Poster: A snowHead
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Struggling (UK) to get winter tyres, certainly for decent price. Really wanted some Contis (or other well-recommended tyres) but my local tyre place can only get a Lassa Snow ways 3 ( and that's £69!) Tried other garages, same story - apparently last few winters too mild, so suppliers are loathe to import/stock. Anything top range and they're quoting well over £90 per tyre if they can get a set anyway. Same costs on ATS online.
They say the Lassa are good, sell a lot of, are M&S rated. Seen a few OK reviews on the net, but...?
They're for driving Northern England & Scotland btw, not abroad.
Opinions? Ta.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Might be worth checking out online tyre retailers such as https://www.oponeo.co.uk and https://www.blackcircles.com. They will either deliver to a local fitter or your home and for your to arrange fitting. I've used Oponeo a few times without any problems the tyres are shipped from Germany, I'm not sure if it works out any cheaper but they have a massive range so good if you're after something specific.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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They are manufactured by a Turkish tire company that was brought into joint ownership with the Japanese Bridgestone company.
Without trawling through individual postings I can't find anything that would indicate that they are not suitable quality.
As other tires sold in EU, they must comply with minimum standards and labeled accordingly. Doesn't seem to be anything there either that would make you wary, all seems to conform with the samples I can see.
No real reason not to use them as far as I can see.
Something else to consider if available, I've fitted Falken all weather tires to a few things recently, they meet the three peaks and snowflake criteria and seem to be really good quality.
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I have a friend who runs a tyre yard and I recall him rating Lassa tyres quite highly. He particularly likes them as they have a wide optimum temperature range and they're a good price.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Whatever the quality of the tyre is, a 'poor' winter tyre will be better in cold / wet / snow / slush, than the best summer / normal tyre. Between different winter tyres, the reviews indicate that the differences only really appear at the limit, so yes some are better than others, but not by that much.
I'm not surprised that you are having difficulties finding them, as back in 2010 when we were getting regular cold winters, I ordered a set, got a fitting appointment, only to be told on the forecourt that they didn't exist.
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Did actually manage to find Continued winter contacts in stock again on ATS at a good price, so I think that I'll go for them as reviews are good - but otherwise, thanks, maybe would try the Lassa.
EDIT - and as soon as I posted that, got a call from the local ATS centre saying that the Contis are no longer made (???!), they can't supply them, don't know why they're still available on the website to buy and that they can't recommend an alternative winter tyre (and this is in Way Up North territory, too). Impressive; not. That's me not using ATS again.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@martinperry,
Thanks. Just tried the tyres guru link, they're showing both 850 and 860 Contis available. Ho hum... Not sure yet where to get them fitted (new to area, haven't found car garage), but looks worth a look.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Winterhawks going fairly cheap at minute from various sellers
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You know it makes sense.
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@Grizzler, I tend to get all my tyres now from mytyres, they send them quickly from Germany and a great range. I gave up buying winter tyres from UK a few years ago, the places I visited locally were clueless (and expensive when they eventually discovered what a winter tyre was off the web and tried to get prices). I used to run Vredstein Wintrac Extremes, now Falken winters on both our cars, great quality. www.mytyres.co.uk
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Layne, Ha, same with us, 2 sets wheels/ tyres - I bought our spare alloys from mytyres with tyres already fitted and exchange 2x yearly myself.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've never heard of Lassa. Might be because they are no available in my area (Finland).
But I'm curious. Do you have access to the nordic winter tyres? Such as Nokian R2, Continental ContiViking Contact, Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice or Michelin X-ice X3? These have proper winter performance and have been thoroughly tested on snow and ice. The ones widely used in Europe (eg WinterContact TS 850) are classified as dangerous in winter here in Finland. Obviously our winters can be challenging for any tire, but if you want the best performance on snow and ice, it might be worth giving it a thought. They are softer, so doing 200kmh on a warm autobahn is not recommended. But on a 4x4 you will most likely never need chains on snow. And they will stop any car in a much shorter distance.
Sorry if this has been discussed before...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm on avon wv7s at the moment, on a Berlingo. Sadly not had chance to use them much yet as last winter was rubbish! This year though we're driving to the Alps at Christmas so cross fingers for a better start to the season. I used to have Italian Marangoni winter tyres during 2010-2012 in the bad winters we had and they were amazing, I felt invincible in them!! They don't do them anymore though.
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@AllyK, I think Marangoni have stopped making car tyres now as they could not compete with Chinese etc. manufacturers prices. I think they still do Truck, Bus and specialist plant tyres. I bought some old stock last year for my own car, to be honest I found they wore down quickly but it was a new, to me, car and it may be a "tyre eater" as some cars are.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have used Lassa tyres on my van, very good with no issues. I have a large tyre distributor locally, which is where I purchase them from and they use them on all their vans too. I keep winter tyres on the van all year round.
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@Markymark29, sounds like a good place to shop for tyres, I'll have a look further.
@king key, thanks, sounds reassuring.
@lmu2002, It seems in England we have very limited stock access. Then again, England, even Scotland, is very different to Finland or Norway, both of which I've driven in. We can get deep snow, but it's often only lasting a few days and is usually heavy and wet. It's also often not cleared, gritted or compacted, especially in the hillier countryside areas. Occasionally ice too, black as well as proper stuff, but mostly just slushy wet yucky cold - and did I mention wet?
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I did Google Marangoni and found that they'd stopped production. I didn't really have anything to compare them with but I was blown away by the fact I could effectively tackle unploughed lanes with ease! Very liberating. These I have in now I've not had any snow to test them in and if last Christmas is anything to go by I might not again this Christmas but I do feel safer and more prepared.
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