I love my Audi A5 Cab but am hating the tires -Pirelli 245/40R18 93H P6 4 Season tires. I have less than 5000 miles on my A5 and have replaced the right front tire twice, once due to medium-sized pothole pass over at 30 mph and same location tire replace for golf ball-sized bubble on outside of tire when I hit no notable potholes in stop and go traffic at max speed of less than 40 mph.

Now I have discovered bubble in right rear tire. Is anyone else having these problems with these tires that come standard on their Audi?

Thank you.

 

Yes, Lucky for you, You haven't encountered the famous outter edge wear and insanely annoying road noise that typically come from the Pirelli's.
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Audi knows about them. But i believe they are under contract with them which means they have to use them.

What i recommend is buying your tires from a firestone or townfair tire and purchasing the tire warranty.

You do have a low profile tire which makes it more vunerable to damage against potholes. So even another brand won't really help. And i've seen belts shift and bubbles form in almost ever brand of tire.

 

I don't think your problem is typical. I'm on my third set of Pirelli's and got 49k miles out of set #2. I use Conti's for summer driving, so the Pirelli's see harsh winter use on 17" rims. I did lose one to a Detroit pot-hole about 4 years ago but otherwise they have been a great winter tire.

 

Thanks Audi Tek and ppgoal for your feedback. Not knowing what the future will bring, I am trying to decide what to do regarding these tires. It seems like some of the choices are:

Continue to drive on the existing tires and buy road hazard insurance as they fail. If ppgoal is right, this means I had a string of bad luck that should not continue. 2 of the 3 replacement tires are now insured. What is upsetting is after the first failure (right passenger front), we had Audi Meadowlands, Secaucus, NJ where we purchased the car, replace the Pirelli 245/40R18 P6 tire (at our cost of course), but they did not offer road hazard insurance and we did not know that road hazard insurance is routinely available at tire dealers for a nominal cost. After the second failure of the tire that Audi Meadowlands replaced (right passenger front) after only 497 miles and 20 days of driving, they refused to reimburse me for a replacement. But if ppgoal is wrong, then it will take another $500 for the 2 tires that have yet to fail to be replaced and insured, and what about the aggravation and safety factor involved for each failure?

Replace all the tires with another brand. It seems that there is no consensus that other low profile tires and any more durable. Autorack sells more expensive tires for the car, but would that mean the tires would be more durable?

Get a second set of rims and tires for winter driving, perhaps 16 or 17 inch rims that can accommodate a higher Sidewall Aspect Ratio tire than the 40 on the P6’s. All of the failures have been sidewall failures, one hole and 2 bubbles. Audi USA highly discourages this solution. In addition, I do not know if smaller rims will interfere with the brake calipers. This is a pretty expensive solution but may include peace of mind.

These are the choices that come to mind. Ppgoal, what is the tire size of your Pirelli’s? I think you are in better shape than me just by having 17” rims. I wonder if you have a higher Sidewall Aspect Ratio with more tire sidewall width than my tires.

Anyone want to weigh in with an opinion or other ideas?

Thank you.

 

I'm running P235/45-R17 with the Pirelli's on oem rims. For the summer I switch to P235/40-R18 ContiExtremeContact on the RS4 replica rims. I am always zigzagging down the road to avoid obvious potholes. I've driven a lot in the northeast and just came back from a trip to Middletown NJ last month, and flat out I think the NYC-area and northern NJ roads are a disaster....full of holes and depressed storm drains. I'm amazed the suspensions hold up as well as they do. I have 187k on the A6 with original shocks and just replaced one pair of control arms last fall.

I think you are better off finding a good tire specialty store than buying tires from a dealer. Typically the tires are warranted with a tread pro-rate, but a lot of stores will offer full replacement for $15-18 per tire. I am not driving as much as I used to, so when I replaced my Pirelli's I declined the additional coverage.

Sidewall failure could be due to pothole damage. Bubbles are another matter. I would take the serial numbers off the remaining tires and write a letter to Pirelli and complain. You might have gotten a "bad batch" and it is always worth complaining to the mfr at least once. Ask them to call you to discuss and drill them for other complaints of failures.

 

We (I am writing this on behalf of my wife who started the thread) have received requests to follow up as a way to help others so here we go. We received terrific technical support and expert opinion from Miles at Tire Rack miles@tirerack.com.

First, when we demanded that Audi pay for the Pirelli P6 that lasted 497 miles, all of the sudden the tire is now covered by Audi through Pirelli. Nothing in writing, but we are supposed to get back to cost of the tire. Hmmmmm.

Anyway, that does not solve the long term problem. With Miles help, we decided the best solution was to purchase a set of aftermarket wheels and well regarded winter performance tires. Miles recommended 17” wheels and 245/45-17 tires which will have a higher tire aspect ratio (45 versus 40) which will provide more sidewall. In addition it was recommended to select XL load range and a speed rating equal to or higher than the Pirelli P6 to hopefully gain more durability. There were lots of inexpensive, attractive wheels to pick from (we selected Sport Edition CE) and the tire we selected was a Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3. We will run these wheels and tires in the winter and run the Pirelli’s in the summer. The cost after a Michelin rebate was about $1425. Now $1,425 is nothing to sneeze at, but the A5 is a $50,000 car.

Of course we purchased road hazard insurance for $27/tire. Now we have 6 insured tires, 2 Pirelli’s and the 4 Michelin’s.

My takeaways from this exercise:
- Low profiles tires have weak sidewalls that cannot withstand potholes. The smaller the sidewall aspect ratio (the 40 in 245/40R18) and the larger the rim size, the higher the likelihood of sidewall failure. Try to get the smallest wheel/largest sidewall aspect ratio that will still look attractive on the vehicle.
- Pirelli P6 Tires are one of the worst within the low profile tire category. Therefore, your potential for sidewall failure is worse with this tire, avoid this tire if possible
- ALWAYS BUY TIRE HAZARD INSURANCE. This will cover road hazards like potholes causing sidewall bubbles and other failures on a pro-rated basis over the life of the tire. I never buy insurance for any product, but when you have a product that is designed to fail, make an exception.

Below is some of the correspondence with Miles to fill in the details:

From Miles:
Everything looks very good with the order. This (Michelin Pilot Alpin PA3) is a great winter tire and one that provides some of the best snow and ice traction while maintaining a solid feel and controllability.

Everything that you need to install the wheels will be included. This is includes cap, lugs, centering rings...etc. I don't carry any Audi caps so I can't guaranty they will fit but I have seen some guys make it work using their original caps. Otherwise the Sport Edition caps look just fine.

Again, let me know if there are any other questions or concerns. I'm here to help.

Miles

From Miles:
I'm glad you were able to check out the options. All of the wheels we sell meet or exceed the OE standards for finish, strength, reliability. In fact, many meet the standards of the JWL and TUV which are Japan and Germany's departments of transportation whose standards are both higher than the US.

The Sport Edition CE is a nice, single piece cast wheel that we sell many of in the winter season due to the excellent finish quality. It does a great job at repelling salt, sand, and any other corrosive material you may kick up on the road.

The XL tires do have an extra layer of reinforcement that allows them to be inflated to higher pressures so even though maker a tougher tire is not the focus, it is a side benefit.

Speed rating is similar. The higher speed rating again have more reinforcement in the carcass of the tire that allows it to last at higher speeds. The key is to make sure you are meeting or exceeding what came stock on the vehicle. Many vehicles can accept one step down in a speed rating but I would not recommend ever stepping down on a load index.

Given your previous experience, an XL and well speed rated tire sounds like it would provide you the most security and longevity.

From Miles
Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to address the TPMS in my last e-mail. Yes, the sensor that knows when your tire is low is a part of the ABS system in the Audi A5 so you do not have to be concerned about it when you buy wheels or tires.

For most vehicles there is a range of offset numbers and wheels widths that will fit perfectly. Generally the range for offset is +/-10 and for width is +/-.5''. We list the wheels for you vehicle based on the measurements we did of the vehicle wheel well, brake parts and suspension parts so any of these listed will work perfectly.

Miles

From Miles
There are nearly 50 different wheels that we carry in a 17'' that will fit the A5 that range in cost and style. My recommendation would be to go the this link:
http://www.tirerack.com/a.jsp?a=BY4&...=true&index=xx
Enter your make, year, and model on the left.
Click "17'' Packages: Wheels start as low as $99."
On the left above the red bar click "Skip to wheels" which will pull up all of the models.

This is a backwards way of getting to the 17'' wheels because they will not be explicitly listed unless you indicate are looking at a winter package. Regardless of your purposes, all of these wheels are for use year round and will perfectly fit the A5.

For tires, simply hover the pointer over "Products" at the top of the screen. Next hover over "Tires" and then click "Shop by size." The size to shop for is 245/45-17.

Miles

 

You are so right about that. I'm from So Cal. When I arrived here and started driving around, I was mortified when I saw these roads. I was considering and A4 Avant with Titanium Sport package. Now, perhaps Jeep Wrangler "Black" Ops Edition!
Geez.