question about snow tires?

[ChasesFury]

Just posted on the S4 and A6 forums...and i have a 2001 S4 and i'm having a big debate on what snow tires to get for the winter. Well I just got some A6 2.7t 16in split spoke rims and so the tire size gonna be gettin is the 205/55/16. Anyways before i ask of which tires to get heres my typical winter here in colorado. I live over in lakewood and will be driving to golden everyday during the week to go to class at the school of mines and going up to Keystone on tuesdays and thursdays soon as the ski area opens up and practice with my school's ski team. And on the weekends i too will be going up skiing with friends on saturday. I occasionally will be driving to the airport. Also driving around town for other things. Thats what my winter is like and now as for tires ive been searching through the forum on info about so many winter tires and heres my list of basically what tires i think would be best for me...well here they are either the blizzak WS-50, blizzak LM-22,dunlop M2, michelin pilot alpine, and the Nokians winter tires.....so with those said please help me out with as much input/suggestions as possible and with any other tire suggestion too....thanks

[wolfrc]

They are probably not the absolute best in the snow, But I figured with all of the dry pavement driving that we do here in the winter...I wanted a winter tire that had good dry road performance. I've heard good things about the Nokians, and one of the Blizzaks. I'm not sure which one (I think the LM-22), but the more performance oriented model is supposed to be pretty good all around. The other is far softer and more geared for a consistently nasty winter unlike we have.

[Aldous]

...I'd suggest not doing the Blizzaks, but rather the Nokians, as they won't wear-out as fast, but are still a very high quality snowtire. You can get Nokians for Meadow Creek Tires here in town, and he'll discount to Quattro Club members. If you search on my name and 'winter tires', I've written a couple longer threads on snowtires at the Steamboat Quattro Winter Driving School.

[Repoman]

Blizzacks are great for 1 season, they wear fast. I have the Dunlops on my allroad now. Used last season. We drive to Vail every weekend and the tires worked well. Did not seem to wear too much either. Any of the real soft tires like the Blizzack will be great on ice but wear very fast. We do not seem to get that real black ice on the roads out here in Co so I see no need for them.

[Reggie3]

The M2s were 205/55/16s and I had three seasons on them - with lots of tread.

I bought some used 17s wheels and some used 225/45/17 Blizzaks that had two seasons on them - I will get maybe one and a half season out of them of the tread that is left.

I sold my 16s because I missed having 17" rims for the winter. The snow here does not last that long so I preferred the response the 17" rims gave the car (plus the look)

If I was buying again - I would go with M2s based on all the comments I have read on the forum.

[KayakCO]

[Pat]

They don't squirm nearly as much as my other snows (Yokohama Guardex F721), but aren't as good in the snow, either. With all of the potentially deep snow driving you'll be doing (hopefully =)), I would say avoid the Blizzaks. I really liked them, but for dedicated snow tires, I'm willing to make some sacrifices on dry roads.

[Vanimaniac]

I live in Golden. And I plan on goin up to Keystone and Copper pretty much every week. Still got my stock 17"s but probably will get me some Dunlop M2s on 16's. I seem to have read only good things about those.

[Lost77']

Can you tell me where to Buy the 17 inch M2's in Denver?Thanks

[KayakCO]