Jimmy Yee

I need some opinions for my situation regarding snow tire purchase. I have a 99.5 1.8TQMS and my wife drives a 98 Passat GLS V6. The Passat has a set of 205/55/R16 Yokohama AVS S4. We live in Vancouver, BC Canada where we get about 90% rain and 10% snow during the winter. And there is a steep hill outside our home. Enough background information, I have a few questions here:

1) Should I put snow tires (15" on steel) on the Passat and swap the all-seasons to my A4? How capable is Quattro with all season tires? My neighbours' RAV4, CR-V, Outback, ML320 can all make it to the top of the snow covered hill outside with their all-season tires. I will either get the Pirelli 210A or the Dunlop M2. Which one is better in rain?

2) Should I just leave the Passat alone and get snow tires on the A4. And when it snows, we will just share the A4, which won't cause too much inconvenience.

3) If I go with the second option above, should I get 15" with steel or 16" with the sport wheels? I am thinking about getting 17" summer on the A4. But I might drop the whole idea if money becomes tight with our new family member, yup a baby is on his/her way.

4) My last question is, how do the 225/45/R17 look with the stock sport suspension? Would the tires look like they are "sticking out" too much? The 16"s on the Passat do look so, IMO, but my wife doesn't want to lower her car.

I know it would be perfect to get 2 sets of snow, but unfortunately $$ is a concern and I don't think it's worth it here with so little snow.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

-Jim

PhilH

I would put the all seasons on the quattro and put the snows on the Passat. That's what I've done in similar circumstances myself (Phila, PA - not much snow, 2 FWD cars) just because I know I'll feel safer with my wife having snow tires. You having quattro just makes the choice that much easier.

Tom Kincaid

For what it's worth, I have a '98 Passat with the stock tires in Boston, and it handled fine the last two winters. Even in relatively deep snow (4-5") it did a lot better than I expected them to...
They are rated M+S too, at least on mine.

Later,
TK