Anyone heard of Vitour tires?

For some reason there aren't many snow tire choices for my 996 (I run 17" rimes for winter). One option is the Vitour Ice Line but I've never heard of them.

Nope. Never heard of them.

Long shot here but I have a set of Continental winter tires mounted on really nice genuine Porsche 996 wheels (18x8 and 18x10) that I was just about to list in the local PCA magazine for $1200. Wheels and tires have less than 3000 miles on them and never saw snow.  They are in Connecticut though. 

I have heard of them, but can offer nothing constructive about their quality as I have no first hand experience with them (yet).  They recently started producing a RWL 215/50R13 for the American market and I am pretty interested in a set.

Sorta off topic, but mmmm RWL.

In reply to Woody :

I only need rears. More of a want really. I try to replace at half tread. 

What size do you need? I've found that plenty of 17" performance winter sizes are available in the Dunlop WIntersport line and Blzzak LM line.

255/40-17. Tirerack only has 1 option.

I was on the phone with Tire Rack yesterday. Their inventory of winter tires is low. They are awaiting a big shipment next week. I bought two Dunlop’s but they had to come from different warehouses. Try giving them a call as the website doesn’t always give you all the options. I thought I was SOL. 

Burrito said:

I have heard of them, but can offer nothing constructive about their quality as I have no first hand experience with them (yet).  They recently started producing a RWL 215/50R13 for the American market and I am pretty interested in a set.

 

Sorta off topic, but mmmm RWL.

 

Nothing says "I am a cheap ass, and my car is mainly bondo and window screen" than RWL tires that are not BFG.  (excluding the current fad of large tire stickers on tires that were never offered RWL)

Go to a car show some time and every car or truck  you see with "Widetracks" "Mastercraft", "Cooper Cobra" or other non-BFG Radial T/As or Mud Terrains mounted up laces out will be a hoopty.  Its advertising to the world that you could only afford the second (or third, or eighth) best tires.

In reply to 93gsxturbo :

You could say the same thing about Yokohama the 80s. 

markwemple said:

255/40-17. Tirerack only has 1 option.

Is there a reason you can't go to a same/similar-diameter option in a different/narrower tread width? e.g. 245/45-17 or something like that?

Are you running a square setup, or staggered 17s? What is your wheel width?

Other interesting point: Vitour is (of course) a Chinese company based in QIngdao, China. Nothing inherently wrong with that - though it's curious that their website uses a .za domain (South Aftrica).

Also curious: the Vitour website makes no mentiona whatsoever of a winter tire line...

http://vitourtires.co.za/shop/

The only place I see their Ice Line listed is in "Simpletire.com" site, and Simpletire appears to just be an office in Pennsylvania (probably a drop-shipper, not a distributore)

Interesting tread design..

In reply to irish44j :

225 17 up front and 255 17 rear. It's the stock set up for a 996. I have a 225 and 285 18 set up for summer tires

If this was a beater winter rat, I'd have no problem running them. Of course, I'd probably be running Nokias or Bridgestones anyway for traction. But, I haven't found any. I have been running Bridgestones.

I wouldn't hesitate to go down to a 245 to improve winter tire options. I have 275/40/17 on the back of my 996 but there seems to be basically no winter tire availability in that size, which makes sense. 

In reply to markwemple :

 If a 245 will fit on the rear wheels, I would just go with that. Narrower is better anyhow, and should give you more options.

If not, what's the problem with the Yoko Iceguard that TR has in your sizes? It seems to be positively rated in the TR reviews...

I may just do that.I've been using blizzaks for so long....

I have Vitour whitewall tires on my '64. I put maybe 3000 miles on them this summer, and the quality seems to be okay so far.

Original paint?

markwemple said:

Original paint?

The fenders have been repainted at some time in the past, but the main body looks like it's original.

Nope. Never heard of them. Is this a good brand of tires?