Winter tyres fitted - 185/65r15's with pictures

Hooley

Hooley

A2OC Donor
All,

Just thought i would add to the collected knowledge on here by putting up some photos of the car with the winter rubber on
Pretty good clearance and no rubbing so far.

Vredstein Snowtrac's in 185/65r15
Audi A3 15 inch alloys (6j i think)
Koni FSD rear shocks (SE springs)
Standard SE shocks and springs up front (I haven't had time to swap them yet)

Car just had a very quick wash so it doesn't embarrass me on here....

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Front wheel:
IMG_1415.jpg

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Rear wheel:
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Hope this helps

J
 
Those wheels look quite nice! I've got lowered springs and 185/60/15 is quite snug fit already. Think I need my SE springs for 185/65.
 
I really like those alloys!

I'm running with my winters now on my lovely (slightly rusty) 15" black steelies - 155/65/15 profile though, so pretty skinny!
 

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Please excuse my ignorance, but what's with winter tyres? I can understand winter/studded tyres in countries where the roads aren't gritted, but Tring/Harrow/Richmond hardly qualify.
Do I need winter tyres and I simply haven't realised it yet?

Andrew
 
Dunno what part of Manchester you're in, but I'm on the outskirts of Manchester and I wouldn't be without winter tyres now.

In the snow we had last year, did you get around safely and without sliding? Could you drive along the untreated roads that were still white-over? Even with the 6" or so that we had this time last year, I was getting in and out of Manchester with ease as I worked on the live episode of Coronation Street and just last week, when we had a covering of snow, if it wasn't for my winter rubber, I'd not have been able to get into work.

Increasingly, summer tyres are being optimised by the manufacturers so that they become useless in freezing and/or wet conditions. Winter tyres stay flexible at and below 0 degrees and the thousands of tiny slits in the rubber act like saw teeth as the blocks flex, gripping onto even sheet ice.

Until you experience driving with winter tyres, you'll not realise just how good they are - I'm a convert and wouldn't be without them now.

Cheers,

Mike
 
I live (at the top) on a steep hill at the top of the chilterns, only 25 miles from central London, but there is nothing between us and the Ural mountains. We always get snow.
Looked out my window this morning to see 2 inches of snow and a nice warm feeling that I know I'll get to work and my daughter to school (and more importantly back) as I've got the winter boots fitted.

:)
J


Posted from my iPlop...
 
Winter tyres work better in cold and wet conditions not just in snow so they are great for our long damp cold winters even without snowfall. I am self employed so can't afford to miss work opportunity due to inability to travel and guess what I saw on my 30 mile drive to work this morning? Sleet, then snow. I'll take my winter tyres thank you!
 
Winter tyres work better in cold and wet conditions not just in snow so they are great for our long damp cold winters even without snowfall. I am self employed so can't afford to miss work opportunity due to inability to travel and guess what I saw on my 30 mile drive to work this morning? Sleet, then snow. I'll take my winter tyres thank you!
 
I'm in London and sure enough snow is not my major concern. And sure I got round ok last year even in the couple of weeks of snow with summer tyres, but on packed ice? no way! My wife use the car to take her father to the hospital for dialysis 3 times a week, while baby sitting our daughter. I wouldn't want her to drive on packed ice, skid and bang the car sideways against the curb and roll it over with two seniors and a child in the car. Besides, as Dan says, winter rubber works much better in low temperature and gives shorter stopping distance and grip on cold wet road. A quick search on youtube will give you hours of footage on winter vs summer rubber performance.
 
Skipton01 said:
Dunno what part of Manchester you're in, but I'm on the outskirts of Manchester and I wouldn't be without winter tyres now.
Click to expand...

I'm in balmy Didsbury Mike: you fitted an iPod adapter for me earlier this year:) I tend to use gritted roads, especially since my other car is a Merc E-class estate (otherwise known as a rear-wheel-drive sledge).

Do you chaps keep a spare set of winter wheels/tyres to make the changeover simpler?

Thanks, Andrew
 
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Yes just have a complete spare set of wheels. In my case they're 15" steels. If you put winters tyres on your Merc it would be perfectly driveable in snow and on untreated roads.
 
I have seem people having fun with big, heavy, rear wheel drive cars with non-studded winter tyres. Front wheel drive and a smaller vehicle help both with winter tyres and studded tyres.
The larger cars are fine on the bigger roads but on corners and steep slopes they do not seem to fare so well...
I had to contend with a steep hill the day before fitting my studded winter tyres and dound that the summer tyres were more or less useless for directional stability on a thick frosted surface.
The same hill is fine still with a covering of snow and ice on the winter wheels.
My summer Michelin Engergy Savers are quite grippy on the wet but provided a nice orange dashboard on very light ice with an air temperature of +4c.

What does anyone use to grease the center hubs when changing wheels? VW recommend a spray wax D 322 000 A2 be applied.
The dealer in Norway was unable to find the spray.

With changes twice yearly here and without the spray my rear right wheel was stuck to the hub. After seeing the spray I removed the wheels cleared the dirt from the hub and used a Teflon spray.

Hopefully this will work....


John
 
I use a liberal coating of CopperGrease on the hub and backface to try and stop the wheels sticking.
 
Well just ordered my winter tyres they should be here end of this week or the start of next, struggled to get some in 205x50's odd size for winter tyres, getting the latest vredestein's extreme they look great and get a very good write up and did have wets fitted on another car and they was excellent. Will let you know how I get on

Phil
 
Wouldn't copper grease react with the aluminium and alloy of the wheels?
Are the centre hubs aluminium? They appear to be on the 1.2.

John
 
First impressions fantastic went on on Friday so had a good run in the wet. They're very comfortable on the drive and very quiet. Looking forward to some cold weather now to get a good feel of what they can do.

Phil
 
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If you're going to use anything to grease the wheel to hub interface, you should use red grease. This is safe for all metals (no bimetallic corrosion) and is also safe around rubber (so tyres, brake piston gaiters and so on).

Anyone who's had their brakes done by me will have had this grease applied - it's better than copper-slip and won't dry out as much. There are various brands available, I use Ceratec by Mintex.

Cheers,

Mike
 
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