Hi,

Anybody out there have first hand experience w/ all season tires that will last longer than 20K and wont have you off the road in the woods in the winter? Either that or I'm interested in hearing first hand experience w/ snow tires that actually provide traction in heavy snow/ice.
Tire size is 235/60 18. Save the sporty tires for the race car. I need traction and wear.

I have Nokian WR sport utility tyres. Exelent grip on the snow and on the wet pavement. I drove over 20.000 km last winter in Finland: still over 7 mm. groove left.<ul><li><a href="http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html">http://www.mytyres.co.uk/start.html</a</li></ul>

I had them on my old allroad and used them year round for 40K miles. Since our Q7 came with 20" all season Contis, I went with a dedicated winter tire...the Pirelli Scorpion ice &amp; snow. What a great winter tire...good traction in snow, ice and slush. Quiet on dry roads. Got them from Tire Rack mounted on 18" AT Italia wheels.

Thanks Guys,

The Nokians seem to be the way to go for winter driving. I use to do some ice racing back in the day on those and they were deffinatley an advantage.

Anybody know where a guy can find some plain old 18" steel wheels to use for winetr driving?

wheels on ebay. Stay away from Sport Edition wheels from Tire Rack. They are Tire Rack's brand of wheel that is made in China. I tried a set for my A4 winter tires and had to send them back. They did not fit the hub correctly and were vibrating loose off the car. Plus, the OE Audi lug wrench did not fit in the wheel bolt holes. A decent wheel for the Q7 is the AT Italia S5 from Tire Rack. They are about $250 each.