I bought my 2006 A3 used with 12,000 miles and the stock P6 four seasons tires were pretty worn and make a lot of noise. I have put about 3,000 miles on these and they are almost to the wear indicators and the noise is terrible.

Anyone else have similar issues with the factory rubber? Any recomendations for replacement? I was looking at the p-zero nero MS tires as I will be driving these in the Cleveland snow.



[IMG]local://upfiles/16773/30EDCC719805448996D5414774EDB6F8.jpg[/IMG]

 

Mine came with the sport package and Pirelli PZero Rosso's. These tires are wonderful, but they wear fairly quickly as well. Not too bad if you can pony up the $170/tire every 20k miles. I've heard nothing good about the P6 tires. My replacement will probably be a set of Kumho's. Good tire for good price.

Happy shopping.

Chef

 

i had kuhmo exsta asa on my previous a6 and the wore terribly but if i recall, i think they were not that expensive. shouldnt tires be lasting 30K miles? my kuhmo's lasted less than 6 months, so i guess that makes those tires pretty expensive.
i'm always looking for the "ultimate" all season tire. i'll fork out the bucks for the right tire.

 

i didn't know A3's come used already,

so sad for whoever didn't love the A3.

 

Ditto the bad news about the P6's. They're crappy tires with a long history of substandard performance. I've had P6's as OE rubber on three vehicles over the last two decades: an '83 Rabbit GTi, a '96 328is Bimmer, and my '06 A3 3.2. I ditched them within six months of each purchase, with the exception of the A3 (will get rid of them as soon as finances allow).

I hope to replace them with Michelin PS2's, which I'm hoping will make a significant difference in handling.

Don't get your hopes up about tire longevity with summer performance tires. 20 to 25K is the best I've been able to do with performance rubber. I think the handling trade off makes them worthwhile though.

 

As for the used A3. I've seen a couple in the LA Times at dealerships. They could be demo cars or previous rentals. I bought a LOADED 1999 Passat Wagon used with 500 miles in 1999 that was a junior exec demo car from VW corporate. You just never know what you'll run into for deals. That Passat was the sweetest VW I ever owned!

Cheers!

Chef

 

I actually bought the car on eBay from a guy in Boca Raton. He was picking up his dad's MB SLK AMG.

The wife is actually for my wife; it was a birthday present. I drive it whenever I get a chance. It may be time for me to get one.

I got the car for a steal added the APR chip two weeks ago.

She loves the chip and I switched it back to stock a couple days ago and she got pissed. She thought the car was broken. I got a good laugh out of it.

Thanks for the advise on tires. I know on a previous 1.8t engine I was getting about 20,000-25,000 miles on tires (Bridgestone Potenza RE950).

I have been searching around tirerack and might even go with a dedicated snow tire and new wheels, but for now it will probably be a MS tire.

Any more advise on good treadlife, quiet, and still decent handling tires?

 

If you're still looking, I would do a little research on these rather under-recognized tires; I'll be gettin' 'em when finances allow!:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....Qty=4&i1_Qty=4


Inexpensive & well rated... Plus, they have a nice, fat rim-lip protector to keep you from curbin' yer rims!

 

Damn, that's mean, did you have to beg for forgiveness?

 

No, she called ECS and found out how to control the programs. No more stock mode for her.

As far as tires, I got rid of the P6's at 16,500 and bought some Avon 550 MS tyres from tirerack. These tires seem to be great for the price. Much better traction and handling than the P6, but still an all season tire. The price was right and so far they have been great.

The only issue was the installer scratched all four rims putting on the tires. I have been dealing with guy for years, but he completely gouged all four rims.

He is going to repaint and we will see how it looks. If they do not come out right he may be buying some new rims.

Spoke with my Audi dealer and apparently this is quite common and they repaint the rims all the time unless they are bent. We will just have to see.

Here is a picture I took of the wifes car this weekend and did a little photoshop.

[IMG]local://upfiles/16773/5EAA55D8BB43407F9EE3A726C38591B1.jpg[/IMG]