cashguzzler

Can anybody provide some good advice on selecting winter tires? Here are some thoughts to get started:

(1) Most of us in the northern half of country experience a little of everything during winter: deep snow, slush and sheer ice. It seems that you'd want different tire characteristics for each of these conditions.

(2) For snow, you want deep, open tread and a narrow footprint, right? But for ice you want a wider footprint and super-sticky, but not necessarily deep or open tread compound. And then there's dry highway driving - which everyone does a fair amount of during the winter.

(3) So, what to buy? Narrow, deep tread Nokians (just an example) that plow through snow but aren't spectacular on ice or dry surfaces or maybe a set of Arctic Alpins that perform on ice to the detriment of deep snow? This begs the question:

Are there any tires that do it all? And what size would be ideal for the A4?

Thanks,
Dave

dr.audios[the OG]

and I live in Colorado with weekend trips to the ski resorts.. They have preformed awesome in deep snow, slush, and ice.. No complaints here about them, though you may want to look into LM-22's by Blizzak, or Pilot Alpins by MIchelin as well, the latter I will be running this season..

Silver Streakin'

the wheels they were on, that is.

3 PA/NY winters, 2 winter driving schools and they rocked. tread wear was awesome, even with coilovers set low.

BigEd

Had Yokohama Guardex on my 93 740iL for several winters. Discounttiredirect.com rep convinced me to go with a narrower tire so that it could dig through snow. Frankly, I wish I didn't listen to him, because majority of my city winter driving was on dry roads with occasional patches of ice. And in those conditions my car wearing Yoko's felt like a boat.
So, for A4 I'm going with Nokian WR. From what I understand, it's a performance winter tire. Will see...

ex-quattro PETE

WR is awesome! Much better than Pilot Alpins, IMO.

ex-quattro PETE

Nokian WR is excellent on dry surfaces and very good in snow.

On the other hand something like Arctic Alpin is very good in snow, but suck donkey ***** in the dry, because the sidewalls are extremely soft.

As far as size, either 205/60/15 or 205/55/16 should do. I'm running 205/55/16 Pilot Alpins, but I will not buy them again. Nokian WR will be my next winter tire most likely. I bought a set for my g/f, and they're awesome. They're also OK to drive on when the temps get high and have a high treadwear index.

jprice@CPS

Nokian makes several models, each for different conditions..

Nokian WR: all weather / performance winter.
Good in the snow.
Decent on the ice (better than I expected)
Good on the dry.
If you need a tire that does it all including decent dry, this is it. My mom, sister, and wife all have the Nokian WR on their cars all year long.

Nokian Hakka2:
wide tread blocks, good for snow, also pretty soft, which helps on the ice. These will be great in the snow, good on the ice, and not as good on the dry as the WRs. These are T rated in sizes I have been looking at (118 mph). You can get this with studs if it's legal in your area, which makes it the ultimate snow + ice tire.

Nokian RSi:
This is the replacement to the Nokian Hakka Q. It looks like it's designed with ice traction in mind. I have not personally seen them yet, so can't speak to them too much... but I do want to try them out on my car.. might get them in 17s.. either this or the hakka2.

cashguzzler

Thx for the advice, everyone. It looks like I've got some options.

TristanP

I've had no issues with 2 winters so far here in DE. Seems like a great all around winter tire.