Howdy Y'all, I've gained alot of knowledge from reading this forum, and decided to join after I got my 2000 S4.

I was wondering if anyone had anysugestion on specific brands of snow tires they really like, or ones to avoid. I read a few threads on snow tires, but none of them seemed to address the specifics.

Also, I was wondering if I could get some oppinions on either getting new wheels for the snow tires, or just replacing (and keeping) my current tires (fairly slick perellies), using the same wheeles.

Thanks for all I've learned already, and if I missed a similar thread I appologize.

 

Personally I don't use snow tires on my a6. Living in the mountains in colorado I've been through many many BAD blizzards and as long as you drive carefully, a nice treddy all season tire should work just fine.

 

Last first:

The advantages to going with a different set of wheels for your snow tires are that you can use smaller diameter wheel with a tire that has a larger sidewall profile giving you some more clearance. It is also easier to swap wheels when the weather changes because you already have your tires mounted and balanced.

As to tires, it really depends on your winter climate. There are essentially three kinds of tires you can get: All Season, are good for general all year round use. They aren't great for anything but can handle the largest variety of conditions. Summer Tires are designed to maximize performance and handling on warm dry pavement only. Their performance really starts to degrade when the weather gets cold/wet/ice/snow. Then there are Winter Tires which have a softer compound for better performance in cooler weather. They are also more adept at handling the occasional snow/ice/wet winter weather. Finally there are straight up Snow Tires that are optimized for performance in SNOW (duh). Additionally, many snow tires can be studded for additional traction in snow and ice covered roads. They really aren't designed for use on dry pavement, so if your winters involve some snow but mostly cleared roads, snow tires might not be best for you.

This is kind of a simplistic overview. Your best resource is going to be the guy at the tire shop in your area. A consultation is free even though it comes with some pressure to buy. Be clear upfront with the guy and you can probably get some good advice.

Final thought: If I needed SNOW TIRES, personally I would go with green diamonds

 

Thanks for the responses, I never really realized the difference between winter tires and snow tires (coming from Texas, there wasn't the need for either). And apparently there are a couple shops nearby that sell the green diamond tires, so I might give them a look, but I'm leaning more towards winter tires.

jhuffman: Its good to hear that good all season tires work well, but since I already have summer tires I might get winter tires, and hopefully make both pairs last for a couple seasons. But when they're both toast I will be taking a hard look at all season tires.

 

Try this link to Tirerack - a wealth of very easy to use information which shows comparisons between various tires that fit your vehicle - the link is already set up for winter tires and you can sort by any of the categories rated (click the SORT button at the top of the individual columns).

Use the vehicle selector so the web site filters out tires that won't fit your car.

Most tire shops near you will honor the Tirerack prices if you ask them nicely. We went to a local reputable tire shop by our house with a printout and the shop dropped their prices to match.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...=C&sortValue=9

Good luck!