Any recommendations?

For my winter set, I've got the Titanium Pkg wheel with the 235/40 R18 Pirelli P6 - I picked up the car less than a week ago, and that's what came on it. This wheel appears to be 18x8.

I'm thinking of Pirelli PZero Neros on a slightly wider wheel, say, 18x9, but since I have a month or two to research before I can safely put summer rubber on, I'm starting here.

What're you running, and what recommendations do you have?

TIA


[IMG]local://upfiles/48606/A24EE880E2EF4DAD946563F85C44ADC3.jpg[/IMG]

 

I've had mine for 6 weeks now and 235's are too wide to be effective in more than a inch of slush. I'm going to mount 215/55-16 or 205/60-16's for next winter. After 6 yrs in a B5q with 215 snows, it was an unpleasant suprise when my B7 started floating and my usual "when in doubt gas it" didn't improve the situation. Didn't hit anything and stayed on the paved part of the road, it made my butt pucker though. I enjoy steering with the throttle, but only if the tires hook up consistantly, and these broke free and never even tried to regain traction. I also want a bit more sidewall for the winter, as there is often something undesireable in the road (potholes, ice chunks, heaves, etc.).
The summer'son mine are Conti all-seasons and I don't recommend them at all.

 

You want narrower tires for snow so they penetrate. Wider tires will spread the weight out over a greater area, making it more difficult for the tire to get through the snow.

 

While I agree with both of you regarding winter tires (pizza cutters are better than wide ones), I'm looking mainly for summer rubber now and will re-evaluate my winter rubber this summer.
I ran narrow Blizzaks on 17" wheels on my last car (Jaguar) and they were quite the nice winter tire, but at present, I'm somewhat stuck with what came on the A4, and since I don't expect much more winter here, I'll keep them for now.

I found these (RS4) 19x9 wheels and am thinking about them for my summer rubber.... (bad picture with the rusted rotors)



However...
Should I just mount summer rubber on my existing 18x8s and get some new 17"s for next winter's rubber?

Thoughts? Are 19x9s going to be too wide (depending on the tire I end up mounting) for the A4 B7?

thanks

 

I found a site that lets me visualize Tire/Wheel combination sizes:
http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

255/30R19 PZero Neros on 19x9 RS4 wheels is currently a leading contender if the wheels fit (backspace/offset) and the tire clears all hardware. This combo is slightly smaller diameter but about 3/4" wider.

Is anybody running such a combo? Thoughts on fitment?

 

Update:

According to ECS Tuning (http://www.ecstuning.com), which also sells the RS4 wheels shown above, they will fit the all sub-models and all engine configs of the A4 B7

 

More research via:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=MP&width=245%2F&rat io=35&diameter=19&tireSearch=true&spee d_rating=H&speed_rating=V&speed_rating=W&a mp;speed_rating=Y&speed_rating=Z&speed_rat ing=(Y)&speed_rating=H&speed_rating=V& speed_rating=W&speed_rating=Y&speed_rating =Z&speed_rating=(Y)
shows that more respondants rated the Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Position (1) higher than Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 (2), Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 (3), and Pirelli PZero Nero (6). I ran PZero Neros on my previous AWD and thought they were really nice.

Anyone willing to offer comments on the performance of any or all of these summer tires?

As I mentioned above, I plan on putting a set of summer tires on the RS4 Graphite wheel (also shown above).

Thanks

 

Can the 17" (oe) use 225 ? if so, do you know the correct size to use ?

Can't find any 16" steelies.. was told they don't exist for the b7. Also haven't found used 16" b7 oem either.. (230$CAD at the dealer)