Well here’s my take on it.
Been driving for over 2 decades. So here goes(ready for flaming
)
For years never used winter tyres/wheels and then got them and thought why didn’t I do this years ago.
Winter tyres aren’t just for snow or ice it’s for when weather gets below 7 degrees.
I found with the winters, favourite so far Dunlop’s 3D, in the wet it just cut through standing water. Car never even flinched a bit in heavy rain and this was compared to the Michelin’s PS3 I had on the old car.
Compromise was that there was not as much side ways grip when cornering compared to Michelin’s but definitely made up for with the forward straight line grip.
In snow and icy conditions it was night and day. Braking distance and grip was excellent compared to the very good PS3.
Recently in the beast from the east I was the only one made it out my street even though there was a raft of suvs in my street including a few evoques and q5. Snow was past the bumper and it ploughed through like it wasn’t there even when I had to go save a mate from his discovery sport stuck in a snow drift. Even we laughed how my A6 had to go save him from his Land Rover. I wouldn’t call it a Land Rover if it doesn’t have the magic diff lock lever or button.
I live in Scotland and some parts gets it worse than others. Gritters only do main roads so a lot of side streets gets left behind.
Pain is getting it swapped. I bought my winter wheels from a dealer last time and they did the swap and storage for me so effortless on me.
I also got the nicer looking alloys so aesthetically it was nice but not as nice as the bigger summer wheels.
Would I do it again. Definitely yes. S3 being a light car should work well. Just trying to find the cheapest way to do it.