W+ tyre reviews

Tyre size and vehicle make
215 / 55 R16 T
Audi A4
Result: Would you buy again? Definitely
Comment:
Very suitable tire for low temperatures, very good grip on snowy roads ...

Tyre size and vehicle make
225 / 45 R17 H
BMW 330
Result: Would you buy again? Definitely
Comment:
Driving in snow and ice with a rear wheel drive car on Summer tyres such as Bridgestone or Michelin you are not going anywhere fast and sometimes you will not be going anywhere at all! I have previously got stuck on ice as a result of the camber of the road when doing a U-turn. This Winter my wife slid off the road in the Mercedes running Michelin Primacy HP tyres which are terrible on snow and ice. So I bought a set of Nokian W+ which are the least aggressive Winter tyres made by Nokian and can be run throughout the year in temperate climates such as the UK. The BMW was totally transformed on snow and ice. If you could take a bend at 60 mph in the dry and you would slow to 50 mph in the wet then you would take it at 40 mph in the snow with these W+ tyres. On packed snow on country roads you could drive at 60 mph before the car started slipping they way it did at 20 mph on Summer tyres. On snow and ice I was able to leave all 4 x 4 on standard tyres standing. You have to remember that 4 wheel drive does not give you any better grip cornering or braking: it only provides improved traction when accelerating. SUV 4 x 4 vehicles tend to have all season tyres which is why they perform in Winter but all season tyres are not as good as Winter tyres on snow and ice. The Nokian rubber is very soft with lots of fine sipes which provides the grip on snow and ice. In the wet I felt that the car was more secure than on the Bridgestones particularly in very cold weather when I had an uneasy feeling on the Summer tyres. The next three most noticeable improvements are that the car is completely cured of all the wriggling, tramlining and tugging at the steering wheel that I have had with Continental Sport Contact 2 tyres and Bridgestone RE050 tyres on the BMW. These tyres have a very soft sidewall and this translates into a much improved ride quality: it is like getting out of the BMW and into a Mercedes but the BMW's more natural steering and balance is retained. Finally, rolling resistance is much reduced and the car consistently uses 15% to 20% less fuel particularly at lower speeds ie 80 mph and below. I used to get 38 mpg all the time even at low speed and now regularly see 44 mpg and can even exceed 50 mpg. The only couple of downsides are first, that I assume that the Nokian W+ tyres will not wear as well as Summer tyres but I have done 12,000 miles and I think they will do another 12,000 to 15,000 miles and maybe more so they are not at all bad. Secondly, when new I tried the car in light snow at about 100 mph and thought that the rear of the car wandered a little and did not have the same feel of riding on rails from the Bridgestones but would not be aware of this at speeds up to 90 mph. I think that this is in part due to the softer rubber and deeper tread which is about 10 mm when new compared 8 mm for Summer tyres which allows the tread blocks to move around a little. As the tyres have worn I think that this has become less noticeable. If you want to drive at 10/10 in hot weather or exceed the 130 mph limit then these tyres would not be ideal but they seem perfect for year round driving in UK conditions.

Tyre size and vehicle make
175 / 70 R13 T
BMW 316
Result: Would you buy again? Definitely
Comment:
Great in our super har german winters drove thorugh alps no problems

Tyre size and vehicle make
175 / 65 R14 T
Honda Jazz
Result: Would you buy again? Definitely
Comment:
These tyres coped faultlessly with all the worse winter southern England has seen for years. They kept the Jazz moving safely when even 4x4's (with standard tyres) had got stuck. Whats more they still have almost 8mm of tread left when they went into storage in April, will defininately buy again.