CheckOrHold

What is a good high quality performance set of winter tires for driving on the autobahn and maybe the Nurburgring?

Also what's a good set of quality performance winter tires that are more in the budget range for seldom autobahn use?

I'm on the fence between getting a new set of wheels where I would put the higher quality tires on for multiple winters or getting a more budget set that'll only be used a few weekends before snow, salt, and ice hit the roads.

markov77

Blizzak

roadkillrob

I have Michelin X-Ice they rate similar to the blizzak but are quieter on pavement by a fair bit. I have blizzaks on my X5 and they are a bit better in deep snow but super noisy. The next step up is Nokian's if you want to spend a bit more. If you rarely drive in much snow and mostly cold pavement then you can go a bit more high performance with something like Michelin Alpin PA4's, nice and quiet and great pavement performance, just no where near as good in deeper snow.

AMGSPY

Blizzaks for me. Stock widths on 8.5 x 18 wheels off a 550E, (48 offsets). I might jump down to a 245 in the back if I was in the snow more often but I was really impressed last winter. I ran the Dunlops on a M3 and they were very good too but not quite as good in the snow. They did handle and ride better though. More of a performance snow tire I thought. The M3 was my daily driver for a long time whereas the 507 is my weekend toy.

CheckOrHold

Thanks. I'm not driving in the snow or ice. I just need a "winter" tire to drive in Germany until after the winter season so I just need something that can handle the cold weather and fast speeds on the autobahn.

roadkillrob

I would do the Michelin Alpin PA4's then, I really liked them on my S4, they are considered high performance or ultra high performance winter tires and come in V speed rating up to 240 kph and some sizes are W speed rating up to 270 kph.

hyperion667

DRBC43AMG

+1 for the Michelins

Mort

I think the Michelins are a good choice as well.

ecohen2

I just installed Michelines Pilot Sport 4s (all season) on my wife's SLK.. After a bunch of research they came up good for winter and but not heavy snow... Decent handling and quiet...

blurred

Blizzak and X-Ice would be horrible for this car. They are soft and squishy and do not have near the amount of grip needed for dry cold pavement and any sort of driving beyond... slow. You need a performance V or W rated winter tire. Pirelli Sotto Zero would be good, as well as the michelin Pa4. I have actually gone with a budget tire this year using the Nexen Winguard sport2. I had the original Winguard sport on my last winter beater and they were actually better than the sotto-zero 3 in snow, on ice, and on dry cold pavement. That car I used x-ice3, blizzak, sotto-sero 3 and winguard sport. Only the sotto-zero 3 and Nexen winguard sport allowed me to drive fast and safely with good grip for hard cornering/braking and high speed (220+kph) stability.

blurred

No way to know where you are, but if you get sustained temps close to freezing you should have a winter tire or an all-weather tire, an "all-season" is good only for 5c and up, and not for any snow/ice/frozen pavement.

DJ_Quaaludes

I'll echo what most others in here are saying, last Winter was my first with the C63 and Michelin Alpin PA4's worked very well.

I'm not sure what would work well in terms of a 'budget' winter tire that I'd feel comfortable driving on the ring or autobahn at high speeds. The PA4's are certainly not a 'budget' tire but are worth the price IMO if you are looking for a combination of performance and winter handling.

blurred

Any tire with a V or W speed rating would perform well for high speed driving. For track driving it would be determined by having fewer sipes, larger treadblocks etc