Despite owing the Kia Cee’d since 2021, and always intending on getting winter tyres, it’s only been recently that I’ve managed to get them sorted out. To cut a long story short, an initial plan to use second hand alloy wheels was aborted due to the set needing a refurb, and the new set alloy wheels didn’t arrive in time for last winter.
The new set of alloy wheels are factory OEM items, albeit of a slightly different style to the ones that came with the car. These were put in storage initially, as they arrived during winter, before receiving a set of Delinte DH2 summer tyres, complete with tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS) sensors coded to match those of the original alloys. This enables the car to recognise the tyre pressures of both sets of wheels.
The original alloys were then reused for the winter tyres. The original plan had been to use Dunlop winter tyres. However, thanks to a mix up with a supplier of the tyre fitter I use, the tyres were showing as in stock when in fact they were out of stock. By the time the issue was picked up, I’d already arrived at the garage, and when queried with the supplier no stock was available, and none would be arriving anytime soon.
After discussing some options, I settled on the closest available option, these being the Vredestien Wintrac. These are slightly more expensive than the Dunlops, but the garage price matched the tyres so I didn’t end up out of pocket. Now, with winter having arrived, the wheels have been swapped over, and I’ve had a chance to sample to the new tyres for the first time.
Initial impressions are positive. The tyres are providing good levels of grip. Braking and acceleration is achieved without loss of grip, and the tyres provide planted handling in the corners. Handling in colder conditions is improved over summer tyres in the same conditions.
So far, fuel economy is on par with the summer tyres, though I expect a marginal drop in the mpg figures over the longer term. There is a slight increase in road noise, but again this is marginal and expected. That being said, the Delinte DH2s do produce a reasonable amount of road noise (probably my only main criticism of my current summer tyre choice).
I’m sure I’ll do another post about tyres soon. In the meantime, I’ll happily drop a mention to my current tyre garage, Ryton Tyre and Autocentre. They’re a proper local garage I’ve used recently, and they’ve never let me down so far (for the avoidance of doubt they’ve not paid me for any advertising or endorsement).