shows only £95 or £96.

What am I missing? Have a look at the testing results for each tyre. Grip is strongly with the Toyo. Wear is marginally with the Vanco. :wink:


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

after much humming and ahhing I've gone with the Michelin Agilis Camping and hoping that the M&S rating will get me out of most mud and snow issues without the need for chains!!

£121 each for 215/75 16C 113 Q's from Camskill (incl VAT, excl delivery). local dealer will fit for just under £20 per tyre with HP valve - their best price came to £70 more in total for 4 tyres.

what put me off pure winter tyres was the wear issues for motorway driving. 

aguilas - my local Halfords were quoting £199 per tyre - you got a deal at £150!!


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

UncleNorm said:


> Hi Paul. I'm intrigued by your £200 price for Vancos.
> 
> http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop.pl shows only £95 or £96.
> 
> What am I missing? Have a look at the testing results for each tyre. Grip is strongly with the Toyo. Wear is marginally with the Vanco. :wink:


Hi Norm

Your link doesn't get me anything :?

I have just checked My Tyres and for our size(215 75 R16C) the continental vanco winter2 tyres I mentioned are £145.90 which is about right for this time of year, as winter approaches they get progessively dearer.

I have mentioned a few times on here that one day you price tyres on My Tyres website and the next day there can be a £50 price difference. Tyres are a commodity and they get away with whatever they can charge although I have never seen prices vary so much one day to another(at other outlets) as on My Tyres. Its like a numbers game with them, spin the wheel and see what comes up :lol:

Paul.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Winter*



fatbuddha said:


> after much humming and ahhing I've gone with the Michelin Agilis Camping and hoping that the M&S rating will get me out of most mud and snow issues without the need for chains!!
> 
> £121 each for 215/75 16C 113 Q's from Camskill (incl VAT, excl delivery). local dealer will fit for just under £20 per tyre with HP valve - their best price came to £70 more in total for 4 tyres.
> 
> ...


I run 7 vehicles on Winter tyres, have done all year for many years. Never had any issues.

Modern winters wear barely more than summers.

The only problem is, Winter tyres generally have two wear indicators. One, often referred to as a shoulder tread indicator that indicates limit of use for winter. The other a legal limit indicator.

But for me, anyone driving on tyres anywhere near the legal limit indicator are asking for trouble.

You hit a smallish puddle let alone a flood at 70mph with tyres near the legal limit and you are going to be in big trouble.

TM


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## Finola (May 5, 2012)

I replaced all four vancos for agilis campers last month just prior to a 3000 km round trip to southern France.

Nothing wrong with the continental having only covered 28000 km but for approaching their ninth birthday, running a main dealer As a career have seen the effects of age on tyres and won't trust them with heavy loads when that old. Plus the thoughts of a rear end blow out in a fully laden top heavy coach built with the family on board scares the heck out of me.

The Agilis felt a lot softer when off the wheel I.e. if you sat on the tread the sidewalls bulged a lot easier and this was backed up with the rears looking under inflated when on the vehicle (mind you it was probably as heavy as I would dare go) so I upped the rear pressure 10psi to 75 as the sidewall states the load index and speed rating are at 80 psi.

I also felt the tyre for heat whenever we stopped for the outward journey as it is heat that causes wear and damage on tyres, unfortunately it is also required for grip.

The difference in the drive is significant. Much quieter and much smoother over sharp jolts like bridge expansion gaps / concrete sections even with the extra pressure. Over all I would highly recommend them thus far.

As for the winter debate, these tyres have snipes in the tread blocks ( the little wavy lines) as per winter tyres, which are designed to allow the block to flex and warm up quickly for grip and squeeze compacted snow or mud from the adjacent block to self clean which is probably how they achieved the m+s rating. That said dont confuse winter tyres with m+s, winter tyres are meant to deal with low temperature through the use of different rubber compounds and heat inducing snipes, not nessasarily mud and snow which is down to tread pattern. They can of course be both.

My concerns over fitting winter tyres year round would be in the rubber compound depending on where or how you use the vehicle.
Fully loaded in the south of France on a concrete motorway at 130 kmph they're gonna get hot and wear rapidly.

Running around Scotland in our excuse for a summer? probably less of an issue.

My off road vehicles have always been great in the snow and mud on mud and snow tyres, before the winter tyre of recent years was even heard of in this country. Admittedly not many folk would consider a mud and snow pattern on a sports car like the rear wheel drive BMW or Mercs which is where the winter tyre really comes in.
On a motor home which would rarely travel above say 80 mph, mud and snow would be fine 'winter' rated or not.

One last 'food for thought' though - we are still awaiting the case law for an insurance claim for a vehicle involved in an accident in summer time on winter tyres. Watch this space.


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## Stanner (Aug 17, 2006)

Finola said:


> One last 'food for thought' though - we are still awaiting the case law for an insurance claim for a vehicle involved in an accident in summer time on winter tyres. Watch this space.


What about the reverse scenario, which is much more likely, an insurance claim for a vehicle involved in an accident in winter time on summer tyres?


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

Finola said:


> I replaced all four vancos for agilis campers last month just prior to a 3000 km round trip to southern France.
> 
> Nothing wrong with the continental having only covered 28000 km but for approaching their ninth birthday, running a main dealer As a career have seen the effects of age on tyres and won't trust them with heavy loads when that old. Plus the thoughts of a rear end blow out in a fully laden top heavy coach built with the family on board scares the heck out of me.
> 
> ...


thanks for this post - it kind of makes me think I've made a good choice with going for the Agilis Camping, especially as we are about to embark on a trip to the SW of France (French/Spanish border) which will entail autoroute there and back so lots of cruising at 70mph. I could go faster but I can see the oilwells running dry then :lol: so we tend to sit nicely on cruise control at 70 and get a decent return on fuel - it will be interesting to see what sort of mpg we get with these vs the Vancos.


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## coppo (May 27, 2009)

There's a big difference between conti vanco's and conti vanco winter2 tyres. In fact the difference is immense, the standard vanco's we had were useless on anything other than dry tarmac,I wouldn't have a set given, the winter ones are wonderful tyres, the best.

Paul.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*claim*



Stanner said:


> Finola said:
> 
> 
> > One last 'food for thought' though - we are still awaiting the case law for an insurance claim for a vehicle involved in an accident in summer time on winter tyres. Watch this space.
> ...


I would question many things.

Like if you were en-route to a ski trip in Europe where winter tyres are mandatory.

TM


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## Finola (May 5, 2012)

Stanner said:


> Finola said:
> 
> 
> > One last 'food for thought' though - we are still awaiting the case law for an insurance claim for a vehicle involved in an accident in summer time on winter tyres. Watch this space.
> ...


There is no reverse scenario in the uk. There are winter or all round, I'm not aware of a summer only tyre. If they exist I'm sure I'm about to be corrected.

It's a long drawn out debate as how many people fit the homalgomated tyres back on their vehicle? Vehicle manufacturers work in partnership with tyre manufacturers to design the specific tyre and suspension set up for new vehicles. A large proportion of the public then go and fit the cheapest available. Locally there's a spurge on part worn imports that where never intended for our roads or climate.

I wouldn't put it past an insurance company to loss adjust a claim for a vehicle on winter tyres in summer, particularly If the tyre played a part in the accident. The owner altered the specification of the vehicle and contributed to the accident through their actions.

Don't forget in Europe your none winter tyres are kept in tyre hotels over winter and visa versa over the summer months, often motorist have a second set of wheels rather than swapping the tyres on the rims.

The uk is just not geared to it and generally don't have the seasonal variation to justify it. I think the figure from memory for winter tyres is bellow 7-12 degrees. Theoretically you could be swapping tyres daily in a uk winter as we tend to hover around those figures.


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## Finola (May 5, 2012)

fatbuddha said:


> Finola said:
> 
> 
> > I replaced all four vancos for agilis campers last month just prior to a 3000 km round trip to southern France.
> ...


Disappointingly we got the same 19 mpg as we did on the vanco 2s, that said we where fully loaded with four bikes, canoe, roof box and three weeks clothing etc which we never did on the vancos.


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## fatbuddha (Aug 7, 2006)

*Re: claim*



> I would question many things.
> 
> Like if you were en-route to a ski trip in Europe where winter tyres are mandatory.
> 
> TM


they're only mandatory if you live there otherwise how can the local authorities check every single "foreign" vehicle coming through the place especially if they are in transit?? in Chamonix for instance when the snow falls it can be very deep but the main road to the Mt Blanc Tunnel is kept open as much as possible as it's a major transit route to Italy. Having had a place there in the past, the local gendarmes do not check vehicles coming through the valley for winter tyres. (the buggers do stop you for speeding though.... )

the key for ski resorts is to have chains as the police can, and will, stop you going further if you don't have them when it becomes mandatory to use them. I'm trusting that the M&S rating of the Agilos will be enough to cope with light snowfalls and for when rocking up on a caravaneige site which aren't always clear of snow and I don't want/need to put chains on. the Vanco's were crap on snow, wet grass, mud etc and I have no idea why I've left it so long to replace them.


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