Frankthered

I believe that, in addition to being marked M&S, the Vreds and Goodyears (and others) also have the "snowflake" symbol (?) which is what the European insurers want to see on tyres for use in winter. I think you're spot on though, Tony. OK in both, so as long as you aren't bothered about hooning in the summer and aren't fussed about ultimate performance in the snow (let's face it, most of us in the UK don't get THAT much) I reckon the "winter (snowflake) qualified" tyres would be a really good compromise, especially if you don't have anywhere to store a spare set of wheels (or tyres) while they're out of season!

Do you really mean "all season" tyres, or winter tyres? My impression is that all season tyres are not much better on snow and ice than standard summer tyres. If you intend to keep them on all the year round then they may help a little, but a decent set of summer tyres will probably be better on a year-round basis. If you intend to run them only during the winter, then proper winter tyres are much better. There is a nice video here and an extensive test of summer, all season and winter tyres here. The last line of this second test report describes all season as a "jack of all trades and a master of none". It's a phrase that I have heard used about them before. The problem here is that the term "All Season" is a little loose. These links are from the US and their requirements for "All Season" aren't so stringent as in Europe - for example, the Falken ZIEX ZE 912 is considered an all season tyre in the US, but is described as a summer tyre in Europe. The Vredesteins that ER is talking about are approved for winter use by German insurers and the like, so should provide a decent level of winter performance and be ok in the summer too. It is probably true to say that all season tyres are a compromise when compared to summer tyres in summer and winter tyres in winter, but I reckon they'd be a really good compromise for our climate, as long as you're not after ultimate performance. I haven't tried them myself but might well do so in the future. Oh, and wasn't there a winter tyre test last year when the Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons (an all season tyre) beat all the full winter tyres in the snow? Can't find the link now - maybe I imagined it, but they certainly get good write-ups as well!

oh yea, the MR2 boys love their spacers on these kits. I cant even begin to think on how much excess load this is putting on other parts of the suspension! In the name of all that is sane, I did not realise. I saw a comment on PH a couple of days ago saying they fit 7" spacers - I thought it was a typo or an exaggeration! Apparently not ... :o

Thanks ER - yes, I've seen Tyrereviews (and Tyretest.com) and have even added a couple of my own reviews to the site. Thanks for the shout Tony - did you mean C-Drives, or C-Drive 2s, or are they pretty similar? I'm a little surprised by the suggestion TBH - would you say the Yokos are stickier than the Toyos? Cheers for the shout though! FTR

Hi there! So, here's my first question for the WiM forum. I have a Minari kit car that is finally about to hit the road after a very long (and professionally completed) build. I'm collecting the car on Tuesday. So what the problem? Well, I have a nice set of alloys that suit the car really well (IMHO) that currently have a set of (probably really old) mix & match tyres fitted. I'm going to keep these on for a couple of weeks while the suspension settles. (I'll take it easy on the old rubber.) After that, I will need new boots, so I'm wondering what to get - as you might have guessed the alloys are 14" and the stock size is 185/60/14 and as you probably know, there’s not much around that suits sports cars in this size. After extensive internet research, I’ve narrowed it down to: Uniroyal Rainexpert Dunlop SP Sport Fast Response Bridgestone ER300 Not much between these pricewise. The Bridgestone usually performs best in magazine tests, but might not suit a light car, Dunlop’s marketing suggests that would be the best one, but does it reflect reality and the Uniroyal might work best as it’s directional, but how good a tyre is it, really? I could up the spend a little (well ok, quite a bit) and get some Michelin PE2s, although a bloke I spoke to about them at Costco told me Michelin have stopped making them in 14â€, or some Toyo T1Rs in 195/55/14 but availability of both these is patchy and maybe neither will be around for too much longer. I know I could get track day tyres or 15†wheels but I don’t really want to do either of those at the moment. I really would appreciate any thoughts on this one