Winter Rubber

Enoch said:

v rated are for speeds up to 149, and this rating is for sustained driving at this speed...

Our z rated tyres are for speeds over 150..

For the amount of times you'd actually travel at those speeds V rated will be fine

Click to expand...

Yeah, may well touch the limiter but I'm too tight to cruise at big speeds in terms of fuel economy. And from what I understand of German Autobahns, the opportunities for big numbers are limited these days.

Enoch said:

V rated tyres are for speeds up to 149mph...... I'd have no issue fitting them to my car

Click to expand...

Trouble is some fitters like Micheldever Tyres (and Costco it would seem) won't fit them.

I was trying to figure out why that's the case; there's some reactionary stuff out there about it being "illegal" but I think that's not quite right. Had a read of the MOT Testing Manual, or at least a copy on-line, and didn't see anything about failing about having a V-rated tyre on a car with a higher top speed.

Anyway, just read that Austria makes winter tyres mandatory until April 15th. So V-rating or not, they'll stay on the car until after the trip.

downthepub said:

I was trying to figure out why that's the case; there's some reactionary stuff out there about it being "illegal" but I think that's not quite right. Had a read of the MOT Testing Manual, or at least a copy on-line, and didn't see anything about failing about having a V-rated tyre on a car with a higher top speed.

Anyway, just read that Austria makes winter tyres mandatory until April 15th. So V-rating or not, they'll stay on the car until after the trip.

Click to expand...

It's just over cautiousness about liabilities I think. Somebody picking a budget tyre on a performance car could get themselves into trouble and blame the fitter. My problem was convincing them that I had a 3.5 petrol V6 in my 300C not a V8. :doh:

slowhand99 said:

Trouble is some fitters like Micheldever Tyres (and Costco it would seem) won't fit them.

Click to expand...

I just buy most of my tyres from Camskill, then get them fitted locally to loose wheels... No need to tell them what car they're going on

Ive been running Nokian WRA4 on my std GT rims for about 6 weeks now. They are bloody brilliant.

As an example, joining the motorway from a services last week. Pissing wet and 3C. Would be an invitation for a crash with the Pirellis and a lot of other summer tyres.

Full bore acceleration up through the gears.... tiny bit of wheelspin in 1st, but then gripped all the way up to 120mph like I was on summer tyres. Absolutely brilliant.

For me running winters is more about the increased grip and surefootedness in temps between 0-7C, rather than actually using the car on snow or ice.

The Nokians are very highly recommended.

PS. Also V rated. They are fine and 100% not illegal. You will also find that many manufacturers type rate the cars on lower speed rated winter tyres as well as the summers. I dont expect Ford to have done that with the Mustang, but your average German saloon will often have multiple speed rated tyres in the handbook.

Another vote for the Nokian WR A4 tyres. Did a full bore standing start into a smaller-than-expected space on a roundabout this morning, only a minor slip on the wet road surface. Am sure with the Pzeros it would have been very different.

Only concerns the tyre fitters had, is that I've gone for a square setup and as such there's a tiny bit of stretch on the 9.5" rears with the 255 section width. In saying that, it's barely noticeable and took a bit of comparing side-by-side to spot. I figured a slightly narrower rear tyre may help when the snows come.

Enoch said:

I just buy most of my tyres from Camskill, then get them fitted locally to loose wheels... No need to tell them what car they're going on

Click to expand...

Yep, that was my solution too

downthepub said:

Another vote for the Nokian WR A4 tyres. Did a full bore standing start into a smaller-than-expected space on a roundabout this morning, only a minor slip on the wet road surface. Am sure with the Pzeros it would have been very different.

Only concerns the tyre fitters had, is that I've gone for a square setup and as such there's a tiny bit of stretch on the 9.5" rears with the 255 section width. In saying that, it's barely noticeable and took a bit of comparing side-by-side to spot. I figured a slightly narrower rear tyre may help when the snows come.

Click to expand...

I also have Nokian WR A4 on a new wheel set, excellent. Dealer & Ford would not give any advice on winter tyres nor about calibrating the pressure sensors on new wheels. A non Ford store dealer told me TPMS would need recalibration at each swap at £50+
The tyre supplier used their own sensors reading the code off the existing set. Now just mark the wheels with corner when swapping over.

Tim

Mine "auto-re sensed" after 2 days and 60 miles on new sensors; most of them will.

I was just about to give up waiting and either buy a rather overpriced tool to reset,or try the deflate tyre and reset monitor technique (I hate false information from warning lights with a deep and meaningful loathing), when all corrected itself.

Likewise. The newer TPM systems don't need any gadgetry to calibrate themselves. I got TPM sensors for about £15 a corner, had the tyre place pop them in and a couple resets via the panel in the instrument cluster later job's a good 'un

MPSS 275/40/19s on all 4 corners now, handles like a dream. I need not say anymore, but that back end aint slipping out anymore (Illegal tread depth + rwd + water = slippy even on MPSS' (which was my prev tyres)

Have now fitted some Kumho Etsy Sport to the rears on Sat. Drove the car this morning in the wet and first impressions are very good and are 200% better than the Pirelli's that were previously on there.

Went for the Kumho in the end as a Winter and have convinced myself I'm going 20" next year so happy with what I spent.

I had Kumho's on my previous car (VXR8) a similar weight and power to the Mustang and I thought they were great tyres and very good value for money, I had them on all year round.