Winter wheels and tyres

[mjc]

My understanding is that using a wheel with a 6J width (combined with a 205 tyre) will allow the snow chains to wrap to the rear of the tyre/wheel without coming into contact with the suspension components.

 

[glospete]

On the subject of snow chains as I am considering a set for a trip to the Alps in January...I have an S3 with the 18" twin spoke star wheels.

The manual suggests you can only use snow chains on the winter wheels (alloy = 6jx17, 48mm offset, 205/50 tyres). Is this correct? Has anyone successfully used snow chains on their A3/S3? Does anyone know what the 'technical reasons' the manual refers to are?

The snow chains at the top of my list are the Thule K-Summit, if anyone is interested!

I bought the official Audi OEM A3 winter wheels and their spec is:

6.5" width with 205/50 R17 tyres so 9% narrower than my 18" standard wheels and 14% taller in sidewall height. The wheels are shown in my earlier post on this thread and are 5-spoke Helica design - nice and easy to keep clean in the winter. They come with Dunlop SP Winter Sport 3D AO tyres which seem to be reviewed pretty well.

These will definitely take snow chains as that is why they are sized as they are.

 

[mjc]

For anyone that is interested, I am selling a full set of 4 brand new genuine A3 OEM 18 Inch alloy wheels and 'Pirelli Sottozero 3' winter tyres. Please PM me or see 8V classified section for further details.