Shopping around for winter tires for some New England snow...Noticing black steelies are pretty cheap, but I don't know how I feel about putting them on my Audi. What do people think about them? If you have them on your car, post pictures. Wondering if they look awkward on 2005.5 body style..I've seen them mainly on the older styles. HELP!

 

i live in providence.

I have a set of b5 wheels - the 5 spoke kind. Hanook high mileage tires with like 80% tread left. No bends, pretty decent shape relative to age. They would make a good set for winter

205 // 65 / 15

if that makes any sense ?

pm if interested

 

To my knowledge there are no steel wheels made to fit our cars. I bought the Audi tire and wheel package for our car. It includes Audi rims and wheel totes, and Continental Extremewinter contact tires. The tires that Audi recomends are 205/55/16's, so your 17 inch rims won't work. The tires are narrower than the ones on the 17 inch rims, which is what you want for better winter traction. It's been to warm in Michigan this month to put them on, but this upcoming week, it's finally going to stay cold enough for me to have them installed. I have another thread about this, that I'm planning to update as soon as I get some miles on the tires.

 

agreed with b7 about steelie fit issues. i tried to get a set from tirerack and nothing would fit. they told me it's due to the clearance with the man-sized brakes we have.

i have a set of conti extremewintercontact for both of my cars and they work great on snow and ice. i wouldn't bother buying another make or type of winter tires they're so good.

 

Just had my snows installed this evening. Happened to coincide with our first big snow. And so far they make a noticeable difference. Also the 16 inch rims Audi spec'd for these tires are really snug. They just clear the brakes, which is just fine, since they make a noticeable difference on the road. I don't think the 15's would work. It's amazing how soft and pliable the rubber is at 32 F.

 

Hmmm... Thanks for the responses guys. We ended up buying a set of wheels and tires off of an older A6, but surprise they are too small. The great thing about Craigslist purchases is that you can't return them. Lol. The search continues.

 

You can't go any smaller than the 205/55/16's that Audi recomends. According to Tire Rack you could put 225/45/17's on the existing 17 inch rims, but that is a smaller diameter tire, and will throw off the speedo a little, and will drop your ground clearance a bit. The 215/55/16 is also recomended, and has the same diameter as the all season 17's that come on the car, so no speedo problem, and no problem with the spare not matching and trashing the quattro. Those 16's are just a little wider than the 205 width Audi recomends for winter tires, but would work.

Not been much snow to test my new tires since the night they were put on, but I did have some icy situations, and was suprised at how much more pressure I could give the brakes before the antilocks triggered.

 

No way will a 15" rim fit over B7 brakes. Wait... it will... IF you take the tire off and use some "jaws of life" to bend out the inner part of the rim to clear, but then you'll be restricted to only driving on train rails. bummer. But at least you'll save on tires!


I bought a set of B6 sport wheels with studded snows for about $400 off craigslist. You may want to check there and the classified sections of multiple forums. Or just bite the bullet and have snows mounted on your existing rims.