Winter tires!

Radar RW-5+

So, for the first time in nearly 30 years of driving (and that includes 30 Manitoba winters), I've gotten winter tires for my car. I hadn't intended to do so, since I'd been contemplating selling the car and getting something different, but my hand was forced. One freezing cold night after playing hockey, I ended up with a flat tire on the GTI that couldn't be repaired (that was another first - I'd never had to change a flat before either!) and a decision loomed... replace one Continental from the car's original set (dating back to 2007!) or take the opportunity to replace all four tires with winters.

After pricing out new winter tires and steel wheels from VW ($1,150) and a new set of Goodyears (on "sale" at the local tire place, $1,100) I hit up the local free classifieds... I found a few used sets of winters but nothing compelling. Then I saw an ad from a discount tire shop promoting brand new winter tires, size 225/45R17, for $89.95 each (!) The inner Scotsman was intrigued...

Turns out these are the "Radar RW-5+" winter tire. If you aren't familiar with the brand (I wasn't), they are made by Omni United, a Singapore-based manufacturer. I couldn't find any online reviews of the tire (it was only launched in late 2015) but I figured any winter tires would be better than my 10-year-old Contis, and for only about $500 installed...!

So I headed out to the tire shop last week and they spooned a new set of rubber onto my VW's Denver 17" alloys. The old set of Contis went in the trash and the tire guy said "you musta been slidin' around pretty good!"

The difference in handling on the new tires was immediately noticeable, especially in acceleration from a stop. The new rubber grips really well on ice and through snow, and is quiet on the pavement as well. Now we're in a warmish spell and the tires haven't yet been severely tested, but I'm very pleased so far.

The only downside is that I've now been spoiled, and will have to have winter tires for every future car as well!