Marangoni Meteo HP

Fitted these in October to a Citroen C5 tourer. Decided to purchase after the snow of the previous 2 years and living down at the bottom of a housing estate where my summer tires would not get me out (they were Continentals which though very good in warm weather tests appear to have the worse grip of any summer tire in snow and ice conditions according to a "What Car" test last year. A friend had them fitted to his Audi 2.5 diesel the year before and said they had worked well, so as they were resonably cheap I bought a full set.
As another person says this seemed to stop the snow.
In the dry they seem to have similar cornering grip to the summer continentals, and in wet weather they seem particularly good, with plenty of grip cornering and after an almighty deluge on the M1 on easter Monday they appeared to be very good resisting aquaplaning.
They seem fairly quiet though I think I get a resonance point at exactly 50mph where you can feel a slight vibration through the steering wheel (above or below 50mph it disapears)
So as a winter tire for wet and cold conditions it seems to work very well.
Eventually last week we had some proper snow to test them on. There had been a few occasions before where it had snowed to cover the road and they appeared to brake well and provide plenty of grip cornering and accelerating - certainly much better than summer tires. However with the blizzard that hit on 4th April I was able to test them. Getting out of the estate was fine and ploughing along the main road was fine, until I hit the queue of traffic trying to get up the steep hill on Huddersfield Road as it heads to jct 38 of the M1. So I diverted and headed up Sackup Lane a far steeper hill - about 1 in 7 in places (look on streetmap.co.uk to show the O.S. map to see how much height it gains) . Again others were trying to go up and had ground to a halt. When I thought it was clear I headed up only to get to a car just grinding (wheel spinning) to a halt overtaking another stopped vehicle. I managed to move over to the left as it started slipping back and had to nearlly come to a halt before accelerating past and getting to the top with no problems. I then had to route around various country lanes through Woolley village to get onto the M1 and the tires behaved very well. So for the price about £90 each fitted they seem to perform very well

Hi

i have these fitted since nov 2011 ( now feb 2012)
i thought that by buying these i had stopped it snowing completely in the UK.
however, they are great in cold wet weather, clearing the road very well, you can tell its good as the car gets really dirty now.
but this weekend the UK has seen snow that stopped all roads airports etc

i made journeys where previously i wouldn't have got off the drive.
the traction both in driving and stopping are amazing. i was able to pass people who had to creep along and i bet they thought i was an idiot. but the ability of the tryes were so good.
every now and again i would test the brakes ( so you don't get over confident as you still need to take care) and found the grip V good, you do have to watch that others don't follow too close as you can outbrake them, not v good when they are following!!

you can brake on down hill junction and not have hope that there is no-one coming.

however it doesn't stop you getting trapped when the other cars just block the road by being stranded and wheel spinning and still sliding backwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

don't forget they are winter tires and not just snow tires so you get the benefit when its cold and wet too.

i have considerable driving experience cars motorcycles class 1 HGV ( as it was) both her and abroad with a brother in Zurich so have experience of "proper snow" too

i'm glad i fitted them this winter

i have had these on my car now for only a week, but the recent snow has made me make a distress purchase i did not want to! at first i bought 2 of these and fitted them to the driven wheels of my vehicle (huge mistake!) the difference in grip, and confidence these give you is unreal! i have had to drive ice covered snow topped roads for a week now, not even b roads, more e roads than anything, ie the sort of road that branches off a b road, that you would think is someone's drive way, but rarely see's anyone other than yourself down!
day 1 driving in normal tires with 2 inches of snow on the ground was tricky, traction non existant etc,later on with 2 fitted to the front, well traction was there, except when breaking, the front end had so much grip the rear tucked and tucked into a ditch, even when off the pedal!
with the 4 winter tires on (now these roads im driving are extreme! in 1 hour on monday 1ft of snow fell and i was the only person to drive the 9 mile stretch of road all day, a country lane thats about 2 ft wider than my car, up hills, down hills, round corners and with 1ft deep gulleys either side) and wow, i could drive it as if it was just a wet day, drive sensibly obviously presenting caution, but have no real fear of sliding losing grip etc, it was brilliant, my first time ever using winter tires, and i highly reccomend them to anyone! i done alot of research and was torn between continental and these, and i think for the money these deffo worked out the best value for money while retaining alot of the same properties as the continentals did!

The star ratings dont cover how much I love these tires. My BMW 325 ground to a halt in the slightest snow conditions on normal all round tires last year. This year on the Meteo's I have not only driven through conditions I would have avoided last year, but have done so with total ease. I deliberately chose thinner tires for the replacement 16 inch rims for the snow as I figured it would be an improvement over fat tires like the 18 inch rims wear. I have seen other RWD cars this year struggling like I once did. While with the snowies on I have cruised over the same road with no trouble at all. I havent even needed to switch off the traction control. Snow and slush are no issue. even compacted snow and ice with snow on top hasnt fazed them. If I had to say anything, its that in the wet they were about equal to the sports tires I normally have on. But in icy cold conditions, in snowm slush and ice, they are a 99.99 percent improvement over the normal tires. Especially so as they let me not only drive forwards, but they do so with the car in a straight line, last year I was at 45 degrees for the most part and all movement was a struggle at best, and a complete failure at worst. Stopping in snow and ice is amazing compared to my summer rubber and happens so well that you feel like you have to work to make the ABS kick in. One thing that almost caught me out while getting carried away was the way 90 degree turns at too much speed went from under control to the front going wide. It was more my fault than the tires though and is directly related to my seeing where the line was drawn. Once I understood where the grip went in a tight turn, I adapted and have no complaints from them. The marangonis were without doubt a perfect purchase in terms of being able to use the car whatever the weather conditions. Last year without them was a none starter as the car got stuck fast, this year the snow is only a speed deterrent and not a snow stops play issue. I drive between easy going and average for the most part, and even though I have covered less than 200 miles on them so far (the majority in the snow), I have to say that it has made for an amazing experience. I had never realised what a difference they actually make. Would I recommend them to friends? Yes, and I have done. Would I buy them again? another yes. The only real complaint? It took a while to be sure they were facing the right direction when fitted as they had no directional rotation arrow on the sidewall. Had us headscratching until we worked it out. Otherwise, as near perfect as can be and for the price, even better. One very happy buyer/road user