Best Tires for Volkswagen Golf

Have Haka R2's on my TDI and they are hands down the best winter tires I've driven, noticeably better than Michelin X-Ice XI3's on my wife's Golf7.

I have the R2 and actually just had to use them while my Prets were in the shop.

As far as driving on dry pavement goes, the R2s are great--very quiet, good economy (I lost maybe 1mpg?). Main drawback is that they are very soft and race mode with R2s feels like comfort mode with stock all-seasons.

Can go wrong with Nokians, in my opinion. I've had several sets on Saabs, my JSW, Touareg, and currently run studded Hakkepellitas on the wife's fwd GSW 5 speed. I ran General artic studdless on my GSW 4 motion 6 speed last winter and was pleased with the performance of those as well.

I can add that I have Continental (Dealer supplied) 195 -65 - 15 on steelies on my 16 GSW. Using the electronic systems in the car, with 4 tall and narrow, winter tires, gives confident snow traction. Fuel mileage is not adversely affected and the noise level has not increased.

yes really, quiet, grips just fine for a daily driver golf, and cheap ($224 for the set) I spent more money on my first set of tires, and realized i didn't need them. These fit my need perfectly.

I just put PS4's on to replace my stock Continentals and I love them. I've gone towards a few other brand choices with some previous cars and always hated myself for not getting Michelins. The PS4's are so quiet I can actually hear my brake pads now and I couldn't before due to the rolling road noise from the Continentals.

I have about 2k miles on some PS4s. Most of that is windy backroads. There is no comparison with the stock Contis. These things grip with no drama, ride smoother and quieter. They grip so well, that the body of the car leans on turns when it felt flat on the Contis.

I drove to Mammoth from San Francisco last weekend during a snow storm and wanted to report on my Continental DWS06's performance. tl;dr the Golf R Chuck Norris'ed the mountain passes during the snowiest January ever recorded for Mammoth. On parts where the ground was white with snow and salt, my R was glued to the road at 30-35 mph. I drove through several inches of fresh powder to get out my cabin. No problems there. Of course, the plow pushed a mound of snow up to my rear mirror that I shoveled out before backing out of my spot, but that's besides the point. My R dominated a steep hill leading to the resort lodge in 1st and 2nd gear. My sister's front wheel drive with cable chains could not manage the hill and had to turn out halfway up. After shuttling the passengers in my sister's car to the lodge, I noticed two other FWD chained cars were stuck on the hill and blocked passage up to the resort. The only difficulty I faced was convincing chain control that I didn't need chains. He didn't believe my car was AWD with M+S tires that can handle the snow. So after 5 minutes of debate, he relented and asked me to do a traction test where I accelerated rapidly to break the tires loose and immediately brake. He wanted to ensure the car could gain traction right away. Passed with flying colors and he waved me through. I hope I don't have to convince every chain control officer that the R is at home in the snow. The DWS06s deserve a look for anyone who isn't driving in snow full-time. Every time I passed a car putting on chains, I felt the R and DWS06 premium was worth every penny spent. btw, when the chain control guy wanted me to put on chains, he said the snow socks weren't going to cut it. Seeing how well my R did, I'm going to return my ISSE snowsocks.

Thursday was not a good day for one of my Pirelli Winter Sottozero 3 tires. On the way to work a pothole got my front right side tire...When I got home I notice a nick in the rim, but not the damage to the tire...Called Tirerack, since I have the road hazard coverage and filed a claim.

VW used the Hankook Optimo tires in Canada as the OEM tire on our Golf Sportwagen. One of the worst performing tire I've ever owned.