John Stedman

I have the Pirelli's, (which I was most worried about in terms of adhesion in the cold and snow) and they have exceded my expectations.We have had 29" of snow in MN and I have not been in a situation where I wished I had snow tires. The 2 piece wheels have not built up any brake dust or collected snow. It seems to me that the only people complaining about these wheels are those that don't have them. It would be interesting to hear from those that actually have them as to what their experience is.


2001 Atlas Gray 6spd.

neilm

I am very surprised at how well they due in the snow. I driven the car on the hardtack snow and a couple inches of fresh with no problems. I had some time to due some braking/turning testing and was very impressed with the response. The tires don't packed with snow and have not had any build in the split spoke.

I have snow tire package on order from the TireRack that is supposed to get here before I leave for an extended snowboarding road trip on Saturday.

Dion

I had them in a icy patch heading up Mt Rainier and they were fine, not much of a test though ! Haven't had any decent snow driving yet. I've just swapped on my ATP S5's and Arctic Alpins and am heading up North, so I'll get to see how they work. The dual spokes were a bit grubby when they came off, I need to drag them back out and give them a clean before they sit around until next summer. Could be break dust or just road grime. I <b>do</b> think they look a lot better then the standard wheels, that extra shine really complements the alloy thingies on the bottom of the doors.

My prior experience with all season vs proper snow tires, showed that the biggest benefit when you have AWD is in braking. Once did a slow slide into the back of a van, have had snow tires on in winter since. Cornering and take of traction is also improved but not as dramatically due to having the AWD to start with.

Snow driving report after Xmas ....

ChronicTeutonic

The car came in with the Goodyears but I had the dealer swap them with the demo allroad... No problems yet....a really good tire!

Allroad1

They handle fine in hard snow and slush, and I dont see any excess build up or mess on the dual spokes.

I agree, the twin spokes look great.

SAN_Man

I currently love the "debate" about single spoke vs. dual. I think that it would be pretty darn hard to collect much debris in the dual spoke wheels in hard pack conditions. BUT, get some deep slush and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they will be more prone to collecting brake dust, slush, grime etc. I looked at the demo allroad at the dealer and its already evident.

Fortunately to each their own. I am more of a function over form kind of person. I don't think the dual spokes look better and they sure aren't worth an additonal $950. That savings in cash went a long ways toward another complete set of wheels. So far in really cold temps the Pirellis haven't been too bad. They are definitely not as good as a dedicated snow or ice tire though in the really hard packed conditions or the icy ones. For most climates that don't have sever winter weather they won't be too bad. I have noticed that below 0 and in the -15F range that they definitely lose a lot of stick even in the dry.

Of course this is a no-brainer as well. I will definitely be buying dedicated snows for it. I definitely wouldn't mind some mudflaps to go with the car too. Agressive driving just coats the side of the car with debris and more agressive snows will make it worse. This car just begs to be driven hard in the snow. I had the mudflaps on my 2.7T sedan and save a lot of wear and tear on the car. They actually looked pretty good on the car without being dorky. Bottom line is buy what wheels you like. If you think the twin spokes are worth a grand more than the stock one great. The extra profit Audi makes on those probably helps keep the base price down on the car. : )