Advice; Winter Driving Trip/Tyres

[tannedstamina]

Was looking to do a driving trip to Romania for Christmas (the OH's native country...)and have a tyre issue.

There's a requirement for winter tyres in Germany, which creates a dilemma. I've got a cheap Audi (B5 A4 Quattro) and don't really want to fork out £600 for tyres if I'm only going to have the car for a couple of winters (and I live in London so it's low mileage and don't really have to worry about snow).

Would all-weather tyres be a better compromise, or would they still cost a fortune and not satisfy the German regulations. Would my normal summer tyres and 4 wheel drive (and avoiding police) be fine getting there, or would I slip all over the place.

Do I just ditch the whole idea, or hire a car in France.

[kambites]

I'm pretty sure all-season tyres are OK in Germany in the winter. Not 100%, though.

[tannedstamina]

Cheers - what's the bet the the all-weather tyres are equally as expensive! At least they'd get more use.

[Hark]

Decent second hand market for winter tyres. You could buy and then sell for 50% of what you paid.

[tannedstamina]

Good call - just looked and might be able to pick up a near new set, and sell them afterwards.

[s_zigmond]

tannedstamina said:

Good call - just looked and might be able to pick up a near new set, and sell them afterwards.

This is the way to go, however don't forget that once below about 5mm of tread winters are no where near as good. I also think (though happy to be corrected) that once below 4mm they don't satisfy the German law.

[Dog Star]

Kleber Quadraxer or Goodyear Vector - run them all year round and they have the mountain/snowflake stamp on them. All the tyre you'll ever need.

[andyiley]

s_zigmond said:

This is the way to go, however don't forget that once below about 5mm of tread winters are no where near as good. I also think (though happy to be corrected) that once below 4mm they don't satisfy the German law.

Quite correct, that is why you see so many around 4mm on ebay.

I have a set of winter tyres on a cheap (ebay) set of wheels for the bm, and buy part worns with around 6 - 7mm for peanuts (usually £60ish/pair) for 16"ers

[V8RX7]

£600 for tyres where the hell are you looking ?

My Tyres have a decent range but I've just bought a set of the highly rated Nokian WR D3 for £60ea from Pneus Online

[Patrick Bateman]

What size though?

£600 is easy for one of the top sets of winters in 17" form.

[V8RX7]

Patrick Bateman said:

What size though?

£600 is easy for one of the top sets of winters in 17" form.

205/55/16 which should fit most modern cars - you don't need 17/18" winters unless you have HUGE brakes

[Patrick Bateman]

16s won't fit on a 330Ci, I wouldn't say it had huge brakes.

It depends if you're wanting to bother getting a different set of wheels as well.