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Best winter tyres for 2WD

Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:26 pm
by miraz
We want to go ski-camping to Trois Vallees next Easter. What's the best set of tyres for the job?

Thanks all :D

Re: Best winter tyres for 2WD

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 12:46 am
by Ron Miel
Vredestein Quatrac 3, and use them all year round. "Scanner" and I both used, and swore by Quatrac 2's (which I still have on my Bongo) but they're out of production* and he says the Quatrac 3's he now has are as good - although I suspect they might not roll as quietly as the 2's but then which all-season or winter tyres do run quietly?

EDIT: *(Or at least, they're supposed to be, from two years ago - although I see they're still on the Vredestein website. If they are still available, when mine come up for replacement, I'll use them again. Because of their very low temperature tread-flexing compound, I've found them brilliant on hard packed snow/ice - but you probably need something a bit chunkier, e.g., Quatrac 3 in the mountains in winter.)

FURTHER EDIT: Shucks! Quatrac 2's are now only made in car sizes, 13" and 14".

Re: Best winter tyres for 2WD

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:15 pm
by apole
Hi there,

Bought a full set of tyres from these guys, came from Germany but only took 2 days and it was a tracked delivery.

http://ssl.delti.com/cgi-bin/rshop.pl?d ... nter_Tyres

Put in your tyre size and dont' forget the load index for the bongo as it's heavy.

I always do some web research on test results etc before selecting the make.

May be worth considering a small set of steel wheels for the snow tyres. Smaller diameter tends to be cheaper and have more choice, plus you won't have to faff around changing tyres over at a tyre fitter.

Andy

Re: Best winter tyres for 2WD

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:50 am
by miraz
Cool guys, thanks for the help.

Quadrac 3's certainly seem to be a hot pic with Bongo owners!

Not quite sure what is meant by 'small steel wheels'. are you suggesting changing the wole wheels as opposed to the tyres...?

Thanks for your patience, I'm a bit new to all this :)

Re: Best winter tyres for 2WD

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:25 am
by apole
Hi,

Well on my car I have 17" alloy wheels. Originally I was looking for a set of 17" winter tyres, quite expensive. I then also factored in that I would have to get a garage to swap over the tyres twice a year onto those alloys. I thought that's restrictive and expensive so decided to buy another set of wheels to install the winter tyres on. Various options came up and I realised that if I had say a 15 or 16" wheel, the winter tyre choice for those sizes was larger, and the price of each tyre was also cheaper. Just gives you more options and saves the hassle of having to go to a garage each time to swap over the tyres and rebalance.

Hope this makes sense.

Andy

Re: Best winter tyres for 2WD

Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:30 pm
by scanner
apole wrote:Hi,

Well on my car I have 17" alloy wheels. Originally I was looking for a set of 17" winter tyres, quite expensive. I then also factored in that I would have to get a garage to swap over the tyres twice a year onto those alloys. I thought that's restrictive and expensive so decided to buy another set of wheels to install the winter tyres on. Various options came up and I realised that if I had say a 15 or 16" wheel, the winter tyre choice for those sizes was larger, and the price of each tyre was also cheaper. Just gives you more options and saves the hassle of having to go to a garage each time to swap over the tyres and rebalance.

Hope this makes sense.

Andy
#
Just get a set of original steel wheels, much more choice in the right load index at a better price and no chance of sliding your nice alloys into a kerb or cacking them up with salty grit either.