Trying to decide on tires for the wife's A4...

[Nitrousbird]

http://www.columbusracing.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=169&pictureid=1023

Stock 06 2.0T Quattro, no TPMS. I like the stock rims, but also like the S-line rims like what's on Jones's car.

 

235/45/17. Hers are worn out. Choices are:

 

- Decent set of all-season replacements.

 

- Snow tires on the stock rims, performance tires on some S-line rims.

 

Probably the biggest factor is what a set of used S-line rims would cost. Driving wise, she does about 20 minutes to work, mostly on Home Rd and 23. On really bad days, she has the option to drive my Avalanche, though I think she would still prefer to drive her Audi.

 

If going all seasons, any suggestions? I'd like a good bang for the buck tire, no junk. I've always had good experiences with Nitto tires, so I'd lean towards those a bit (Avalanche is riding on Nitto Terra Grapplers; I've ran 555's on the Formula before as well).

[TurboRust]

I went with eagle gt's on the mazda 6 and like them but jonesy said he hated them on his audi. Only nittos a/s there is going to be is the nitto neo-gen whish is newer and not exactly sure how well it does in rain/snow. we have yokohama as530 which is the same tread pattern as a yk520, h rated, but stiff and good reviews.

 

get to an ntb bewteen 7am and 9 am on saturday or sunday and you can get the yokos buy 2 get 2 with the purchase of alignement and road hazard.

for 4 tires, lifetime, balance and rotation, free flat repairs for like and prorated road hazard, 6mon/6k alignment youd be right about 575 with tax.

[Mr. Jones]

Joe, has she entertained RS4 Reps ?

They are about the most popular thing to put on the B7:

 

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/8048/img0199eq0.jpg

 

Slap some Pilot Sport PS2's on those and have an awesome summer set, also the new Dunlop Direzza Star Specs are amazing summer tires, although I'm not sure she would drive aggresively enough to fully appreciate either of them. The PS2 is also fantastic in the rain as well.

 

 

If you decide to go A/S The Pilot Sports A/S can't be beat. I put them on the S8 and they are truly an amazing all around tire. Rides wonderful, wears well and doesn't immediately let on that it is a "all season" until pushed.

 

For snows, I have used both the Blizzak LM25's and the Dunlop Wintersport 3D. You can't go wrong with either, but I'm leaning towards the Dunlop for wear & slush evacuation so far.

 

The Eagle GT's I got were tragically bad tires. The Road Force machine said they were pretty much garbage. Not evening breaking and res-seating them 4 times each would make them ride right. You might have better luck, but I'm burnt out for life on Goodyear, this is the 2nd time I have been burnt, and never again!

[TURBOED]

Joe, has she entertained RS4 Reps ?

Slap some Pilot Sport PS2's on those and have an awesome summer set, also the new Dunlop Direzza Star Specs are amazing summer tires, although I'm not sure she would drive aggresively enough to fully appreciate either of them. The PS2 is also fantastic in the rain as well.

 

If you decide to go A/S The Pilot Sports A/S can't be beat. I put them on the S8 and they are truly an amazing all around tire. Rides wonderful, wears well and doesn't immediately let on that it is a "all season" until pushed.

x2 for the Direzza Star Spec. It is the tire to have on the heavy cars in street tire classes (autox). I also definitely recommend the new Bridgestone RE-11's. It's what I run on the miata, and I've heard they work equally as well on heavier cars. More grip than basically any street tire out there. You can't go wrong with either of those choices.

[Aaron]

Obviously buying winter tires, summer wheels and tires will be about 3x more expensive than just buying all seasons.

 

If she is content with the stockers, any quality tire will be fine.

 

Me however, I will be doing stock with winters, and lightweight wheel/performance tire in the summer when my stock contis wear out. I would go for the VMR RS4 reps in 19" and some coilovers.

[Crossle]

I would check out continental, they seem to hold up pretty well on Audi's. We have a guy that comes to the shop that has like 10 Porsches and audi's and he only uses Continental. I would definitly hop on tirerack and read some reviews after you put some car information in. It's all about research, all cars respond to tires differently.

[zeitgeist57]

I went with eagle gt's on the mazda 6 and like them but jonesy said he hated them on his audi. Only nittos a/s there is going to be is the nitto neo-gen whish is newer and not exactly sure how well it does in rain/snow. we have yokohama as530 which is the same tread pattern as a yk520, h rated, but stiff and good reviews.

 

get to an ntb bewteen 7am and 9 am on saturday or sunday and you can get the yokos buy 2 get 2 with the purchase of alignement and road hazard.

for 4 tires, lifetime, balance and rotation, free flat repairs for like and prorated road hazard, 6mon/6k alignment youd be right about 575 with tax.

 

That's a damn good deal for 4 tires. What would the price be for a 2000 Passat GLX with upgraded 18" wheels?

 

I had Fuzion ZRi's on my wife's B5 Passat...off-brand I know, but stuck like glue in FL, rode well...unfortunately they wore out in 3 years and about 25k miles. Granted, most of that was 80-90+mph on Florida highways. Plus, they absolutely suck in the snow.

[TurboRust]

I would check out continental, they seem to hold up pretty well on Audi's. We have a guy that comes to the shop that has like 10 Porsches and audi's and he only uses Continental. I would definitly hop on tirerack and read some reviews after you put some car information in. It's all about research, all cars respond to tires differently.

 

I feel the exact opposite, you couldnt pay me to put a continental on my car. The fun part is, we're a authorized dealer where other people just put em on and send the customer away, I get to deal with all the warranty and adjustment tires. their sidewalls are paper thin, causing impact breaks like its their job, traction is good for the 15k before the treads gone or the tire has separated. vibration issues...NO THANKS

[Mr. Jones]

I feel the exact opposite, you couldnt pay me to put a continental on my car. The fun part is, we're a authorized dealer where other people just put em on and send the customer away, I get to deal with all the warranty and adjustment tires. their sidewalls are paper thin, causing impact breaks like its their job, traction is good for the 15k before the treads gone or the tire has separated. vibration issues...NO THANKS

 

I actually agree with you here.

 

Conti's suck. Sidewalls are notoriously weak, especially on 2 ton cars. They have gotten better in the past generation or two, but still the problem is there. They don't do anything exceptionally well to be worth the possible problems & cost. I will say the ContiExtreme doubles as a damn good snow tire.

[Nitrousbird]

How are the Dunlop Sport SP A/S tires? I think she is just going to want to go all season to spend less $$ now that I spoke to her more about it.

[TurboRust]

i dont care for dunlops,, we see that specific tire on higher performance lexus vehicles and 20-25k is about it.

[6 Speed S4]

I've always ran Yokohama on my Audi's and got great tread life and traction in snow and summer.

[Crossle]

I feel the exact opposite, you couldnt pay me to put a continental on my car. The fun part is, we're a authorized dealer where other people just put em on and send the customer away, I get to deal with all the warranty and adjustment tires. their sidewalls are paper thin, causing impact breaks like its their job, traction is good for the 15k before the treads gone or the tire has separated. vibration issues...NO THANKS

 

Oh we stand behind what we put on cars, if people really do not like what we recommend we take care of it since we are not an authorized dealer through tirerack....I was making the statement that we have a guy that really likes them has them on his Cayman, S4, Quattro Coupe, several 944's etc...

 

On that same note since most VW's and Audi's come with conti's from the factory anyway we had a couple stop by with a pair of 07 2.0T Passat's and had us put the same conti's that came on the car from the factory on both cars.

 

Would we recommend them and put them on a car no probably not, then again that is because of what you stated. We have put Kumho Solus's on numerous A4's with great results and well as the Yokohama Avid line.

 

I just put the V4S's on Ericas car and am already super pleased with them, I would NOT recommend the Yokohama S Drives.

[carl1647545492]

I keep coming back to Michelin Pilot AS for my daily,put some on 2 years ago and they handle great,even snow does not phase them,the only real downside is they are a bit pricey.

[Mr. Jones]

I keep coming back to Michelin Pilot AS for my daily,put some on 2 years ago and they handle great,even snow does not phase them,the only real downside is they are a bit pricey.

 

Good Man.

 

 

You get what you pay for, like anything else. Joe, go grab some Pilot Sport A/S. You won't regret it!

[TTQ B4U]

What are folks thoughts on replacing Bridgestone Potenza RE050A? I had them on my GXP and now my MS3, but they don't last for anything thanks to their soft compound and I'm tired of paying through the nose for two every 12 months.

 

I'm looking at the Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S-C based on what I've heard from the MS3 crowd.

[silverhatch]

We have always been fans of Nitto as well. We are running the 555's on the Audi now. They did good in the winter and we live in BFE where they don't plow.

[Tshensley]

Get the Bridgestone Turanza w/ serentity's on it.

[Nitrousbird]

Back to this tire thing again.

 

Somehow she has gotten away with not replacing the tires yet, but I want to get it done very soon. She has decided on All-Season, since she was able to get around okay even on her worn set of tires in some light snow.

 

Car is sporting the stock Goodyear Eagle LS2 tires...considered another set because I could take the spare and use it as one tire, and just buy 3...saving the best of the current tires as the spare.

 

I keep reading rave reviews (especially from Audi owners) of the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. Has a high tread rating, and people are saying it is doing great in the snow. Price is quite right too (I can get 4 of those for the same price as 3 LS2's). Some soft sidewall complaints, but mostly with folks with large sidewall sizes (SUV owners and such).

 

Anyone have any experience with these specific tires? The high reviews are hard to overlook.

[Aaron]

Back to this tire thing again.

 

Somehow she has gotten away with not replacing the tires yet, but I want to get it done very soon. She has decided on All-Season, since she was able to get around okay even on her worn set of tires in some light snow.

 

Car is sporting the stock Goodyear Eagle LS2 tires...considered another set because I could take the spare and use it as one tire, and just buy 3...saving the best of the current tires as the spare.

 

I keep reading rave reviews (especially from Audi owners) of the Continental ExtremeContact DWS. Has a high tread rating, and people are saying it is doing great in the snow. Price is quite right too (I can get 4 of those for the same price as 3 LS2's). Some soft sidewall complaints, but mostly with folks with large sidewall sizes (SUV owners and such).

 

Anyone have any experience with these specific tires? The high reviews are hard to overlook.

 

I personally HATED the Goodyear LS2's on my 06 A4........and I currently have continental A/S's on my GTI and they are about the same (not good) as the goodyears.

 

I like the dunlop SP Sport 01 A/S I had on my 06 GTI the best of the factory tires I have had my VAG cars.

 

 

The 3 goodyear idea is a good one to save money on a decent tire, but I feel they are VERY overpriced for their mega mediocre performance.

[Mr. Jones]

Joe,

 

The ExtremeContact is one of the best A/S in snow available. I'v heard nothing but rave reviews. They are a good choice IMO.

[TurboRust]

sidewalls on these contis are very very soft, and I remember jonesy being super anal about the load capacity on the tires... dont be surprised if you buy them and end up with a sidewall bubble after driving down 270 by easton.

 

If thats the tire you want gimme a call this week 630am-4pm and I'll see what I can do for you on them.

[CRed05]

I run Kumho Ecsta ASX all-seasons on my S4. They are good in snow and I've taken them to Trails and I've read of porsche people running them on a roadcourse.

 

Affordable, good in snow/wet/dry, I've had them on there for almost 2 years now of daily driving and they still have plenty of tread left. Probably good for another 2 years.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=ECSTA+ASX

 

RS4 reps look good on any audi. I do have a set of 18" Flik Justice wheels that I need to get rid of for hella cheap. They need to make a trip to wheel medic to straighten them and a refinishing wouldnt hurt.

[Mr. Jones]

I run Kumho Ecsta ASX all-seasons on my S4. They are good in snow and I've taken them to Trails and I've read of porsche people running them on a roadcourse.

 

Affordable, good in snow/wet/dry, I've had them on there for almost 2 years now of daily driving and they still have plenty of tread left. Probably good for another 2 years.

 

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Kumho&tireModel=ECSTA+ASX

 

RS4 reps look good on any audi. I do have a set of 18" Flik Justice wheels that I need to get rid of for hella cheap. They need to make a trip to wheel medic to straighten them and a refinishing wouldnt hurt.

 

 

 

WTF

 

My car came with ASX's and they were GARBAGE. No wet grip,suck balls in snow and in the dry, were laughable. Seriously, run dedicated tires for one season and the difference..

[Draco-REX]

Dedicated tires. Costs more, but having true snow tires in the winter is safer. Not only will snow tires reduce your worry when she's driving in bad weather, but if her Audi is a Quattro, nothing short of a foot of snow will stop her so you won't have to juggle the Avalanche.