Has anyone had any experiences with respect of buying Winter Tyres in neighboring countries. Ie Swiss prices V German/ Austrian or French prices. I need to buy two 195 x 65 x 15, prices on line in Germany start at EU40.

I have experience with buying tires in Switzerland and Germany (Konstanz). As expected, the price level is generally lower in Germany, but IME prices vary wildly in both countries. Just make sure you call a few places on both sides of the border. A few calls can save you quite a bit.

Tire places often have a few preferred brands where they offer some good deals while they have totally inflated prices for other brands. Again, it's worth to call around.

In the past I found some excellent deals at Pneu Bauriedl in Aadorf. They've been taken over by Vianor though, so I'm not sure if they're still as good.

I had a quick look at reifendirekt.de and it seems that for EUR 40 you get just some obscure asian "brand" tires. I would stay away from these. Tires are one of the few products where it's worth to pay for high quality brand name products.

If you want to replace just two tires I recommend that you stick with the brand and type that you already have. A car can behave quite nasty in a critical situation when driving with mixed tires.

Have you checked this site?: http://www.reifendirekt.ch/

But getting them fitted can be "challenging"

Why? I ordered mine from that site and selected to have them delivered and fitted at a garage in nearby Birsfelden. The garage called me as soon as they arrived and booked me in for a fitting slot. I was charged something like CHF 15 a corner (very cheap considering they're not making a penny on the tyres) and it was all done there and then.

I'm with Castro on this one; you can even have them delivered to a fitting partner.

Just don't try to do it in busy season when they're working 15 hours a day changing tyres and wheels over.

And do be careful when you source your tyres. For "common" sizes, you can end up with all sorts - check the speed rating and also troll, sorry, research car forums on the internerd for what others might be using.

I saved 500 francs on my last summer refit by doing this. My trusty tyre guy kept plugging away at tyres I did not want - as I checked a specific tyre for noise, economy and wear and wanted that one. Others with my car were very happy over the OEMs which came with the car.

I bought some m/c tyres from them - and then phoned up the suggested closest fitter (Aesch) and they would have nothing to do with me !! They quoted 60 chf per wheel (off the bike) although the site promised 20 CHF