So the Xantia is terrible in the wet on budget tyres!?

[bobins]

As of December last year the DVSA had “guidance that tyres over ten years old should not be used on heavy vehicles except in specific, limited circumstances.” - although things may have changed in the last year. There have been several attempts to bring forward legislation banning the use of 10 year or older tyres on buses and coaches, but the legislation had been blocked by some MPs. The view of the DVSA does seem to be that HGV and PSV operators need to come up with a damned good reason if they are caught with tyres older than 10 years !
The coach crash which brought about the push for a law to ban old tyres happened at Hindhead (between the tunnel and Thursley) and the coach was returning from the Bestival festival on the Isle Of Wight.

Just to bring this one up to date, the government has finally seen fit to bring in a law banning tyres over 10 years old in various configurations on HGVs, buses, coaches, and minibuses. See:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-m ... e-54830060
for more details.

[white exec]

And about time, too. What a bloody disgrace. DfT and legislators should be ashamed.

[Hagrid]

I drive class 1 trucks (artics) for a distribution co, at a depot where there are roughly 40-50 tractor units, maybe 30 class 2 rigids, and who knows how many trailers, from 35ft rear-steer urbans to 45ft double deckers and some container skellies.

One of my biggest gripes there is the blatant ignorance of h&s when it comes to loading and delivering goods - I won't go into details here but I have driven for many different other operators over the years, large small and cowboy, and none of them are as bad as this lot, yet they are a well-known national name! I mention this only to give an interesting perspective on another observation I have of them.

When I do my walk-round checks I could almost (if I were no good) not bother checking the tyres, because they are consistently in such a great state - seriously. In over 4 years I have only ever found one defective tyre.

There is one of those 'man with a van' truck tyre fitters permanently onsite during the day M-F, and he is always going round the parked up stuff checking and swapping tyres over. He even has his very own container in our yard as his tyre store.

That must cost the company a fortune and is an eye-opener compared to the pennies they pinch elsewhere. I can certainly abuse those units on the road - not that I do of course!

Lastly, I owe thanks to the earlier posters of this thread - my mission for today is to order 4 new tyres for my 2003 Berlingo, and I had already got the choice down to two alternatives, both all-season, both 68dB, both rated B in the wet and C for fuel economy. One costs £71 a corner (cheapest delivered price I can find) and the other is £55.50. Tempting isn't it! But now let me tell you which ones they are: Michelin CrossClimates or Nokian Weatherproofs. Now it's tempting the other way round!

[Mandrake]

About to post in my own blog an update on how I'm finding the Michelin CrossClimate+ on my Leaf, and while I have reservations about the harsh ride quality (they're XL load rated so very stiff sidewalls) and the weird noises the V shaped tread pattern generates even on dry road (probably not audible on a combustion engine car, but it is quite audible on an EV...) I will say one good thing about them. The wet grip is absolutely phenomenal, and better than any summer tyre I've ever driven on.

I'm sure it's not actually true, but subjectively they don't feel like they lose any grip at all in cold wet conditions vs warm dry roads, even when the road has standing water. And that's both for accelerating/braking and cornering.

I can take large roundabouts at the same speed in 4 degrees and pouring wet with not even the slightest understeer - it literally feels like I'm driving on a dry road and the car is totally planted. I've never experienced this before on any previous tyre, and in fact when I jump into the Xantia which has Summer Michelin Energy Savers on it, you can immediately feel the understeer when you push it around a wet roundabout that isn't there in the dry.

The Dunlop Enasave that is factory fit on the Leaf is diabolical in the wet. Wheel spin every time you take off from the traffic lights if the road is wet and you don't feather the throttle - with the CrossClimate+ I can floor it even if the car is standing in a puddle and it won't wheel spin. Likewise braking quickly in the wet in the Dunlops provoked a lot of ABS action and drama, nothing like that in the CrossClimate+ which can brake hard and fast in the wet.

It's just a shame you can't get them in non-XL for a bit better ride quality. The Leaf has pretty hard suspension mind you, and 215/50/17 wheels, the CrossClimate+ might be a bit more palatable on a French car that has more compliant suspension.

But if you're looking for the ultimate cold/wet grip and want something that can cope with moderate snow/ice and also be pretty good in summer, the CrossClimate+ might be an option - just be warned that you might find the ride a bit harsher due to the very stiff sidewalls.