Thermal

I'm about to lease a Silver S4 Avant but have concerns about performance on snow and ice. Will the stock tires on the S4 be useless in the slick stuff? If so, what are the best winter only tires to get, and do I have to buy new wheels to put them on or can I have the shop just slip them on and off the avus wheels at the bigging and end of winter?

Innovator

I bought the 205-50-17 Pilot Alpins, and it was absolutely incredible.

The stock tires would provide plenty of traction to start moving, but nowhere near enough to turn or stop :-(

Ted K

I've had an A4 Quattro for 3 years, and have gotten away fine with regular rubber. HOWEVER, with the lower profile S4 tires (225/45) and the cost of replacement (i.e., $260 per tires) by putting winter rubber on for 4-5 months, at a cost of $150 per tire, not only will you get better traction, but it will save you $$ in the long run as your summer tires will last twice as long. I would suggest Michelin Pilot Alpins, which can get mounted right on your stock avus wheels, or as an alternative, alot of people on the forum like Bridgestone Blizzaks. No, you don't have to purchase extra wheels, but if you like the look of something, you can mount your winter tires on the Avus OEM wheels, and put your summer tires on new wheels. That's what I'm going to do when my 2002 gets delivered the end of this month. This way, all that salt and sand in the winter won't wreck a set of nice wheels.

Thermal

And how much do you think it would cost to have a place plop them on and off twice a year?

Innovator

I used 205-50-17, but you can use the OE size too. 205 is better though.

daphne

you must get snow tires. Remember that summer tires don't like the cold weather.

I have Nokain NRWs. They are great in the snow and pretty good in the dry. Blizzak LM-22s are great in the dry and pretty good in the snow.

kcS4

I put on Dunlop M2 wintersports, 225-45/17 on stock AVUS, worked great

S4Lee

I agree with your thinking, but doesn't 'regular' A4 rubber (OEM) = all season tires?

Dave G

Same here. Dunlop M2 winter tires, 225-45/17 on stock wheels; worked great in snow, slush, rain, dry

Dave G

Last year this was discussed at-length. A number of people took chances by not getting winter tires, and they hit curbs, etc. Get winter tires!

Do you need to get an extra set of wheels? No, but keep in mind that lots of swapping tires back-n-forth, will likely cause some damage to your wheel rims (as many shops will leave marks on the rims), and will definitely cost money in terms of the mounting, dismounting, and balancing, etc. Also, you do not want to have tires mounted, dismounted, and re-mounted too many times, as each event causes the tire to stretch a little. You may want to ask Luke at the TireRack (www.tirerack.com) how many times you can safely mount and dismount a tire. If you are buying the winter tires anyway, another ~$800++ (for a second set of wheels) is not that big of a deal.
Look at all of your options, including a 17" or 16" set of wheels, such as TireRack's packages, or a used set of stock Avus wheels. You will always be able to sell the stock Avus wheels later, after you have sold the car, which will allow you to recoup some of that money.

As for winter tire types, these seemed to be the popular choices last year:

Michelin Pilot Alpin
Dunlop M2 Wintersport
Pirelli 210 and 240
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22
(there are others, including different models of Blizzaks, and Nokians, etc.).

Last year I got a set of stock Avus wheels, and a set of Dunlop M2 winter tires in the stock (225/45-17) size, and they were great in snow, slush, rain, mud, dry, and the little bit of ice I encountered. I drove about 5,000 miles on them, from Philadelphia to Buffalo and back, in snow, rain, and dry, etc, and the traction was incredible. Also, after 5,000 miles, the tires showed very little sign of wear. I was impressed. I suspect that I will get more than 15,000 (and maybe 20,000+) miles out of these winter tires. For normal driving (with some highway speeds exceeding the norm...) I really didn't feel as if I gave up much on dry pavement. Some people who bought the smaller 16" sizes reported that there was a noticeable difference in dry handling. Keep this in mind when you make your choice.

Good luck.