One for BigD probably, but I'd love to hear from anyone else with experience in actual snow and frequent sub-zero temps.

I need to order a set asap that'll get me to the Alps in December and last out the other side until I get home some time in April/May. Given it's already down to 13 degrees and prices are starting to go up, I wanna get it sorted this week.

What have you run and what do you recommend?

I had vredestein wintrac xtreme on my Golf. Was great in the cold/ice but last year there was no snow. Will see how things go this year.

I believe winter tyres generally kick in from around 7*C which is when summer tyres become less effective.

I think I need new summer tyres on rainy days it keeps doing burnout even in second gear

Too much power, bratty, clearly.

Learn to modulate the throttle bratty.

How much does it cost to get tyres changed? Not to buy them and have them fitted, but just ones you have stashed in you garage fitted.
I've never bought winter tyres because I wouldn't do enough miles in a winter to get a full use out of them, so I'd have to take them off at the end of winter and save them for next year.
How much would that cost?

Winter tyres are for weather under 8°C, under that temperature normal "summer" tyres stop working properly under those temperatures, because the rubber becomes too hard.

Winter tyres are good up to about 15°C, above that temperature they will wear faster than normal.

The general rule of thumb, here in Germany is "Oktober bis Ostern" (October to Easter) for winter tyres.

They are good in cold conditions and offer reasonable grip on snow and ice.

If you are going through the Alps once it has started to snow, make sure you have a set of snow chains as well. They are illegal on normal roads, but a legal requirement on many mountain roads.

In Germany it is a legal requirement to have Winter Tyres on the vehicle when the roads are frozen or covered in snow. If you don't have them, there is a fairly hefty fine and points on the licence.

All-year tyres are also acceptable, although they must have the 4mm minimum tread requirement for winter tyres. All-year tryes aren't as good in the snow as winter tyres and they need about and extra 30% distance to stop on warm summer roads, compared to summer tyres.

On our street, which is fairly steep, when it is covered in ice, I couldn't stand on the road, because the ice was so slippery last year. With winter tyres, I could drive up the hill without any wheelspin.

That said, they aren't a perfect solution in all situations. Going to work last year, I went around a roundabout and the car lost all traction and slid out of control. I managed to somehow miss the next traffic island and steer the car into the next exit and regain control. That was moving at under 10mph. The car behind me had the same problem and managed to do the same...

As to brands, I have a "house brand" from Good Year, I think. They were relatively cheap for 17" tyres, compared to named brand, but they are still good. My future brother-in-law runs a small garage, so I get them at cost. I think I paid 400€ including fitting 2 years ago.

I used to do it myself. Now the future brother-in-law does it and I repair his computers.

In Munich, I did use a garage, there it cost 45€ to swap them over and have them stored until I put the summer tyres back on (45€ and they store the summer tyres).

Re getting them changed. There are places that if you buy the tyres from them will change them FOC. Also they will then continue to change back and forth for free also.

Just Car Clinic does this.

Right, I thought "performance" would be more of an issue in Germany. I'm not buying just to satisfy legal requirements, I want my car to actually handle in the cold/snow.

Looks like I'm gonna go for Nokian WR A3s.

I've had Vreddy Sessantas before and they were great, but I'm current on Hankook S1 Evos and they're the best tyres I've ever had (and I've tried every premium brand/model on the Octy over the years). From ADAC and other German tests, I was gonna go with Goodyear Ultragrips, but in my odd size (not buying smaller steelies) they're £140 a corner. The Nokians are almost as good and are £104 a corner. I'll get them fitted locally and stuff my summers in the shed.

Most places supposedly only store your summers for 6 months max anyway, and I probably need 7ish to get me home after the season.

I don't have a "winter" set of alloys so I paid the local tyre place to fit them on to my current rims. Cost was just balancig for each wheel. Ended up at £40 each time. In the long run, it'd be better to buy a second set of wheels.

With all the random places you go digging, you'd be better off with some all season nobblies (well and probably something that isn't French and is maybe a truck or 4x4).

It depends. On a "normal" car or if you aren't doing a lot of Bahstorming, it doesn't make much difference. Most of the branded and "unbranded" tyres from the big manufacturers are good under normal conditions at normal speeds.

Winter tyres are generally limited to 190km/h, which is more than the maximum speed of my car, so getting "performance" winter tyres is, for me, a waste of money. I also do around 95% of my mileage on A and B roads, so I can't get near those limits anyway.

I drove back from Ballingen last year in an A6 Avant Quattro fully loaded and in icy and slushy conditions. The tyres were still good at 240km/h, but in slushy conditions, that isn't a speed I'd be comfortable driving.

To be honest, anything over 180km/h is too stressful on a dry road to keep up for long periods of time. I generally keep it in the 140-150km/h range these days. With the traffic and roadworks on the network these days, going faster doesn't bring much advantage, you just reach the next traffic jam a few minutes earlier...

Also watch out for speed restrictions. Large parts of the network now have severe speed restrictions due to the surface breaking up - they generally put a 120 limit on, then a 100, then 80, when it gets too bad for 80km/h, they will resurface that stretch.

The police are very strict about it as well. Fines increased dramatically this year.

I use Hankook Optimo 4S all-weather tyres - great when it's cold and snowy as they proved last winter.

ye I need a little 4x4 sometime,



they are practically "slicks" cheap and nasty crap that came with the car, luckily ive got about 8 spare tyres somewhere