I'm gonna be taking my car up to the snow a lot this year, and I basically just want a tire I can drive from the bay area up the tahoe with no problems. Decent tread life, and work ok in light snow/ice would be great. Nothing fancy, just some cheap tires for winter snowboarding trips that someone can recommend. I'll really only be using my car for going up to tahoe, and small amounts of driving around here in petaluma as I commute on my motorcycle rain or shine.

Thanks a lot for your input, tire size is 215/45/17

 

On Audis, the usual choice is Bridgestone Blizzak's. I'm not sure if they are available in you size though. It may be easier to get a second set of wheels (just some steel wheels in smaller size) and mount snow tires on them - that way it's a quick job to swap snow tires with summer tires.

 

I would recommend the Bridgestone MZ-03 for your case. I have had them for 2 years now in the exact size you are looking for, and they are the best snow tire I have ever used, and they have excellent wear life in the dry.

Over here, local law says that you must be riding snow tires or all-seasons after the first snowfall. The thing that sucks is, it may snow one day, melt the next, and then be dry for the entire week following. I am not cool with flip-flopping tires around depending on the daily weather, so the MZ-03s stay on from mid-November to late March. They are not cheap, but if you intend on getting moderate use out of them, they cannot be beat. They also give you good control in the ice/snow for those snow-drift sessions.

 

I loved the Dunlop wintersport M3s I had on my RS. Super ice traction, but surprisingly good on dry pavement. I had 30k on them when my car got totalled, and they were getting a bit low for snow use, but I could have gone another 15-20k in dry weather on them.

 

I have bought 2 sets of the same tire for my stock rim and for my Gram57s' "Toyo Proxes4 ulta high performance all season"...They were awesome. Mammoth snow last year was awesome!!!!!
They are worth the money and last a long time.............Quiet ride to.. Now I have to buy antoher set for my STi..$$$

 

I would recommend the Kumho Ecsta ASX

Reasonable price, relatively long wearing, scores high in snow/ice tests despite not being a dedicated winter tire.

 

I don't recommend compromise tires. It's far better to have good summer/rain tires on one set of wheels, and good snow/ice rubber on another. In fact, I'm selling the Kumho ASX that came on my OBS when I bought it in favor of Nokkians for winter and a TBD tire for summer.

 

If you're going to be in snow more than 3 times a season, I highly recommend getting dedicated snow tires.

I was originally planning on trading/selling my car next fall. i needed new winter tires, and decided to get all-season tires instead, and include them with the car when I part with it. I figured we only get maybe 3 days of substantial snow a year here, so why not go with A/S tires? Yeah... This morning's commute was through 4-5 inches of snow, and most of the roads weren't plowed yet, or had snowed over already. The A/S tires SUCK compared to my old snow tires!

The AWD does still help a lot, but the A/S tires (Kumho ASX) just don't bite the snow like the winter tires did. I did expect that, but man, it is SIGNIFICANTLY different. The car is far from immobilized, but I do need to watch the braking distances more.

 

I also believe in seperate sets of tires for winter use. That being said, I've heard great things about the Nokian WR's. They have snow ratings as high as a lot of winter specific tires.

 

I love my Nokian NRW's, which are the previous version of the WR's. Great tread life, decent enough dry traction and exceptional snow traction. They are my bay area "winter" tire. I've got a separate set of wheels with Yokohama summer tires which I run from May to Oct/Nov.

 

falken ziex 512, rated M+S

good all season tire