Cheapest way to equip your car with a set of winter tyres

[Hell27]

All,

Been doing a little research and have found a supplier on t'internet that will do a set of 225/50/r16 wheels and winter tyres for the 5 series for £825.00 (Currently on 245/45/R17 Bridgestone RFT all weather, but this size should suffice)

However, you can get some continentals / bridgestones in this size from kwick fit at about £100.00 per corner, so the next step is find some wheels.

Are alloys from Scrap Yards a good deal, or 2nd hand from ebay?

What have others done that have not broken the bank?

[redstu]

2nd hand all the way , but prices are likely to be higher now that more people are trying to get them!

[cptsideways]

There are loads of em on Ebay, often not listed as snowies

Try a seller called Martins Tyres in Ireland but they list on the UK site, just double check the make/model

PM me if you want a search url

[SubaruSteve]

redstu said:

2nd hand all the way , but prices are likely to be higher now that more people are trying to get them!

Yep, this. Put on four 235/45/17 Michelin Alpins on an E class estate yesterday for total fitted price £105

[Valetco]

Are they for your e60? I've got a set of 16" se e60 alloys that are about to go on eBay £40 if you want them, I'm near Chester.

[CraigyMc]

Coincidentally I was looking into something similar this morning.

Probably no cheapest, but if you want new stuff --

Mytyres.co.uk quoted this (they sell tyres on steel wheels, as well as tyres on their own)
Product Price for One Quantity Subtotal
Steel wheels with winter tyres (LK 5 x 120.00 x 72.50)
Avon Ice Touring ST 225/55 R16 95H
BMW 520 D 560L 1995ccm 130 kW 07.2003-02.2010 £ 142.90 4 £ 571.60
plus 9.90 £ Postage and packaging for one complete wheel /alloy rim 4 £ 39.60
Total Amount 4 £ 611.20

All prices include VAT

Bear in mind, those are prefitted to the steel wheels so that's the all in cost including valves and balancing, delivery, VAT etc.

Go to this page http://www.mytyres.co.uk/ and click on the "sSteel wheels with tyres" link from the menu on the left hand side.

C

[chrisg_s2k]

£300 all in for my e90 330d

£100 eBay ?type57 alloys from an X5
£200 fitted for 225/45/17 conti wintersport used tyres with 5mm tread - about 3mm more than I had on the bridgestones :-)

Very pleased with the tyres (in the cold and dry only so far) and alloys are in surprisingly good nick - only did a few thou miles before the chap got some 19" ones.

Also, LOVING the nonRFT option, researched my summer tyres already- hankook evo s1 (IIRC) get very good reviews and will be about £400 less than 4x re050 rft's

Edit for stupid A things, apologies, no idea where they came from.

Edited by chrisg_s2k on Saturday 27th November 10:40

[Hell27]

Valetco said:

Are they for your e60? I've got a set of 16" se e60 alloys that are about to go on eBay £40 if you want them, I'm near Chester.

Yes they are, did you say £40.00 for the set of alloys? I'll have them at that price!

[CraigyMc]

chrisg_s2k said:

Edit for stupid A things, apologies, no idea where they came from.

I think the stupid A things (Â) are caused by whatever you're typing a pound sign (£) on.

C

[Patrick Bateman]

redstu said:

2nd hand all the way , but prices are likely to be higher now that more people are trying to get them!

Very true.

I got my winter tyres for £83 each back in September/October time, they're now £105 each.

[Valetco]

Hell27 you have mail

[LocoBlade]

Might be worth mentioning that the general advice on second hand winter tyres seems to be that unlike summer tyres, once winter tyres get worn much past half way then they're nowhere near as effective in snow. From looking at mine I'm guessing its because the sipes in the tyre blocks (the little cuts that divide the block up into thin strips) are not full depth compared to the main tread, so once you're close to wearing those away then even if there's 4-5mm of main tread left (so perfectly legal), the tyre will be a lot less effective in snow because it's the sipes that make the biggest difference to traction from what I understand


Taken from here

[Blue Oval84]

You could be on to something there Locoblade, there are loads of used winter tyres on Ebay with 4-5mm tread remaining!

[LocoBlade]

I suspect they know they're getting near the end of their useable life but are hoping others don't realise this.

Having said that Im sure they'd still be better than summer tyres as the compound and tread pattern will be better suited to the temperatures, but just not as good as they could be.

[Hell27]

Well, thanks to Valetco selling me those wheels, thanks buddy, and my tyres finally delivering me a set of 4 Avon Ice Touring ST's, they are finally on the BMW.

What a revelation, these tyres just grip and go. Far better ride than the runflats too, I highly recommend picking up a set.

Edited for total cost - £40.00 for the wheels, £434.00 for the tyres fully fitted.
Bargain!

Edited by Hell27 on Thursday 23 December 18:38

[sb-1]

Hell27 said:

Well, thanks to Valetco selling me those wheels, thanks buddy, and my tyres finally delivering me a set of 4 Avon Ice Touring ST's, they are finally on the BMW.

What a revelation, these tyres just grip and go. Far better ride than the runflats too, I highly recommend picking up a set.

How many miles have you done on your Ice Tourings ?

I have same on my Volvo V70,& I suspect they are not fully scrubbed in yet.

I find them very good,only issue was on a deep slush covered hill(ice underneath?)when I had a lot of wheel spin.

[Valetco]

Glad they are doing the job Rick, SWMBO is made up to have them out of the way aswell - win win

[LuS1fer]

I just fitted a pair of (summer) Dextero tyres on the front of my old Golf GTI on the recommendation of my tyre supplier and you know what, it's been everywhere today, tyhrough snow, ice and up our very steep hill. Winter tyres may be better but damn, these work. The old Kumhos were totally useless.

[Hell27]

Olly, cheers yes they are excellent and look pretty good too. Sb, just fitted them today so early days. Some wheelspin in deep slush but very dependant on weight in the back. I might put 2 paving slabs in the boot as a fully loaded boot made a massive difference. Even unladen though, the difference between them and the RF bridgestone potenzas was mindblowing. I'll need 2 new rears in the warmer climate, might be more cost effective getting 4 non RF summers for approx same cost? Ride quality massively better.

[Ecurie Ecosse]

Check out Gumtree. I got 4 BMW Style 44 17 inch alloys in excellent condition with 4 Vredstein Wintrac Extreme tyres with 6 and 7 mm of tread for £130.