Winter Tyres for the A7?

[audipartner]

Having had an e-flyer from Audi for their winter tyre deal (only £2700 for tyres and rims ) has anyone any advice? Do I keep my existing rims and pick the same size Dunlop Winter Sports, or find some different size rims and tyres? Even though I have a Quattro, its a heavy beast and the local roads around South Cambs are pretty poor . I'm running Pirelli 255/40/R19s at present.

[AK88]

Hi,

I also got a generic email last week, £2700 to me is pretty steep, I only got my a7 in august so it will be my first winter so its something I've been considering, putting winter tyres on my 21” rims is definitely not an option for me as I think a decent pot hole will finish it off as well as the cost of 21" winter tyres

I'm thinking about buying a genuine set of 18" or 17" rims from ebay and putting winter tyres on them which I think would be cheaper then £2700 all together? I haven't looked into how much the winter tyres alone cost. I also think 19" is too big for winter,

I've also been told insurance need to be advised about winter tyres on the car? not sure if this is true any confirmation would be appreciated on this

For me the A7 isn't my daily drive so I may just not bother with anything and use the company car for the more risky conditions.

[Scott K]

You can pick up sets from ebay Germany pretty cheap. Around £1000 for 4 alloys with tyres - genuine audi. I run 19s in the summer and 18s in winter.

[MarkTM]

If you've got the storage space then get a new set of alloys in the smallest size available, in my experience I've never found that buying alloys and tyres as a package comes out cheaper than buying them separately.

My local mechanic swaps mine over for £20 and I get them balanced every couple of years (ensuring I've noted how many weights are on each rim).

As to the subject of this thread I currently have a set of Dunlop M&S 3D's but by next winter will be getting a set of these since it's more 'wet' in my part of the world than icy/snowy:

https://www.nokiantyres.com/winter-tyres/nokian-wr-d4/

[audipartner]

Cheers guys, I'll have a look around.

[neilos100]

I do the same as Mark....stock for summer are 18'' and winters are on 17''...a little cheaper but more importantly a narrower tyre which helps grip in icy/snowy conditions.
I bought a used set of alloys from eBay for £200 and have just bought a set of virtually new Michelin Alpin A4 winter tyres from the same for just over £200. So all in for £400 less the sale of the 3 useable tyres that were on the rims and I'm in for around £250 for a full set of decent winter wheels and tyres.
My local mechanic sticks them every year for £20.
My previous winter tyres were (dont laugh ) Nankang SV...and they were actually very good in icy and snowy conditions....i travel to the Czech Republic every year and they did superbly for three winters where the temperature drops to around -20C...never once got stuck and they still have plenty of grip left. However they weren't quite so happy when it wasnt cold....felt a bit 'squidgy' going round sharp bends hence the change.