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Winter tyres

I'm looking to fit winter tyres on my BMW 3 Series Touring. It's had 225/45R17s run flats from new. Kwik-Fit do a Goodyear Eagle UltraGrip GW3 runflat in that size. My local BMW garage, however, are suggesting a DunlopSP Winter Sport M3 runflat in 205/55R16.
From what I can tell the Goodyear seems to be the better tyre (a number of comments about the Dunlop wearing very quickly) but the BMW option proposes a smaller diameter (16 not 17). What would be best for winter a "lesser" tyre on a 16" or the "better" tyre on the same size/profile as the car was origally designed for? The cost difference between the two isn't significant.
Any comments/advice much appreciated.

Asked on 7 November 2011 by forest59

Answered by Honest John
In a recent Auto Bild winter tyre test, Dunlop SP Wintersport 4d came first, Goodyear Ultra Grip Performance 2 came second and Pirelli Sottozero Series 2 came third. In the Auto Express Winter Tyre Test ,Continental WinterContact TS 830P came first, Goodyear Ultra Grip Performance 2 came second and Dunlop SP Wintersport 4d came third. But UK stocks of many winter tyres were exhausted by last November, so you may have to take what you can get. I think it's best to fit them to a separate set of steel wheels because it is then easier to swap them over. I think the BMW deal is £700 for a set of winters on steel wheels with wheeltrims. That's a good deal. 16s will work better than 17s in winter.
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