In March 2014 we purchased our first VW Touareg 3.0 V6 Diesel, we previously had a Mercedes ML and had some issues with the tyres. We wanted a four season tyre for our 275/45 R20 wheels but couldn't seem to find any for such large wheels.
We went onto the web to try and find an appropriate tyre, but just ended up more confused! I spoke to my local tyre fitting expert Jeff Fowkes Wheels Ltd in Ibstock Leicestershire and he suggested that I take a look at the Vredestein Wintrac Extreme.
I immediately expressed surprise as spring had sprung and summer was coming, I was told that they could be left on all year round and they would still perform well. I was a little sceptical but went ahead with the purchase and we have now enjoyed just over 26,000 on the same set of tires, they are not particularly noisy and we haven't had any issues with performance at all.
Apparently the front tyres have around another 3,000 miles or so left in them (6mm left on the rears and 5mm on the fronts) before we need to think about replacing them, we were advised to run them at around 40 psi rather than the 35 psi we were running them at to give a bit more support to the side walls, the front passenger side one has worn the outside edge away (apparently this is a Touareg thing) and we were advised to have the tracking checked and corrected which we did. It was also suggested that we should have rotated the tyres (front to rear) each twelve months to equalise the wear, which we didn't do, but will in future.
the Wintrac Extreme has now been replaced by the Wintrac S Extreme and we will be fitting another pair of these on the front in around three months time and will continue to run these "winter" tyres all year round. For those who are fortunate enough to have the space to store winter and summer wheels, the Vredestein Ultrac Vorti is an excellent summer tyre, good value and also lasts for a good few miles!
I hope that this helps people who are having the same dilemma as we did!
Michael