I want to buy a winter wheel set for my B5 S4. I live in SoCal, so they will only be put onto the car when I take a ski trip. I am thinking of 16" wheels with some 205/55HR16 tires for the best winter performance.

Firstly a question for all 16" winter-wheel owners, do you people just buy 4, and keep the regular 17" spare in case of emergencies? Surely putting a 17" summer-tire spare on would be bad?? All the tirerack packages default to 4.

Next, any suggestions on which tires to get, since they will spend half the journey on regular dry tarmac as well as in snow conditions. I am not sure whether I need to be worried about wrecking them on the hot,dry sunny part of the drive.

Finally, I STFA and everyone seems to say that chains are a no-no on the S4, even with 16" wheels. The ultra-paranoid part of me would like to be able to put chains on if conditions seem really bad, are there any 15" wheels available for an S4 that would allow chains? I know I can drive in R2 conditions with winter wheels and just carry chains, but it would be nice to think I could use them too ;)

Thanks!
Jojo

For tires, I recommend the Nokian WR.

My spare is a 17".. I figure I can limp home (or to a tire shop) on my winter 17" summer with my winter wheels on all other corners.

Winter tires are a mystery to me, does it just shorten their lifespan to drive on dry, or can they actually get damaged? Not worried about lack of performance, since they will be used only for ski trips, and the 395 is one long speedtrap.

Thanks for the help guys, and thanks to the archive for help too :)

if your winter wheel set-up uses different lug bolts, keep 5 oem lug bolts in a plastic baggy somewhere in your car, just in case you need to mount the spare tire.