quantumrace

I just recently purchased a used 2014 SQ5 that was CPO'd from Audi Palo Alto. The tires they delivered with the car are High Performance Goodyear Excellence tires in 20" wheels. I live in the Bay Area and travel to Tahoe and upon reading up on the Goodyear Excellence tires, Goodyear states: Ultra high-performance summer tires are not recommended for winter use, and tread or shoulder cracking on those tires resulting from winter use will not be covered under our warranty.

Coincidentally, I traded in a Volvo XC60 with 20" wheels and I had just recently purchased new Nitto NT421Q all season tires (they have less than 300 miles on them). I've asked Audi Palo Alto if I could just have the tires swapped, and Charles Fredell, their Used Car Manager, states that the Nitto NT421Q tires have W speed rating, and switching them over to the SQ5 would NOT qualify for CPO if we switched tires. But the funny thing is the Goodyear Excellence also have W speed rating.

I let Charles know that W rated tires are good for 168 MPH, and the Audi SQ5 is listed with a top speed of 155 mph. I feel like I'm getting a major run around here for no real reason. I've reached out to their General Manager, Jason Mattia to try to get Audi Palo Alto to take a more reasonable position here. Thoughts?

quantumrace

More follow up. I've just received a response back from the General Manager of the dealership, and he said the real issue here is that this car is questionable as being able to be certified as the Nitto 421Q tires are NOT audi spec. He said there are liability concerns in transferring tires from vehicle to vehicle as the manufactures have strict policies about which tires are to be used.

So the saga continues. What is strange is that what would happen if the day after I drove the CPO car off the lot, I then went and purchased the Nitto 421Q tires on my own. Would that void the CPO warranty. No it wouldn't. This feels so wrong and I do hope the General Manager realizes that my request is a reasonable one.

superswiss

I believe Audi only CPOs cars with OEM tires and there are only three. The Goodyear Excellence is one of them. You need to check the load rating, too, not just the speed rating. Looks like W is fine for the SQ5, but that Goodyear has a load rating of 101. Don't know what the Nitto has that you have.

rdA4WtQ5

We bought a CPO in 2011 with non-OEM tires, Maybe things are different now. No one at our dealer cared what tires or wheels (winter) were on either.

J. Patterson

Your dealer is being inexplicably uncooperative. Could the Nitto's be a different size or aspect ratio? Our Q7 was a CPO vehicle and I replaced the OEM tires with Continental DWS ( same size) that were not Audi AO stamped ( twice). We had a few CPO repairs over the years and no one ever said a word. My service advisor treats me like an old friend after 12+ years of dealing with him.

m1964

Never got to know service advisors at Lexus dealership.

J. Patterson

We had an RX 300 way back before 4 Audis. Was a solid vehicle for sure but I never looked forward to driving it.

quantumrace

I still haven't received a response from Audi Palo Alto as to a verdict, as they're researching, but I suggested that instead of swapping the Nitto Tires off of my prior Volvo XC60, they instead just swap the Goodyear Excellence with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3, since those tires, when researching on Audi Tires website, are available for the SQ5. So in theory, even Audi states that these All Season tires are perfectly fine replacement to the Goodyear Excellence. Hopefully tomorrow the General Manager will provide an acceptable solution.

quantumrace

Additional info. I reached out to Audi Albany, wanting to get the view of a dealership that is subjected to a lot of snow. Salesperson assured me that they routinely put on All Season tires on CPO'd cars, and that in doing so, it does NOT void the CPO warranty. So using that information, I've now gone back to the Audi Dealership and requested they swap out the Goodyear Excellence with the Continental ExtremeContact DWS06 (which is the tire that the Audi Albany dealership has installed on one of their 2014 CPO'd SQ5 cars.

And interestingly, the Audi Tire website does show the Contintental ExtremeContact DSW06 is perfectly suited for the 2014 SQ5 as an All Season tire.

Hoping to get this rectified today.

Greystoke

The DWS06 is an excellent all season tire and much quieter than the Goodyear performance tires. We put them on our Q5 about a year ago and have had zero issues with them.

Side note...does the dealer not want to do this swap as they consider your deal done and don't want to sink more $ in the SQ5?

Grey