Winter Tire Recommendations for 2000 Golf GL (195/65/15)

First and foremost, slow down in the winter...

What are some recommendations for good winter

My favorite snow tires for my Golf are Vredesteins. That spelling doesnt look right though, so google it. I believe The Tire Rack carries them...

You got the spelling right; I used to run with 4 of them on my old BMW

320i. I needed them and 140lbs of sand in the trunk to keep it pointing in the right direction in the snow :-)

I've been getting along just fine with 4 Michelin Arctic-Alpins on my '02 Passat wagon, as has my wife on her '02 Saturn.

I'm a strong believer in snow tires, but a lot depends on where you're driving. The poster says he's moving to Boston. If he's living in the city, he could likely get away with decent "all season" tires.

If he's a tire nut, Vredestein has some exotics, and of course there's the Nokian Hakkapeliitta line.

Dunlop Wintersport M3's are a good choice, too. I run those on my Passat and have been very happy.

I've driven with Gislaved NordFrost (the NordFrost II is the current generation I believe) snow tires and they performed nicely, we've had them almost 10 years now... and they still have good tread depth, we have to get rid of them because of age related cracking... Very good wear on these tires, but they are quite squishy for cornering... they are VERY quiet tho, and extremely smooth running. We don't put too many Kms on our snow tires, the car only has 160K Kms on it and it's a 1993 (snow tires since 1994)... They are on a rear drive Volvo wagon (a car that really needs good snow tires).

My friends have told me that Michelin Arctic snow tires (H-rated) are very good, as well as the Hakkapeletta line from Nokian... I have Nokian "4-season" tires on my Golf (with Hakka Siping for winter) and they seem pretty good in the winter, and they aren't even a real snow tire.

blizzaks do wear fast, but provide incredible traction on ice, and have never had them hydroplane in any condition. i love them! going back on my '86 golf diesel in about 2 weeks (southern indiana) for the

3rd winter, about 40% worn in 12k miles.

I put a lot of KM on my car in the winter. I have a 2004 Golf. Does anyone here use snows with good high KM usage? It seems most snows don't come with treadlife warrantees

Mike

Its partially physics related...Snow tires as opposed to all-seasons usually have a much more aggressive tread design which will not wear as well. Plus they tend to be a little softer to prevent chunking again due to the more aggressive tread patterns used.

If you are really using them in snowy roads most of time, they will last many seasons. If you spend most of the drive on clear roads, then they will not wear well. Probably another reason for not offering tread life warranties, due the huge variance in winter driving conditions.

I have heard Hakkapelletta's will wear very well as far as snow tires go... and if you counted up all 9 or 10 years we have used our Gislaveds for you could probably accumulate a solid 50-60K Kms, with around 1/3 of the useable tread left... So you might be able to squeeze 70-90+K Kms out of them with gentle driving... might not be possible with a front wheel drive car tho (my Golf TDI wears down its front tires much quicker then the rears... whereas our rear drive Volvo wears fairly evenly everywhere).

I'm a 416 Commuter... so the KM are not easy on them. I wish I could go

14" but I don't think the calipers would clear a 14" rim. 14" are so much cheaper for tires.

Mike