Miles, Good to have you 'round (gettit? tires... round... I'm so phunnie!) my Mang!

So, I have a preferred brand of tire I've been rolling on, for about the last 15 years, almost... Falken's. Started using them back when I was stationed in Europe. LOVE their grip! Double-LOVE their breakaway characteristic, when pushed beyond their limits! Triple-LOVE their afford-ability. Hate their durability, but, that may be more a function of how I happen to know, intimately, their breakaway characteristic than anything else. I also hate how hard it is to find my next set (because I <3 AWD I always replace my tires in sets of 4).

I don't suppose Tire Rack is a vendor of Falken tires, are they? I've had to run them a lot longer than I was comfortable with, a time or two, due to lack of availability here in the Metro D.C. area.

Also, I have been thinking of trying Vredestein's on for drivability... What can you tell me about them (given my preferred gummi of choice, how they grip/handle/breakaway/roadnoise/etc. in comparison to Falken's would be helpful)? I've got some tire or another on my Scooby-Doo Legacy, now (wrecked the A8, showing off - non tire related); whatever it came with. And, I figure I could afford to spend a set of Vredesteins (I kinda like theor tread-pattern, actually) on the Scooby and see how they do before I drop coin on another A8 (hopefully later on, this year, but it's too early to say, for sure), and pony up for a set of Vredesteins in 19"ers (haven't picked a wheel yet, either, but, it'll be 19"-summers and 17"-winters-All Season's FTW).

So... Talk to me, my Mang!!!

 

AWDaholic, good to be here my Mang! Thanks for not keeping your question in the dark (dark...black, round and black = tires...eh eh?? Too much of a stretch?? Yeah...I think so too).

Falken is not a brand Tire Rack has yet worked with. They only permit a certain number of vendors in each area to carry their tires and we do not like to limit our customers access to anything we offer. My guess is this is the same reason you're having trouble finding them in D.C.

As for Vredestein's, I know they do most of their business on the east coast. I haven't driven anything from this brand though so to be fair I couldn't advise any opinion.

I would like to help you with your tires though! Give me a call or e-mail anytime and we can go over your interests and options. That would be much easier than carrying on back and forth this way. I carry 17 different brands so I'm sure we can find something to meet your needs.

 

^^^^

I love this guy.

Miles, seriously, I appreciate your participation on the forums and will definitely consider Tire Rack the next time I'm in the market for new shoes.

 

^^^+1

I'll give you a call (when I get some free time, during teh week), or, better yet, PM you.

Good to have a dedicated Tire-Guy, as opposed to what passes for Tribal-Knowledge, that we usually pass around. I mean, I know what *I* like, and so on... But, some of the info people pass along is worse that not knowing, IMHO.

Suggestion: Why doesn't Tire rack have a tire-size calculator, on their website? I usually goto the miata tire calculator when I need to check various permutations of size/aspect ratio/tread width. Having on on your website would make me think you guys are .5 more awesome more than I already do.

 

Thanks fellas! I'd been really wanting to unifying with my Audi brethren and this is an awesome format for it. You guys are awesome.

Great question! I have even used one myself for various purposes but Tire Rack has no plans to present one. The reason we don't offer one is because there are people out there who may not be as auto-savvy or logical as you or I. These people are under the impression that you can substitute any number of sizes on any vehicle with a consequence. As you know, this just ain't true. You have to consider fender lips, fender liners, brake systems, chassis parts, suspension parts, wheel widths, tire width ranges...etc. when trying to figure out what will be a clean fit. It actually could be more detrimental than helpful to most consumers.