Winter and off-road tyres

[pierret]

Hi,

We have a LR RRS and even though we live in South of England, I thought I'd get a set of winter tyres. (You can tell me straight away if you think it's really not needed despite the snow we're getting in recent years.) Anyhow, I thought it'd be nice to get tyres which are not completely hopeless off-road, either. We really won't be doing much offroading, and no rock climbing, but maybe the odd grass/mud track would be fun.

I've been looking at General Tire, but since there are separate winter/summer offroad tyres, and the least offroad-y tyre is 50/50, I'm really at loss as to what I should get, if this combination of uses is possible at all. Any suggestions are welcome.

[300bhp/ton]

pierret said:

Hi,

We have a LR RRS and even though we live in South of England, I thought I'd get a set of winter tyres. (You can tell me straight away if you think it's really not needed despite the snow we're getting in recent years.) Anyhow, I thought it'd be nice to get tyres which are not completely hopeless off-road, either. We really won't be doing much offroading, and no rock climbing, but maybe the odd grass/mud track would be fun.

I've been looking at General Tire, but since there are separate winter/summer offroad tyres, and the least offroad-y tyre is 50/50, I'm really at loss as to what I should get, if this combination of uses is possible at all. Any suggestions are welcome.

You have a lot of choice here and it really comes down to personal opinion and expectations.


First up, what size are you looking at? Will they go on your current rims, or are you looking at getting a 2nd set of rims. Not all tyres are available in all sizes.

As a rule taller higher profile tyres will work better for off road or snow. And also narrower tyres. But rim choice can limit options.


Also as a rule, the more off roady a tyre gets, the less on road friendly it will be.


You say you aren't planning much off roading, can you clarify? Will it be used for any and if yes, on what kinds of terrain?

It's also worth considering how you drive. If you go flat our everywhere and corner hard, you won't get away with the same tyres as someone who only trundles about.



Winter tyres - these generally have a unique tread pattern. The key thing is the sipes (the small lines in the tread). But they are also made of a different compound to summer or all season tyres. You can run them all year round, but they will wear quickly in the summer and if you drive hard they will get torn up very quickly on dry warm tarmac.

Winter tyres are best suited to a 2nd set of rims that you fit just for the winter period.

That said, something like an RRS should have enough ability to be driven sensibly in the snow even on summer tyres. As long as you are confident in the your abilities and don't get too cocky.



Your next choice is going to be an All Terrain of some kind. Most/all All Terrains will be M&S rated (Mud and Snow). They aren't winter tyres because they won't use the same compound as a winter tyre. But for the SE of England they will be more than up to the task.

There are a lot of different AT's. You really want some with sipes in. The more aggressive they are, they more they will move about and grip less on normal dry or wet roads. But they should give you massively improved snow and off road capability. So it's a trade off.

I personally like the Goodyer Wrsangler Duratracs, they have sipes, should still be road friendly, but big enough lugs to head off the beaten path too. They are also OEM fit to quite a few vehicles.



You'll have to check to see if you can get them in the size you need.

The BFG AT will be less good on road, but a tad more aggressive.

However there are lots of other AT patterns. You can tell by looking at them how aggressive they will be, for example, these still have the sipes, so will work better than summer tyres in snow, but have much smaller tread blocks than the Duratracs above. This would make these tyres less good in deep fresh snow and less good off road on slippery grass/mud.




You could look at a Mud Terrain, but you'll probably struggle for choice in the sizes you need. MT's will generally out perform AT's in fresh snow like we normally get in the SE. But again will be another step further away for normal on road use.

Example:
https://youtu.be/V8tNckpZSWE?t=1233

Ignore the struggling BMW. The Shogun was on a set of mild AT's. Note how much wheelspin they got when moving off. The tyres gave enough performance for the conditions, but were not the best choice. The green Land Rover is on some narrow MT's and it doesn't even spin a wheel to move off. But at 70-80mph on the motorway the AT's will be a lot nicer.

[SlimJim16v]

Take a look at this link jon- posted in another thread

https://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Article/2018-Auto-Bi...

Unless you're really gonna go off road, ATs, though OK in snow, look to be compromised in other road conditions.
My own experience with MT and AT tyres says they're better than the test results say, in the dry and standing water.

[brough74]

I have a RRS with general grabber AT3 on it, all year round.

In the beginning they were a bit slippy pushing round corners but once the settled in a bit they have been fine.

Been on the motorway at speeds and the cope fine, I think they are rated at 120 mph but please check.

Not noisy at all really, and grip well in the wet, but do lock up on wet leaves in heavy emergency breaking.

They have been in mud and snow and always got out again.

Hope this helps

[CharlieAlphaMike]

I'm using Pirelli Scorpion Winter tyres (Alpine Marked) on my 4x4 and they are great. I've also used them during the Summer (mainly for shortish journeys) with no problems.

I should point out that I'm based in Sweden where we get 'proper' snow during Winter but that we also had an amazing Summer this year.

[pierret]

Hi, Thanks for all the info! It's really helpful. I've been trying to reply for days, but the forum was always locked in the evening.

A quick question: the car currently has 275 40 R 20 tyres and so 20-inch rims. If I get a 19-inch set of rims for the winter tyres, and use 255 50 R 19 tyres, would the speedometer etc. need readjusting? I see that in theory the overall diameter of the wheels would change about 1cm, but in practice I wonder if the tyres distort anyway as they roll and so the effective diameter would be the same.

Thanks!

[CharlieAlphaMike]

pierret said:

Hi, Thanks for all the info! It's really helpful. I've been trying to reply for days, but the forum was always locked in the evening.

A quick question: the car currently has 275 40 R 20 tyres and so 20-inch rims. If I get a 19-inch set of rims for the winter tyres, and use 255 50 R 19 tyres, would the speedometer etc. need readjusting? I see that in theory the overall diameter of the wheels would change about 1cm, but in practice I wonder if the tyres distort anyway as they roll and so the effective diameter would be the same.

Thanks!

Probably not. I believe the general rule is no more than +/- 2.5% difference. The tyre sizes you mention would give approx + 1.3% so you should be ok.

Of course you'll also need to check that the tyre/wheel combinations will actually fit the vehicle (brake caliper/bodywork/suspension etc clearances).

Try this calculator tool to find the best tyre size:

https://www.tyremen.co.uk/tyre-size-calculator

[anonymous-user]

I'd just stick some General Grabber AT3s on and be done with it, fine for all year round use. The spectrum of use we've had out of ours goes from down to the South of France on the motorways, through to dealing with last year's snow in Yorkshire.

Great tyre, and available in 275/40/20 and 275/45/20 as well.