The Lotus Grand Tourers

Uniroyal Rainsport 3 struggled a little on the North Yorkshire black ice this morning. Took an extra second to get off the line. Fine once in motion.

Ice warning was solid red, and web says -3ish...

Uniroyal Icesport 3 are better when the bulb drops

I know you have used them in the past but Im absolutely sold on winter tyres. The softer compound and additional sipes give much more grip in cold wet weather, which is half the year here. Apparently owt less than 7 degrees gives extra grip over a normal tyre. Some of my daily drivers have had them fitted, I had a Ford Ka that upset the rangerover crowd here on snowy days because I was quicker and safer than they were. My daily driver now is a mk3 mx5 1.8 with no traction control like the 2 litre versions. It is one of the most tail happy cars Ive ever had in the wet but the winter tyres have tamed it to the point that I can trust it on a wet slippery island now ( sort of !). My wifes megane has them fitted in the winter and she works in the snowy peak district and to me its like extra insurance and they are cheaper than the normal excess on your insurance. It only costs £40 to get them swapped at a tyre fitter or like me you could mark the specific wheel and valve positions and swap them over yourself.
If you store them over the summer put them inside a black plastic bag to keep any ultra violet light away from them and store them in a cool dark place, that way they dont go hard over the summers. I get at least 3 winters out of a set.

Bash

I've had the Excel out a few times in the past 6 days on the OE 215/50 Dunlops. It copes fine with freezing temps as long as there is no lying snow. If there's more than an inch of snow it's not worth even trying.

Got to agree with Bash re winter tyres. I have them for my everyday MG ZT-T and they are fantastic. There really is no need for 4 wheel drive if you have proper winter tyres. I have mine on a set of spare alloy wheels bought via e-bay and keep them in the loft during the warmer months.

I think the reason most of us in the UK don't bother with winter tyres is that most of us just see enough snow or even low temperatures to make winter boots a necessity. I went all the way through the two previous winters without needing to fit my winter tyres to the MG. I just left them in the loft and watched for forecasts of snow which in my neck of the woods never came.

https://www.camskill.co.uk/m138b0s7995p ... se%3A_70dB

The above might be worth a go seeing as you drive in all seasons.

It's a shame the Michelin cross climate aren't available in 205/50/15 As the original (not+) is a heavy summer bias and traction in dry conditions is very close to a summer tyre.

Look like a suitable candidate Kieran. I'm starting to plan for when I will need to replace my O.E. spec tyres. It goes against the grain to fit an narrower 15" tyre so I'm considering getting new wheels and moving up to 16" whilst keeping the overall wheel/tyre diameter as close to stock as possible.

Toyos absolutely no grip in snow on roundabouts. Fully off road excursion. Luckily only 15 mph, sloped kerb, and 20 ft wide verge - no ditches hedges or posts. Auto didnt help

Hawaiis0 wrote:Toyos absolutely no grip in snow on roundabouts. Fully off road excursion. Luckily only 15 mph, sloped kerb, and 20 ft wide verge - no ditches hedges or posts. Auto didnt help

Scary.

I avoid driving mine int snow (T1Rs ont front). IIRC the orginal block-treaded Goodyear Eagles were OK-sh int snow -as long as they were still fairly fresh. Shame they stopped making them.