Hi,

Recently purchased a 06 VRS 2.0 TFSI and switched from 17" Zenith to 18" Zenith. I toyed with the idea of putting my 17" up for sale, but have since spoken a friend who runs 2 sets of wheels, summer/winter on his BMW.

I've currently got 4 new Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 tyres on my 18" wheels and they feel great in both dry and wet conditions. What would getting winter tyres on the 17" Zenith give me? Does anyone run winter tyres and if so, would they really make that much difference on my VRs?

Cheers

Hi,

Recently purchased a 06 VRS 2.0 TFSI and switched from 17" Zenith to 18" Zenith. I toyed with the idea of putting my 17" up for sale, but have since spoken a friend who runs 2 sets of wheels, summer/winter on his BMW.

I've currently got 4 new Hankook Ventus V12 Evo K110 tyres on my 18" wheels and they feel great in both dry and wet conditions. What would getting winter tyres on the 17" Zenith give me? Does anyone run winter tyres and if so, would they really make that much difference on my VRs?

Cheers

Hi

We have a set of 16" steels on the wife's VRS with 205x55x16 Continental WinterContact tyres on it. They are fantastic in the snow, ice and very wet weather. Will be putting the 18" alloys back on in the next couple of weeks.

It's probably not worth you getting winter tyres just now but get them cheaper in the summer for next winter.

If the weather is cold / bad, they are worth every penny.

Cheers

Dave

Same as above ^^

Iv got steelies from a Superb on my vRS with 205/55's on, currently running Good year Ultra grip 8's great tyres when the temp is below say 5 degrees for below but for the past few days it has been really mild, about 12 degrees and its like driving on toffee

Personally i wouldt bother now, give it about a month or so and the temp will of warmed up all together so id wait till summer, then buy your winter tyres, they will be a damn sight cheaper due there been no demand, also with you wanting 17's they wont be cheap, i splashed out on winter tyres, £90 each and those for a common 16 size.

Edited 23 February, 201214 yr by Ema_jane

I've never bothered before, assuming that there would not be much difference and a light right foot and forward planning would be suffiicient.

..but, for this winter I took the plunge and got some proper winters - very impressed - the car is better in cold, wet weather and simply awesome in snow and slush. 100% recommend them. If you have two sets of rims it really is a no-brainer.

Thanks for the replies, certainly worth considering, but I wonder if I might be better off selling the 17" alloys and getting some 16" steels and tyres, over the year spread the cost of the steel wheels and the tyres. It has been quite a mild winter in the north east this year so I'll stick with my current setup for now, I do a 30 mile round trip each day so over a year I average around 8500 miles with some weekend driving so not too much wear on them

We run winter tyres on 18 std wheels.

When its cold and slippy huge difference.

Last winter drive into pub overflow car park. Thought nothing of it neighbor in a golf could not get even half way up. Only non 4x4 in car park.

Actually wish our car had 17" wheels as the ride would improve and tyres would be considerably cheaper

I (like many others on here) have a 205/55 16 setup for winter. With Nokian WRG2 tyres.

They work nicely in the snow.

Drove straight over this after reversing a couple of feet for a runup:

And then found some nice untreated roads:

And safely back home:

Couldn't manage to get this started for a proper play though!

Edited 23 February, 201214 yr by blank

Nope.

I (like many others on here) have a 205/55 16 setup for winter.  With Nokian WRG2 tyres.

They work nicely in the snow.

Drove straight over this after reversing a couple of feet for a runup:

And then found some nice untreated roads:

And safely back home:

Hopefully the pics work!

Edited 23 February, 201214 yr by rob_e

I used to run my TDI vRS with 225/45 17s in the winter, all be it with regular summer tyres, and had a set of 225/40 18s for the summer. IMHO the taller sidewall gave better grip in the cold and wet.

Three years on I'm now running proper winter tyres on my Yeti, but keeping to 225/50 17 as I do not see the real need to drop down to 16s for the small amount of snow we get in the South East.

Morning JC,

I second the Nokian WRG2. I have them fitted on the Scout's Proteus 225 50 17's. Even though I have four wheel drive, they have transformed the handling in the snow, though it hasn't really snowed by Scottish standards this year!! Having said that, the temperature has only recently begun to climb into double figures.

I will be swapping them back to the Dunlop SP01's at the end of March. Due to them being a softer compound, it is not cost effective to keep them on all year round.

Fin