Replacement Wheels and Winter Tyres

jerkmoans

jerkmoans

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Right. Plenty of ideas for the next cheeky ski trip, and cemented my view that a set of winters are a must. In London will probably look to fit them say end November and lose them in March...

Now I just need to keep scanning eBay for a set of 18 inch alloys to put them on.
 
jerkmoans

jerkmoans

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TridentTested said:
What's lovely about Contamines is the typical clientele there is the unadventurous family type. In Cham whenever there is fresh snow unless you are in the first bin up you haven't a chance of putting down fresh tracks. Even if you get the first bin you often find the pisteurs have taken all the best lines.

In Contamines you can have all the lovely fresh stuff to yourself.
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Heh. In Cervinia last Feb my son (12) and I were up at 7, first down to breakfast and on (literally) the first chair up four days running, to get a good hour and half in before ski school commenced. Happy times :)
 
Andyk

Andyk

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They will work.....I do like these original 3200 wheel.... but you have 19's on at the moment so the 18's may look a bit small...Not sure...Tyres need a change by bthe sound of things and all 4 need a refurb.......That will take them well over £1000....
 
drewf

drewf

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TridentTested said:
Had this happen to me once, coincidently on the way to Les Gets. It really p'ed off the driver of the car I was in because he had just shelled out on new winter rubber on each corner but the boys-in-blue were having none of it. We had to get down on our hands and knees in six inches of fresh snow, in the dark, and skin our knuckles for them.

But it has only happened the once and I've been visiting those parts since 1979.

Winter tyres are amazing. I've taken great pleasure driving my battered old 2WD Peugeot 205 up the steep hill from Montroc to Le Tour (on winter tyres) passing stranded Touregs with all four wheels spinning.
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Absolutely! Have only once been forced to fit chains by the French police, and that was leaving Val Thorens in a Range Rover fitted with brand new snow tyres. Wasn't a happy bunny, as it became clear that all French cars were being allowed to continue, whilst cars with other registrations, and particularly British plates were being pulled over for the chains to go on. I was fuming, as I could see there was only 200m of snow covered road left, and it meant fitting a brand-new set of unopened chains, only to have to remove them after 400m when the road was clear wet tarmac.


TridentTested said:
What's lovely about Contamines is the typical clientele there is the unadventurous family type. In Cham whenever there is fresh snow unless you are in the first bin up you haven't a chance of putting down fresh tracks. Even if you get the first bin you often find the pisteurs have taken all the best lines.

In Contamines you can have all the lovely fresh stuff to yourself.
Click to expand...

Yep - I've had enough of the yobbish behaviour you frequently see elsewhere. Shame herself pinged her ACL at Contamines on the penultimate day of the season before last. It's taken the shine off the place for her.
 
jerkmoans

jerkmoans

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366
Andyk said:
They will work.....I do like these original 3200 wheel.... but you have 19's on at the moment so the 18's may look a bit small...Not sure...Tyres need a change by bthe sound of things and all 4 need a refurb.......That will take them well over £1000....
Click to expand...

Received wisdom above seemed to suggest that 18 inch rims would allow a larger profile tyre to fill the space, giving more flexibility in choosing a set of winters. As they're to be used in slush and ice I'm not too fussed about condition: if the defects are merely cosmetic (as opposed to affecting performance of the alloys) they'll do for a couple of years.

As the Mas is my only car now I need to be able to use it all year round. After the last 2/3 years it seems sensible to expect a few spells of icy weather, and after the endorsements above I'm sold on the winter tyre concept. Am also going to get a set fitted to my wife's XC90.

Bill McGrath not v far away so may pootle over to take a look...
 
TridentTested

TridentTested

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You can't go wrong buying from Bill McGrath. It might be worth asking if they'll store them for you too. They aren't far away from sunny Barnet. You will be shocked at how much of your valuable garage space a set of tyres take up.

Now down to tyres: I put Nokian GR W2s (225/55/17s) on my last car, Citroën C6. Nokian is a Finnish company which knows a thing or too about snow, they have been around for years you might have heard of them, one of their subsidiaries started making some mobile phones. The tyres were amazing and whether it was fresh snow, compacted snow, sheet ice, melting slush or a combination thereof they just took it in their stride and the car felt as planted as using ordinary tyres on a rainy day.

I see the GR W2 has been superseded with this http://www.nokiantyres.com/tyre?id=21399126&group=1.01&name=Nokian WR A3

I bought them from mytyres.co.uk

You could order them from mytyres.co.uk and have them delivered to McGraths for mounting and balancing. You should also check McGrath's price. I bought my QP's P-Zeros from them because they matched mytyres.co.uk price for me.
 
Ewan

Ewan

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I have a spare set of 4 wheels from a 3200 GT. They are the standard Maserati 18 inch jobs, recently refurbished, and shod with Dunlop Sport tyres. All with the original Maserati centre caps.

My plan was to put winter tyres on them and use them on my Ghibli Cup. But because of the condition and rarity of that particular car I've decided that I won't use it over winter, so I don't needs these wheels/tyres any more.

Send me a message or call my office on 01258 861059 if you're interested.
 
jerkmoans

jerkmoans

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366
TridentTested said:
You can't go wrong buying from Bill McGrath. It might be worth asking if they'll store them for you too. They aren't far away from sunny Barnet. You will be shocked at how much of your valuable garage space a set of tyres take up.

Now down to tyres: I put Nokian GR W2s (225/55/17s) on my last car, Citroën C6. Nokian is a Finnish company which knows a thing or too about snow, they have been around for years you might have heard of them, one of their subsidiaries started making some mobile phones. The tyres were amazing and whether it was fresh snow, compacted snow, sheet ice, melting slush or a combination thereof they just took it in their stride and the car felt as planted as using ordinary tyres on a rainy day.

I see the GR W2 has been superseded with this http://www.nokiantyres.com/tyre?id=21399126&group=1.01&name=Nokian WR A3

I bought them from mytyres.co.uk

You could order them from mytyres.co.uk and have them delivered to McGraths for mounting and balancing. You should also check McGrath's price. I bought my QP's P-Zeros from them because they matched mytyres.co.uk price for me.
Click to expand...

That is a treatise on the subject, Michael, and mega-helpful. Thank you.
 
jerkmoans

jerkmoans

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366
Well I've now done the deal with the helpful chaps at Bill McGrath to purchase those wheels... Now I need to figure all the rest of it out!

Thanks all for help. Next up: working out what size winter tyres I need for my new, albeit battered, 18 inch rims...
 
Ewan

Ewan

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If it's not too impolite to ask, what did you pay for the set of four? (It will give me an idea of what to expect to get for my identical, but restored, set). Send me a private message if you prefer.
 
jerkmoans

jerkmoans

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Not impolite at all! Were listed at £549.95, I made several offers and finally bagged 'em for £501.

The £1 made all the difference!
 
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