Winter Tyres for the Evoque

(08-08-2011 09:57pm)DynamiqueDan Wrote:  A multitude of threads on the web come to the same conclusion with regards winter tyres - most people who have tested them say that a small FWD hatch with winter tyres would be better in the snow than a 4x4 off roader on summer tyres.

My Merc C class was unusable on its sport contact 3s in the snow but I put some Nokian WGR2 all seasons on it last year and it got us everywhere we wanted it to go.

I too am worried about what tyres Landrover will fit to my Sd4 Dynamic, it looks as though my delivery will be Nov/Dec so I am hoping they put some all seasons on it.

First post by the way - nice to meet you all!

I put nokians WR's on our Abarth 500 & it was awsome in the snow

My Audi Sline was so terrible until I fitted Vredenstein Wintrac Xtremes & it could get through 8" deep snow

My mate had a Tourag on road tyres last winter & it just kept getting stuck

For those wondering which type of tyre you will get.................. it will be a MUD & SNOW tyre either from Michelin/Continental or Pirelli - Land Rover fits these tyres to all it's cars except Defenders which get ATR's - usually General Grabbers.
They do not fit a purely onroad tyre because your new Land Rover/ Range Rover is designed to go offroad straight out of the show room, even if you never intend to take offroad it is capable of it unlike all BMW X's, Mercedes M/G and R Class, Audi Q's/VW SUV's, Porsches and many other makes of SAV/SUV which have 100% road biased tyres when they leave the factory. Then purchasers get upset because their shiney new offroad vehicle fails at the field gate in a mass of flying mud and clogged up tyre treads. You don't have to make a single change to any Land Rover to take it direct from the dealership to the pay and play site unlike all the others above. Same goes for towing, unlike BMW's all Land Rovers with autoboxes have a transmission oil cooler for the gearbox - if you want tow properly with a BMW X then you have to spend a fortune having it converted so it doesn't cook its gearbox.

(08-08-2011 10:43pm)FullFatTim Wrote:  For those wondering which type of tyre you will get.................. it will be a MUD & SNOW tyre either from Michelin/Continental or Pirelli - Land Rover fits these tyres to all it's cars except Defenders which get ATR's - usually General Grabbers.
They do not fit a purely onroad tyre because your new Land Rover/ Range Rover is designed to go offroad straight out of the show room, even if you never intend to take offroad it is capable of it unlike all BMW X's, Mercedes M/G and R Class, Audi Q's/VW SUV's, Porsches and many other makes of SAV/SUV which have 100% road biased tyres when they leave the factory. Then purchasers get upset because their shiney new offroad vehicle fails at the field gate in a mass of flying mud and clogged up tyre treads. You don't have to make a single change to any Land Rover to take it direct from the dealership to the pay and play site unlike all the others above. Same goes for towing, unlike BMW's all Land Rovers with autoboxes have a transmission oil cooler for the gearbox - if you want tow properly with a BMW X then you have to spend a fortune having it converted so it doesn't cook its gearbox.

Very useful to know. Thanks for that.

(08-08-2011 10:43pm)FullFatTim Wrote:  For those wondering which type of tyre you will get.................. it will be a MUD & SNOW tyre either from Michelin/Continental or Pirelli - Land Rover fits these tyres to all it's cars except Defenders which get ATR's - usually General Grabbers.
They do not fit a purely onroad tyre because your new Land Rover/ Range Rover is designed to go offroad straight out of the show room, even if you never intend to take offroad it is capable of it unlike all BMW X's, Mercedes M/G and R Class, Audi Q's/VW SUV's, Porsches and many other makes of SAV/SUV which have 100% road biased tyres when they leave the factory. Then purchasers get upset because their shiney new offroad vehicle fails at the field gate in a mass of flying mud and clogged up tyre treads. You don't have to make a single change to any Land Rover to take it direct from the dealership to the pay and play site unlike all the others above. Same goes for towing, unlike BMW's all Land Rovers with autoboxes have a transmission oil cooler for the gearbox - if you want tow properly with a BMW X then you have to spend a fortune having it converted so it doesn't cook its gearbox.

But does it mean that these M+S tyres will not be "perfect" in a hot sunnay day, being softer and with bigger threads? I think they will not offer as good handling and breaking perfirmace (dry road). They also wiould wear quicker and be noisier?

Mercedes offers an option to fit M+S tyres when deiivered for any of thieir cars.

In Germany the law states you must have tyres appropriate to the conditions. If you can't get grip on snow and cause an obstruction (think TV picture of every car in UK last winter) you are fined €40 and given 1 point on your licence, and if you have an accident which you could have avoided then you insurance company may not pay all or any of your claim.

I have just sold an FL2 with 19" continental tyres as it came from the factory. Although these are marked up M+S, this does not satisfy the German requirement for winter tyres, they must be marked with a snow flake/mountain symbol to be classed as winter tyres and satisfy insurance requirments. My other car is a ford focus. With its proper winter tyre it has never failed me, even through two German winters at -20c and 8" snow, nor in the UK last winter when every one was at a halt.

Would you walk down a snow and ice covered pavement in smooth leather soled shoes (summer tyre, great for grip in the dry and road holding) or would you put on a training shoe/walking boot with a deep treaded sole (M+S winter tyre)? I still have my set of tatty (bought on e-bay) basic (from a GS I think) 17" FL2 alloys with cooper winter tyres and since the running gear is the same, I will be fitting these and will just pop out the LR badge and put in a RR badge. My 20" will rest salt and grit free in my cellar over the winter. It is also important to rember that thin tyres grip better in the snow, so most people here in Germany fit the smallest standard wheels as winter tyres rather than there extra phat summer wheels. For example, my Focus has 18" alloys, but I have 15" steel winters.

I hope this helps; but the bottom line is this, even with all wheel drive, if you can't get the power to the road then it isn't worth tupence h'penny!

Some very useful info there BFG, thanks for posting it.

Great information folks.
I will definately visit my local Kwik Fit and get winter tyres fitted in November
Pirellis seem favourite
Thanks

I was in mine yesterday griff - pirelli's winter tyres are not available until the end of August, so save yourself a visit and go in at the end of the month.
Now what is the narrowest tyre that can be fitted to an Evoque. One thing you need to do as well is check with your insurance company that if you are putting on smaller/ narrower tyres the insurer will still cover you for running a non-standard wheel/tyre combo.

(09-08-2011 10:28am)FullFatTim Wrote:  I was in mine yesterday griff - pirelli's winter tyres are not available until the end of August, so save yourself a visit and go in at the end of the month.
Now what is the narrowest tyre that can be fitted to an Evoque. One thing you need to do as well is check with your insurance company that if you are putting on smaller/ narrower tyres the insurer will still cover you for running a non-standard wheel/tyre combo.

For most of the world the Evoque's smallest tyres out of the factory are 17" (although for the UK it is 18") whcih are the same as those of the FL2. Have a look on e-bay and buy a set of FL2 alloys (who cares if they are kerbed/pited etc) as they will get battered by salt and grit anyway. I think mine are 7" wide, which should give better traction than say the 19" or 20" wheels the car leaves the factory with, I think these are 8" or 8 1/2" wide (don't have the handbook to hand at the moment). I certainly never had an issue in ANY road conditions in my FL2 and always ran the terrain response left in Snow/Ice. Also don't forget, you can by lower speed rated tyres as long as you have a warning sticker somewehere on the dash (in Germany they go close the speedo and are about the size of a 10p piece), so "H" rated or 180kph tyres are fine. Many cars are fitted with speed limiter function on their cruise controls these days, so no sticker needs be fitted if this can be activated permenantly. As a guide, we would expect to pay about €800 for a set of 17" alloys with H rated tyres, gas (nitrogen) filled instead of air, and fitted, with you summer tyres put back in your boot. If you speak German then look at:

http://www.atu.de or http://www.reifen.com

and you can get an idea of costs in Germany, and the brands available which you local tyre dealer in the UK may be able to order; but do it now as Germans/Austrians start buying their tyres in Septmeber when lots of companies start puting on offers ahead of the 1st October/31st March "winter" period.

I think the insurance company thing must be unique to UK as you are not pimping your car, in fact you are making it lower spec if you fit wheels that are designed for a model lower down the range?

Trust this helps.

If you doubt the benefit of winter tyres asks my work colleague who last year bought 4wd Subaru Outback to cope with the winnter. The first day of snow arrived (2") and I had to tow him back home with my 2wd winter tyred focus!!

(09-08-2011 10:28am)FullFatTim Wrote:  I was in mine yesterday griff - pirelli's winter tyres are not available until the end of August, so save yourself a visit and go in at the end of the month.
Now what is the narrowest tyre that can be fitted to an Evoque. One thing you need to do as well is check with your insurance company that if you are putting on smaller/ narrower tyres the insurer will still cover you for running a non-standard wheel/tyre combo.

Thanks Tim
Would I not just replace the standard tyre with a straight replacement? I thought that would be the way to go utilising kwik fit's "take em off but em on" facility.