GR86 Winter Tyres & Wheels

[RumbleandSway]

Fitted Michelin Alpin 6 to the family runaround today [useful to have something with full winter tyres] - got me thinking about GR86 winter tyre/wheel options.

Can’t find the Alpin 6 tyre in 215/40R18 85 Y - closest available from Michelin is a 215/40R17 86V XL or a 215/50R17 95H XL

Pirelli offer the Cinturato Winter 2 215/40/R18 89V XL but I don’t have any experience of that tyre.

Had ok experience with Pirelli Winter Sottozero on a fast Audi but still lean towards the Michelin Alpin.

Anyone else have real world experience they can share - what is the ideal GR86 winter wheel/tyre combination?

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[sbc_uk]

Fitted Michelin Alpin 6 to the family runaround today [useful to have something with full winter tyres] - got me thinking about GR86 winter tyre/wheel options.

Can’t find the Alpin 6 tyre in 215/40R18 85 Y - closest available from Michelin is a 215/40R17 86V XL or a 215/50R17 95H XL

Pirelli offer the Cinturato Winter 2 215/40/R18 89V XL but I don’t have any experience of that tyre.

Had ok experience with Pirelli Winter Sottozero on a fast Audi but still lean towards the Michelin Alpin.

Anyone else have real world experience they can share - what is the ideal GR86 winter wheel/tyre combination?

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I'd be interested too I'm sure someone in this Forum can help.

Additionally, my go to tyre guy for advice and reviews is @jonathan_benson of @tyre_reviews

If you DM him on the @tyre_reviews IG account he usually replies or points you in the right direction.

As an FYI Jonathan got me on to GY Eagle F1 Asymmetric 5 then 6 for my GTi which has transformed my driving experience with this car . In fact all the Performance Golfs in my other car group now run this tyre on the road.

Or go to/search the YT channel Tyre Reviews which is excellent IMO, verging on nerdy

Hope this helps. Good luck

 

[KobayashiMaru86]

Or just go 225 40 18. They'll fit and will be far cheaper too as it's a common size. When the stock 215's wear out I'll be changing to 225's

 

[GRExige?]

Those XL rated tyres are reinforced for heavier vehicles like SUVs - so will be very stiff and not necessarily the sort of thing we’ll need. We run then on our X3 40d

 

[Sonic]

Search the YT channel Tyre Reviews which is excellent IMO, verging on nerdy

That very same channel was the reason I ended up with a full set of Michelin Cross Climate 2 (CC2) All Season tyres on my last vehicle. I couldn't be bothered with swapping out my sticky PZero clad wheels just for Winter and so, because I don't have Verstappen-like requirements or drive at the edge of the envelope everywhere I go, I opted for All Season rubber as an alternative. His reviews were spot on! In both the wet and the cold weather the tyres provided confidence and in the Summer I felt no difference to the PZeros when making 'good progress' around the Scottish Highlands - they also didn't suffer from Ackermann judder at low speeds like the PZ. That said, it is a bit of a channel for tyre Nerds

 

[sim61]

That very same channel was the reason I ended up with a full set of Michelin Cross Climate 2 (CC2) All Season tyres on my last vehicle. I couldn't be bothered with swapping out my sticky PZero clad wheels just for Winter and so, because I don't have Verstappen-like requirements or drive at the edge of the envelope everywhere I go, so I opted for All Season rubber as an alternative. His reviews were spot on! In both the wet and the cold weather the tyres provided confidence and in the Summer I felt no difference to the PZeros when making 'good progress' around the Scottish Highlands - they also didn't suffer from Ackermann judder at low speeds like the PZ. That said, it is a bit of a channel for tyre Nerds

Another fan of CC2's here. Not sure I will be fitting them to the GR86 though as we have a Disco Sport with them on.

I did fit Vredestein all seasons to a GTi6 several years ago which worked as a good compromise between summer and winter. I was still commuting to work in those days though.

 

[midlife_sportscar]

That very same channel was the reason I ended up with a full set of Michelin Cross Climate 2 (CC2) All Season tyres on my last vehicle. I couldn't be bothered with swapping out my sticky PZero clad wheels just for Winter and so, because I don't have Verstappen-like requirements or drive at the edge of the envelope everywhere I go, so I opted for All Season rubber as an alternative. His reviews were spot on! In both the wet and the cold weather the tyres provided confidence and in the Summer I felt no difference to the PZeros when making 'good progress' around the Scottish Highlands - they also didn't suffer from Ackermann judder at low speeds like the PZ. That said, it is a bit of a channel for tyre Nerds

I also run all-seasons these days, currently got Goodyear Vector 4Seasons on the Fiesta, had Cross Climates on my Lexus IS300h previously.

 

[Sonic]

Or just go 225 40 18. They'll fit and will be far cheaper too as it's a common size. When the stock 215's wear out I'll be changing to 225's

Sounds like a good shout. Tyre Size comparison chart looks favourable and I can't imagine that spacers would be required?

 

[Sonic]

I also run all-seasons these days, currently got Goodyear Vector 4Seasons on the Fiesta, had Cross Climates on my Lexus IS300h previously.

For a brief cost comparison Vectors come in at £165 for 215s and £119 for 225s, that's a saving of £180 on a set! As long as they fit on the same rims ..

 

[midlife_sportscar]

For a brief cost comparison Vectors come in at £165 for 215s and £119 for 225s, that's a saving of £180 on a set! As long as they fit on the same rims ..

I've done the size-shift on others cars before - I had a Vauxhall Signum which was fitted, I think, with 215/50R17s but 225/45s were considerably cheaper. £30 quid each or something (and this was in about 2008).
Tyre place didn't want to fit them - 'wrong size mate'.
As it happens they were listed as an alternative approved size in the handbook, so they put them on in the end...

 

[PVGR]

Do you need to swap?
I got mine in December in the pissing rain; straight from the off had high confidence, you know what the car is doing. PS4 pretty predictable in the wet.

All good can still have fun without binning it unless you expect the TC to save you which I find is very liberal in the wet even when on!

 

[Alistair31]

I imagine the GR86 will be totally useless in the snow on PS4’s, right?

 

[midlife_sportscar]

Do you need to swap?
I got mine in December in the pissing rain; straight from the off had high confidence, you know what the car is doing. PS4 pretty predictable in the wet.

All good can still have fun without binning it unless you expect the TC to save you which I find is very liberal in the wet even when on!

I guess it depends on where you live - I'm on a hill at the edge of the Pennines. In winter I have, in the past, been unable to even get off my drive with the combination of rear wheel drive and summer tyres. The hill I live on, despite being a bus route, rarely gets gritted or cleared.
Personally I find all-seasons not much different in summer conditions, but far superior in the cold and wet.

 

[KobayashiMaru86]

Sounds like a good shout. Tyre Size comparison chart looks favourable and I can't imagine that spacers would be required?
View attachment 19612

225 won't have any clearance issues. Brother runs his 86 with them in 18" OZ alloys. Once you start going beyond 18x9 alloys and even wider tyres I'd be concerned but the speedo difference is negligible and I could be wrong but I thought the last gen Club edition run them this size.

 

[PVGR]

I guess it depends on where you live - I'm on a hill at the edge of the Pennines. In winter I have, in the past, been unable to even get off my drive with the combination of rear wheel drive and summer tyres. The hill I live on, despite being a bus route, rarely gets gritted or cleared.
Personally I find all-seasons not much different in summer conditions, but far superior in the cold and wet.

Ah yeah fair enough snow is a different game!

 

[Jokurt]

For last Winter i bought Continental Wintercontact TS870 PXL FR in 215/40 R18 on OEM Wheels. I had no issues on wet or cold dry streets.
Once i drove with them on snowy streets and it felt ok.

I was still running in the engine, so no spirited driving.

 

[Alistair31]

For last Winter i bought Continental Wintercontact TS870 PXL FR in 215/40 R18 on OEM Wheels. I had no issues on wet or cold dry streets.
Once i drove with them on snowy streets and it felt ok.

I was still running in the engine, so no spirited driving.

What does it cost to switch them back over?

 

[leosayer]

I'm edging towards buying some 16" (white?) wheels and fitting Michelin Cross Climate 2 in 205/55/16 on the back of the superb Tyre Reviews YT channel mentioned earlier.

I've run winter tyres on a sports car before and found them too much of a compromise for cornering and braking in the kind of conditions I generally experience in winter which generally range from -5c and dry to 10c and raining. Of course, when it does snow, they feel invincible.

What I want is a tyre that will retain braking performance in all winter weathers and won't leave me stranded on a road with snow and/or ice like the PS4 inevitably will. The CC2 seems to fit that bill perfectly.

 

[Jokurt]

What does it cost to switch them back over?

It cost me 145€ and then the same amount switching it back. My father thinks that is expensive but I had all cars there and the service was always top notch. And it is really hard to find a shop where you leave your car without worrying all the time.

Originally I wanted some 17" wheels and tyres because I thought a little less wheel and a little more tyre (tyrewall) could not hurt in winter. But I was not able finding nice wheels with a TüV certificate.
In Summer I couldn't decide which new wheels before my vacation so they switched them back again.

 

[Jokurt]

Can some delete this post. I'm not able to use the edit function properly