The Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme receives its clearest owner praise for snow traction, with dry grip, low noise and comfort also generally favoured. Wet grip is more often praised than criticised, but a meaningful minority report poor traction in rain, including one repeat owner whose concern persists across two end-of-life accounts. Some later-life reports support useful tread life, although 53 of 60 reviews lack a stage of use, limiting a general lifespan claim. The 60 reviews come from 54 owners, and repeat contributors do not show one shared ageing pattern. A lone end-of-life report of increasing noise does not establish a recurring change with wear.
What owners mention most counted across 58 reviews
Perfect tyres!! I have used and I'm using them through the Alps during this winter. In the first 1000/2000 miles the fuel consumption is a bit higher than normal, but then it stabilizes. Great comfort and very quiet. The traction on snow and ice is perfect. It seems you are driving during the summer. Best snow tyres I have ever bought!!
Check out how the BEST all seasons tyres perform against premium summer and winter tyres!
Very good/enough grip for a normal drive style on wet and dry roads. Many tests say that they are not champions in the rain, but I have to say, that I don't have had any problem with aquaplaning or in heavy rain. I'm very satisfied. In the snow they are plenty of grip and traction. Wher other people were mounting snow chains, my Z4 was still running without difficulties. Starting in the snow is not a problem too. Very good product, quiet and comfortable on bumpy roads. Strongly recommended. (sorry for my english :-)
Which tyres do you drive?
Researching the Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme? Rate the tyres you actually drive - and help the next buyer choose.
I have these fitted to my RS4, and I get so much driver confidence from these tyres which is vital for a car with so much performance. They just assist the 4WD to grip beyond expectations even when the roads are a bit icy you get confidence and grip with a great progressive feel.
I fully recommend these tyres for winter months as they are comfortable, wear is good and fairly quiet so they are easy to live with. (I can't comment on MPG as I only get 19-26 MPG anyway...)
Bad bits:
They could do with being a bit more precise on steering, but I've overlook this as the benefits outweigh the negatives.
Verdict:
What can I say, these tyres are amazing in the snow/ice and when the weather gets cold. I'd even consider leaving them on all year round, if I didn't already have a set of summer tyres as they suit 95% of my driving all year.
Wow - honestly these tyres are absolutely stunning!! I bought a spare set of 18" alloys (proper Audi ones) to mount Winter tyres as I run Summer tyres on the 19" that were fitted when I bought the car from new, in order that I can easily swap to Winter rubber and back without having to go to a fitting centre.
I cannot say I particularly experienced a poor run-in period but, if you know about these things, 100 miles takes no time at all to eat up so tyres should never be downgraded just for that. After being sceptical of the virtues of Winter vs Summer I was encouraged to try after reading so many independent articles that they do work. Well do they?!! If you're reading this, just buy them. Magnificent in snow and ice. I kid you not I was driving past and overtaking cars that were all over the place as if mine was on rails! To me Audi's can be a handful in Winter conditions but with these bad boys I haven't looked back. I am totally converted and, if cash continues to allow me the choice of switching between the 2 sets whatever car I have, I absolutely will - blown away by these Vreds. Just one word of warning, it hasn't happened to me but they are so good, you could get carried away and forget about the snow etc and even drive these beyond their limits.
Superb tyres. The grip is so good my car thought it had a puncture. Once bedded in 100miles or so, the tyres improved my fuel economy over the dunlop st30 on from new. Now 10, 000 miles later they're still looking good and gripping well. During the recent snow and ice I never had a single slide. Absolute confidence in all conditions. I know these are a winter tyre, I hhave no second thoughts about taking them off for summer, they are staying on all year. Looking at the amount of tread on them now, I am expecting 20 to25k from them. The only problem I have is they are hard to get hold of. Well worth hunting down.
Replaced summer pirelli zero rosso with these after getting sick of going nowhere in the snow. They are a revelation. I have to say I didn't really notice this first 100miles "running in" thing that others have noted, maybe got lucky. Drove around a snowy/icy Kent and the hills in Derbyshire with 6 inches of snow and it handled as if in the dry, when I couldn't even get out of the drive previously. Great in the wet, no aquaplaning to speak of, got me to Austria and back with not even a thought of needing chains and with better fuel economy. Just have to be careful not to get carried away because you often forget how bad conditions are with these things. Seems to cope fine in the dry and in 15c we had recently..so far, so good. Wear is phenomenal, can barely register a measurement after 4,000 miles, still close on the full 8 mm (and this after a spirited run on the autobahns). Am seriously considering leaving them on in the summer to see how they cope. Having to choose between a summer tyre that's crap in winter over a winter that's not so great in summer, it's a no brainer this climate. March and its snowing again, bring it on!
First 100+ miles or so is quite scary. They have next to no grip, and are lethal in damp conditions. They feel completely detached from the road surface, like driving on a bars of soap. When the dealer warns you about this, take them seriously. It was very easy to loose traction even in a 4motion and literally slide on corners at anything over 30mph.
Once run in, then the sealing agent wears off and they start to perform. The grip is consistent, and the tyres are very progressive even in greasy conditions. When really pushed they don't break away liek the nokians, but rather "judder" in a controlled manner as they repeatedly lose and gain grip around a tight corner.
Turn-in is however severely delayed. I think the side wall is alot softer than expected. The grip is there but the lag is very noticeable and takes alot of getting used to. The car just doesn't feel like you've started the turn and then it bites, and until you are used to it, you end up turning too much then backing off, not great at higher speeds. Also I found gentle curves at Autobahn speeds are also a little unsettling, with the car feeling quite detached and "floaty".
In the wet they are confident performers, clearing standing water quite well and with good braking. Not the best aquaplaning resistance i've experienced in a straight line, but they do not "pull" when one tyre hits a deep standing water.
It's winter properties are very good, with almost no loss of traction unless pushed. Handles snow and icying roads, with esp lighting up the dash only when I am heavy on the throttle. Once the sipes open up the tyres feel very attached to the road surface, (I doubt very much if they would work at all in wet snow in the first 100 miles or so....) Slush, like standing water does not appear to clear as fast as the Nokians I had before, but then again at such a wide profile I am very impressed.
All in all I would buy them again. Just gotta remember to be patient after fitting! They came recommend for heavier cars and SUV's, offer great winter/wet weather performance while maintaining a wide profile and higher speed rating. Good choice for UK milder winter, with lots of rain, and random snow/sleet, and have stood up well to Welsh, Scottish and German winter road conditions without issues. Time will tell if the wear rate is as good as claimed.
This is its second winter. Just came back from ski trip in Italy and it's performed without fuss in the mountain snow and on 90mph French motorway in both dry and heavy rain. Looks hardly worn with plenty of thread left. Family commented it was very quiet and comfortable for the long journey even though I can tell it's a bit noisier on certain roads compared with the best summer tyres. Needless to say my car will go nowhere without these tyres in the recent 2013 UK snowfalls esp given our roads are untreated. It's no problem to go over 4 inches of snow. It's not at its best when it's just wet and oily and does slip a bit if you push it but always controllable. If you're wondering, I run only non-RFT on my car! Recommended yes. For some reason it's never picked for any reviews/tests so I can't really tell you how it compares.
These are my Yeti 170tdi 4x4's winter tyres & wheels. It's the first 4x4 I've had & the first car I've run on winters too, so I haven't really had anything like-for-like to compare them with before. However, these tyres really are excellent. Snow grip is amazing, they grip extremely well in the wet & clear standing water better than any other tyre I've ever experienced too. Dry grip is also very good, but to be honest I only ever buy premium tyres & can't say I've ever experienced tyres that were poor in the dry. They even grip well on untreated ice & frost at least as far as the laws of physics will allow! They certainly allow me to use lanes that would definitely have been out of the question before. The Wintracs have a slight low frequency hum around 35mph, but that quickly disappears either side of that speed & even so they are quieter than the Dunlop SP01 summers that came with the car. The ride quality seems good, definitely smoother than the Dunlops, but that's probably a bit unfair as the Dunlops are 225/50/17s so have a smaller sidewall. I'm sure that's also why the Wintracs don't quite seem as sharp during turn-in, but the difference is only very slight. Wear seems really good, all the tyres have at least 7mm left & they've done about 8000 miles now, but the Dunlops are doing well too with less than 1/2 wear & about 10k on them so this could be down to the car as I've only ever had fast FWD cars before & never seen more than 15000 miles out of a front set. As an allround tyre especially for this time of the year, I can't recommend these highly enough. In fact a friend has just put these on his 330d BMW & he's really happy with them too, so they must be good! The Yeti's quick, but that's just torque-tastic!
Superb tyres in winter, I live in Scotland where summer is my favourite day of the year!!! weather here is that good these days,!!!! haha
With last few winters we have had, Cars dont get anywhere without either having 4x4 or winter tyres and the grip is excellent and very reassuring for a less confident driver in winter.You wont be disappointed!!! :)
