Winter Driving Tires Recommendations

Just a heads up if anybody is thinkng of winter tyres this year, the apparent 'hype' about shortages isn't necessarily just hype.

I've just bought a new set of steels for one of the family motors and my usual tyre fitter could'nt get ANY in the size. Another local outfit could source some but at an inflated price. A number of UK on-line suppliers like BIackcircles were out and others showed availability but could not give a delivery date, so I opted to order the top rated Goodyear Ultragrip 8 from a European source. http://www.oponeo.co.uk/

They get good reviews, deliver free and I will save about 20% even after fitting costs. I'll update about delivery and quality of the tyres once they arrive.
 
Look at the tyresearcher website, there are still plenty of winter tyres available at reasonable prices. Mytyres have always got decent stock and that's probably because they're a German company. My experience over that last few years is that most traditional local tyre fitters are still not clued up on supplying winter tyres and when they do source/stock them, they are far too expensive. I went into one such establishment a few weeks ago who advertise themselves as a main Vredestien agent. Not only did they not know that the winter tyres I was after were available in the size I wanted but they claimed that their cost price was £50 more than the Mytyres price delivered.

Online is the way to go for winter tyres.
 
dgm said:
... in the size I wanted but they claimed that their cost price was £50 more than the Mytyres price delivered.

Online is the way to go for winter tyres.
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And Mytyres are not necessarily the cheapest. If possible try to find a local large tyre establishment, one of those turn up, drive in and fit places. IMO you also need to buy before Nov 1st - any sign of bad weather and you can expect a 50%+ premium to be paid.
 
dgm said:
Look at the tyresearcher website, there are still plenty of winter tyres available at reasonable prices. Mytyres have always got decent stock and that's probably because they're a German company. My experience over that last few years is that most traditional local tyre fitters are still not clued up on supplying winter tyres and when they do source/stock them, they are far too expensive. I went into one such establishment a few weeks ago who advertise themselves as a main Vredestien agent. Not only did they not know that the winter tyres I was after were available in the size I wanted but they claimed that their cost price was £50 more than the Mytyres price delivered.

Online is the way to go for winter tyres.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that's right, but I wouldn't hang about for unusual sizes, I did check the two suppliers you mention, Tyresearcher have none in the size I required, Mytyres show lots but at about 15% more than I'm paying.
 
Absolutely Ewazix, I only use Mytyres as an illustration. In my case they were the cheapest I could find by some margin and I can't fault them on their service. In many cases you'll get better online prices as you've found.

Darren, I don't quite get where you're coming from on the local large tyre establishment. I've tried that line with winter tyres and my experience is that they can't get near the internet prices and have a very limited selection in any case. Get them delivered, pay £40 to get them fitted and you'll save yourself a good few quid.
 
dgm said:
Darren, I don't quite get where you're coming from on the local large tyre establishment. I've tried that line with winter tyres and my experience is that they can't get near the internet prices and have a very limited selection in any case. Get them delivered, pay £40 to get them fitted and you'll save yourself a good few quid.
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Sorry, just encouraging people to shop around. SOmetimes the online stuff comes with a premium maybe partly due to the percieved convenience. WHen I was looking last year the price was getting to £280 per tyre excl fiting. Phoned a large non-franchised tyre place 20 miles away and they could stock them in a few days - £600 fitted (full set of four)
 
I accept that there will always be exceptions although you're online price is very high. I've just paid £210 delivered for 265/30/19 winters.
 
adey said:
looking for some 17 inch winter tyres for mine, keep us updated ewazix
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My Goodyear Ultragrip 8s arrived today 5 days after being ordered, excellent service from Oponeo who are based in Poland. The tyres are as ordered and look pretty purposeful. Goodyear manufacture for Europe at sites in France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Turkey, Slovenia and the UK, these were made at their Polish plant but I can see no reason to think they will be inferior. I imagine other brands will be sourced from various EU locations and it may be worth emailing with Oponeo to check if it was a concern.

As a source of winter tyre size that I was having difficulty getting at all, let alone at this price they get a :thumbsup: from me.
 
good news ewazix it seems winter tyre prices are going up daily at the moment so i ordered from these guys yesterday i got 4 x 225/45/17 nankang snow viva 2 for £300 read a few reviews and most people seem happy with them
 
delarge said:
I have a e85 3.0.

Can i get a set of 17's as my winter wheels and cloth them in 225/45 17 tyres?

My reasoning being the slightly narrower tyres would give better grip and cost a little less than 18's.

Can wheels for an E39 fit my Z4? There seem to be loads on ebay.

Cheers
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You can even use 16" BMW alloys - they clear the calipers on the pre-facelift 3.0i (231ps M54 engine). I've got 104-style BMW alloys from smaller-engined Z4s on mine with Kuhmo KW27 winters on them. Great performer in last year's conditions and at the time were only £63/tyre.


2010-12-04 Snow day (3) by Ally Mitchell, on Flickr

(yep, that's a little bit of snow...)
 
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