Morning all

After many years of yearning for a T5/T6, and reading many of the van related threads on here, we have finally bought a T6 Caravelle which suits our family needs perfectly.

Our previous family wagon was a Subaru Outback which could cope with quite impressive levels of snow and ice when shod with winter tyres.

So, I want to get a spare set of steel wheels / winter tyres for the Caravelle and swap them over at the onset of winter and back again in the spring. We live in Inverness so the temp is below 7 degrees for much of the winter months. Plus we’ll be wanting to head out into the hills in the van to enjoy the winter conditions.

Anyone used Mr Winter Wheels for wheels and tyres? Their steel wheels for T6’s “from German manufacturer Kronprinz and are produced exactly to OEM specification” are half the price of getting original VW equivalents via the local VW dealer.

Any thoughts?

Ta in advance.

Sorry no experience of Mr Winter tyres, but I used Mr Auto last year for winter tyres. With full winters, my T6 is awesome in the snow, but a word of warning, don’t go cheap, and get the correct load rating for your van, 103 upwards. Also most of the internet tyre providers are based on the continent, so come 1st Nov, prices will probably rocket.

Ive used them for winter tyres on wheels, they were delivered fine no issues, and no issues with the tyres/wheels for the three years I used them!

There used to be a guy in the UK who took stock vans from Germany and pimped them out, one of the by-products being ‘dull’ steel wheels pre-shod in winter tyres (being replaced with mahoosive alloys). I’ll see if he’s still around or there’s anything similar. The world is full of aftermarket wheels though so absolutely no reason why you wouldn’t buy third-party alloys instead of the manufacturer. In five years they’ll look like shit anyway.

Me – I used to have winters but couldn’t be arsed with the switch over. Because I have a 2 ton, 114 bhp T5.1, all-seasons specifically Vredestein Comtrac 2 All Season 109/107T M+S are viable for my ‘performance requirements’ (I don’t go for making progress). I haven’t driven them in snow because I just don’t leave the house but they are good in damp, cold and icy conditions, seem to wear well and I had no issues in our wet summer. Ref M+S you’ll probably know you should be looking for Three Peak Mountain Snow Flake (3PMSF) for which the Vredesteins are certified. However your requirement sounds like you’d justify something pretty hardcore.

Cheers all.

Bought some for T6 kombi last year from mytyres – no issues.

https://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/skw.pl?dsco=110&Cookie=sea_rd_uk_Google_Search_Brand&cart_id=lMYP283A0XrQM5Hk.110.837616703&s_p=Steel_wheels

Maybe give one of the van conversion specialists a call? They’ll often have a load of steel rims in stock as they will have been doing the reverse for their customers – i.e. swapping out steels from a base van for alloys.

I just run winters all year round on my T5. BF Goodrich activan winters.