Winter tyres. Discuss.

[Mike Scib]

Friday night glass of red and tyre shopping for the winter it is.

Cool let me know when you find a good deal is i am wanting some for my 17's too.....saves me doing the home work

[Sanjøy]

Friday night glass of red and tyre shopping for the winter it is.

Cool let me know when you find a good deal is i am wanting some for my 17's too.....saves me doing the home work

This is also known as the danger hour when online shopping. S had several returns to undertake last week....

[Mike Scib]

Friday night glass of red and tyre shopping for the winter it is.

Cool let me know when you find a good deal is i am wanting some for my 17's too.....saves me doing the home work

This is also known as the danger hour when online shopping. S had several returns to undertake last week....

225 45 17 front could go down to 215 if cheaper and 255 40 17 rear, reckon you could go down to 235, might need to go up to 45 however,

Do you or don't you buy runflat winters? ££££

[Sanjøy]

225 45 17 front could go down to 215 if cheaper and 255 40 17 rear, reckon you could go down to 235, might need to go up to 45 however,

Do you or don't you buy runflat winters? ££££

Was thinking 225/45 all round, read even though they are staggered they would fit.

[Mike Scib]

Thought they might look a little stretched on the rear but seem okay.....

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85623

Plus only 2mm smaller on the overall tyre diameter

Edit to add;

When i bought my 330d it came with new Rainsport tyres on the rear. However the traction control system did not like them and became over sensitive so BMW ended up fitting new standard fit Pilots Sports (car was bought from BMW). Would be worried that going to a 225 on the rear my lead to the same issue?

[Stevoraith]

My 330 has 255s on the rear as standard and for winter I fitted non-staggered 17s with 225s all round.

Traction control light was a bit more active than on the 255s but only really for the first few hundred miles- think the softer winter compounds maybe take longer to scrub in?

If you think about it, the SE models come with non-staggered wheels and 225s all round (my wheels were from a 330 SE) so you should be fine.

Would be interested to hear if you find a good deal as I'm looking for some in the same size for the Octavia. Prices seem astronomical at the moment- same tyres I got last year for £80 a corner are now at £140!

[KevD]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4x-2254517-225-45 ... 822wt_1143 winter dunlops for £460?

You coupld pick up pre-worn with 4.5mm for about £80 a pair, we did that on mini and got 6,000 mile in over winter without issue, will get at least another season out of them.

K

[Mike Scib]

If you think about it, the SE models come with non-staggered wheels and 225s all round (my wheels were from a 330 SE) so you should be fine.

Not so sure as i would be surprised if the traction control was not set differently for the narrower tyres on a SE.

Was having a quick look last night and it looks to be £150 ish for a 225 45 17 and £200 ish for a 255 40 17 rear. So £100 more on a set of tyres that should see 3 winters plus. All be it the 255 probably wont be as good in the snow as a 225 for the 2 weeks its snows.

You coupld pick up pre-worn with 4.5mm for about £80 a pair, we did that on mini and got 6,000 mile in over winter without issue, will get at least another season out of them.

Winter tyres are recommended to be changed at 4mm

Not saying they wont be better than a normal tyre but will be passed there best. I will however run mine down to the wear markers

[campbell]

My 330 has 255s on the rear as standard and for winter I fitted non-staggered 17s with 225s all round.

Traction control light was a bit more active than on the 255s but only really for the first few hundred miles- think the softer winter compounds maybe take longer to scrub in?

If you think about it, the SE models come with non-staggered wheels and 225s all round (my wheels were from a 330 SE) so you should be fine.

Would be interested to hear if you find a good deal as I'm looking for some in the same size for the Octavia. Prices seem astronomical at the moment- same tyres I got last year for £80 a corner are now at £140!

I'll keep my eye on this too. However Skoda recommend 16" rims and a 205 size, I think, and if your insurer starts to show an interest you will need to stick to this. Those rims are hard to get other than new as steels - there are no 6J 16s that I can find in alloy for VAG cars:-(

[Stevoraith]

Campbell, the 6Jx16 are only if you want to fit snow chains. Otherwise 6.5Jx16 will happilly take a 205 section tyre (16x6.5 with a 205/55 are standard on Elegance models).

If an insurer knows that Skoda recommend a 6J as opposed to a 6.5J, never mind actually checks how wide your rims are after an accident, then I'll be amazed. I certainly would not let it bother me one bit.

I'm too vain for a 16in rim on the vRS though- looks like it's on castors so if I do go for winters I'll be sticking to 17's.

[campbell]

Thanks Steve, those are good pointers. Esp re: the 6.5J because this makes it far easier to source alternative wheels via eBay etc. I can live with the Castors Stylee for 4 months of the year, if the price is right. But maybe the 17s will work out similar cost overall...we'll see.

If one has an accident on snow tyres, I would assume there is every possibility that the insurer WILL take a closer look at what's on there, in detail, in an attempt to wriggle out of a claim. Such is that industry these days

OTOH, my plan is to contact our insurers - fairly soon actually - to ask if they have any specific requirements or advice ref fitting winter tyres. Unless they make an explicit statement about manufacturer specs, I'll be doing much like you I expect

[Sanjøy]

Camskill are not getting stock till Sept.

S

[BigD]

Camskill were useless last year for winter tyres. They never had any stock so I ordered from mytyres before the snow came and the prices all shot up. Quick check and they have the 225 x 45 x 17 Nankang SV2's which I used last year for £78. They come from Germany I think so they always seem to have stock.

[thinfourth]

For those in the northeast i reccomend Angus Tyres as they can get tyres at a decent price and had no problems with winter tyres

On a side note i've been running on winter tyres since winter and had no problems

[Stevoraith]

Just managed to pick up a bargain set of winters for the Octy.

Set of genuine Audi winter wheels which are the same design as those used on early versions of the current A3 but are only 6Jx17.
Guy bought them last year from Audi but has since sold his S3. Fitted with Dunlop Winter Sport tyres with 7mm of tread in the perfect (for the Octy) size of 205/50/17.

All for the princely sum of £500. I'm quite chuffed, think they might even look ok when fitted too.

These are the fellas;