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I would like to change my tyres to winter tyres but have not got the room or the money to have a seperate set of rims so would using winter tyres in the summer pose any problems. I gather they maybe alittle louder. Looking at Dunlop supergrip 7+
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In normal shall we say "summer" use they would wear quicker and also would not have the same level of grip in "normal" wet conditions. Used in snow or icy conditions, fine, but an expensive liability in normal every day motoring.
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I agree, I have found (as one would hope) quite a difference when changing from winter back to summer tyres in March. The wider summer tyres on my alloys drive much better in warmer weather than the taller profile winter tyres, and when it gets really hot (30 degrees plus) the winter tyres start to wear very quickly.
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Vredestein do the quatrac2 and quatrac3 which are all season tyres, but apparently offer much improved traction in winter cnditions. I don't know about the Dunlop supergrips, are they full winter tyres?
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In Germany where winter tyres are a legal requirement they say that they are not as good in above 6 deg ambient wet or dry.
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I have a Mercedes and some owners on the Merc forum run winter tyres year round. Contrary to what you might think they say they don't wear any faster, but the cars are probably gently used - I imaging ragging it wouldn't be good for winter tyres!
I would have though timing of the wear would be the biggest issue - you want to be going into winter with a decent tread depth. Winter tyres have extra treadwear indicators at 4mm. They can still be run down to the UK 1.6mm limit but you wouldn't want to be going into Dec/Jan with the tyres at 4mm.
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Alarms me somewhat that government advice on winter driving posted in our local paper advises drivers of the minimum tread depth of 1.6mm. Totally inadequate for our current winter conditions in fact totally inadequate for our normal wet, mild winters.
IIRC tread limits in Germany are min of 3mm which makes far more sense.
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The "G" Wagens that are used at the Graz factory for the demonstration runs up the Shockel? mountain are on winter tyres.
we were there in the summer, I twigged straight away, some deadpan meaningless reply was given when I queried.
Simple answer was they gripped very very well on the steep bare rock that the route presented in places, we were able to stop & restart on what appeared to be a virtually 45 deg slope.
These tyres ( to me) felt sticky in the summer heat.
For this usuage the life of the tyres was not important
Plus
I have been told by a guy in the trade that for a vehicle doing low milage it is no odds, unless one wishes to drive like a lunitic in the summer.
Edited by dieseldogg on 11/01/2010 at 11:28
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Exactly, and that's why I run winters in the summer - if the tread is low I just keep the tyres on until they are done, then I have fresh new ones when they are needed.
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Plenty of people here in Sweden run the same (winter) unstudded tyres all year round without any apparent problems. For winter tyres between December and April they require min 3mm tread depth. So if you do have studded tyres (not allowed during the summer) and they're getting low at the end of the winter, then it's fairly common to get out the pliers and pull out the studs, then run them over the following summer.
On my winter car they're about 4/5mm at the moment, and the summer tyres are about 2mm. So come April I'll be getting out the pliers and we'll see what happens, but I suspect not much.
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I seem to recall Nokian WR is regarded as suitable for all year use, wouldn't do it meself they're too expensive to subject them to fast wear rates in hot weather, seems a waste...agree with Vred Quatrac 2 or 3 suggestion, they are designed for all year use.
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