Winter Tyres & wheels question

Laurie P

A4 B6 1.8t Quattro Avant 190 + A3 8L 1.9tdi

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• Oct 5, 2015

• #1

Hi folks - I've a 1.8t Quattro avant 2004 190 - it has standard 18 alloys.

Question is what best to do re winter tyres & wheels - should I buy 16inch steel wheels or should I buy a set of 17 alloys and put snow tyres on them?

Also - am mildly confused by offset...

Any advice appreciated

 

bastet

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #2

How about using the 18's? I have 225/40/18 as a winter tyre and absolutely love it (Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme).

 

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Laurie P

A4 B6 1.8t Quattro Avant 190 + A3 8L 1.9tdi

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #3

Thanks for the reply - using the 18's is a possibility, and also maybe cheaper than buying wheels and tyres!!

 

bastet

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #4

It will be cheaper, just remember that swapping tyres two times a year won't be very good for them.

Better to re-use the 18's in the winter and save up for a decent 19" summer set!

 

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Mike.M

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #5

I usually use my 17's for winter as that is when you want a bigger side wall and more give and my 18's for summer but looking into 19's at the moment......but at the moment I may be trialling the 18's all winter as I have Nexen N'Fera SU1's on and the grip is fantastic in the wet

 

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bastet

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #6

Flex in the sidewalls isn't that important I think - it only softens up the suspension. Flexible rubber is more important. It was genuinely harder than expected to get the car a bit sideways for the above pictures - we really needed to use the e-brake to get the tail out. These 18's felt far more secure than the previous 16" winter set I had (Dunlop winter tyres).

 

DrStrange

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #7

From the countless reviews ive read about the Vredesteins Wintrac Xtreme, it looks like this is an excellent set of tyres.

 

bastet

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• Oct 6, 2015

• #8

I can only confirm that. The only "down" side is that they lack a tad under acceleration, but they handle / stop perfectly. And yes - I'd rather be able to stop better than accelerate, if you know what I mean.

 

DrStrange

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• Oct 7, 2015

• #9

I agree,
in the winter, stopping power is probably going to be more important ;-)

Having said that, i dont have a winter set. I'll be running 235/30/20 all winter.

Wish me luck!