Hello Johnnyboy,
Thank you for your post as this is one of my favourite / specialist subjects
Your best bet, for a completely stress free and happy skiing holiday, is to bite the bullet and buy yourself four proper winter tyres. You have 20" wheels so there will be a decent choice of different brands and price points. Why do I recommend this? Well, many reasons: If you use your summer tyres and a pair of chains, socks or spikes then, whilst you will have a degree of traction from your rear wheels, you will have no steering grip from the front wheels! If your chains are just needed to get you out of the car park, chalet drive or tiny side road then maybe..... but with these things mounted you will be limited to not driving above about 15-20mph before the centrifugal force will throw them off. Meanwhile, when you look in your mirrors you will see a loooong line of frustrated alpine traffic, including the dreaded ski bus with the crazy driver, all stacked up behind you - with their winter tyres they woiuld normally be driving at around 40mph in snow.
If you mount winter tyres then I doubt you will ever need to fit your socks, chains or spikes. You will be unstoppable with your AWD. Fitting these things in freezing conditions, often while snow is falling on you and sometimes in the dark is horrible. I have done it many years back and it ain't my idea of a holiday while the others in your party sit inside a freezing car waiting for you or your young Son stands by your side asking questions about why it's taking so long. My lad even thought it was a good idea to actually video me so that my penance and failing poker face could be captured for future viewing as a laugh by the rest of my family and friends - Patience
You still need chains, socks or spikes as it's the law - but I have a set in my boot and they have never seen the light of day for the last ten years despite navigating through some heavy, deep snow as well as the lighter stuff.
So, in summary, if money is tight (you own a Jaguar, really) or you are tight (you own a Jaguar, really) then you could try and get away with the cheapest option which would probably be the socks or spikes. Maybe if you only plan to go ski-drive once then this might be worth taking a chance. Some years the skiing is good but you get a week or two when the snow doesn't fall from the sky in the resort. But if it does fall from the sky you will look like a right twot. For example, even if the roads are black, you will be using your car to ferry the family to the ski lifts and parking your car at the chairlift / cablecar - these car parks are not always properly cleared of snow and ice so your choice of parking in a busy area could be limited. It all makes for stress, whether the issue materialises or not, and for me that isn't what my holiday is about.
I once tried summer tyres and chains, just mounted on the front as it was FWD, many years back. Every time I got to a hairpin going down from the resort to the valley floor to join the autobahn, the back kicked out. Frightening.
I hope this helps. There are some other threads on winter tyres if you search on this term.
Best wishes and a happy holiday. We are off on 23 December to the Austrian Tyrol until 8 January. It's magical, you get their New Year firework celebrations and, on 1 January 2017, Austria is going 'smoke free' - at last! We will be able to sit in restaurants and actually enjoy our meals now. And, new for this year, I have a 'Top Gun' style ski helmet along with my favourite skis which are hanging in the garage! Can't wait! They're forecasting -16c on Xmas day.
Best wishes,
Arianne
PS. Winter tyres drive just like summer tyres, unless you push them at the extremes. They don't have studs (they only use them in deepest, darkest Scandanavia). They have a slightly softer compound so that they don't harden in cold temperatures and become more effective than summer tyres at 7c, which is the tipping point for performance even without snow. In snow, they use the hundreds or tiny cross-cuts in the tyre blocks (called sipes) to grip snow. Each sipe, on its own, doesn't provide much contribution to the grip but, together, they combine to provide almost magical levels of traction and steering control allowing you to drive at up to 40mph and stop safely. Once the tread is below 4mm they start to lose their magic and the sideways control is usually the first tell-tale sign as the sipes and blocks on the outside edges of the tyres are the first to wear out. I then just run these tyres into the summer at the end of their life. Your dealer will swap the tyres on your existing rims for about £12 a corner, using your existing tyre pressure monitoring valves. Never use Kwik Fit. Your dealer will be more careful with the TPMV and your alloys so that neither are damaged. I store my tyres on a rack, mounted on the wall in my garage. But my Son has his stacked vertically in the corner. They're tyres so don't believe all the hype about cosseting them in storage! They'll survive, mine always have! And remember that some winter tyres, depending upon which brand you choose, may have a lower speed rating than your summer tyres - so think about that before experiencing the thrill of 120mph on the unrestricted German autobahn and wondering why, this year, none of the Germans seem to be driving so fast behind you (they are all on winter rubber as, if they have an accident in the winter in Germany, there is an automatic presumption of liability if they still are running summer rims).
PPS. And if you do nothing else, buy yourself a plastic or aluminium snow shovel. They are lightweight but strong. Shove it in the boot as it will save you at some point. Or it will make you a hero with some other stranded driver - either in The Alps where they will be amazed that a Brit (we are notorious for being completely hopeless in winter snow conditions) has actually got properly prepared or in Britain (we rescued someone from the HardKnott Pass in TheLake District). About £30 should do it.