Best All Season Tyres for MG4

[bowfer]

Most discussion relating to EVs relates to range anxiety and cost of charging. From what I can see not one manufacturer in the world fits all season tyres. Why? Er because of mile's per kWh lost due to tyre tread construction. I had a diesel Passat 7 years ago, before I saw the light. 50,000 miles per year. Fitted cross climates, 10% less mpg. So let's say you lose 10% from SE range, that's around 4.9 kw (49.0 usable range net of buffer). Let's say you can't charge at home. So 4.9 x £0.60. So £3 lost for every 140 miles at 120 kmh. Easy to lose £10 to £20 per week for higher mileage users. But it's the range that is more critical especially in winter (SE more so) So losing 10 miles from a 100 mile range in winter if you live in Bournemouth is ridiculous on all weather tyres. Just because you read on a forum how safe they are when your ploughing through snow drifts on the sea front. Conservative people must not be promoted to think all season tyres are the perfect fit for an EV with respectfully a small battery pack.

What on earth are you going on about?
People who’ve decided they need all-season tyres have asked about them.
You’re banging on like people are being recommended to fit them ‘in general’
Er….no….. ?‍

 

[Deleted member 10041]

From what I can see not one manufacturer in the world fits all season tyres. Why?

A very quick check disproves that straight away, Cupra Born, build your car options.

 

[bowfer]

A very quick check disproves that straight away, Cupra Born, build your car options.

Is there another shot where all-season is an option?
I didn’t ‘build’ my born, it was just off the shelf.
Getting Goodyear vector fitted in a few weeks.

 

[MG4London]

I’m also interested in some all terrain tires for my MG4 for the winter. Then change them back for summer next year.

 

[bowfer]

I’m also interested in some all terrain tires for my MG4 for the winter. Then change them back for summer next year.

If you’re in the UK there won’t be many places where you’ll need full-blown winter tyres that are a noisy pain in the summer ( even if they don’t technically need changed really, they still work and don’t fall apart )
I promise you, all-season tyres are very capable in snow, I’ve had both.

 

[Deleted member 10041]

Is there another shot where all-season is an option?
I didn’t ‘build’ my born, it was just off the shelf.
Getting Goodyear vector fitted in a few weeks.

Seems to only come up on the 19 inch wheels for some reasoy

 

[tsedge]

Blimey, you look away from a thread for a while and it goes bananas.

For me, I don't have an EV because I pray to the eco gods, nor am I on a divine mission to clean the world; they are simply better cars than ICE vehicles, that's it.

I know from early March when I got my MG4 that the tyres are not good in cold wet weather. That's why I am debating changing them for some all seasons.

The debate around which tyres are best is useful, thanks to all who have contributed.

 

[Rolfe]

Agreed, all season tyres noisy. Unless you live in North of Scotland or wilds of Wales summer tyres are perfectly good . What's wrong with the OEM Continentals that win tyre tests. Should we have tyre chains, winches and survival suits in the boot too?

The North? Come and see what it can be like here in the Borders at 800 feet up and you'll reconsider. My Golf was like Bambi on an ice rink in summer tyres and transformed into a Land-rover in winters. I changed them twice a year for 13 years, gladly. But I'm going to take Bowfer's advice and try all seasons on the MG4.

 

[BarryH]

Most discussion relating to EVs relates to range anxiety and cost of charging. From what I can see not one manufacturer in the world fits all season tyres. Why? Er because of mile's per kWh lost due to tyre tread construction. I had a diesel Passat 7 years ago, before I saw the light. 50,000 miles per year. Fitted cross climates, 10% less mpg. So let's say you lose 10% from SE range, that's around 4.9 kw (49.0 usable range net of buffer). Let's say you can't charge at home. So 4.9 x £0.60. So £3 lost for every 140 miles at 120 kmh. Easy to lose £10 to £20 per week for higher mileage users. But it's the range that is more critical especially in winter (SE more so) So losing 10 miles from a 100 mile range in winter if you live in Bournemouth is ridiculous on all weather tyres. Just because you read on a forum how safe they are when your ploughing through snow drifts on the sea front. Conservative people must not be promoted to think all season tyres are the perfect fit for an EV with respectfully a small battery pack.

I have to say you are missing the point. We all know that a Cross Climate or All Seasons tyre is going to be a compromise and accept that there are lots of things impacting range but the assertion that "Most discussions relating to EVs relates to range anxiety and cost of charging" is frankly untrue on this forum. This discussion is to answer a question on which is the "best All Season tyre for an MG4?". In Summer a "Summer" tyre will perform better than a "Winter" tyre and the reverse is also true since a lot of research has gone into developing compounds with characteristics that match those conditions. We all I'm sure experienced driving in cold conditions with standard summer tyres and the loss of grip and stopping performance and yet few in the UK where it is not mandated, will switch their tyres accepting that "compromise" of performance for the few months of the year it really maters. Others have more extreme conditions to contend with and find it in their interest to switch to winter tyres and suffer the inconvenience and cost of doing so. The fact of the matter is that in the UK we are not, as in other markets, required to switch each year and do have mixed and changeable conditions which make it impracticable and undesirable to keep switching tyres like an F1 pit crew and the choice of compromising and fitting All Season or Cross Climate is a reasonable thing to do. Yes, they don't have the grip of a winter tyre on the coldest winter day or wear as well or as economical as the best summer tyre on a hot summer day it is a choice however which is a compromise that works better than a summer tyre in winter or winter tyre summer. And so we're back to the valid question of "best All Season tyre for an MG4?" and maybe we can keep to this and if there are questions of "range anxiety and cost of charging" they are better addressed on a different thread.

 

[JonnyG]

Back on topic ! If I buy a second set of Alloys and All Season Tyres for Winter use what do I need to do about the TPMS ? Do I need to buy the TPMS valves from MG and get them coded in after fitting ? If I don't bother do you just get an amber warning light on the dash all the time or does it make annoying "bong" type noises too !!

 

[BarryH]

You’ve stated “one-time” it happened with you.
Well I’ve been fitting the best tyres, or all-season tyres, to the front of FWD cars only for many years and many cars now.
Our Evoque and polo are thus equipped.
Firstly, it’s perfectly legal and not against any insurance regulations, let’s get that out of the way.
Secondly, many years and umpteen different cars, I’ve had not had a single incident of the tail going awol, dry, wet or snow.
Yes, if you an afford to fit four on a FWD car go right ahead, but if you can’t (or won’t in my case) I’d argue two are better than none in snow.
RWD cars need four, which is an expensive pain.
I’m facing £500 to put them on my born and was the same for the 4.

My "one-time" refers to me going against the fitter's advice not that the breakaway only happened "one-time". To be clear I've proven this to be the case with several cases and the advice is based on the physics that the end of the vehicle with the lowest traction will breakaway first. It is safer to understeer than oversteer so it therefore follows that a rear-end breakaway leading to sudden oversteer is less safe. Ideally, change all 4 tyres at the same time and since we began this thread to answer a specific question about MG4 let's not forget that the MG 4 has a close to perfect 50:50 weight distribution and with front-wheel steering and rear-wheel drive the tyres ought therefore to wear pretty evenly and be replaced as a set.

 

[Rolfe]

Back on topic ! If I buy a second set of Alloys and All Season Tyres for Winter use what do I need to do about the TPMS ? Do I need to buy the TPMS valves from MG and get them coded in after fitting ? If I don't bother do you just get an amber warning light on the dash all the time or does it make annoying "bong" type noises too !!

If you do that your best bet is to go for full winter tyres. The only advantage to all-season tyres is that don't have to change autumn and spring. If you're going to change, do it right.

 

[QLeo]

Thanks you all for your comments in this thread, even when the discussion strayed. For a moment, It was a little like being told for the umpteenth time that buying an EV was a mistake because hydrogen was the future, but we got there in the end
Goth Leo will have his new Goodyear 4Season Gen3's fitted on Monday, all being equal.
I'm very grateful for the suggestions and comments.

 

[Rolfe]

Monday! I'm currently lying in the sun in temperatures in the high 20s (on the island of Kos). Don't remind me.

I expect Caliban (currently snoozing in a long stay car park at Glasgow Airport) will get his in November.

 

[fnegroni]

Thanks you all for your comments in this thread, even when the discussion strayed. For a moment, It was a little like being told for the umpteenth time that buying an EV was a mistake because hydrogen was the future, but we got there in the end
Goth Leo will have his new Goodyear 4Season Gen3's fitted on Monday, all being equal.
I'm very grateful for the suggestions and comments.

Do let us know if and how the range is affected, please

I am finding the stock tyres ok at the moment, definitely no Michelin Pilot Sport but not as dreadful as I feared, yet!

Will see when the temperatures drop whether to swap for some proper winter tyres or Mich CC2.

 

[QLeo]

Do let us know if and how the range is affected, please

I am finding the stock tyres ok at the moment, definitely no Michelin Pilot Sport but not as dreadful as I feared, yet!

Will see when the temperatures drop whether to swap for some proper winter tyres or Mich CC2.

Will do, though we only have 4 months of info re our efficiency.

Yes, the standard tyres are fine*. It's just we live in the far north west of Scotland in a very hilly area, and we have seen cars unable to move when there is even light snow cover. Our snow plough drivers are also limited in what they are allowed to do. In particular, they aren't allowed to drop the rubber edge of the plough near the road, because, will you believe it, the council thinks they wear out too quickly. We generally have reasonable distances to do on rural roads and single-tracks, so need all the help we can get in winter.

* - there are cattle grids on our roads here. We have noticed that the standard tyres do not like these at all, easily slipping on them, a scary experience, and not caused by acceleration. This is the case in the summer months, so we don't want to find out how hard the compound can get in winter. But as I say, our conditions may not be representative of many.

 

[Rolfe]

Cry me a river. You're at sea level right in the path of the Gulf Stream.

 

[QLeo]

Cry me a river. You're at sea level right in the path of the Gulf Stream.

That's a little unkind. If you know the area, you'll know that in order to go anywhere we always have to go both higher and inland. But maybe I'm misunderstanding what you're trying to say.

 

[SteveO]

It is safer to understeer than oversteer so it therefore follows that a rear-end breakaway leading to sudden oversteer is less safe.

I strongly suspect it is 'safer' to drive in such a manner to avoid both understeer and oversteer.

If you experience either it invariably means things have not gone to plan and relying on your tyre choice is clutching at straws at that point.

Never in almost 40 years have I needed winter or cross-climate tyres and with the advances in tyre technology I'm really really struggling to see what has changed in that 40 years.

Perhaps the following question should be asked more "is my journey really necessary?"

IIRC our 2013 Nissan LEAF was fairly handy and predictable in the snow on the 'summer?' Michelins that it came with, should have been Bridgestone but I got them swapped as I don't rate Bridgestone at all.

 

[QLeo]

I strongly suspect it is 'safer' to drive in such a manner to avoid both understeer and oversteer.

If you experience either it invariably means things have not gone to plan and relying on your tyre choice is clutching at straws at that point.

Never in almost 40 years have I needed winter or cross-climate tyres and with the advances in tyre technology I'm really really struggling to see what has changed in that 40 years.

Perhaps the following question should be asked more "is my journey really necessary?"

IIRC our 2013 Nissan LEAF was fairly handy and predictable in the snow on the 'summer?' Michelins that it came with, should have been Bridgestone but I got them swapped as I don't rate Bridgestone at all.

I'm really puzzled by some of the responses to my question. I do appreciate that some do not need tyres other than those that are standard, and I'm not advocating that everyone should either change tyres or come to the same conclusion as we have. Also, with the regard to whether the journey is necessary or not, that depends on many things, including such things as whether you have a shop to which you can walk, or whether you are happy for your business to close down in winter.

However, just to give some inkling of where different tyres can help, here is one part of the journey to the nearest village. The middle top shows where the road goes, and it actually climbs beyond that point. The road on the other side of that hill is quite significantly more steep. And that is a blind 90 degree bend at the top of the single track. When you're coming down there, even at slow speeds, and someone comes around unexpectedly (and as Terry Pratchett noted, million to one chances occur nine times our of ten) you really want to know your car will stop or at leats retain control. We have seen some shockers along that stretch of road, and seen cars unable to progress at all or which slide gently across to the ditch on the side. We do not want to be that car.