Best Tires for Volkswagen Golf

Another solid budget pick is the Firehawk Indy 500 (basically a baby Pilot Sport but cheaper). I ran them on my old Mk7 and they were awesome for daily + fun drives.

In my experience the best bang for your buck summer tire is the Riken Raptor. They're about $100 a pop and have great dry grip. Downside is that they're not amazing in very wet conditions.

Dunlop SportMaxx RT2

I paid about $65 per tire (225/40/18) + shipping and then had a local tire shop mount them. They have been great in all conditions (N. Carolina) during the 8,000mi they’ve been on.

second winter with my mk8 as well over on the east coast. the frequent issue I run into is my front assist being unavailable from snow / ice. Otherwise I find it very smooth in the winter, I almost prefer winter driving as opposed to spring-fall. my car drives better on my 17" winters than my 19" oem wheels.

I run Nokian Hakka RS5 on my GTI. Continental Viking contact 7 on our Golf wagon. Both are excellent.

The Blizzak 6 is closer to the Blizzak LM001 series. Better wet and dry handling, for performance cars vs SUVs and trucks going in deep snow.

$30k gets you a really nice Golf R. Co-worker just bought a 6-speed Mk7 and daily’s it here in southern AB on a set of Michelin X-Ice’s. Ive driven it a few times and would definitely have one over a newer WRX.

Michelin PA4s are better for dry, wet and a little ice. They are not so good in snow. I had them on my Golf R. Although I never got stuck, they don't inspire confidence in snow.

I've found conti are good until 50% worn then they're like train tracks

Burned through the edges of my front tires to the chords from the abuse and a steep learning curve with understeer. Since the AWD system is sensitive, I had to replace all four tires, not just the front two.