Interesting to see BMW jumping on the bandwagon and recommending customers buy a new set of wheels with Winter Tyres.....

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/owner/wintertyres?requestSource=vanity 
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Lots of manufacturers are doing it now, Mercedes Benz are too. FFRR owner by proxy

Porsche have been doing it for years too....

They will even store your "summer" alloys & tyres at the Dealership if you buy your winter set from them....

I enquired about the price for Winter alloys & tyres for my Cayenne.... £2720.00....

I managed to get a set of unmarked 18 inch genuine Porsche rims with 8mm tread Dunlop Grandtrex winter tyres for £205.00...

I'll store my other rims myself.....

Not changed them over yet, but with temperature's starting to drop this weekend, I will need to get them swapped over soon...

Wow that was a great Combo deal Paulo! 
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Being a natural skeptic, do they really make that much difference and are they purely for places where you are likely to be in snow and ice most of the time?

Do we really need them in the UK? They wont stop you sliding on ice so you're not better off surely? And as I found out one night 2 yrs ago, it makes no difference if you are in a Saxo or a RR, if you get a slide, on, there's nothing you can do, it's gonna happen!. THE INVENTOR OF THE TERM "FULL-FAT RANGE ROVER" :
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic666.ht...vented#end

2008MY TDV8 Vogue SE, Stornoway/Jet/Piano/ RSE+DVD
2003 Defender 90 TD5 Hard Top Ruggedised

*Gone: Range Rover Vogue TD6, JE Stage 1
*Gone: Range Rover Sport Supercharged 4.2V8
*Gone: Range Rover Vogue Classic 3.9 Auto
*Gone: Land Rover Series 3 SWB

The softer Silica compound DOES grip the ice better than the harder silica Summer tyres. In snow summer tyre treads also get clogged with slush but winter tyres have sipes desined to clear slush and snow maintaining grip levels.

I am a believer in the Science and many tests have shown that below 7d stopping distances are much better with Winter Tyres.  
We buy forum member cars - PM for a quote. http://www.garyelliott.co.uk/prestige_cars/

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Agree totally, having read up on Winter Tyres over the last few years, I wouldn't drive without them now....

Doesn't help that the other 99% of road-users don't have them though.....

@ Paulo,

That's my only reservation; getting rear ended by a twonk with baldy summer tyres on driving too close.

EDIT: That said the real benefit is not straight lining corners.

I agree too. Tyres and brakes are surely of two most important factors in the safety of a vehicle, there can be no doubting whatsoever that the compound of the tyres determines their performance, and that the compound needs to be suitable for the conditions in which they will be operating.

F1 demonstrates only too clearly the importance of tyre compound to conditions, albeit a rather extreme example!  2006 Supercharged

Ok, so good evidence, however, if you are a careful driver when conditions are bad, and your normal tyres are in good shape, there is no reason why you should spend so much money on another set of tyres that will be mainly superfluous? THE INVENTOR OF THE TERM "FULL-FAT RANGE ROVER" :
http://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic666.ht...vented#end

2008MY TDV8 Vogue SE, Stornoway/Jet/Piano/ RSE+DVD
2003 Defender 90 TD5 Hard Top Ruggedised

*Gone: Range Rover Vogue TD6, JE Stage 1
*Gone: Range Rover Sport Supercharged 4.2V8
*Gone: Range Rover Vogue Classic 3.9 Auto
*Gone: Land Rover Series 3 SWB

i'm with adam on this...dan the 'megane man' went up in the hills when it was snowing badly with nearly worn out tyres and he had no problems..a good testament to the range rovers 4x4 setup.. ..............................




this is handy

Fair point but this way you can have two sets of alloys and change the look of your car, plus as you will be rotating them the wear should roughly even out so you'll be buying the same value worth of tyres etc etc.

Think it's more about mitigation than anything else.

A spare set of wheels and tyres takes up a lot of garage space...

(I keep mine in the spare room.. )

we spend our money as we choose.....

if you live around london, then winter tyres not really needed 9 years out of 10.

if you live in the hills, and if you have the money, go buy a set.

if winter tyres add to safety, then I am all in favour.

same as air bags....if you drive safely, and below 5 miles an hour with a man in front waving a red flag, you'll never need them. But if the idiot driving too fast makes you run into him (or not, because you had winter tyres and they shortened the braking distance), then the air bags suddenly become worthwhile afterall.

Gazellio wrote:

Interesting to see BMW jumping on the bandwagon and recommending customers buy a new set of wheels with Winter Tyres.....

http://www.bmw.co.uk/bmwuk/owner/wintertyres?requestSource=vanity