Four wheel drive/AWD

[Dozer]

Does anyone have experience using all-season tyres driving on Sheffield's hilly streets in winter?

 

Which magazine makes them sound appealing. Good grip summer and winter, don't have to change twice a year, and don't have to buy four-wheel drive. Too good to be true?

 

Which's favourite is:

 

 

Goodyear Vector 4Seasons

Average price £72

The Goodyear Vector 4Seasons should keep you mobile in winter and offers good wet grip on a straight and in bends and reasonable wet braking. It should give good mileage, with its first-rate wear rating.

 

It handles acceptably well, too, but dry braking falls short of what you would expect from a good summer tyre. It costs considerably more than a summer tyre of the same size and you may have to search around for them.

[Eater Sundae]

Does anyone have experience using all-season tyres driving on Sheffield's hilly streets in winter?

 

Which magazine makes them sound appealing. Good grip summer and winter, don't have to change twice a year, and don't have to buy four-wheel drive. Too good to be true?

 

Which's favourite is:

 

I fitted Vector 4 season tyres about 30 months ago, so they have now seen their 3rd winter. TBH, I did not see any real benefit for the first 2 winters, as I was never out and about in particularly bad conditions. This winter, however, I have been out in bad road conditions, and they are excellent, IMO.

 

Before I bought them (on-line from My Tyres, and fitted by Hawleys Tyres on Sharrow Vale Road), I had read some reviews on the internet. I found some in the European Press (Auto Bild, IIRC, but I've not found the same article, since). The best 4 season tyres in the tests were by Goodyear, Vredstein & Hankook. Each had some characteristics which were better in one make than another, but overall they were all good. Since buying the Goodyears, I can now see an advantage in the Vredsteins. The Goodyears are directional, so that once they are fitted to a wheel, then they must be fitted to the side of the car that they were first fitted to. This makes a spare difficult to carry. The Vredsteins, however, are not directional, they have an inside and an outside. So, once they are fitted to the wheel, they can be fitted to either side of the car.

 

The test I based my decision upon compared a group of 4 season tyres, a very good winter tyre, and a very good summer tyre. Several attributes were compared, eg hot and cold weather handling and braking, warm and wet handling and braking, icy/snowy handling, braking and traction etc. As I remember it, the general results were along the lines of:

 

In summer conditions, the 4 season and winter tyres performed to about 90 to 95% of the summer tyres. In winter conditions the 4 season tyres performed to about 95% of the winter tyres. However, the stand out was the poor performance of the summer tyres in winter conditions, where braking, grip and handling were typically reduced to around 60 to 70% of the winter or 4 season tyres. It appears that there is not a lot of difference between winter tyres and 4 season ones, but both differ a lot from the summer tyres.

 

Continental's UK website even suggests that if you are only going to fit one type of tyre, then the safer option is to fit winter tyres instead of summer ones.

 

 

I have not driven my car on full winter tyres, so cannot compare full winters to 4 season ones. However, I can confidently state that my 4 season tyres are much better in icy/slushy/snowy conditions than the previous summer tyres were. My 4 season tyres have the "snowflake/mountain" symbol, so are legally winter tyres in those European countries which require winter tyres. I have been VERY pleased with the improved traction and feeling of confidence when braking in winter conditions.

 

When I fitted them, there might be a slight increase in noise, but I'm not sure. If there is, it is barely noticeable. Similarly, I've not noticed any measureable change in fuel consumption (the on board computer thing does not show any obvious change). The handling feels no different - but I don't push it in normal conditions, so I'm not likely to notice.

 

When I was considering winter or 4 season tyres, I needed new tyres anyway, so 4 seasons were cheaper than a set of winters and replacement summers. Also, I will probably not be keeping the car too much longer, so the cost of an extra set of wheels would have been relevant. Even so, if the existing tyres had still got plenty of tread, then I would probably have bought a set of winters on steel wheels.

 

When I get my next car, I will probably invest in a set of winter wheels (I have space to store them, and the extra up front cost will be absorbed over the years), in preference to 4 season tyres (unless I bought a car which already had 4 season tyres, or I could get them thrown in as an option). However, I would use/recommend 4 season tyres in preference to summer ones. IMO, they have been a revelation, and a great safety improvement when the going gets bad and/or nearly impossible.

 

Edit. In comparison with 4WD, then I personally go for a 2WD car with suitable tyres, as being better value. However, if you are still fancying 4WD, then the best option would be to have 4WD AND suitable tyres.

 

Some up market 4 WDs also have safe descent systems which should be of benefit when driving down icy/slushy roads and being better at stopping at the bottom. I don't think 2WDs have this (but maybe some do, in which case hopefully someone will come on here to clarify).

[denomis]

Dacia Duster is good car. Dont be put off because its cheap.

 

I don't recon it will last 15 years though, impreza for me.

[Dozer]

Hi -- following up on this year-old thread, we did end up getting some all-weather tyres to see how well they would work in the snow. We figured if the tyres worked we could avoid having to get a four-wheel drive.

 

And then of course, just our luck, there was no snow this year, so we still don't know if they would work for us!

 

The only effect we've seen is that our gas mileage went way way down (almost halved). Because we had the car tuned at the same time, we're not sure if the problem was that the garage messed up the tuning, or if it was the new tyres.

 

We did expect to lose some fuel efficiency with the new tyres, but not this much. Does anyone with experience of all weather tyres know if this is normal?

 

Thanks again for all the advice!

--Dozer

[willman]

I've got winter tyres on my company car,it does handle differently but no great change in fuel figures based on records kept pre and post tyre change.

[geared]

You won't notice such a massive difference in fuel economy from tyres, the problem you have is whatever else the garage has done to the car.

 

If you've had it 'tuned' (It's a diesel right??) then it sounds like it needs to go to a better garage who know what they're doing and have a decent map put on it.

[AMR67]

What about a Skoda Yeti? not too big and VW reliability.

[Dozer]

Thanks for the advice -- nice to know it wasn't the tyres, so we'll take it in to be checked again.

 

FYI - it's petrol.

 

----

 

We did test drive a Yeti and you're right it's a nice 4wd. Would prefer if we didn't have to get a 4WD but if we did the Yeti looks good!

[Cyclone]

I'm a bit late to the thread, but the OPs reasoning for wanting 4WD sounds more like a reason to get winter tyres... I expect it's already been said though.

 

Edit - I realise now that it's actually a very old thread and the OP went for the tyres ages ago!

[geared]

Thanks for the advice -- nice to know it wasn't the tyres, so we'll take it in to be checked again.

 

FYI - it's petrol.

 

Then take it back and rip out whatever crap work they've done.

 

You can't just remap a petrol and expect any kind of significant gains, unless it's turbo'd.

 

Chances are they're a bunch of complete monkeys and have made a complete mess of the remap.