Jim:

I am looking to replace a set of Toyo Proxes4 on my '93 325is. Suspension is more or less stock (Bilstein Tourings, stock springs) and the car is a daily driver. The Toyos have less that 20K on them and drive like they are worn out; dry traction is still great, wet traction is so bad it's freightening, they are noisy, and they wander/tramline horribly (common with directional tires on 3ers, AFAIK.) I had these last winter in the snow and they were barely servicable.

I have decided that I don't need a performance-oriented UHP on this car but I do need something that will work okay in the snow and have excellent wet traction. Also, it cannot tramline! I am trying to decide between the ContiPro Contacts (in 205/55-16), the ContiExtreme Contact, or the Yokohama Avid V4s (both in 225/50-16). Wet traction is the highest priority, followed by tramlining resistance and snow performance. My guess is that ContiExtreme and ContiPros are going to give the best snow traction, and the ContiExtreme and Avid V4s are going to give the best wet traction/handling. I would suspect that the ContiPros will be the least prone to tramlining.

If there is any input that you could give me based on my requirments (1: Wet traction; 2: Tramline resistance; 3: Snow traction) I would appreciate it.

Thanks!
Tim