vrughani

After months of research I have finally taken the plunge and bought my first ever Audi S in B8 guise.

It's a 2013 CPO .... pics to follow.

A question I have for the forum is insight from anyone in the North East area and how you deal with the crazy potholes that this (and probably any other) winter has thrown up.
To say I'm a little scared would be an understatement. How have you found the car to perform? My car sits on stock 18" wheels with summer tires.

snagitseven

I live in MA which is in the top tier for potholes, some large enough to swallow a whole car. All low profile wheel/tire combos are at greater risk. Unless you drive a typical family sedan with lots of tire sidewall, (and even then a large enough pothole can cause damage), the trade off for everyday performance is a greater chance of bending a wheel, damaging a tire or both. There's really only one thing you can do: avoid hitting them or leave your car in the garage (not ideal). Be prepared for a repair or two - I've had my share of tire replacements and wheel straightening over the years. It's just a part of owning a performance car with low profile tires in the Northeast.

BTW, if you live in the NE, you should definitely either replace your summer tires with UHP All Seasons or get a set of dedicated winter tires for the cold months. Summer tire tread below 40 degrees become like hockey pucks and lose a lot of traction. On snow or ice they can be downright dangerous. Lots of data on this so beware.

vrughani

Thanks for the notes.

Yeah, I've purposely held off making the purchase to avoid the bulk of the winter and having to switch to A/S tires until the end of the year. On the plus side, I have 9 months to burn a set of summers!

It's relatively easy to spot the bad potholes in the day time, but much harder at night. So I'll be crossing my fingers for a few months and avoiding certain roads.

DrGP

Potholes just go with the territory in my area. What I find more problematic is the excessive use of cinders in my municipality. If you bend a rim or blow a tire, you just have to get another. I haven't used my S4 in over a month. Fortunately to have a winter beater to use.

RickFLS4

Maybe worth getting a price on something like this?

http://fd-warranty.com/audi/tireandwheel.html