Tires MICHELIN or Hankook
First thing going on my project s2k is a fresh set of Michelin Pilot Sport 4s. Things that make constant contact with the ground should not be substituted for a cheaper, inferior replacement.
The Michelins Xice are so good I rarely buy anything else. Hardly notice they are on in dry conditions. The big van gets BFG KO2 tires and those pretty much rule as well
I purchased a set of X-Ice for my old Audi A6 years ago and had great tire life - over 8 winters - and still only half worn when I sold the car with 144,000 miles on it. Super traction on Ice - Packed Snow - and every day cold weather wet driving in Seattle. Took a trip in CA national parks in December and never got stuck. So when I got my Alltrack SEL - I saved the 17 inch wheels from my Buyback TDI - and bought another set of Michelin X-Ice to fit the 17's and though only driven one winter I think they are great. They are not noisy and a great ride - better then the Conti's on 18 inch Wheels actually.
I own a rwd lowered coupe, drove it all winter last year and bought Michelin x ice tires, had no issues. As long as you're a decent winter driver and have good winter tires you'll be fine.
Definitely winters for a RWD, I had a RWD 335i with X-Ice 3 and I never had an issue with tires. The only problem I had with snow was my car basically plowing the streets because it was so low.
I would suggest Michelin Defenders, my JSW had them on for 35,000 miles and look great when I traded the car back to VW.
Bought Michellin Pilot Sport 4s for my 06 2.3L (figured why not spend a bit more because you don't really buy tyres often)
I'm very happy with them so far.
I had Pirelli tires on my car when I first bought it.. Some new all weather performance tires and let’s just say it was quite scary if there was even a little water on the road. I bought Michelin Pilot Super Sport A/S tires and they have been absolutely fantastic. Rain, shine, or snow the grip levels are very high, blow Pirelli out of the water. There have been instances in the snow when I feel the Michelin tires have saved my life. With the Pirellis, I would not even consider taking the car out in the snow. I drive a Mustang GT.
I have taken 3 tires to track events on my R: Dunlop ZII Star Specs, Bridgestone RE71R and Michelin PSS. I also ran version 1 Hankook RS3 tires on my BMW for both HPDE and autocross events. ZII Star Specs: excellent tread life (9-10 HPDE days @ ~2 hours track time/day), very good dry traction, good wet traction, wide temperature range RE71R: fair tread life (5 HPDE days), excellent dry traction, good wet traction, wide temperature range PSS: I used these for one event as a rain tire as my expectation is that they will not tolerate the sustained heat that a dry session will produce. Good dry traction, excellent wet traction, limited temperature range RS3: very good dry traction, unknown wet traction, limited temperature range; i.e.: they need lots of heat before they get sticky (craptastic for autoX) If I had to pick one tire for HPDE events, it would be the ZII's and that is what is currently on my car. Tires cost money and I value tread life over outright performance and the wear characteristics make the Dunlops about half the cost of the Bridgestones. If someone else is buying my tires, then I'll go with the RE71R's. For autocross use only in a street tire class, then the RE71R's, no question. i have not tried the BFG Rival or Rival S, but based on friends experiences I would expect them to be somewhat similar to the ZII and RE71R, respectively.
VW used the Hankook Optimo tires in Canada as the OEM tire on our Golf Sportwagen. One of the worst performing tire I've ever owned.
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