I am a total numpty about these things, but I do know one thing, and that's that I *hate* driving in snow and will do anything I can to make the experience safer.

For the first time, I am considering Winter Tyres. Last year I was sliding all over the place in my Octavia L&K Estate 2.0TDI DSG (2007)... low-profile tyres are not a good idea, but that's what it came with. Now, having sworn I wouldn't get them again, I find myself (due to an unmissable deal!) with... yep! low-profile tyres on my 2010 Superb Elegance Estate TDI CR170 4x4. They're Bridgestone Turanzas on 18" luna alloy rims.

From reading here, and other places, I believe it would be worthwhile going down to a 16" rim on either steel or alloy (and steels are a shocking price for a bit of bent metal!).

I would really welcome some advice and recommendations.

I'll go and see my local dealer anyway, but there must be other options (tyremen, mytyres, etc).

I'm not looking to do this all myself (eg: rims from ebay, etc), I'd rather pay for the whole deal, knowing that I've got the right thing... the alternative being going into hibernation for the winter months ;-)

Obviously, I realise I should have done this about 2 months ago when prices were lower, but then I should have bought that winning EuroMillions ticket too, shouldn't I?

Thanks!

Puss

I would really welcome some advice and recommendations.

I'll go and see my local dealer anyway, but there must be other options (tyremen, mytyres, etc).

I'm not looking to do this all myself (eg: rims from ebay, etc), I'd rather pay for the whole deal, knowing that I've got the right thing... the alternative being going into hibernation for the winter months

Depending on your budget but you could do a lot worse than these brand new genuine BBS/Audi winter alloys and tyres

This thread discusses it a bit more. and shows the real price they can be bought for.

The problem you are going to get increasingly is lack of ready availability of decent tyres. Some manufacturers appear to have dropped the ball in terms of UK supply and some have even diverted some supplies to Germany.

If you go to 205-55-16 then the availability is likely to be the best as this is the most popular size for winters across Europe.

If you want the whole package fair enough, I can recommend tyremen, though I use mytyres and have always had top notch service from them for tyres only.

When my own Superb arrives I will purchase the std steels from the dealer and fit whatever tyres I have around, Contis probably, same size load rating as Skoda recommends. On cars fitted with non OEM supplied wheel rims always tell the insurance company and they (spit) will still charge for a modification that reduces their risk. Why? Because they can, and are, largely, a set of gits.

I know everyone gets hung up on the test results, but this tyre won that test, but only finished 6th in that other test and so on. In real life terms, all the offering from the major manufacturers, providing you buy a European targeted tyre and not a Nordic targeted product, will be fine. Look at the test results, the margins between the top 6 tyres in any test is usually very narrow. The differences are measurable, yes, but most drivers will not notice a difference except in back to back, maybe not even then

The problem comes from the newer and cheaper offerings, no names no packdrill, but think generally Far East ownership, while they might be OK in snow, their performance on typical UK winter roads, eg cold and wet, falls so short that some testers label them dangerous. I will not fit cheap brand tyres unless I know it's the budget brand of a major manufacturer, eg last year's model rebranded type of thing.

Hope all that helps. This from 20 years using winter tyres on all shapes and sizes of vehicles, going on for a quarter of a million miles plus on snow and ice now. Surprised me when I added it up.

I m going to go with the Nokian All Weather Plus in 225/40/18. Thinking is that I am not an early morning rural commuter so hopefully these should deal with a southern UK urban winter and any long (prob to French Alps) drives I might undertake (currently none planned, but will have to carry Autosocks as well anyway). On a 4x4 estate.

Web link here:

http://www.nokiantyres.com/tyre?id=21638755&group=1.01&name=Nokian+All+Weather+%2B

If i did higher miles and lived up hill I might go more full on. I did want to get the Vredstein Quadrac 3 but couldn't see them in my size - then I did (despite Vred website saying not correct!!) but only after I had ordered them!!

Going for Goodyear Vector 4Seasons on the Touran as well.

Thanks all!

I spoke to my local dealer anyway, and to be honest they had the best price I've see for easily and readily available 16" steels, so I'm going for those anyway. You are all right to point out the increasing unavailability of tyres though... Not sure what brand I'll finally end up with, but I'm going to have to wait a few more days (week+?) anyway unless I want the top end in terms of price range (£160+).

Anyway, thanks for all your help, and safe driving!

Puss

Depending on your budget but you could do a lot worse than these brand new genuine BBS/Audi winter alloys and tyres

Got them fitted yesterday

Audi BBS 'Abitos'? winter wheels (7"x16" ET42)

Audi A6 5 spokes (7"x16" ET45) fitted to SWMBO's Golf - these were my 'old' winter tyres and wheels that I fitted to the Superb last year:

Fitted to the Superb (when Baker21 detailed the car):

Gizmo68 - I have just ordered the same wheels as you. They are due to be here tomorrow or friday. I notice from your photographs that you have centre caps for the wheels. Just wondering where you got them from as I understand that the Skoda caps on my current wheels won't fit.

Thanks in advance.

Anthony

The centre caps are the OE Audi caps, I removed the 'Audi rings' (they clip into the cap) used some body filler to smooth the gap that the rings sat into and then painted and lacquered the caps, a lot of trouble you may think but I had a few weeks to do them

Last year I got some painted aluminium caps and stuck them onto the Audi caps, but TBH they were a bit crap and the green and black paint did not last