Winter Tyres in general - my Alpin A4's

[joytodrive25]

Don't know if a winter tyre poll could/should be started???

Anyway I thought I'd put up a short note on my Michelin Alpin A4's as I couldn't find much if anything on them before buying. Got them from tyreleader and they were fairly quick and definitely the cheapest.

I haven't done many miles on them (<2000) but did do some in very mild snow and more on just very cold days, around 0. I have also still been using them now due to a delay with getting my PS3s and then getting them fitted. They were 205/45/R16/87W and have been pretty great I reckon. Been for a few spirited drives in the dry and warm (Scottish warm) and they have handled excellently. Fuel consumption may have gone down by 1mpg or 1.5 but no guarantees on that. In the wet they are very consistent though I have not pushed as hard as I'm not an idiot; if you are careful they are very capable due to heavy V pattern.

 

[charltjr]

I've used winters on other cars with good results, but they're generally a big OTT for our climate. The latest generation of all-season tyres are looking really good, the Michelin CrossClimate is getting a lot of attention as being a really good fit for our winter climate:
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/Michelin-CrossClimate-launched-is-this-a-game-changer.htm

 

[Gally]

I love them. They're not ott at all!!!

I ran Pirelli ones for 18 months all year round. Lost about 2mm doing 5k a year.

 

[alistairolsen]

I like running proper tyres in summer so won't ever compromise on running all seasons all year round and once you have a second set of wheels its better to just run proper winters.

Most people who've tried them tend to never go back - unless they bought cheap s**t tyres (which are always awful, winter or summer!)

 

[charltjr]

I don't think I was very clear. I have used proper winters and I really rate them, but it's only in properly cold conditions where they are truly effective. That doesn't describe most of our winter. That's what I mean by OTT, not that fitting them is a bad idea, it's just that their performance envelope is more extreme than we need.

A really good all season tyre is a better fit for the U.K. winter climate than a full on winter tyre. That's just a fact based on data from the TUV in Germany and it's only just become the case with the latest generation of all-seasons which are starting to come out. You sacrifice a tiny bit of winter ability in the harshest conditions (which we just don't get here) for much better grip than the full-on Winter in the cold and wet which is what we do get. They're still perfectly capable in the snow. Take a look at the data.

I wouldn't run them all year round either and had been shopping for a set of winters, but now I know about them and given the CrossClimate outperforms the Alpin A5 in the conditions we get in a U.K. winter I'll probably be sticking a set of them onto the Alpina before winter.

 

[Mar172]

I have just put on a set of the mich cross climate on my Audi A3 and cannot fault them

 

[alistairolsen]

@charltjr makes sense, I've not looked since I bought my last set to may well be better off with allseasons next time

 

[charltjr]

But my, reading my post back don't I come across like a total t**t? Apologies!