[gaza01]

With little gaza due to be born on December 3 , and both of our cars being BMWs the misses and I decided one of the cars (hers) should have winter tyres fitted to make sure we have a capable car should it snow heavily.

So what winter tyres have you used and how did you find them? Im currently looking a dunlop winter sport 3D tyres...anybody used these before?

[Alex.J]

I'm in exactly the same situation now!!

Both bmw on the drive and a 3 month old to get around!

I'm on the hunt too!!

[CraigUK]

Continental TS830, really good in winter both in snow and on greasy roads.

[IanS100]

Originally Posted by CraigUK

Continental TS830, really good in winter both in snow and on greasy roads.

+1

[Billyray911]

Vredestein wintrac extremes.No issues at all in either snow or ice-awesome!

[Icekube]

ive used the following

Dunlop Wintersport 3D
BridgeStone Blizzak LM22
Nokian WR G2
Hankook W310

all in 225/45/17 guise on Quattro audi's, the Dunlops were the best out of those by a decent margin, the Hankooks and the Nokians are good as well, i didnt rate the Bridgestones at all, good in actual snow, but wet/slush they didnt inspire confidence like the others, felt like the road was constantly "greasy" (and thats with quattro supporting..)

I've always avoided Vred's based on their professional tyre review performance, a lot of people rave about them though, my brother has used the Conti TS830 mentioned above, and he rates them about the same as the Dunlops, so those would be a good option too.

its worth noting that both the Dunlop 3D's and Conti TS830 have been replaced with 4D and TS850 respectively

[jonnydrama]

To be honest you wont go wrong with any premium brand tyres.

I've now tried Toyo Snowprox, Vredestein Wintracs and Continental TS830. All with no problems.

[oldbilly]

Originally Posted by Billyray911

Vredestein wintrac extremes.No issues at all in either snow or ice-awesome!

same here!

[chrismac]

I just bough some tiny 16" OEM E90 alloys with some Goodyear Ultragrips fitted.
first year ever with winter tyres.

The A5 Black Edition was like a sledge with 255s all around last year!

[Danny.B.]

I use the falken hs439s on mine. they seem to do the job!

[doughboy]

+1 for the vred wintrac extreme.

I wouldn't use vred summers either, but the winter's are awesome.

[BASTOS HUMARUROT 335i]

God I miss Blighty. When I lived there, Nokian winter tyres did an amazing job getting me virtually anywhere. Winter tyre technology just keeps getting better and better. Why not go for Dunlop Winter Sport 4D? It's a step up the 3D. Like JONNYDRAMA said, you can't go wrong with premium brand tyres.

[Robin330i]

I run falken fk439's. Seem to be ok.

[Dan-danGT]

What wrong with vred summer tyres? I have a set which I took around the ring and have been good since day one!

I'm also considering the vred winters for this years winter

[a11y]

Originally Posted by Danny.B.

I use the falken hs439s on mine. they seem to do the job!

Utterly impressed with mine on these in the snow and in normal winter weather, I.e. cold and wet. Normal 18" staggered sizes which isn't traditional for winters I guess.

[rouge_trader]

I got a set of conti ts 830p a couple of years back for the same reason as the OP.

I can't fault them really. We were housing hunting last winter and some of the villages we went to had a lot of snow. I didn't feel any loss of traction on the country lanes. I remember going onto a drive way that was inclined. The estate agent park their Audi on the road and came to me and said "You are never getting up the hill and off this drive". When we came to leave I casually drove off and the TC didn't even flash.

I can't wait to get them back on this year as I still have the Bridgestone RFs that it came with.

[demig]

Nokians are great, got me through all the hard winters in Northumberland. Driving 50 miles into work in a rear wheel Beemer and discovering you are the only one who made it in is satisfying especially as I then went home

[gaza01]

Appreciate all the reaponses guys. Seems like a wide range of brands have been used. The reassuring thing is that regardless of the brand you all seem well satisfied your choice...so my options are't limited. I'll let you guys know how inget on.

[pjs]

Vote for the Dunlop Wintersports 3D's here. Used them both in staggered size on 18"'s on an e90 330d and on square 17" set up on Merc.

Have just ordered a set of 19"'s for the Audi.

[Z3man]

Can you use any of these mentioned tyres all year round?

I only do about 8000 a year and it would be shame to have to buy two sets of tyres, even if there were some that weren't quite as good as the ones you have mentioned (but still pretty good) but you can use all year round might be ok.

[CardinalZeus77]

Originally Posted by CraigUK

Continental TS830, really good in winter both in snow and on greasy roads.

+1

[parapaul]

Originally Posted by gaza01

Appreciate all the reaponses guys. Seems like a wide range of brands have been used. The reassuring thing is that regardless of the brand you all seem well satisfied your choice...so my options are't limited. I'll let you guys know how inget on.

Just in case you're tempted to do the same as I did... DON'T buy Kumho winter tyres. I had Kumho summers and they were as good as Falkens. So, by my reasoning, the winters should be as good as the Falken winters, right?

Well, I haven't used Falken winter tyres but I absolutely won't be buying Kumho again. To be fair, they got me to work and back right through the winter, but with zero confidence. They'll be going on again by the end of this month if the weather reports are right, and I'm not looking forward to it at all.

Originally Posted by Z3man

Can you use any of these mentioned tyres all year round?

I only do about 8000 a year and it would be shame to have to buy two sets of tyres, even if there were some that weren't quite as good as the ones you have mentioned (but still pretty good) but you can use all year round might be ok.

Yes, you can. Winter tyres won't suddenly stop working in the warm weather, but what I know for absolute certain, is that it's a zillion times safer to have winter tyres on the hottest summer day, than it is to have summer tyres in the depths of winter.