PhilZ4

A little early to be asking, but just out of curiosity what tires does anyone reccommend???? My dealer said Dunlop Winter Sport M2, I was thinking Blizzak...any suggestions???<p>That was a state trooper?

rao

Of going with some summer tires on the stock rims and getting some take-offs from an A^ for some Unltra high performance all seasons for winter. I don't like snow tires becasue it dosen't snow all that much in Chicago and when it's not snowing snow tires are no fun. I am interested in recommendations in the 225/50-16 size. Anyone?

Rich Martin

Phil,

There are lots of types of Blizzaks out there now, but most of them are very soft and squishy, handling quite poorly on dry pavement. Many of the Blizzak designs only have the snow/ice compound halfway through the tread/the first 50% of the tread. Unless you drive fairly regularly on ice in the wintertime, I'd avoid them, given all accounts I've heard and read.

I'll almost certainly be going with the Winter Sport M2's. They seem to have an excellent balance of dry/snow/ice traction without losing all of the performance for which you bought the car. Also factory recommended by Porsche based on their tests of different winter tires.

I have Nokian Hak 1's on my A4Q at the moment, which have served me very well, but they're a bit less performance oriented and wouldn't be my top choice on the S4. There's lots of others out there, of course, and many good ones, but having looked into this quite a bit and read what others have had to say on the A4/S4 forums, the best choice clearly seems the M2.

In addition, the M2's also come in the "one narrower" size, 215/45/17 that will fit the S4 wheel and be just a touch narrower for cutting through snow. If you really want to do it right, you'd get a smaller wheel and narrower tire, but those wheels are hard to find with the S4's caliper clearance problem. I'm going with stock wheels, 215/45/17's.

Our "resident" Tire Rack man suggested giving him a ring sometime around September, as they don't stock all the sizes during the summertime, but also not to wait too long, as they tend to sell out of the popular sizes by the time that most (unsuspecting) owners of cars with high speed rated tires realize they need snows. Just remember that quattro owners sometimes end up in the ditch alongside sport futility vehicle owners that also thought they were invincible..even the best snows are no substitute for careful driving that matches conditions.. Have fun out there..

Rich
'01 Nogaro S4 on order
'98 Pearl 2.8Q now showing!

RCH

Doesn't snow all that much in Chicago???? (NT)

Rich Martin

Not so sure that stock A4 take offs would fit an S4 due to the caliper clearance problem. I know, for example, that my current A4 7 spoke sport wheels and Nokians won't fit on the S4. I'm guessing that you'd be pushing it with 50 series tires in the snow anyway, or 45 either, for that matter. Make sure you check the archives and/or talk with someone like Tire Rack before choosing any 16" wheels for an S4!

Not a ton of snow in Chicago, but I think still enough to give any "ultra high performance" tires a bit of a challenge. Not sure that spending a bunch on those kind of tires just for their marginally better snow performance would be worth it. From all reports, tires like the Winter Sport M2 and Pirelli (non-ice) Asimetrico, and Nokian NRW are quite decent drivers on the dry, particularly the Dunlop.

Guess it also depends how much you need to depend on the S4 to get you around in the winter and how much you care about snow traction. I'm just thinking that the performance tires are expensive, and still not very good in the snow.

Good luck, drive safe..

Rich

Arch57

They were same size as my summer tires Dunlop 8000E's and after they broke in I really didn't miss much in the way of performance. During the 2 or 3 snowstorms we had in CT last winter I made sure I rushed out and tried them before the roads were plowed. The tires and Quattro were awesome. I did order early from TireRack and they were back-ordered.

Arch57
99.5 2.8QMS...pondering S4

rao

I have had snow tires on 3 cars and whiule they are great when it snows, they are not any good when it is not snowing. I have had P7000 supersports on an awd car and they were fine for me in the snow - not the best, but pretty good. I would like to hear people's thoughts on snow tires or all season tires for the S4.

DMoore

But here's a summary.

1. The stock S4 Bridgestone's are a disaster in snow. Don't even think about it.

2. Several snow tires that have gotten good reviews from users include the top winter tires from Dunlop, Pirelli, and Michelin. Nokians are rare, but highly rated. Older Blizzaks get bad ratings, but the newest ones seem to be an improvement. Most folks seem to doubt the utility of "all-season" tires. Better than stock in snow, for sure. But in winter, even if it's not snowing, what about rain?

My own thought is to get GOOD snow tires (and that means narrower than summer tires, on smaller rims. 205-55/16 is great for S4) for winter, and save the hot-shoe driving for summer when you put your good wheels/tires back on.

With good snow tires on all four corners, any quattro is an awesome winter car. My S4 is my 7th quattro, and the reason I buy them is for their winter performance. Lots of cars are great in summer, but ONLY the quattro's remain great in the winter. But tires are critical. A quattro on bad tires in winter is an accident looking for a place to happen.

DMoore
'00 S4