Are 9-5's any good in snow?

[jmblack]

We have 2 95 estates. One we run with summer and winter tyres (17 and 16 inch respectively) and the other with all seasons. Would run with all seasons on both except one we take laden to France every year and I'd not fancy all weathers fully laden on motorway in 35 degrees 

Can only repeat comments above - the right tyres make ALL the difference.

[sgould]

I kept my Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme tyres on the car until June this year.  I drove to Italy at the end of April and planned on doing some mountain passes.  But there was not trouble running down through France on the rare warm days fully laden.  There shouldn't be, the tyres are W rated.  So 130 kph is half speed.

[Norfolk Jim]

Nearly put my winters on at the weekend but then I remembered I do have a kayak so used that (no only joking - that still sits in rack). Seriously though mine are 16" and I can't feel a great deal of difference to my summer 17" but I must admit in the rain my Avons out surpass the summer conti-sports which have similar tread on them.

I think the thing is confidence. When you have winter tyres on you inherently feel safer in snow and bad weather - if that makes sense? You actualy don't mind that fact you might have to drive on snow rather than worrying. It also helps you when you need to take evasive action when others totally mishandle their cars.

[jmblack]

My concern about winters in the summer is more about braking performance - the tests all seem to suggest a fair difference in stopping distances in summer conditions?

[Audax]

The difference in braking performance in hot weather is actually really really minimal and the winter tyres still have an edge in wet weather braking performance in summer over summer tyres. For the extra small percentage of distance I don't think it'd make a difference, certainly not when you compare winter braking distance on the two types of tyre. I'd only suggest you run winters all year around though if you do small mileages, if not the increased wear will cost you. In many parts of the world (like Canada) they describe what we'd called winter tyres all-season as In some places they usedstudded in the proper cold despite summer temperatures being pretty similar to what we have here.

As with all tyres there will always be a compromise with them in one aspect or another. In some ways I'd prefer to have better stopping in the wet in summer than in the dry. Out of the times I've really really needed to stop in summer it's generally when there has been a downpour and the roads are greasy, not when the sun is shining and it's dry.

[rhodgie]

9-5 estate auto and run normal Avon zx5's all year round and had no trouble at all last winter even when it was -21 degrees. think driving style and experience has a lot to do with it too.....  ie there's a time when to use the "winter" button to pull away and a time to just stick it in "D" and let it crawl forward.... 

Can't comment on using winter tyres cause don't have them but if you can afford them then its got to be an improvement....!!  certainly won't be any worse than ordinary tyres when it gets cold.

[sgould]

It would be interesting to see if a "good" winter tyre has better braking in summer than a budget summer tyre.

I have noticed a slight improvement in cornering stability with the summer tyres on - Goodyear Assymetric - than the winters.

And a small correction.  My current winter set is Vredestein at the front and new Nokian A3 on the rear.  Vredestein are fine, but currently very expensive.  And they are directional.  After my wheel bending pothole damage, I needed two new tyres, on one side!  All sorted by getting one tyre reversed, but more hassle than necessary, so I went for assymetrics that can be rotated more easily.

[Audax]

It would be interesting to see if a "good" winter tyre has better braking in summer than a budget summer tyre.

That would be interesting, mostly as the problem with cheap summer tyres is the wet weather performance. If we knew that along with performance of a cheap winter tyre vs. summer tyres would be very useful for making decisions

[sgould]

The new tyre ratings "sort of" give a guide for wet stopping.

[sgould]

Couldn't resist....

Here's the label for my Nokian A3 225/40 18 92V XL tyres.  (I noted that the 225/45 17 have a rolling resistance of G....)

[sgould]

Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme in the same size

[sgould]

Goodyear and Conti aren't showing the labels for their summer tyres "Legislation not in force until November" etc.......

But the Nokian Z summer tyre is here, again in 225/40 18 92W XL size

[jmblack]

Given experiences with Nokian winter tyres, I'm thinking about their summer tyres next time round. This suggests summer tyre stopping is better in wet..... surprised at the higher summer noise than winter!

[Audax]

Here's the label for my Nokian A3 225/40 18 92V XL tyres.  (I noted that the 225/45 17 have a rolling resistance of G....)

G Vs. C for a different size....

[AlanM]

In 1998 I got some winter tyres for my 900 8v turbo which worked so well that we had no snow for the next five years   .

Even though we live on the Pennines, I have not bothered since as the winters have not been too bad until 09/10 and 10/11. Last winter I admitted defeat and got some winter tyres for my wife's 19yo Citroen ZX, as we live at the top of a steep hill with a T junction at the bottom, not to mention a 100' drop at the other side of the wall.

They were a great improvement and on one occasion I drove sedately up the hill following in the tracks of someone who had obviously only just made it by going from one side of the road to the other.

There are details of Auto Express's winter tyre test here.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tyre-guides/36694/winter-tyre-test-2011