Snow Tires Prices (and you thought it had died..)

[SOP8920@Siena.edu]

Hey all,
    I finally got around to pricing some snow tires and wanted to run it by you
to see what you think. My local Nokkia distributor/dealer has the Hep 10s for
both the A6 and the Golf. The A6 price: $110/each including studs.. mounted and
balanced [195/?/15)
The Golf Price: $77.00 same deal [175/70/13]

They have another brand of tire.. can't recall which at the moment, that he
claims was designed and tested for the Japanese market (non-studs) that are
exceptional snows. He says that since they aren't brand-name, like Michelin,
the price is reasonable. $76.00 (for the A6)

Do you feel that these prices are reasonable? Does anybody know of a cheaper
place to get them. He had a strong point, that service reputation stands for a
great deal and a few buck either way is insignificant. However, the cars are
usually about 180 miles away from this dealer but he has franchise dealers
within 100 miles of home base. 

The man seemed VERY knowledgable and with a exceptional demeanor. I'm usually
extremely weary of salespeople of any sort, and this guy cut through the usual
huffy saleperson BS. He almost sounded like he owned the place and had a vested
interest in his clientel. Maybe he did.. 

Thirdly, and this is the part that I REALLY wondered about. This guy claimed
that there aren't any steel wheels for the A6. He just outfitted a customer
with the same package that I was inquiring about. He had to get wheels from
Audi.. and they were very difficult to locate. Apparently, there aren't many in
the country. Price for the wheels was $70/each.

Steels for the VW are easy to find.. no problems there. Well folks.. whatcha
think?  My personal inclination is to go with the no-name brand snows for the
A6 and get the Hep 10s for the VW. The Quattro in the A6 should perform
admirably with decent quality snows, even if they aren't nokkias, and the Golf
REALLY needs amazing snows.
                               -Osman Parvez
                                89 200q (148K miles)
                                Siena College
                                Albany NY