Are there any recommendations for winter / snow tyres for a RRS 2.7 HSE? Has anyone had anything to do with this sort of thing - http://www.greendiamondtire.com/index.html, in particular the ICELANDER M/T

Thanks

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Vredestein Wintrac and Pirelli Scorpion Ice& Snow are good for moderate snow. For serious snow, you can get studded tyres like Nokian Hakkapeliitta:

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I have Vredestein on mine and must say that even though I didn't think much about the make initially, they proved to be very good in icy weather conditions

I have a set of the Pirelli scorpion Snow and Ice tyres and used them for two months at the begining of 2009 - until we started to get days consistantly above 5c. I had no issues with them BUT as my car is a TDV8 normally running on 20" wheels I could only get 19" tyres at the time so had to buy a 2nd hand set of 19"wheels too. IIRC studded tyres are illegal in the UK. And of course now the UK has ground to a halt with half a dozen snow flakes having fallen my snow tyres are in Scotland and I am in Hampshire! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

Tim in Scotland wrote:

And of course now the UK has ground to a halt with half a dozen snow flakes having fallen my snow tyres are in Scotland and I am in Hampshire!

Tim this is why I have put the winter tyres on end of november and planning to run them till the temperature does not get above 10. You never know in this country what the weather is going to be like in next 10 minutes, do you?

Choosing a winter tyre is compromizing between what kind of road conditions you normally have.

Here in Norway we can expect snow and ice on the surface from November till March with occationally very low temparatures. So it's best to choose a soft (Nordic) rubber compound giving more grip on ice or wet snow. If your normal driving conditions are with temparatures above freezing, dry or wet, a harder compound will be fine and last longer. It will, however, not give ultimate grip on ice or wet snow.

On my previous RRS 07 I used Pirelli Scorpion Ice + Snow. Good on cold dry snow, but felt very unsafe on ice and wet snow . Currently on my new 2010MY I went for studded (legal in Norway) Hakkapelitta 5 SUV and they provide a lot more grip on ice and wet snow. They are soft, however, so they will obviously not last very long. I guess two seasons and they're finished. These tyres are also available studless. Another soft Nordic compound rubber tyre is Continetal, cannot remember the designation, but they MUST be the from Viking series.

Anyhow it is wise too choose a narrower wintertyre than you have on your normal wheels, although I don't do that myself  2010 RRS TDV6 3,0, Bali Blue/Tan/Anigre/Dynamic Pack/Logic7/Keyless entry/Paddle

I have to agree fully with ErSa.

I live and therefore drive in Sweden (minus 18 this week) and the nordic tyres are the best by far (better than German or mainland Europe tyres), due to their performance at lower temperatures.

Although I have very little experience of SUV tyres I have loads of experience of good and bad winter tyres.

As ErSa says, it depends on the conditions that you are driving in, there is no 'perfect' tyre for all conditions.

A winter friction tyre (without studs) made for nordic climates, is great in snow, slush and mixed conditions, but is beaten by a studded tyre when it come to solid ice or packed snow. Although, a studded tyre can suffer on loose snow and certainly on wet slush etc.

Last week I was driving my Audi quattro which has studded tyres on, in the wet (law in Sweden to have winter tyres from Oct to Apr) - in the roundabouts I could feel it sliding. As you would expect from metal contact with the ashfelt road surface.

I would also add that I am now driving my TDV6 with regular nordic winter tyres (without studs) and they are coping just fine - you must be a little careful on packed ice, but the compromise is definately in the favour of wet and loose snow. So I will not be running studded tyres on my TDV6, unless I plan to drive further north (very much ice usually).

As for brand, without question the best winter tyre in Sweden is the Hakkapelitta from Nokian. It is a classic and the SUV version is said to be awesome. I would steer cleer of Pirelli and Michelin winter tyres as I have tried both and they feel too plastic like, feels like driving with tread made from Lego bricks.

I don't think you can get Nokian tyres in the UK, but if I were there and needed to feel safe in the winter, I would go to the effort to buy them online and have them shipped - you WILL NOT regret it - a world of difference.

I hope this helps.

if its on 255/50/19 try cooper m&s sport tyres i had them on my last r/r
i ran them all year round