Short term winter tyres for company car

Jimi.K.

Hi Guys,

I’m taking my company car on a road trip over Christmas, taking the Eurotunnel and driving down to Switzerland to see family then taking the scenic route back through Germany and Belgium.

Its just dawned on me I’m going to need winter tyres for this trip, both legally and for safety! I’ll be moving jobs in the new year so literally just need them for this 2 week trip, before putting the standard summer tyres back on and handing the car back.

Does anyone have tips on how to sort this the most cost effective way?

I’m thinking the best money-saving options are:

1) Get some part worn 205/50/17 winter tyres fitted to my existing rims. I’ve seen local places advertising these on gumtree for £30 each including fitting. Apparently £10 per corner is the going rate to get my summer tyres refitted when I get back and I might be able to resell the part-worn winter’s for £20 each?

2) Buy wheels and rims together. I’ve seen locals selling sets for £150-£200 on facebook marketplace. Am I right that most 5 nut wheels from European manufacturers would fit? There seem to be a few 205/60/16 sets around which have roughly the same diameter as my existing wheels. The advantage here is I can jack the car up and fit them myself, and if I relist the wheels when I get back in early January I can hopefully get most (if not all) my money back.

The car is a BMW 2-series coupe (F22) currently on runflats. Are either of the above options going to cause issues? Do I legally need to get the tyre pressure sensors transferred over to the new wheels?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks, Jimi

Car_54

I don't know the answers, but I'd suggest you'll also want a spare wheel and tyre, jack, etc. Is there room for all of that?

Jimi.K.

Annoyingly there's no spare wheel well on the 2-series, and we'll be pretty full with luggage, so I'm going to have to make do with a can of goo and a pump in case of emergency.

Herzlos

If you're getting rid of the car later I wouldn't waste time with wheels, just get part worn tyres (checking they are legal for your route).

Though I'd be inclined to just fly / hire a car, might work out cheaper than changing tyres.

BeenThroughItAll

Jimi.K. wrote: »

2) Buy wheels and rims together. I’ve seen locals selling sets for £150-£200 on facebook marketplace. Am I right that most 5 nut wheels from European manufacturers would fit? There seem to be a few 205/60/16 sets around which have roughly the same diameter as my existing wheels. The advantage here is I can jack the car up and fit them myself, and if I relist the wheels when I get back in early January I can hopefully get most (if not all) my money back.

Absolutely not. You need to make sure the PCD, offset, and centre bore are all compatible with your vehicle for the particular wheel and tyre size you fit. I wouldn't want to have to explain to an insurer why a set of random wheels from another car shouldn't be considered to have potentially contributed to an accident...

System

Jimi.K. wrote: »

1) Get some part worn 205/50/17 winter tyres fitted to my existing rims. I’ve seen local places advertising these on gumtree for £30 each including fitting. Apparently £10 per corner is the going rate to get my summer tyres refitted when I get back and I might be able to resell the part-worn winter’s for £20 each?

Forget it. They'll be not far off 3mm which is about where you want to be changing them if you want them to work a toss in snow.

Iceweasel

Unless you are going to Austria there is no legal requirement to fit Winter tyres.

I agree on safety grounds if there are low temps and actually snow on the ground - but in your special case of disposing of the car, I'd take a set of snow socks instead of fitting Winter tyres.

rsvtoddy

Have you asked your company if you are allowed to do this? Doing this with my company car (which is leased) would not be permitted and would have major insurance issues if I did it without notifying them.

Jimi.K.

Thanks for the replies everyone. My fleet manager's spoken to the lease company and they've said winter tyres aren't included in the company's package, and I need to source them myself.

I wouldn't get part worn tyres with less than 5mm tread as I know the effectiveness drops off as they wear, but I've seen a few genuine bmw wheels with winter tyres on ebay with 6-7mm left that I'm going to try and get. I've checked the specs and it appears the PCD, offset etc is the same on F20, F21 and F22 BMWs so they should fit with out any problems.