“These tires are ok in snow but any other kind of weather, not so much. On greasy roads they're particularly frightening. I don't even drive a powerful car. I switch on to winters in November from a summer tire and the...”
Jinyu YW51
The Jinyu YW51 is a Touring Winter tire designed to be fitted to Passenger Cars.
The quick answer
Built from every independent test result and vetted owner review we hold for this tire - the evidence is all further down the page. Data updated November 2019.
- 17owner reviews
- 46,300miles driven
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Owner Questions
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Jinyu YW51 Owner Reviews
Review this tireWhat owners say
Across 17 owner ratings the Jinyu YW51 averages 67%. Owners rate Wear highest at 7.1 out of 10 and Handling lowest at 5.8. 1 of those reviews come from owners past 10,000 miles. 67% of owners score it 70% or better.
Owner ratings averaged from 17 ratings
- Owner score 67%
- Wear 71%
- Dry Grip 70%
- Comfort 70%
- Snow Grip 70%
- Wet Grip 67%
- Road Feedback 63%
- Handling 58%
Featured reviews
“I purchased these tires for my Smart Car a couple of years ago, just before Christmas (ie Christmas Eve). I was told there might be snow, and knowing how impossible it was to drive the car at all, even on dead flat...”
All 16 Jinyu YW51 reviews
- Volkswagen Passat 1.9Tdi
- 205/60 R15
- 4,000 miles
- Mostly Country Roads
- Average
I would definitely NOT recommend these winter tires.
- Ford Focus mk2
- 225/45 R17
- 20,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Average
- Smart Fortwo MHD cabrio
- 195/50 R15 H
- 1,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Average
I was told there might be snow, and knowing how impossible it was to drive the car at all, even on dead flat, tarmac surfaces roads, I decided to get these from my local tire merchant - meant to be good value, certaily in comparison to other makes - I've had winter tires on a previous Smart car for a number of years and they had worked very well - indeed as the car is so light, I had had no need to change the tires after the winter, and had kept them on for the next 30K miles.
These were a different car, different tires and a ballgame!
The first journey was on a motorway - going away for 2 weeks holiday. There was a strongish cross-wind (not a gale) and I almost immediately noticed the back end moved about a bit, but I thought this was due to the weather. I travelled gingerly (no faster than 50mph) for the 250 miles, believing the weather was at fault.
Over the next week or so, the weather got warmer rather than colder but I had no need to drive as I was on holiday - so the tires were not really required or tested further.
When I travelled home, I had exactly the same experience, even though there was no noticeable breeze.
I returned to the store and having had them check the wheel alignment and balance, I took the car out again for a 20-mile test drive, to find exactly the same problem. I returned to be told the tires were fine and it was road conditions or my driving so I could not replace the tires as they had been used for several hundred miles and not informing the store within 7 days (remember this was over Christmas week), there was nothing that could be done.
I took the car to Mercedes to check possible other problems, to be told the car was fine. They put 4 of Goodyear winter tires on instead, these worked brilliantly - AND were actually cheaper!. I was told that above 7°C the Jingus might not have the tire wall rigidity of other tires.
I kept the Jingus to try again in cold/snowy weather. This winter, after 3 years/35000 miles full use, the Goodyears needed replacing. I swaped them for the Jingus.
Results:
Handling = rubbish (back of car extremely twitchy),
Actual road-holding (ie straightline stopping/starting) in snow - fine/good.
Clearly a problem with the tires NOT the car.
Am changing them to summer tires later today.
Will bin the Jingus.
Sadly not using MTS Banbury again.
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- Ford Fiesta (mk4 facelift) 1.3 Flight
- 175/65 R14
- 100 miles
- Mostly Town
- Easy Going
All I can say is I drove the car to the garage for it's MOT and also to get the summer tires changed with these and on the way home the ride was much nicer, a lot less bouncy then with the summer tires which were 4 different makes on each wheel. One thing to note that I've not seen pointed out on any review is these tires are designed to turn in only 1 direction, so the tread pattern is pretty good in that it's designed to provide good grip going forwards. I'd say the car drove much better on these tires, part of the reason for that will be having 4 tires all of the same make and model.
Right now it's the first week of December 2017 - they keep telling us this will be the coldest winter in 5+ years, so if it is then it will give use a good chance to test out these tires. All I can say right now is the tires seem fine and they drove a lot better than the previous mixed set of tires.
- Toyota MR2 mk3 Roadster
- 205/50 R15
- 3,000 miles
- Mostly Country Roads
- Spirited
- Volvo S40
- 195/60 R15 T
- 1,000 miles
- Mostly Motorways
- Average
- Mercedes Benz C180K Avantgarde
- 225/45 R17
- 1,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Average
- Mercedes Benz B200cdi
- 225/45 R17
- A Combination of Roads
- Average
- BMW 320D M Sport
- 225/45 R17 H
- 8,000 miles
- A Combination of Roads
- Spirited
- Volvo V70 T5
- 205/55 R16
- Mostly Country Roads
- Average
Absolutley fantastic.
- Volvo V40 Estate
- 195/55 R15
- Mostly Country Roads
- Easy Going
- Volkswagen Tiguan Sport 2.0 TDI 140hp
- 225/45 R17
- Mostly Town
- Average
fitted new Jinyu tires as recommended by my tire fitters that i have used for ever @ 80.00 per corner
They were first class
They were so grippy it was a delight
We were out every day in fresh snow and slush plus lots of rain
The temperature was between + 3 degrees and - 7 degrees
Another vehicle with us slid every where and got stuck a lot
We did not get stuck and we descended some very steep winding roads without fault
These tires are well worth fitting for peace of mind
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