derwendolly

derwendolly

Well-Known Member
Full Member
I am a Discovery2 TD5 driver of long standing but after the last couple of winters here in the Welsh hills I am beginning to feel the need for winter tyres.

All my driving is on tarmaced roads unless I end up in the 'wrong place' - both country roads and motorways and my Disco is fitted out with Michelin Latitudes. Usually they are perfect but the snow and ice on the hills this year really did begin to make me feel unsure of my grip on the road. We were snowed in for 17 days over Christmas and New Year! I have to negotiate quite steep hills and winding roads.

Question. Does anyone have any recommendations for an affordable winter tyre? I have bought a second set of wheels to put them on and hopefully they are only to be used for about three/four months of the snow and minus 10 - minus 17 degrees of frost. I have looked but do think it is a bit o.t.t. to pay for Michlein Latitude Alpins.

Please be gently, I have searched :confused: but I am still rather lacking in any clear ideas :confused::confused:.
 
Well one of our landy's has Pirelli Scorpion ST's and they survived the cumbrian fells during winter and are very good on the road


I on the other hand prefer MAN TYRES and use BFG AT's cos they're chunky and cope with all the mud I throw at them without being stupid for road use like MT's
 
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I've just bought 4 Latitute Alpin HP part worns all with 6mm for £160 on fleabay. They've arrived, perfect no marks on them, no punctures.
I'm putting them on my Subaru for the Winter, same size as a D2 255/55R18.

I've got a set of Pirelli Ice & Snow for my Series III. Done fantastic service for the last 2 winters, unstoppable and I've rescued pretty much everything up to a 38t truck.

Until you've experienced the benefits of winter tyres you've no idea just how good they are.
 
You could go for summit like Insa Turbo Dakars which are a remould of the old BFG mud pattern.
 
Thanks folks for those ideas. I will now do some more research. I would love the look of chunky tyres - would make me feel young again!!!!! The trouble is, I hardly ever drive on mud, except that left by all the farm machinery, snow and ice are my problems - even the council don't do anything until it has all thawed and they can get up the hills. We had no rubbish collections for 8 weeks - all busy trying to clear from other parts!
Cheers
 
derwendolly said:
Thanks folks for those ideas. I will now do some more research. I would love the look of chunky tyres - would make me feel young again!!!!! The trouble is, I hardly ever drive on mud, except that left by all the farm machinery, snow and ice are my problems - even the council don't do anything until it has all thawed and they can get up the hills. We had no rubbish collections for 8 weeks - all busy trying to clear from other parts!
Cheers
Click to expand...

If you want the remould equivelent of BFG A/T's you could get the Insa Turbo traction tracks. In my experience A/T's are better on ice than muds but M/T's are better in deep snow than A/T's.
 
If you're buying a set of Winter's, now's the time to do it, much cheaper.

A proper Winter tyres will leave any Mud or A/T behind easily.

I rescues a police car, transit van and Insignia that had crashed on a hill that was sheet ice. A Police Shogun on BFG A/T's could move but couldn't tow anything. I pulled them all, no problem.
 
snow chains on me omega, bout 80 quid for all 4 tyres, cheap and effective, bloody cold to fit though. passed a souped up civic making a balls of a hill, fella and his girl open mouthed at my ole ****ter of a granda wagon pottering up the hill wit no drama :rolleyes: chains have a lot of limitations, and i mean lots, but were effective and cheap, i wouldnt have got home a couple of times without them.
 
derwendolly said:
I am a Discovery2 TD5 driver of long standing but after the last couple of winters here in the Welsh hills I am beginning to feel the need for winter tyres.

All my driving is on tarmaced roads unless I end up in the 'wrong place' - both country roads and motorways and my Disco is fitted out with Michelin Latitudes. Usually they are perfect but the snow and ice on the hills this year really did begin to make me feel unsure of my grip on the road. We were snowed in for 17 days over Christmas and New Year! I have to negotiate quite steep hills and winding roads.

Question. Does anyone have any recommendations for an affordable winter tyre? I have bought a second set of wheels to put them on and hopefully they are only to be used for about three/four months of the snow and minus 10 - minus 17 degrees of frost. I have looked but do think it is a bit o.t.t. to pay for Michlein Latitude Alpins.

Please be gently, I have searched :confused: but I am still rather lacking in any clear ideas :confused::confused:.
Click to expand...

Hills in Carmarthenshire??? Only joking, I live in the same area. Last winter I only had two problems with the weather:
  1. We had to cancel a trip to Scotland (because of illnesses) which I was quite looking forward to playing in the snow and after having spent a mad 48h replacing the water pump gaskets on the 110.
  2. Washer jets freezing up (drove home from London with a friend and had to stop at every service station on the M4 to wash the windscreen, usually I don't stop).

Anyway to the point - tyres...

The 110 and the 90 we had before it have been shod on the same BFG ATs (265/75R16) and never had any issue with them and any form of snow or ice (unless I went beyond the limits of sensible).

When we had the 90 I spent the winter in a mountain hut in Snowdonia whilst climbing and the 90 went everywhere and more and was fully loaded all the time (at points with 4 people outside on the side-steps when we did the last 2 miles to the hut so they could leave their cars on the main road). When I returned back to Carmarthenshire came cross country on some pretty steep roads around Cardigan and never had an issue. Since the tyres have been on the 110 if anything that's even better since it's stabler and handles better than the 90 (apart from turning circle). Possibly my driving has improved but I get stuck a lot less in the 110 than I did in the 90 or 88.

Before you complain about the cost of the BFGs bear in mind that you get stupid mileages out of them I think the lowest we had (a set on the Shogun) was >65k so in reality tend to work out pretty cheap. I've contemplated a more aggressive pattern but to be honest always go back to the A/Ts as they're ideal for road use and I don't do enough stupidly sticky muddy stuff to warrant more aggressive tyres, most of the time I do tend to make it through on the A/Ts though.
 
Chains are great, but you can only use them when the roads are fully snow covered at a max 30mph. I've got chains, but for the last 6 years of using winter tyres I've never needed to fit them once and that includes several trips to the Alps.
Anything under 7 deg C whether it's dry/wet/ice/snow/slush, winter tyres will outperform any Summer or M&S All Season tyre.
 
Spyderman said:
Chains are great, but you can only use them when the roads are fully snow covered at a max 30mph. I've got chains, but for the last 6 years of using winter tyres I've never needed to fit them once and that includes several trips to the Alps.
Anything under 7 deg C whether it's dry/wet/ice/snow/slush, winter tyres will outperform any Summer or M&S All Season tyre.
Click to expand...

My Boss was running his Vauxhall Monteray (vauxhall badged isuzu trooper) on winter tyres during the snow last year. My 110 on Insa turbo Special tracks could out perform him on every surface that we came across. Unfortunately as his vehicle wasn't a landy I don't know whether it was due to the tyres or vehicle. His offroad driving ability is usually pretty good so it's not a case of him spinning wheels up and selecting the wrong gears etc.
 
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