Only just seen this post xtralarg, but I can offer a voice of experience here. Back in the days of my FL2 before it sadly had to go, I got a set of Avon Ranger Ice at £580 including fitting from my local garage. The vreds will be fine and dandy too, no doubts there.

At the time, I was doing voluntary work for Peak 4x4 Response which meant going out into the bleak wilderness of the Peak District occasionally and sometimes local towns. I went out in horrendous snow and ice to help people and help nurses get to elderly patients and the combination of FL2 abilities and winter tyres made progress effortless.

If you get a moment, use street view and search for Old Hill, Ashbourne. I drove the FL2 up there when the road was covered in thick fresh snow and it was so quiet that some kids were building a snowman (I didn't run over the snowman)

I have now bought the top rated Continental TS850's for my fiesta and am hoping for some snow to test them out. Winter tyres don't provide invincibility though and I still exercise caution and deployed HDC in the FL2 where necessary and slowed down with the gears. HDC is a luxury I no longer have obviously!

Just a shame we can't do a lot about the tw ts who don't know how to drive in snow  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

I really appreciate the feedback guys, there are some excellent real life excellent real life experiences here.

One thing I have noticed in the last few days is that the price of some winters on mytyres.co.uk have increased. I presume this is a seasonal supply and demand tactic? If this is the case and then the question has to be asked if fitting them now and saving on the price increase outweighs the extra tread used before winter really sets in, thoughts?

Get them ordered now my friend. Winter tyres come into their own at 7C or below but even above that (it's 13C here at the mo), they aren't suddenly going to wear out loads of tread. Some people run winter tyres all year and although summer tyres are superior in warm weather, they aren't as superior as winter tyres are in cold weather (if that makes sense!)

I snapped my Conti's up in June when the price and demand was low and they have been stored since. I am waiting for November and keeping an eye on the forecast before I fit them but you should at least place an order and fit them when you wish.

Got mine from here by the way: http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/ but AJS tyres who sponsor this forum are a safe bet. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Agreed - an extra week or three won't make much difference. I'll probably put mine back on some time early to mid November, based on the weather forecasts, so that's only a month at most.

Well I've ordered a set of buget winters at the grand price of £66 each delivered. I figured that because I'm only keeping the vehicle until April there's not point spending £130+ per tyre.

Has anyone got any experiences with budget winters which they'd like to share?

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/

In short the area where budget tyres fall down is in non-winter conditions, particularly wet road grip.

Xtralarg wrote:

Well I've ordered a set of buget winters at the grand price of £66 each delivered. I figured that because I'm only keeping the vehicle until April there's not point spending £130+ per tyre.

Has anyone got any experiences with budget winters which they'd like to share?

I went for these http://www.oponeo.co.uk/tyre-details/miles...-r17-108-h

I hope they are ok!

I dare say they will be fine but on a recent video I saw on YouTube, Goodyear did a test of their premium summer tyre vs their Ultra Grip 8 winter tyre vs a budget winter tyre.

Their sumner tyre stopped sooner than the budget winter tyre on the simulated ice/snow surface. I will try to find a link... LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Here it is:  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Interesting stuff! I wonder how summer budgets would have faired in that test?

The track wouldn't have been long enough for the car to stop.  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

That's a good video. Its very interesting. I suppose it shows you get what you pay for? My General Grabber AT's were fine last year in the bad snow but must admit the vast majority of my driving last winter was on roads that were well gritted. Reading this thread got me thinking that maybe I should have paid a little bit more for my tyres and got some Vredstiens as I only do about 5000 miles a year.

Still a good video and highlights the difference between premium and budget winter tyres. Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

To be fair, even Vredestein and Avon (whose tyres I had for the FL2) aren't premium tyres. They are middle of the road in name clout and status (if tyres can have clout and status ) but still great tyres. Premium tyres come from Continental and Goodyear for example. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Now Doc, how have you stored your winter tyres? Are they on another set of wheels? Have you wrapped then in bin liners in a cool dark place? Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.