Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) To SORN Or Not To SORN?

My friends who live in the French Alps run on winters all year round - not Morgan, but Passat, Vito, MX5 and Transit.

They also are normally rated for lower speeds.

I have been doing quite a bit of research on this topic. Everything that I am able to find indicates winter tyres have significant advantages in traction, cornering, and braking at low temperatures, particularly in snow. Once you get above about 7 degrees these advantages are reversed in favour of summer tyres. Particularly impressive is the difference in stopping distance of winter tyres in the summer. If you are driving on summer tyres in the winter you would be taking much more care on wet and slippery roads, but, given we are driving sports cars, when the weather is fine we want maximum tyre performance. The extra stopping distance under hard braking that winter tyres require on warm dry roads could make the difference between having an accident or not. All season tyres seem a tempting proposition but they are essentially a compromise, they are the "Jack of all trades and master of none" of the tyre world.

At the end of the story if you expect to do a lot of driving in temperatures near to zero degrees winter tyres are advisable, particularly if you may occasionally be driving in snow, but as soon as winter is over change back to summer tyres. If you would normally only take the car on occasional runs, when there is no salt on the roads and little chance of bad weather, stick to good grippy summer tyres.

That's the way I see it anyway.

By the way in recent tests of winter tyres it seems Michelin Alpin tyres always come out at or near the top. The Pirelli are generally about half way down the list. Continental Winter Contact also do very well and in tests by the Italian consumers association came out on top in both 185/60 R15T and 225/45 R17H.

I am with Gambalunga on this one.
Also, by changing from winter tyres to summer tyres you are extending the depth of the winter tyres treads which I am assuming is essential for gripping the snow.

Many years ago, when TM first started, I arrange a group buy on winter tyres for Morgans and there was ZERO interest

Two weeks ago we finally were able to by a set of Winter Continental TS850 for my daughters MX5. Had real problems sourcing them and companies like VAG do not appear to have a winter tyre program running this year.
Have other found similar issues?
As I was wondering whether or not it would be worth souring from Europe when replacements are required.
Neither Blackcircles nor Camshill have them.

I use the Tyreman website for my Merc. Excellent selection & local fiiting although I bought aslo new alloys.

Thanks, John did look at Tyremen as well. We were specifically looking to the Contis for the new set of OEM alloys.
Apparently last year VW were doing a deal with alloys and winter tyres that you could not beat. I did not see any of the main car companies offering deals on winter tyres. So am wondering if the interest in the UK for winter tyres is just not there.
If I were still driving a rear wheel drive Mercedes or BMW, I would definitely have a set of winter tyres on now.
From an insurance point of view the insurance companies appear to be accepting of winter tyres as an acceptable change with no addition premium.

I have Winter Contis on my BMW. They have a much more aggressive tread pattern, and the polymer is loaded with silica, effectively sandpaper. So they grip.

Amusingly (??) they are a lot quieter than the run flat Contis that are provided as summer tyres.

BMW does a wheel + tyre exchange storage deal, they store your "other" set for £30.00 a year. You get a special storage case that is sent off to the BMW warehouse. The dealer charges £60.00 to change over the wheels and a winter check. They also clean off the wheels removed before they go into storage.

I have steel wheels for winter use, nice M Sport Alloys for the summer.

That's nice of them !!

Really they should reduce the premium for owners who fit winter rubber to their cars.