Well I caved in and bought the Audi winter tire and wheel package for my car. Got offered a price break and it tipped the scale in favor of the purchase. Shocking thing is that I ordered them at about 1pm and they made it to the dealer by 10:30am the next day. They are being quite nice and holding the tires at the shop until it's time to put them on in November. Hopefully it will be a cold hard winter giving me a chance to try them out. With my luck it will be a warm mild winter instead.

 

your luck you dont live in SOCAL then cause we never get that kind of snow

 

I have had three AWD cars now (2002 Jaguar X-Type, 2004 Audi A6, and my current 2008 A4). I have never bothered to put winter tires on and just run my usual tires (have to check but I think they are a performace all season tire). Living in St. Lous I deal with just a few days of snow a year with ice being the main issue. Knowing that winter tires will provide some better traction I am curious if the cost is really worth it? Or, is the real benefit for those living in areas that see snow/ice the whole winter season (North East, MI, etc...).

 

I live in west Michigan, and because of that get lots of lake effect snow. We can get dumped on big time. The all seasons aren't bad, but wider performance biased all seasons are not the best combination in snow. I can get around for the most part just fine, but AWD does not help you stop. That is purely a brake and tire thing. So much of my reason for the snows is for braking. My A4 weighs about 1000 pounds more than my old Jetta, and it's really noticable if it is slippery since that extra weight takes a bit longer to stop. I also cross country ski, and the parking lots are not well kept, usually with the plow dumping snow at the entrance making it difficult for anything not jacked up like a truck to get through.

 

i was looking at buying some winter tires for my car. Interested to see how well they work on your car. Are they really worth the money? is there a night and day difference .By the way what kind of tires did you get.

 

I keep my winters (and summers) stored at my Audi Service Center. They actually sent me a letter saying my front ones were at 4mm depth and gave me a deal on two new ones. Since we can get some pretty decent snow here in Germany (mountains) I like to keep them at no less than 5mm tread wear.

 

I got the Continental ExtremeWinterContact tires. I purchased them at the dealership and they came with Audi aluminum rims, and tire totes. Audi has packages available. They are not on the Audi site yet, but they are listed on a chart at the dealer. There are no steel rims available for the car, so you have to get aftermarket aluminum rims or the ones Audi has. I don't mean to sound snooty, but this is an Audi, and there is no way I'm going to put cheap aftermarket rims on it just for winter. Makes the car look tacky. Audi only sells the winters for the B7's as 205/55R16's. The narrower tire bites and grips better than the wider 17's. I have friends that have a Saturn and it makes a huge difference. My sister has a rear drive CTS, and has Blizzaks. The CTS drives like its on dry pavement. I would follow her in my GLX Jetta with all seasons and slide all over and spin the tires at the smallest amount of throttle. Another friend of my brother's had an A8 quattro with winters, and he said, the tires made his car drive like an unstoppable tank through the snow.

 

I agree. I went to my Audi dealer a couple of years ago to get steel wheels w/winter tires. They told me sure and quoted a price etc. Well after a couple days they called and told me no steel wheels will fit my Audi (US Spec') to make up for it they gave me Audi Alu-Winter wheels at cost. Not bad I say!

 

Got the tires installed tonight, and the weather just happened to take a turn for the worst. The snow's really coming down. The snow's do make a noticable difference. I could break the tires loose in the snow with the all seasons, but it is very difficult with the snows. Not that I plan on abusing the snows, but I was curious how much more they gripped. And on the way home two cars had already slid off the highway, and I didn't feel like the car was trying to get away from me at all. I'll have to update in a few days after I've had a little more time behind the wheel. I did notice imediately that the car rides softer. At 32 F the rubber is quite pliable.