leslie

I've been looking at tires (225/40/18) for my soon to be arriving 18" wheels for some time now. I keep changing my mind for various reasons. I'd love some input into my decision, especially from those who've had these tires. In chronological order of what I wanted to what I think I want now, and the reasons I'm not considering them:

Michelin Pilot Sport-- (Pros: Great wet tire, nice agressive tread, Cons: most expensive, "cruising tire" not quite responsive/agile enough in dry)

Bridgestone S-02 PP--(Pros: PERFECT! except maybe wear rating, Cons: but they don't make in my size, argh!)

Yokohama AVS Sport--(Pros: excellent/responsive handling tire, Cons: not convinced this tire is best for Oregon, with ~9 mo.s of rain. If they put a big groove down the middle, I'd bite...)

PZero Rosso--(Pros: heard only good about them for all of my requirements, but, Cons: expensive, and the tread design is pretty lame. I know it is superficial, but I want to scare people (M3's!) off the road, just looking at my tires...)

Dunlop SP9000--(Pros: decent price, good tread pattern, excellent rain tire, good wear rating, Cons: so the SP8000 is a more responsive in handling according to the TireRack test?, argh)

Well, right now, I'm looking at the SP9000. Let me know if any of my research/assumptions are incorrect. Eddie--would you say the SP is better than the Pilot Sport in terms of aggressive dry driving? For the price and wear rating, I'd go w/ the SP if all else is equal...

Decisions...

Thanks!
leslie (the ever indecisive)<p></A>

larryV

A tire design doesn't HAVE to have a groove in the middle to be effective at channeling water. There are many other tread pattern schemes that can do as good a job without the center groove, depending on the design. I have a friend who raves about them on his 528 in the very rainy southern tier of NY (Central NY). Lots of rain there and he claims it's the best performance tire in the wet. A few people on the A4 forum have said this too.

I say go for the AVS, I would.<p><b>larryV</b>
2001 S4 <i>silver/silver/6spd/prem/bose/cold/nav</i>

Stätus Josh

They are rated extremely well (behind the S-02s) on wet traction. Plus from what I have seen at the track, the are one of the best all around tires out there!!<p>joshd@s4.org "Seattle S4"
Laser Red, 6spd, Everything except phone, APR EMCS chip, JL 10w6
http://s4.org
http://seattle.audiworld.com

leslie

Don't think I wanna try 235's given my suspension is undecided at this point. (others, I'm doing coilovers) I can't afford for this set to rub...<p></A>

Corey S

Don't do the SP9000's, they might have good wet handling, but the dry handling is squirmy. Those blades in the middle of the tire are too narrow, thus they are weak and squirmy.

The S-02 PP is the best, IMO, next is probably the Pilot Sports. The AVS Sports feel good, too, although I never had mine in the rain.

Even the regular S-02 is a great tire, the Yoko's and Pilot's are probably better in the wet, though.<p>Corey S
00 Nogaro S4

<img SRC="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/AudiWorldPics/2000/CSNogaroSig.jpg">

Jay Levitt

FWIW, Curry's here in VA recommended the S-02's *highly* as best-of-class. Great wet, great dry, not horribly noisy, excellent feedback on the edge, much better handling than any of the others you listed per tirerack, and significantly better than the SPs.

OTOH, SP9000s are somewhat quieter and a good bit more comfortable, but I presume that if that was a priority, you wouldn't be getting 18" wheels.. Also, that difference may disappear on 40/18s. It dropped quite a bit from 225/50R16 to 235/40R17s.

You've probably already found these, but here's a comparison of the S-02PPs, SP9000s and AVS Sport..

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/avs_sport.htm

and here's one of the S-02PPs, Rossos and Pilot Sport..

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/pzero_rosso.htm

Treadwear/cost: the AVS Sports and the S-02PPs are both rated 180, so that's not a distinguishing factor. The SP9000s are 280, which is 50% longer wearing. So it's $1000 every 2 years instead of $800 every three. So what? You're driving a $40,000 car, so you can probably afford it, and tires make a HUGE difference in the feel of a car.

S-02PPs may not come in 225/40/18, but they DO come in 245/40/18. The wider tire will give you slightly slower acceleration, but it makes up for it in cornering IMHO. And you want to scare M3s? 245s are BIG. Oh. Just saw your post worried about rubbing. Well, if you can't run 245s, you could get the original S02s... don't know how they size up tho.

I have a set of 235/45/17s going on new MM Spiders this Tuesday, and I'm pretty darned excited about it!

Another Drew

First, i think the avs sports are going to be fine for wet weather. It'll be on par if not better than your RE040s. I wouldn't drive like a crazed banshee though.

Second, the pilot sports may run you $90 more for the set of four, but it'll last longer and you won't be spending another $1,000 so soon to replace the s02 or the avs sports.

Are you going to use the new tires $1,000 tires for the track? I was cringing burning up $1,100 worth of tires at Mid-O. What are you going to do with the Avus rims? I feel much better burning cheap Yoko A032Rs at the track, and using my expensive tires for the street.<p>Andrew Lee
'00 S4
APR ECU
APR Coilovers
MTM Catback
Fikse FM/5,225/40/18 Michelin Pilot Sports for street
BBS RC 17X8, 235/45/17 Yoko A032R for track
UUC Shortshifter

O0 Ia

I heard there grip was phenomenal in dry, but I'm not sure how good they are in wet.
As for the Pilot Sports, S-02 PPs , and Rossos check out the Tire Rack website. A review/test of these tires was just posted (I think the S-02 PPs came out on top).<p>2000 Nogaro S4
MTM/Pagid Brake Pads
Broken CD player

the shortest wavelength, highest frequency, and fastest color.

Cameron

I had a set of S02 Pole Positions on 18x8 O.Z. Multipieces so, unless the size has been discontinued very recently, it's available (perhaps momentarily sold out?) in a size that works. This was on an A4, but the size was 225/45ZR18. Is there a reason to run a shorter aspect ratio on the S4?

The S02PP is a great tire and (normally) more commonly available (this may not seem like a big advantage, but just wait until you need a tire on two days notice before a track day) than the PZero Type C.

I've driven Yellows, Rossos, and C's. The PZero C is the ultimate tire in the dry and agile in the wet. The Yellows were what I had on my C4S and they were excellent (and lasted pretty long... very predictable when driven hard). The PZero Rosso is, in my opinion, the least impressive of the PZeros and a victory of consumerism over performance. It feels like a PZero that was meant to engineer ad campaigns like, "this is the OEM tire on the blah blah blah luxocoupe" instead of "this is the OE tire on the Skyline RComp".

I would NOT buy the Rossos. That having been said, we DO have a set of Rossos on our 180TTC and they're decent. They are, however, definitely more pedestrian than the Type C's.

FWIW, I drove PZero Yellows in Seattle without problems, so I have some wet weather experience with them.

Cameron
2001 Audi TT Quattro with PZero Type C

Cameron

<center><img src="https://www.audiworld.com/news/00/vortrag/white_side.jpg"></center><p>... or at least it was in late 1999.

Above is the white A4 with 18x8 OZ's and 225/40-18 Bridgestone S02PP's.