danderson

Hi all,

I know many of us use this forum to get input on various tires when it comes time for replacement. So, I thought I'd post a datapoint after having had new tires put on my wife's '02 A4 Avant 1.8T (sport pkg) today. The car still wears its original size (235/45-17). The car is stock -- it's my wife's kid-hauler.

A little history: Car originally came with Continental SportContact 2 (max performance summer) tires. They were great when new, but wore very quickly, and performance quickly degraded with wear. They lasted 20k miles.

Next came a set of Pirelli PZero Nero M&S (ultra-high-perf all-season). I was pleased with these overall. Performance matched that of the Conti's, and didn't degrade as much with wear. These lasted 30k miles, and I would've gotten another set, except for the desire to try something else...

Next came a set of Toyo Proxes 4 (ultra-high-perf all-season). The one complaint I heard from others regarding these tires were that they were loud. And they were. From the day I had them mounted, they "whined", and it only got louder and louder with wear. Still, the performance was great in the dry and wet, and didn't seem to be reduced at all with wear. Furthermore, they seemed like they would last a long time. After 25k miles, the noise was so loud that it bothered me a lot. I wasn't sure if it was the tires, a wheel bearing, or a helicoptor flying overhead... Then my wife ran over something which punctured one, and she kept driving home, ruining the tire. There was still quite a bit of tread left on the tires -- I guessed they would have lasted well beyond 30k miles, but the noise was just too much. So, I decided to buy a new set of tires. However, since we have another kid on the way, we may end up getting rid of the Avant soon and buying something bigger. So, I didn't want to spend too much on tires.

The answer? Kumho Ecsta ASX. Wow, these are cheap. I've always thought Kumho made "pretty good" tires, at a great price. So, I got a set to go on my wife's car. It's too soon to tell much regarding performance, but MAN, these tires are QUIET! Getting up to about 70mph, taking it out of gear and coasting, I STILL can't hear the tires... My expectation is that these tires will last longer than any others, while giving up some performance in the dry. There are WIDE channels in the tread, so I expect they'll be great in the wet. And since this car is (for now) the kid-hauler, a nice, smooth, quiet ride is the priority. Initial impressions are: I'm VERY impressed!

Take care,
Dave

clean.

great review. thanks for the info!

Merkin

ASXs are good tires, but they suck horribly in the snow if you get it

quattro nole (Jeff)

They lasted about 30,000 miles. They were great for the first 20K, quiet and smooth just as you described. After that, they were still decent on dry pavement, but were pretty much useless in the rain or snow.

JsprZ

i didnt expect it to be so good either...i just wanted some cheap all-seasons to go snowboarding in,here in LA.