UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I was hoping people could report back on their winter tyre set up having used one set last winter. Admittedly the UK winter wasn't anything to write home about last year, but we're looking to fit some to mine shortly (I didn't bother last year).

Interested in wheels and tyres options, there's an outfit near us that will fit and store my current wheels/tyres at a reasonable price.

There are at least a couple of schools of thought on this, and I've done both!

First one is, steel wheels and 'premium' winter tyres. I had a set of 15" steel wheels, VW trims and Dunlop winter sport tyres. Circa £400 all in from mytyres, looked ok, did the job and great in snow and ice, although of course not infallible as some may think.

The other way is to go for some alloys and cheaper winter tyres. I've got some new Team Dynamics 17" alloys with some Nankang NS-2 tyres to go on my GTI. Circa £600 all in from wheelbase. I just couldn't bring myself to put steelies on my GTI. Silly I know.

Now, the NS-2 is for some a budget winter tyre, but my experience of running some on my old S3 is that they may not be up there with the very best winter tyres, particularly in wet grip (although users report they need a bit of scrubbing in before performing at their best), but they are still similar in wet and leagues ahead in snow and ice compared to even the very best summer tyre.

The alternative I guess is buy 4 winter tyres to replace your existing ones, but I didn't fancy spending £40-60 to get them fitted and then the same again to take them off next spring.

I'll report back on mine once I've fitted them and run them for a while, but I don't anticipate any problems.

Thanks I think the 15" steelies might be ok assuming the handling doesn't go to pot - I have an a road drive to Gloucester at least several times a month...

What kind of winter conditions are you expecting where you live? I think all comes down to that. For example, here in Sweden we often have a lot of snow and ice which makes "nordic" winter tires like the Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 the best choice.

dont bother.... waste of money!

you have a light, front wheel drive car and in the UK which means the snow/ice will last about a month maybe month and a half...

alot of money for a short amount of time, pull your socks up and dont drive like a hooligan

Whilst I still had my S3 last winter, I got stuck for a bit behind numerous 2WD cars on snow and ice covered A road hills. Although I had good traction even on summer tyres, I still had poor braking, so I'd still have benefited from winter tyres. The stuck drivers would have got up the hills easily on winters, and bet they wouldn't have been thinking about money either. It's not about whether you drive like a hooligan, there are benefits.

A set of winters should easily last 3 or 4 winters, so not a big outlay when looked at like that. About a tank and a half of fuel per winter in other words...

Tooks wrote:There are at least a couple of schools of thought on this, and I've done both!

First one is, steel wheels and 'premium' winter tyres. I had a set of 15" steel wheels, VW trims and Dunlop winter sport tyres. Circa £400 all in from mytyres, looked ok, did the job and great in snow and ice, although of course not infallible as some may think.

Tooks have you a picture or reference for the VW Trims as i want a set for my 15s this year

I ran 15" steel on Michelin Alpins last year and car was great, the Polo isn't the sharpest handler so I did not notice too much of a drop off in handling but ride improved, this also keeps the salt of your alloys

I have some hancooks for the Golf and they were great but needed 500 miles to bed in and these are going on the wifes R and will mothball mine for winter

wigit wrote:

Tooks wrote:There are at least a couple of schools of thought on this, and I've done both!

First one is, steel wheels and 'premium' winter tyres. I had a set of 15" steel wheels, VW trims and Dunlop winter sport tyres. Circa £400 all in from mytyres, looked ok, did the job and great in snow and ice, although of course not infallible as some may think.

Tooks have you a picture or reference for the VW Trims as i want a set for my 15s this year

I ran 15" steel on Michelin Alpins last year and car was great, the Polo isn't the sharpest handler so I did not notice too much of a drop off in handling but ride improved, this also keeps the salt of your alloys

I have some hancooks for the Golf and they were great but needed 500 miles to bed in and these are going on the wifes R and will mothball mine for winter

Part number is 6R0 601 147 C.

They clip on via 6 clips, so make sure your steelies have the necessary holes.

They are a stupid price from dealers here in the UK, although I did dind three new ones for sale for £10 each from Lancaster VW. But I was lucky!

German eBay seems to be the cheapest all round place to buy them.

I can post some pics up in the next day or two if you like?

Ordered a set of the wheel trims of german eBay for 61 euros including shipping, ordered Wednesday and turned up today, all in sealed bags

Tried one on a spare steelie i have and perfect fit, not alloys but look better than the steelies and these are functional, if i want an alloy fix i'll just look at the R

Great service as these were around £140 from a UK dealer

Thanks for the heads up Tooks

You're welcome mate, glad you're sorted!

Some pics of the Blue GT on steelies

Last year no wheel trims



This year sporting the VW oem ones



I can live with it

Joe9n3 wrote:dont bother.... waste of money!

you have a light, front wheel drive car and in the UK which means the snow/ice will last about a month maybe month and a half...

alot of money for a short amount of time, pull your socks up and dont drive like a hooligan

Agreed. I bought a set of winter wheels & tyres for my Up last winter and found they were pretty much a waste of time and money. Unless you drive like a moron on the snow & ice, you'll be fine with all-season tyres.

TheFrog wrote:

Joe9n3 wrote:dont bother.... waste of money!

you have a light, front wheel drive car and in the UK which means the snow/ice will last about a month maybe month and a half...

alot of money for a short amount of time, pull your socks up and dont drive like a hooligan

Agreed. I bought a set of winter wheels & tyres for my Up last winter and found they were pretty much a waste of time and money. Unless you drive like a moron on the snow & ice, you'll be fine with all-season tyres.

Turn your traction control off for going up a hill and just be careful as the others said. Unless you drive a RWD sports car I don't see the point in Winter wheels in the UK unless you're prone to accidents for driving too fast/close in snow/ice. I work for a car care company and we struggled last winter as we had one or two icy days all winter so hardly any winter products sold. We're already in December and I haven't had to de-ice the car once (I live in the countryside near Manchester for reference).

TheFrog wrote:

Joe9n3 wrote:dont bother.... waste of money!

you have a light, front wheel drive car and in the UK which means the snow/ice will last about a month maybe month and a half...

alot of money for a short amount of time, pull your socks up and dont drive like a hooligan

Agreed. I bought a set of winter wheels & tyres for my Up last winter and found they were pretty much a waste of time and money. Unless you drive like a moron on the snow & ice, you'll be fine with all-season tyres.

...clips on youtube would suggest otherwise.

I heard about 2 accidents caused by ice at the weekend. One woman ended up in a field. Thankfully her and her mother are fine. Another person was driving along an A road and a car slid out of a junction in front of them!

We live in a rural area where the roads are not gritted. My wife almost got stuck due to ice on the road today. And she has 4 new Continental TS850s winter tyres fitted to her car. Though I am certain that her summer tyres would not have made it up that hill.

I am really surprised that you have winter tyres and don't rate them. We both fit them every winter and both think they are really, really good. Though, you still cannot drive like an idiot.

I bought 4 old alloys from a breakers yard and had 4 winter tyres fitted to them. Fine as long as you don't mind a couple of hours jacking and heavy lifting twice a year. And my car looks poo on the old alloys.

Tooks wrote:The alternative I guess is buy 4 winter tyres to replace your existing ones, but I didn't fancy spending £40-60 to get them fitted and then the same again to take them off next spring.

... this is the method my wife uses. She can even do it herself. This is only possible because of the tyre storage bags I bought. The bags have carry handles and keep both her and the car clean. A set of 4 bags were £25 from VW.

When you shop for the tyres ask if they will do a deal for changing the tyres over each summer and winter. If you buy the tyres from them, some depots offer a reduced price. The place my wife uses charge her £25 a time. The advantage is that the car looks exactly the same. (and I have no hassle )