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Tyres, tyres, tyres. It's not easy!
Annual mileage with my YRV is now around 3000, our main car doing a good deal more.
The 175/60 R14 tyres on the YRV are more than half worn and are about 7 years old, beyond their 'shelf' life and thus due a change. I'm looking to replace them with all-season Vredestein Quatrac 3 185/55 R14 tyres.
I'm not attracted at all by the idea of a second set of wheels/winter tyres for cold weather.
All-season tyres used all year round would wear quicker and would better balance tyre life and their shelf life. However all-season tyres don't have the grip of summer tyres in warmer weather, nor the grip of winter tyres in the winter.
Has anyone got any useful experience on how far short all-season tyres fall below the performance of summer and winter tyres in their intended environments?
All season are absolutely
All season are absolutely fine in the UK, The grip in the summer is also good because the compound is normally bit softer.
All it means is that they will wear faster in these conditions.
But they tend to be noiser at speed due to the tread design.
Thanks for the comments guys.
Yes, the bigger tread gaps will make the tyres noisier for sure. The faster wear won't be a problem as the tyres will last at least as long as their shelf life at my annual mileage.
I've checked the gap between the inner tyre wall and the trailing arm and it's 10mm, so no probs in going up in size from 175 to 185.
With your positive comments bolstering Vredestein's sales patter I'll go ahead.
YRV Tony
Update
Ordered the tyres from -
www.clickontyres.com of Bradford.
Astounding price...£54.72 each delivered!
Despatched an hour after I'd placed the order and expected before the weekend.
My local tyre depot could not match the price by a mile, but will fit the tyres at £15 each all in.
YRV Tony
I use vredestein Quatrac all year long, there are perfectly OK.
In the weather like in UK there is no point to have two sets of tires - the winter has barely any snow, and during the summer you don't get really hot weather.
TBH I was using all season tyres when I used to live in Poland as well, and I was perfectly fine.
OK, all season tyres are not as good as winter ones in winter, but then, hey-ho, you have them ready for any unexpected snowfall. I bet that the fact that snow falls out of sudden in October or May (as it has place last spring in quite big part of Eastern Europe) and you have your summer tyres on your wheels cancel all benefits from having the winter tyres
So that's my opinion for all season ones in general. As for the Vredestein - I use them for years and I have to say they have really good value for money. And I haven't really noticed that they got worn any quicker - I had them on one axle only, as my tyres were slashed beyond repair soon after I bought my car and I have to say the vredesteins are in much better shape than original Yokohama, despite them being on front axle...
Vredesteins
Thanks Orys for your further endorsement of all-season tyres for the UK and Vredestein in particular.
Bob F on the forum is very keen on Vredesteins so that's where I started my search.
I'd actually bought the Quatrac 3 tyres before I came across the following test, which shows that indeed it was an excellent choice.
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2011-Auto-Bild-All-Season-Tyre-Test.htm
So far I've done only a few miles on icy lanes but the tyres felt very confident.
The Quatracs give a less harsh ride than my old tyres and the steering feels more alert, but these may partly be benefits of new tyres anyway. They are also quieter than my old tyres which surprised me a bit!
YRV Tony
tyres
Yeah, I have at the moment Quatrac 3 on my front axle and Quatrac 2 on my rear axle (since I had them before and they are still good). Tried them out during recent snowfall in Glasgow and I have to say the new ones are even better then the previous ones. I'll recomend them to everyone.
Modern tyres have more silica
Modern tyres have more silica added for emissions reduction as this now has to replace the older materials which are now classed as pollutants. New tyres have had to meet other more stringent emissions such as noise which has had to reduce for vehicle tyres for over a decade.
All season tyres are a good compromise as the new thing is selling winter tyres, which is often a scam for manufacturers to make more profits. Many people do not know that tyres have a 5 year life, and you can actually be prosecuted if they are over 5 years old, and most Police forces do not enforce these laws unless the vehicle has been in an accident, and an MOT examiner will not fail a vehicle with tyres over 5 years old as they are limited to tread depth, tread width, and any obvious cuts/bulges.
Winter tyres are often an expensive rip off unless you cover bery high mileages as most only work at 7 degrees C or lower, and using them at higher temperatures often causes them to overheat. This means changing tyres for winter, then storing the tyres through summer, so two lots of tyre changes and associated costs per annum. Then we have the storage and the 5 year life, so is it viable for most average users??? no is the answer, a good compromise is the choice you have made.