Hi,

Have a 2005 a6 with 17s and Michlens.

Time to find new tires.

Want a larger diameter tire/wheel.

Here's the input I am seeking:

1) I don't want to get a rough ride. Given this would you suggest 18 or 19?
2) Based on #1 what size tire? What Brand/Style for all-season (live in Michigan).
3) Since I need new wheels when going to larger tire any recommendations on brand? Want painted silver.

Thanks!

Jeff

 

Lots of good advice in the stickied "tips and suggestions for a 2.7t owner"...

I have a 2004 A6. I put some Dunlop winter tires on my stock 17s, and in the spring, plan on buying 18 Hartmann wheels from Achtuning.com and some new 18" summer performance tires.

 

I've just switched from 17" to 18" on my 2003 A6. Based on this tire size calculator: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html I kept the same width, but dropped 1 aspect ratio i.e. from 235/45/17 to 235/40/18. This meant that the rolling diameter was very close to stock.

I too was concerned about the ride and handling, which was why I decided on what I felt was the more conservative switch.

As for the brand, I searched for ages, and again conservatively minded, I stuck with the oem look, and actually managed to pick up a set of oem RS6 wheels.

If you're OK with reps, there are plenty of sites out there selling Audi replicas. Careful with the offset though, since I did see that quite a few wheels that fitted most Audis, specifically did not fit the 2.7T, because of the larger brakes.

Hope this helps, good luck with the search.

Graeme

 

As a Michigan driver who regularly used to drive cross-state (Holland to Detroit and back), I would recommend against 19". The lower aspect will yield a rougher ride due to less sidewall as well as being more susceptible to tire and rim damage. Face it, our roads suck. I run the oem 17s with Pirelli P6 FourSeasons P235/45-R17 in the winter and when the roads are repaired, switch to Conti Extreme Contact P235/40-R18 for the summer. If I had it to do over, I would have bought Conti P245s for a slightly wider tire and more protection of the rim, plus they would fill the wheel wells just a little more without risk of rubbing. The Pirellis are excellent year around tires and I drove the second set for 50k miles and am now on set #3 (183k on the car).