Given
87%
while driving a
Volkswagen Golf
(225/45 R17) on
mostly motorways
for 0
spirited miles
I fitted these in the winter of 2011/2012 for 6 months because of a crash I had the winter previously, which was very expensive and inconvenient. I decided after that crash that I'd never drive in the winter again without proper tires.
So, I stuck them on around December and I noticed a big change straight away. They felt softer, and the ride quality definitely felt much smoother, as if I was driving on silk. I guess those massive tread blocks and softer compound was absorbing a lot of the bumps. The temperature was about 7C when I put them on, so I was looking forward to trying them in colder conditions.
The best thing I found about these tires was when I had to drive home (600 mile trip) in 0C conditions and it was raining very hard. I remember driving up the motorway at 70mph through enormous amounts of surface water and not feeling so much as a twitch. The car felt solid, planted, stable and most definitely better than those conditions in summer tires. I was very impressed, it made that long trip a lot less stressful.
As it got colder, I got a chance to try them on frosty roads in -4C conditions. The car felt totally secure with bags of grip and it was very noticeably better than with summer tires, when in these conditions my car used to feel very skittish and heavy. I remember taking roundabouts with confidence and never loosing traction, and braking was superb. Once again, I was impressed.
Finally, as the winter progressed there was unfortunately not a lot of snow to test them with. There was a 3 day period where we got around a foot of snow, and I took the car out on unploughed and ungritted roads. It was very good, surprising amounts of grip, cornering power and I actually felt like the brake pedal might stop the car, instead of the previous winter where it often did nothing at all. I remember being amazed at how I could corner on flattened compacted snow easily, and I tried some steep inclines which I was able to go up with no problem. There were only 2 hills which I wasn't able to go up, and it was both times because they were covered in fresh, untouched snow. because my tires are fat, 225/45/r17, I was coming up against too much resistance and the wheels just spun.
The greatest test I did was going down an untreated farm track. It was a singletrack with no passing places. It was going downhill and I remember thinking "This will be fun to try and go up on the way back!". It started going down steeper and steeper and I started to panic.. I was in the middle of nowhere and I didn't think I could get up. I went down further and tried to find a place to turn, which I eventually did. I started going up the hill and as it got steeper, to my surprise, the car didn't struggle at all. It just went straight up, no wheelspin. I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it.
These tires are great. For the 5 months I had them on, I always felt safe and felt like I had a ton of grip wherever I was. They are superb on motorways covered in water due to the very deep tread pattern, superb in frosty conditions, and great on snow. I would never drive again in the winter without winter tires.
People in the UK really should buy winter tires, they make a massive difference. I'll be putting these on again in around a month's time.
I leave you with this thought:
You wouldn't walk through snow wearing sandles would you? So, why leave your summer sandle tires on your car during the winter? It then potentially becomes a several ton potentially unstoppable deathtrap. For the small outset of cost, it's worth it for around 5 years of safe winter driving.
Car:
2008 VW Golf V GT Sport 2.0 TDI 170HP