Winter tyre recomendations (2007 IS250 16" wheels)

[C Andrew Green]

Hi all,

I've had a search on the subject of winter tyres without much luck....Does anyone have experience of such? Any recommended brands/models?

I've just a acquired a set of 17" wheels & tyres for summer use so looking to put some proper winter tyres on my OEM 16" wheels as it was somewhat rubbish in the little bit of snow we had earlier this year.

Andrew

 

[Shaunomercy]

I have pirelli snow control 3 on a set of 16s for the VW alltrack Passat. Granted the Passat is allwheel drive but they are very good in snow. Albeit not the best, but then the price differential is quite large for the best which are generally the contis.

I used to run all year round faulken as200 euro all season on my pug 407. Found those to be pretty good and never got stuck with those.

But where as I will quite happily tackle mamtor from edale in 6 inch of snow to take the kids sledging in the alltrack, I doubt the 407 would be capable. Not enough traction or ground clearance.

So a thumbs up for the pirelli snow control. They've done 3 seasons now and still plenty of tread left.

Paul

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[gdh300]

I had a set of Avon WV7s on 16" aftermarket alloys for my IS300. Never had the opportunity to test them on any significant snow but they were very assured in low temperatures and/or muddy/slimy lanes. Probably not the best winter tyre but a very good price, and any winter tyre is better than in summer tyre in winter, that was my feeling. That, and a bit of common of when to judge it is just too bad to go out! [this set of wheels and tyres is now with another member of this forum]

On my car previous to the Lexus, I also had a set of winters (Toyos, I think) and they were a revelation in some proper snow. 

 

[J Henderson]

I also run the Pirelli Sottozero 3 as my winter set and find them to be very good, even in the significant amount of snow we got back in March. I typically have them on the car between Nov/Dec through to March/April and their performance in low-temp, damp slippy conditions is such that I barely need to alter my driving style.

Michelin Pilot Alpin 4 is another tyre I can recommend. I had these when I had an IS200 and they were similarly good.

[jumbojake]

I got some goodyear ultra grip ... couldn't believe how well they performed in this years snow .. hopefully the rubber will remain supple to last enough winters to justify them.  The last set (Avons) perished after 2 years, very little use, and stored in the dark for most of the year..

[dacianspinu]

I have Pirelli SnowControl 3 in my '08 IS220D and they behaved wonderfully this winter (never got stuck in snow, even if it was 30cm deep).

On my dad's '08 Audi A6 I've put Nokian WR-D4 and these are really wonderful, it seemed just like the car was on dry asphalt, amazing tyres for the buck. After this winter they still have 7.5mm of thread.

[Rutlandlex]

I had a set of Goodyear Ultragrips on a 1 Series a few years back and they were brilliant.  I understand that the Nokian's are great too but have never tried them.  Hopefully you can get either in your tyre size.

[C Andrew Green]

Apologies for the tardy update, as we hadn't had any particularly cold weather prior to Christmas I only got around to getting a set of winter tyres at the beginning of January.

As my previous Goodyear Efficient Grips had been reasonable and had worn evenly I decided to go with Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons Gen 2 which although not full winter tyres like the Ultra Grips are however winter rated for european countries where winter tyres are mandatory.

They appear to have plenty of grip when it's cold and wet and looking at the forecasts It looks like I might get a chance to test them properly later this week,

While I had the old tyres off the rims I also fitted a set of aftermarket internal TPMS units from eBay.

Andrew

[Shaunomercy]

What size are your rear tires m8 ?

I didn't think they did a 255x40x18 ? Are you on 17 inch alloys ?

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[scudney]

My IS250 f sport has 225.40.18's on the front and 255.40.18's on the rear 

[C Andrew Green]

1 hour ago, Shaunomercy said:

What size are your rear tires m8 ?

I didn't think they did a 255x40x18 ? Are you on 17 inch alloys ?

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Hi Shaun,

My IS250 is base poverty spec! So it came with 16" wheels (205/55 16" tyres).

I picked up a second hand set of 17" wheels with summer tyres so seeing as the existing set of 16" tyres were done for and needed replacing I got the worn out tyres removed and binned before Christmas and gave the wheels a bit of a clean and fitted the TPMS sensors.

Andrew

[Shaunomercy]

My 250c has same scudney. But I'm querying c greens post about the 4 season tires as I cannot find a 255x40x18 all season.

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[C Andrew Green]

1 hour ago, Shaunomercy said:

My 250c has same scudney. But I'm querying c greens post about the 4 season tires as I cannot find a 255x40x18 all season.

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Put your tyre sizes here and it finds '255/40R18 99V GOODYEAR UGRIP PERFORM G1 FP XL' £177 a tyre though!

Andrew

[Vintagesixtysix]

I’ve gone for a set of Pirelli All Season Plus this time (on 16” wheels)...... will be interested to see how they perform and wear.

Have seen them as low as £50-55 inc vat a tyre, + free delivery on inter- web...... which I think is a pretty decent price...... £ advantage of having 16”s 👍.

I do always feel I’ve gone a little deaf for the first few days as the road noise disappears compared to summer tyres.

Ive also had Pirelli Sottozero 3 run flats on my BMW f11 and they were pretty good good also.

[C Andrew Green]

10 hours ago, Vintagesixtysix said:

I do always feel I’ve gone a little deaf for the first few days as the road noise disappears compared to summer tyres.

@Vintagesixtysix Haha! Same here..... going from cold stiff 17" tyres with 4~5mm of tread to brand new soft winter tyres with 8mm of tread is significantly quieter!

Andrew

[C Andrew Green]

Well, Fridays' weather made for a proper test, the difference over normal tyres is unbelievable! Snow mode on and just drive off like normal with no wheel spin, braking is vastly improved but obviously there are limits.

There's a short sharp hill (Ashford hill) near to work and two cars were stopped and dithering so I just pulled round them and drove gently up the hill, fortunately there were several cars waiting to decide about descending, so I had the road to myself!

You could easily lull yourself into a false sense of invulnerability there's so much grip! You still need to be careful with cornering and roundabouts.

Andrew

[hondansxr]

On 1/30/2019 at 7:31 PM, Shaunomercy said:

My 250c has same scudney. But I'm querying c greens post about the 4 season tires as I cannot find a 255x40x18 all season.

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try  https://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-finder/s=1/winter/t=1/car/p=9/michelin,accelera,barum,infinity,kenda,nankang,nexen,sava,viking/r=1/225-40-r18#&&_wEXDwUOcGNrX1RyTFNTc25JZHMFATIFFXBja19Mc3RTU29ydFBhcmFtZXRlcgUCMzcFCnBja19UckxTUEYFAjUzBRVwY2tfVHJMU1NvcnREaXJlY3Rpb24FATIFCHBja19JT0ZQBQIyNAUJcGNrX1RyTFNSBQPilKQFB3Bja19JUFAFAjI0BQlwY2tfVHI0OGgFA-KUpAUKcGNrX1RyTFNQVAUDMTQ4BQ1wY2tfVHJMU1ZUSWRzBQE0BQtwY2tfVHJMU1JPRgUD4pSkBQdwY2tfQ1BnBQExBQxwY2tfVHJMU1NJZHMFAzMyOQUKcGNrX1RyTFNTTAUCMjEFDHBja19UckxTUElkcwUrNDLilKwxMjPilKwyMeKUrDk54pSsNjXilKw0M-KUrDcx4pSsNDfilKw2MuRytQGyAtaG-wNdUA7kbwIgHruE    

nexen 70 each very good  for a budget , way  better than asummer in the cold wet /snow . have them on my wifes is was going round landrovers a couple years ago as they were slipping up a hill lol