Snow performance vs. XDrive
#11
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Thanks for the response, I understand all that and agree, although I never intended to portray AWD as the magic trick, I did neglect to mention the tires on my car. I just checked and it appears I have the OE P-Zeros which to my understanding are not all season tires. They are about 50% depleted hence my desire to replace them.
Two winters ago I was forced to drive my Camaro ss in the snow. It was a fun winter with my commute LOL. The Xdrive was night and day from that Camaro (long gone).
My BMW however seem to better distribute the power to all wheels compared to my A7 which I felt it lost the rear very easily before the front showed signs of slipping. This happened on intentional and un-intentional acceleration.
Love the car regardless, next time we will see with new tires on that are better suited for New England's weather.
thanks
Two winters ago I was forced to drive my Camaro ss in the snow. It was a fun winter with my commute LOL. The Xdrive was night and day from that Camaro (long gone).
My BMW however seem to better distribute the power to all wheels compared to my A7 which I felt it lost the rear very easily before the front showed signs of slipping. This happened on intentional and un-intentional acceleration.
Love the car regardless, next time we will see with new tires on that are better suited for New England's weather.
thanks
#12
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It is dangerous to drive those tires with the amount power these cars put out on dry pavement let alone on snow! Then complain about the cars snow performance? I saw a Ford GT 40 get totaled because of this. Cold morning on cold tires + throttle = Guardrail on the on ramp. The rubber compound is designed to soft and sticky in the summer. When it gets cold the rubber gets very hard like plastic and has no grip. Remember the hard plastic wheels on your big wheel as a kid. That is what you have under 40 degrees running summer tires. The liability you are putting on yourself is off the charts. You hit another car and hurt someone and they find those tires on your car? Ya the lawyers will own everything you ever earned. People want to skimp on tires and it is just stupid. I sold a Turbo MR2 to a friend for his GF. Smoking hot girl too. It had a more power than stock. She was complaining the car was handling funny. We took it for a spin. Death ride! He just replaced the tires with the cheapest **** he could find. He walked into the back yard and I hit him square in the jaw knocking him on his ***. "Put some really tires on that car or you won't see it coming next time and it will be days before you wake up". We don't talk anymore but she and I are good friends. Use you heads people! The only thing holding you and your 2 ton beast to the road is contact patch about the size of a piece of paper! Think about when buying rubber. I second the recommendation on the Conti DW and DWS tires. DW is best tire you can buy for wet pavement and gives up little in the dry. I live in the Pacific Northwest so we know a little about running hard on wet roads. I used the DW on my track car on wet track days and the street. I might not be the fastest in the dry on a track but in the wet I can run with anyone. Is it bad when the instructors are betting that you can't slow enough to make the carousal turn? Tires matter.
#13
Thanks for the response, I understand all that and agree, although I never intended to portray AWD as the magic trick, I did neglect to mention the tires on my car. I just checked and it appears I have the OE P-Zeros which to my understanding are not all season tires. They are about 50% depleted hence my desire to replace them.
Two winters ago I was forced to drive my Camaro ss in the snow. It was a fun winter with my commute LOL. The Xdrive was night and day from that Camaro (long gone).
My BMW however seem to better distribute the power to all wheels compared to my A7 which I felt it lost the rear very easily before the front showed signs of slipping. This happened on intentional and un-intentional acceleration.
Love the car regardless, next time we will see with new tires on that are better suited for New England's weather.
thanks
Two winters ago I was forced to drive my Camaro ss in the snow. It was a fun winter with my commute LOL. The Xdrive was night and day from that Camaro (long gone).
My BMW however seem to better distribute the power to all wheels compared to my A7 which I felt it lost the rear very easily before the front showed signs of slipping. This happened on intentional and un-intentional acceleration.
Love the car regardless, next time we will see with new tires on that are better suited for New England's weather.
thanks
I've been running all-seasons in NJ year round for the past several years and have never encountered any issues in snowy winters. In fact, you really have to try hard to make it slip. Mind you, i change cars/tires often enough that i'm always on good tread depth.
#14
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Another point to bring up is what kind of snow it was. Light fluffy snow is much better for traction than wet heavy snow. Especially with summer tires. They don't have big enough voids in order to grip slippery surfaces. I think the fact that you were able to get around ok with summer tires @ 50% speaks well for the Quattro system.
all seasons are next in order, I'd like to get a set of wheels to mount them on and use in the winter and the perfs in the summer.
#15
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it was that nasty wet and heavy stuff. I agree with the others, wrong tires. the car felt like my camaro in the snow tho. My BMW has all season tires and drives like it is on rails in the snow, to the point that I relaxed a bit in snowy mornings and avoided shoveling before going to work.
all seasons are next in order, I'd like to get a set of wheels to mount them on and use in the winter and the perfs in the summer.
all seasons are next in order, I'd like to get a set of wheels to mount them on and use in the winter and the perfs in the summer.
Wheels for Audi, Porsche, and VW Wheel - Hartmann Wheels
#16
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This is my car with 19 inch hartmann wheels and blizzaks. They perform outstanding in the snow and are a 99 percent improvement over the standard all season michelin pilot sport as3 tires which I have on the 20 inch rims. I actually switched out the wheels too early few weeks ago and we had an unusual spring snow storm this past Sunday and I slid out of control and crashed the right rear rim slightly and I was terrified but the car is fine and I would not use these all seasons again winter time only from spring to fall.
#17
If you are going to get a dedicated set of wheels for your non-summer tires, please do not get all season tires for them Go for full snow tires. The difference will surprise you. An Audi with Quattro and full snow tires will go through anything. All seasons are a compromise, they are not really the best winter solution.
#18
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If you are going to get a dedicated set of wheels for your non-summer tires, please do not get all season tires for them Go for full snow tires. The difference will surprise you. An Audi with Quattro and full snow tires will go through anything. All seasons are a compromise, they are not really the best winter solution.
#19
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Hey I have a 2016 Audi A7 with 20 inch rims and I use 19 inch rims with Blizzak LM winter tires here in Michigan. I have a 2015 BMW X5 and a Mercedes Ml350 4matic. Let me be really blunt, the Quattro is far better than Xdrive and the 4 matic is in between. Quattro > 4Matic >> Xdrive. My Audi A8L performs well with winter tires. Heck I would never ever use any all season tires on these power all wheel drive sedans. All seasons = jack of all trades, master of none.
It doesn't matter how good the quattro is, your tires are worn period. Dont bother complaining about the car. IT also has nothing to do with comfort mode. You need to get better tires or go with winter especially with your driving style with fishtailing. I am not sure how often you drive in snow but we do every 1-2 weeks in December to March here so I know. I recently switched back to my 20 inch with all seasons when temperatures go above 45-50 degrees. My A7 performs much much better then my previous 2011 BMW 535 xrdrive with all seasons in the snow. It has nothing to do with short wheelbase. Besides x-drive is very sluggish in response and is not quick in giving even power distribution over Quatrro and 4matic. My quattro sedans with winter tires outperform my BMW and Mercedes SUVs with all season tires in deep snow and ice and they can climb the steep driveway well without issues .
It doesn't matter how good the quattro is, your tires are worn period. Dont bother complaining about the car. IT also has nothing to do with comfort mode. You need to get better tires or go with winter especially with your driving style with fishtailing. I am not sure how often you drive in snow but we do every 1-2 weeks in December to March here so I know. I recently switched back to my 20 inch with all seasons when temperatures go above 45-50 degrees. My A7 performs much much better then my previous 2011 BMW 535 xrdrive with all seasons in the snow. It has nothing to do with short wheelbase. Besides x-drive is very sluggish in response and is not quick in giving even power distribution over Quatrro and 4matic. My quattro sedans with winter tires outperform my BMW and Mercedes SUVs with all season tires in deep snow and ice and they can climb the steep driveway well without issues .
Again, it was not my intention to complaint on the car. I was just merely stating my opinion based on my specific experience. The point on the tires was made so more observations are needed. If I had an idea so many were to be offended by my post, I would have never posted my opinion.
Regards
Jim
#20
AudiWorld Super User
I don't think it was a matter of being offended, just everyone pointing out the obvious apples to oranges comparison that was made in your post.
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