I live in a ski resort and have not driven my 09 HSE in the snow yet. It came with 19"'s and 20"s. I know the 19"s are slightly narrower and was thinking about having snow studs put on them but like the look of the 20"s.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to how these handle? Both sets are Conti's? Thx in advance from Sun Valley Idaho!! mike murphy

not used the 20" in snow, but I have a set of 19" rims fitted with Goodyear Wrangler MT/R tyres and they are great in the snow, not sure how they are on ice tho.
Last winter was harder here in Belgium than it was back in my home in Scotland, It was -28c (-18.4f) here and more than a foot of snow and it took quite a bit of provoking to get the RRS to break traction Sons of dogs come hither and get flesh
Clan Cameron

funnyguy1 wrote:

I live in a ski resort and have not driven my 09 HSE in the snow yet. It came with 19"'s and 20"s. I know the 19"s are slightly narrower and was thinking about having snow studs put on them but like the look of the 20"s.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to how these handle? Both sets are Conti's? Thx in advance from Sun Valley Idaho!!

I was lucky enough to have a play in the snow last winter, i was amazed how well the car performed on 20" wheels, not tried the 19" so unable to compare but based on last years performance i wont be rushing out to buy any winter tyres MY10 3.0 TDV6 HSE, Zermatt Silver, 20" Diamond Turned Alloys, Factory Privacy Glass, Premium Leather, Contrast Stiching, Side Steps, Etc

Gone 2006 '56' 2.7 TDV6 HSE, Zermatt Silver, 20", Side Steps, Brembos, Dynamic Pack, Etc

VW Transporter, 19" Rims, T32 170 BHP, Lowered

funnyguy1 wrote:

Does anyone have any thoughts as to how these handle?

I have 20" Vredestein on mine and must say that the car handled stunningly good on snow
Though, even with winter tyres on you can get the car sideways

I also have 20" Conti c.c. winter tires on mine and handle very well on snow but I guess 19" would perform even better 2008 RRS TDV8 HSE, Java black, Alpaca,.....

Ok, had 1st good snow, snowplows cleared streets and took the HSE down the road and pumped the
brakes a few times and slid about 40 feet. 20"s no good and after speaking to a few other owners (we have a small town but probably 20 -30 RR's) they said 19"s about as bad, so going looking for studded snow tires. mike murphy

funnyguy1 wrote:

Ok, had 1st good snow, snowplows cleared streets and took the HSE down the road and pumped the
brakes a few times and slid about 40 feet. 20"s no good and after speaking to a few other owners (we have a small town but probably 20 -30 RR's) they said 19"s about as bad, so going looking for studded snow tires.

Are you then saying that RRS is no good in snow?

[quote="funnyguy1" 20"s no good and a........they said 19"s about as bad, so going looking for studded snow tires.[/quote]

The wheel size has nothing to do with it.

You can get good snow/ice tyres for 19" or 20" or even 24" wheels!

Leo wrote:

funnyguy1 wrote:

20"s no good and a........they said 19"s about as bad, so going looking for studded snow tires.

The wheel size has nothing to do with it.

You can get good snow/ice tyres for 19" or 20" or even 24" wheels!

Even though the width of the tyre is an important factor (255 on 19" against 275 on 20"), I absolutely agree with Leo

Actually the wheel width has everything to do with it. The wider the tire the more they plane especially if the tires are the Conti's which came with most of the RRS's in 2009. This is snow/sheet ice country ( we can get up to 200 inches a winter) and Conti 20"'s & 19"s do not stop these cars. Because of the weight of the car it will most likely need studded snow tires. mike murphy

The Conti sport contacts will be crap in ice/snow no matter what their size. My point is that the tread pattern and compound are more important that rim diameter. You can get really good winter tyres from Nokian, Vredestein etc in 19".

I'd go with the advice of the locals. TDV6 - gone
TDV8 - gone
Audi Q5 3.0 Tdi Sline wef 6/11/10

Thanks Josh! Good advice. I will ask the owner's here in Sun Valley what they use.  mike murphy