Just spoken to Skodaparts and the 'winter tyre kit' is 195/55/15 fitted with Goodyear Ultragrips. So sounds a reasonable deal as the best price I can find for those tyres is just over £100 each.

I went down the 16" as I reckon they will last me about 3 winters

How many miles will you do on them?

3 winters doesnt sound much unless you're doing some mileage.

How many miles will you do on them?

3 winters doesnt sound much unless you're doing some mileage.

Thinking about it they should last about 15 years. With the amount of milage I do the chances are they'll perish first

Thinking about it they should last about 15 years. With the amount of milage I do the chances are they'll perish first

Which makes it sound even worse.

Ooo I think I can sense a chill go the air! Do I put my winter wheels on now? Or do I wait a week incase next week brings a mini heatwave! Lol

Ooo I think I can sense a chill go the air! Do I put my winter wheels on now? Or do I wait a week incase next week brings a mini heatwave! Lol

My Continental Wintercontacts go on tomorrow. Still too warm really, but I reckon its going to plummet after this week.

To be honest you want them on ready, not caught out after the event

But if temps dont drop you'll be eating them up needlessly, potentially notching up needing a fresh set next year.

Which is the reason most dont bother as it can be expensive when a decent set of normal or all season tyres would be much better investment.

But if temps dont drop you'll be eating them up needlessly, potentially notching up needing a fresh set next year.

Which is the reason most dont bother as it can be expensive when a decent set of normal or all season tyres would be much better investment.

I'm not sure I agree with you there. :no:

All season tyres are a real compromise, neither performing or lasting as well as summer tyres in summer, or winter tyres in winter.

Summer tyres, no matter how good can be rendered useless in the snow, and are much inferior in the cold, wet conditions we get during most UK winters.

The cost of my Conti Wintercontacts were not a great deal more expensive than my summer Conti sportcontact3's, and I will be only using one set at a time, therefore the only real cost is swapping them over twice a year. Some of this will be recouped with the better wear rates of both tyres during the respective seasons.

I'm sure a couple of weeks at 10/12'C (200-300 miles) won't make much difference to the wear rate.

In my view, considering the performance benefits against the cost, a very good investment.

Random question; do you swap them over yourself or get a fitter to do them? Might do mine this weekend; got a set of winters on steelies. Figured may as well do them myself.

Also I totally agree. Winter tyres so worth it. Not used yet but last winter I didn't have them in my company Audi, 18" summer low profile tyres and couldn't go anywhere!!! Nearly had a few accidents and near misses too!

Random question; do you swap them over yourself or get a fitter to do them? Might do mine this weekend; got a set of winters on steelies. Figured may as well do them myself.

Also I totally agree. Winter tyres so worth it. Not used yet but last winter I didn't have them in my company Audi, 18" summer low profile tyres and couldn't go anywhere!!! Nearly had a few accidents and near misses too!

I did them myself - although I did invest in a trolley jack.

I did them myself - although I did invest in a trolley jack.

Cool - think I have a bottle jack somewhere or failing that I can use the spare wheel jack!

Whats the rule; tighten bolts till just tight and dont over do it?

Manual for the Fabia says 120Nm. Presumably other models have the toque setting in their manuals.

Just spoken to Skodaparts and the 'winter tyre kit' is 195/55/15 fitted with Goodyear Ultragrips. So sounds a reasonable deal as the best price I can find for those tyres is just over £100 each.

Have now spoken to the dealer supplying my car and they have checked and the fitment for 15" rims is 185/55/15 which makes things a bit cheaper, but they said not too many suppliers have stock at the moment. Upside is the snow chains I got a bit ago will fit so chances are I'll not see any snow this year or get stuck behind some idiotic 4x4 who think they are invincible!

Cool - think I have a bottle jack somewhere or failing that I can use the spare wheel jack!

Whats the rule; tighten bolts till just tight and dont over do it?

Manual for the Fabia says 120Nm. Presumably other models have the toque setting in their manuals.

120Nm is the correct torque for most VAG cars. If you don't have a torque wrench then use the wheelbrace provided in the cars toolkit - the length is such that you shouldn't be able to over-tighten the bolts.

A trolley jack or bottle jack would be vastly preferable to the jack in the toolkit which have earned the nickname 'widow maker' on some VAG forums. I got an ice hockey puck from eBay and cut a big groove in it to use as a jacking pad.

120Nm is the correct torque for most VAG cars. If you don't have a torque wrench then use the wheelbrace provided in the cars toolkit - the length is such that you shouldn't be able to over-tighten the bolts.

A trolley jack or bottle jack would be vastly preferable to the jack in the toolkit which have earned the nickname 'widow maker' on some VAG forums. I got an ice hockey puck from eBay and cut a big groove in it to use as a jacking pad.

Nice idea to use the hockey puck, but I'm sure there must be a proper place to jack the car using a trolley jack. Can't see garages using a hockey puck!

Cool thanks for the advice. Will use the wheelbrace to do the final few turns then in that case.

Nice idea to use the hockey puck, but I'm sure there must be a proper place to jack the car using a trolley jack. Can't see garages using a hockey puck!

My dealer told me to use the regular jacking points on the sills - that's what they use to lift the cars in their workshops. The difference is that their lifts are padded (as are the bigger trolley jacks that tyre places and other garages use) whereas my trolley jack is not, hence using a hockey puck to cushion the sills.

My dealer told me to use the regular jacking points on the sills - that's what they use to lift the cars in their workshops. The difference is that their lifts are padded (as are the bigger trolley jacks that tyre places and other garages use) whereas my trolley jack is not, hence using a hockey puck to cushion the sills.

Fair point! Next stop Ebay!