Hello all,

I have a 2004 A6 S-Line and currently have the stock 235/40/R18 95H Pirelli P6 Four Seasons tires. They were very "just ok" last winter and I have not been much of a fan of them. I did the penny test and found that after only 25,000KMs, they are worn down way more than they should be (tip of Lincoln’s hair was barely touched, basically at 2/32 depth). I did the tirerack research and decided to order some Pirelli PZERO NERO All-Seasons. They did not have them available in both my OE 95 load index and H speed rating so I went with 235/40/ZR18 with a 95 load index and W speed rating (W Rated tires only ones in my size that had the 95 load index the A6 required).

Question is, the minimum recommended PSI for the tires listed in my door jam says 41psi for 2 occupants and some small bags (light load). I am **** about my tire pressure and always kept the tires at 41psi. Despite that, the ride always seemed a bit harsh and the tires wore down way too fast. Now that I have moved from H-rated to W speed rated tires, should that effect the PSI I use? I also noticed that whenever I took it in for service, the dealership ALWAYS set the pressure to 35 PSI, well below 41. So, is 41psi too much or is it just that the OE P6 Four Seasons wear down too fast? Should the higher "W" speed rating have any effect on the PSI level I set?

Thanks!

 

generally I go 35 psi but since you and I have a gift of (not letting go) I would say go with 38 psi.........

when you changed tires did you get a 4 wheel alignment? are you AWD if so when they rotate ask them how they do that which tires go where???

answer on AWD fronts go straight back same side .... back straight forward same side.....

dealerships know that but you never know I have had those ti/yers 3 times they corner great dry/wet great but you may not get as many miles as you think so
do not be disappointed.....

 

I'm Quattro, I would hope the dealership knew how to rotate them! The new PZEROs are on order, being sent to a local authorized installer. It’s a shop that specializes in German cars and ONLY does German cars so I would hope the install is in good hands. Should I request an alignment when the new Pirellis are put on? Looking at my current soon-to-be-replaced P6 Four seasons, they seem to be all worn the same so looks like my alignment is good (regular maint performed 4000km ago, no alignment/tire issues noted). No wheel vibration when I drive. I had noticed some intermittent light steering wheel vibration about 7,000km ago and the dealership replaced my tire-rods (worn) and did an alignment then.

 

Best I can tell from Google, the P6 Four Seasons suck, and people have reported replacement required due to wear after only 15,000 miles. So I suppose I will just follow the sticker and put in 41psi. One thing I find kinda dangerous, in my manual it says that you should add 5 psi if traveling for extended periods of time on the highway. Door jam sticker says you should also add 5-7 psi under heavy load. So someone traveling for a long period of time on the highway with 4 passengers and luggage could follow those directions and inflate the OE tires beyond their max rating of 50psi. I went on tirerack, looked at their speed/psi chart and found that for the OE H-Rated tires, you should only add 5psi if travelling at 210km/h for extended periods of time (add 1psi for 170km/h, 2psi for 180km/h etc). You should also reduce the max weight load for every 10km/h over 170km/h which would mean you never exceed the max 50psi inflation for the tire. So even though sold in North American markets where no highway has a legal limit of 210km/h, Audi gives the owner false information in their manual which could lead to over inflation.

 

Yep - Pirelli tires stick to the road but have never been known to last a long time. Throw in low aspect ratios and tire wear gets worse.

IMHO - Pirelli tires suck for normal day-to-day use. Michelin's last longer but are not much better due to thin side walls

Wide tires + low side wall ratio + high air pressure = harsh ride (it's all about mother nature and physics) if you want smooth ride lower the pressure and increase the sidewall ratio.

As for Audi and reccomended pressure - I don't know what tires came on the 2004 A6 S-line but if your into tire sizes or brands that are not factory the door jamb inflation reccomendations don't apply.
Remember the max inflation tire spec overrides all others.

 

I'm on my third set of Pirelli P6 Four-seasons and put over 50k miles on the first set and 60k miles on the second. I usually run them winter only but ran them all last summer before replacing them in the fall. I found them to be an excellent winter tire and they got me through some seriously bad snow and ice conditions in Michigan, NY and Canada. My door panel calls for 35f/35r for normal loads and 41/46 for heavy. I generally run 36-38 psi regardless, since I do a lot of highway driving. Very happy with the tire. IMHO, if you're running at higher psi all the time you'll experience a harsher ride and possibly wear out the center tread quickly.

 

PP What size?

 

According to his signature 235/40 ZR18....very odd. My door panel says 41psi for light load on 18s...Mine is canadian....but I don't see why there would be a difference in psi for American vs Canadian cars....

 

Did your A6 come stock with 18s? My door panel has 3 tire sizes listed, and for 18s its says 41psi....yours says 35 for 18s? That and the fact that you got of 50k miles on your P6s and I got under 30k kms says to me that something is not right here....I'm thinking 41psi is way too high.

 

My A6 came stock with 17s and the Pirellis. The door lists 35/35 and 41/46 for 17s. Nothing for 18s at all. The car had 37k on it when I bought it, and the original owner had a second set of 18 rims with very worn tires. I replaced them with Cooper Zeons which proceeded to fail on 3 different occasions, so I replaced the rims and coerced Discount Tire into replacing them with the Contis for the difference in price. I put 23k on the Coopers, but they kept disintegrating, which was annoying. The final straw: I aligned the car and took it to SC and back, and when I returned we discovered the inside of the front tires was worn to the cord.

I drive a couple Crossfires in the summer, so the bulk of the driving with the A6 is in the winter with the Pirellis. I really can't say how many miles were on them since I did swap in the Contis for a while, but I replaced the orignal Pirellis at 74k. I just checked my records, and I put 49,923 miles on the second set of Pirellis. I put 26k so far on the third set which are stored, but show only a couple 32nds of wear. I have about 15k on the Contis and they are a little less than 1/2 worn, so they are not as durable as the Pirellis. I run then at 36 psi all around with the concurrence of Discount Tire. All my tires are rotated (front to back) every 5-6k. The car has just over 176k on it.