350ash Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 The snow has finally reached the midlands - I woke up this morning to a few inches of snow. Unfortunately I'd left my car at work the day before and took a train home from the xmas party so I needed to go collect it and bring it the 10 miles back home. As my zed is my only car and I knew I'd need to use it over winter I had some winter tyres fitted a month or so ago. Today was the first time I've had to test them properly. When I reached the car, in a very snowy deserted car park, I was amazed at just how much grip it's got in these conditions. The drive home was fine, accelerating, steering and braking were all very impressive on some pretty poor road conditions. If anyone needs to use their zed over the winter then I can't recommend winter tyres highly enough! Returning to Leamington there was/is about 3-4 inches of snow and my road is completely untreated, I just drove to the end and pulled into a parking space without any trouble, which is more than can be said for a Mito, Avensis and Vectra all struggling near-by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris`I Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Go winter tyres Shame they dont make them in my size, I think I will have to find some comprimised sizes next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubber Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Great to hear that they are effective on the Zed Been thinking about getting these myself as the Zed is the only car in the household. Given that Aberdeen temperatures are, on average, below about 7 deg C from Nov - Mar it would be worth putting these on during these months everay year. Now for the questions..... What brank/model of tyre did you get? Did you order them online? (Had a look around on the net but I couldn't locate anything in Zed sizes (for GT rays). Price? Do you have two sets of rims? I'm guessing it will cost ~£40 a go to have the rubber changed over and balanced so you are talking £80 a year on changing between the two sets of tyres. Easier and porbably cheaper in the long run to buy another set of Rays... Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350ash Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 Great to hear that they are effective on the Zed Been thinking about getting these myself as the Zed is the only car in the household. Given that Aberdeen temperatures are, on average, below about 7 deg C from Nov - Mar it would be worth putting these on during these months everay year. Now for the questions..... What brank/model of tyre did you get? Did you order them online? (Had a look around on the net but I couldn't locate anything in Zed sizes (for GT rays). Price? Do you have two sets of rims? I'm guessing it will cost ~£40 a go to have the rubber changed over and balanced so you are talking £80 a year on changing between the two sets of tyres. Easier and porbably cheaper in the long run to buy another set of Rays... Chris I went for Kumho KW27s, 225/45 R18s for the front, 245/45 R18s on the rear. When I got them there appeared to be a very limited amount of tyres in the correct sizes, I read some reviews about these and they sounded ok. Got them from mytyres.co.uk £541.60 in total for the set (including delivery and VAT) I bought a set of the standard touring wheels quite cheaply off a member on here. My Rays and normal tyres are waiting to go back on when the weather improves next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Hi Chris. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubber Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Hey Alex! Are you going to wade in and tell me you have alloys and winter tyres in stock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubber Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Thats a good price - didn't think you could get them that cheap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZMANALEX Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Hey Alex! Are you going to wade in and tell me you have alloys and winter tyres in stock? Am I that transparent Chris But when you mention it I can help you out with either 17" or 18" oem rims but no winter tyres I am afraid. Plenty slicks if you fancy a set for the summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350ash Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 Thats a good price - didn't think you could get them that cheap When I first starting looking there was more choice and for cheaper prices, but I then faffed about for a month before ordering any and the options had gone down and the prices up. If you start looking early enough next year then you should be able to get a good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisS Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Winter/Snow tyres are a bit like hens teeth at the moment. I'm strugling to get them for the Freelander. Can't just get tyres fitted arround here though. It's all supply and fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spursmaddave Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Make sure you tell your insurer you are fitting winter Tyres, many class them as a modification and as such they void your insurance if not declared. Some insurers charge extra as it means you are intending to use your car more in bad conditions and some won't even insure you with winter Tyres on... best to check Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 good effort ash we never really get much so i keep umming and arring about doing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubber Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Make sure you tell your insurer you are fitting winter Tyres, many class them as a modification and as such they void your insurance if not declared. Some insurers charge extra as it means you are intending to use your car more in bad conditions and some won't even insure you with winter Tyres on... best to check Thats crazy! Thanks for the heads up. I realise winter tyres are in short supply at the moment. I think my straetgy will be to put them on my Rays next year and then buy a nice set of Rota's for my summer tyres Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350ash Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 Make sure you tell your insurer you are fitting winter Tyres, many class them as a modification and as such they void your insurance if not declared. Some insurers charge extra as it means you are intending to use your car more in bad conditions and some won't even insure you with winter Tyres on... best to check I rang them when I put the wheels/tyres on and they wanted me to pay £24. I argued with them politely and explained why I didn't think I should be paying to make my car safer and eventually they agreed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 Make sure you tell your insurer you are fitting winter Tyres, many class them as a modification and as such they void your insurance if not declared. Some insurers charge extra as it means you are intending to use your car more in bad conditions and some won't even insure you with winter Tyres on... best to check I rang them when I put the wheels/tyres on and they wanted me to pay £24. I argued with them politely and explained why I didn't think I should be paying to make my car safer and eventually they agreed. well played, i always argue with them and genrally avoid the charges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350ash Posted December 18, 2010 Author Share Posted December 18, 2010 good effort ash we never really get much so i keep umming and arring about doing it Cheers. We don't tend to get much either but after reading all the horror stories on here about how bad the cars are in the snow, and a shed car isn't a viable option for a number of reasons, I thought I may as well do it. Glad I did know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I went to my local BMW dealer today for a part on the wifes car noticed they had sets of snow tyres fitted to steel rims I enquired about them and the parts guy told me they have been selling pallets loads of them for all ranges of there cars , why worry what your car is going to look like for a few months just get some steel rims in Black and snow tyres after all you just need to get around in these conditions if you end up sliding and clipping a curb you won'y cry if you buckle a steel rim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richt Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Good to know that they work well on the Zed. We passed a Range Rover stuck in the snow in my Dads Fiesta with snow tyres on. You should have seen his face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 if i end up with an m3 next year i think i shall track down some steelies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rancer Posted December 24, 2010 Share Posted December 24, 2010 Can you even get steelies to fit the zed?? I would seriously consder some with snowies fitted if they would clear the brembos.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swiftwizard Posted December 31, 2010 Share Posted December 31, 2010 Bought a set of Vredestein Wintrac Extremes for my 350z in October and theyve been excellent in the 2 snowy periods weve had so far. They cut through thick snow and not been stuck at all even going up fairly steep gradients. You still need to be sensible in extreme conditions. Strangely the grip seems to improve in temperatures below 0deg C on dry roads. They dont have stiff side walls so the ride is spongier. on these particular tyres they need at least 1000miles before they embed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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