VW Driver Mag - Project GTI winter tyres

[Daz Auto]

Perceived costs?? It is expensive and this will be the reason the majority of people don't bother with winter tyres.

It needn't cost a penny over time. You can only wear out one set of tyres at a time. Winter tyres last longer through winter than summer tyres too, so they could actually save money. Have them fitted on a set of secondhand wheels that you can sell and get your money back when you change the car, or keep for your next one if they will fit, and there will be no faff with having to have tyres removed and re-fitted every 6 months.

There are people driving round in £20-30-40k cars that can't find the initial money for a set of wheels and tyres that will pay for themselves in the long run? They either haven't got the money to back up their preceived image, or they are too stuborn to listen to facts.

dubber is right. You can only wear out 1 set of tyres at a time.

Too many people speak to their dealers/garage who quote silly money for winter tyres AND alloys. That is expensive.

For my last car I had a cheap set of 16 inch alloys. They wont fit my new car. Though I did find it a faff having to change the tyres myself.

My tiny wife can fit her own winter tyres. She has tyres only and fits them to the original alloys. She has tyre storage bags with handles which keep her and the car clean. The tyre garage agreed to swap them for half price £25. So it is costing her £50 a year for winter tyres. Well worth it for the piece of mind.

There are pros and cons to both methods.

My wife's method has a cheaper initial cost. 4x WinterContact TS 850 16 inch £320, VW tyre storage bags £25 set of 4, annual cost of swapping tyres £50. No alloys. No heavy work. The tyres get balanced twice a year. The car looks the same.

There is an upfront cost, but over time it is costing my wife just £50 a year to have winter tyres on her car.

[CocoPops]

After my kerbing incident... 

I bought a set of identical OEM (factory seconds) wheels and will have the best 4 as summer wheels (with Bridgestones) and will then use the worst 4 for winters, will buy tyres in Summer when they are cheap rather than wait until they are "needed".

[Daz Auto]

After my kerbing incident... 

I bought a set of identical OEM (factory seconds) wheels and will have the best 4 as summer wheels (with Bridgestones) and will then use the worst 4 for winters, will buy tyres in Summer when they are cheap rather than wait until they are "needed".

Good idea.

I'm sure the prices of winter tyres are inflated (excuse the pun) due the conditions.

A few years back, the tyre garage was unable to get the winter tyres I wanted during the summer. I think it was October before they were able to get them.

Hopefully, the new Continental WinterContact TS 860 S will be available in my tyres size next year.

[Guzzle]

Interesting video Daz, good find.

I can understand why people question whether they are worth the expense, but in my opinion they definitely are. And not just in the snow.

I find traction, cornering grip and braking distances all to be noticeably improved in frosty and damp, cold weather. The softer rubber also means they're quieter too.

The £1k 'investment' certainly seems a lot, no denying that. Also storing 4 wheels with tyres when not in use can be a pain if you don't have much space. But as has been said, the costs aren't that great once you've psychologically got over the initial outlay. They should last easily three winters, possibly four. And some of the cost of the wheels can be recovered by resale. Tyres are a consumable, they wear out and eventually need replacing. You need to have four of them on the car at all times anyway, so they may as well be tyres that are best suited to the conditions you're driving in. You can then save your summer tyres for.....summer!

And if you still struggle to justify it, look at some of the items you may have ticked on the options list, and ask yourself how many of them will help keep you out of a ditch when winter does its worst.

Are they absolutely essential? Possibly not. Could I manage without them? Probably, if I had to. But I don't want to just manage. Once you've tried them the benefits are clear, and the costs aren't as great as you may think. So for me it's money well spent.

[mcmaddy]

It's money well spent if you can afford to purchase them in the first place. I'm sure a lot of people would love a set of winters but just don't have the funds to do it and picking a couple of options on a new car isn't really the same as shelling out circa 1k on winter wheels.

[dubber36]

When you consider that VW charge £1000 to have a set of 19" wheels and tyres INSTEAD of (not as well as) 18's, it's a relative bargain.

[I wanted a GTi]

What if you change your car every year or two. The last time I drove on snow before Christmas last year was two cars ago.

[Daz Auto]

My wife was meeting her girlfriends last night. I was volunteered to drive and had to collect everyone. So gad I was not in my Golf on the summer tyres. They would have been death traps in the icy conditions.

There was black ice in all the housing developments. I was carrying stuff into the last house and the road was like a skating rink. My feet were slipping a lot. The winter tyres on the A3 never spun or skidded. Considering how much black ice there was - the grip from those tyres was amazing.



Earlier in the week, my wife had a conversation with a colleague at work. She also drives an A3 and stated that A3's are really bad on snow. My wife replied that she has winter tyres. The woman said that she also had winter tyres but had not bothered fitting them this winter. Seriously! How stupid is that!



If I do decide to fit winter tyres to my Golf next year I'm hoping it will cost less than £500. I doubt if I will buy alloys In the long run my tyres will last twice as long. So the only real cost is getting the tyres swapped twice a year.

[itavaltalainen]

What if you change your car every year or two. The last time I drove on snow before Christmas last year was two cars ago.

If you can afford new cars at that rate you can afford winter tyres too I'd say.

@DazAuto
I got a second hand set of Audi A3 wheels and put 2 new winter tyres on (2 were already new winter tyes), all in for 400£. That was 16" ones, 17" will be a little more but not massively.

[SRGTD]

What if you change your car every year or two. The last time I drove on snow before Christmas last year was two cars ago.

If you can afford new cars at that rate you can afford winter tyres too I'd say.

And if you’ve got winter tyres / winter wheels and they don’t fit your new car, you can sell them. The proceeds of the sale can help fund a set of winters for the new car.