Ahnst

Hi all,

Just joined and am happy to be part of the community. I recently bought a 04 TL MT to replace my aging 1996 Audi A4. Did lots of research on this forum and pulled the trigger on this one. The TL was essentially a one owner car (took over from the original owner friend after a few months due to financial difficulties) and she's been meticulously cared for (full service records, etc.). Love the car!

However, I recently moved to CO and after reading a lot of posts about snow tires, decided I'd rather be safe and purchase some snow tires on a budget on craigslist.
Driving habits: I drive less than 5 miles to work every day, and if I went skiing I would probably catch a ride with my friends who have 4x4 or all-wheel-drive SUVs. So mainly looking for something to commute.

I came across 2 options:

Purchasing snow tires that are on a Nissan Sentra SE-R : I've read on a thread that someone put these on a TL, so I'm guessing they fit (over the brembo calipers), but would like to make sure.

Other option is to buy snow tires and find used TL rims to put them on- I came across these tires.

Any recommendation on which route I should go? Function over form for me right now.

I have come across used tires that look like they would fit on TL rims, but a lot of them are studded.

Thanks!

srg818

I've used the Michelin X-Ice series in light, compacted and deep snow and while they were awesome on dry roads with good handling, little road noise and great gas mileage, they left me wanting more in the snow traction department. I went with General Altimax Arctic snow tires and it was like night and day, worth every penny spent.

Ahnst

That kinda sounds ideal to my situation - just want a little more in snow traction than my all season tires. snowy/icy roads aren't as bad as one would think for Northern Colorado, so just want something better than what I have. But if I do find some Arctic snow tires in my area, i'll be sure to check them out!

Jackass

Be aware that your TL with proper snow tires will possibly be better off than a 4x4 with non-snow tires in everything other than acceleration?

Ahnst

Hey! Saw lots of your posts while researching snow tires so I definitely have you pegged as the expert. Yeah, reading all the threads it seems any car w/ snow tire trumps any car with all wheel drive. I guess I can drive if need be, but to be honest I'm not a big fan of driving to the mountains in traffic. Plus their cars can hold more gear (since the TL's don't have seats that fold down).

This will actually be the first time i'm ever getting snow tires, so it will be great to see what that is like. I definitely will still drive conservatively, just like when I lived in Boston and Ann Arbor.

Ahnst

I mean any car with all season tires. not sure how to edit posts in this forum

Jackass

Expert...ha! I know enough in theory maybe...I have only owned snow tires for one season myself. Plenty of others on here that have waaaaaaaaaaaaay more hands on experience.
The fact that you came out of the East Coast tells me you are already exposed to the fun of winter driving...although CO may be a tad different since they may have actual snow packed roads more often. Slow and steady is generally always the best advice. The KC area didn't get much snow last year so I didn't have as much time to compare my '05 MT with snow tires to my wife's '15 Terrain AWD with all-season tires much. I can tell you for sure, her car will leave me way behind on acceleration when there is any snow around. I did not get to do any real good comparisons back to back between the two cars the couple of times it did snow. All I know is that I had absolutely no issues getting my car back up my steep driveway in the snow like I had in previous years.