Summer Tyres in Manchester

Look under any car parked from Manchester to Wigan and the odds are it is on summer tyres: the compound is made to grip best above about 7°C, in the dry and in warm rain, and to hold up over long motorway miles. Colder than that, the compound stiffens and steering feels vaguer, and you feel it first under braking in the rain, which is the 7°C rule in a sentence, and why it counts in Manchester and beyond.

On Manchester's roads summer tyres are the natural fitment, on the 7°C rule, in the April to October period in a normal year, by the calendar at least. Where they struggle is the mostly wet winter: below 7°C the compound firms up and wet grip fades for anyone driving around Manchester.

For anyone who can leave the car at home on a frosty morning, or there is a winter set in the garage for when it turns cold, a summer set is the sensible buy for anyone driving around Manchester. If the car has to go out whatever the forecast says, on the other hand, all-season tyres are the safer buy, and both can be priced for your size in a minute without a long drive.

Measured from the middle of Manchester, the nearest centre is 1.2 miles out and the next 1.2 miles; both fit summer tyres, and all 54 centres price them fully fitted, with the choice made at checkout.