I really like my Bridgestone Potenza G009s. They are great in winter too.

 

I put semperit sport-grips on the stock 16s and driving in the snow with those tires has to be about the most fun ive had in my car! The car simply goes like a bat out of hell, the grip is amazing. Theywere cheap to, about $71 a tire for 225/55R16 on tire rack.

 

BFGoodrich G Force Sport

 

Yokohama AVID

 

heard ghreat things about the Falken 912 UHP As, affordabel too.
Anyone using them?

 

I have a similar question but for an older car - 2000 Audi A6 2.7T in the Dallas/North TX area.

When I bought the car from an Audi dealership, it had Pirelli's with Italia rims and 245/45/17 specs. Come time to change the tires and I realized these are not OEM - which is 255/15/16. With the 245/45/17 tires I got 18/22 gas mileage but I always heard a thumping sound whenever I went over bumps etc. So, I did a tire comparison and figured 235/45/17 is exactly the same diameter as 215/55/16 and given the advanced features on the car (awd/abs/etc), it seems like 235/45/17 is the more comparative match to OEM tires than the 245/45/17s. Tirerack also suggests this.

But again, with 245/45 I have less sidewall and feel the ride is a little loud - is 235/45/17 going to be much worse? And if the effect is going to be negligible with 245/45/17 or 235/45/17, is it the brand of tires that make it loud on the road? Could it be that the Pirellis I have are the problem? What would you recommend?

Gottwinns- how did the Eagle F1s do?

 

I run General Exclaim UHP on my 01 A6 2.7T with the 17" wheels. I like em and they can be had for fairly cheap. Don't run them in the winter though as I'm in Canada, have dedicated snows for that. :-/
Gary

 

If you're in Texas, then probably an all-season tire is more than you need. I noticed someone (IAmDevil) mentioned the Conti SportContact - and that was a couple of years back .
I have Contis PremierContact, which I installed on about 12k miles back, and they still look like I put them on yesterday. I can take a pic for edification, this is no bologna.
I was reluctant to buy them since I heard previously that Contis are noisy, as a general trend. The car however is anything else you want to call it, BUT noisy.

I would buy this tire anytime, the same as Kuhmo Ecsta (someone else mentioned it), Falken Ziex (wears out fast though), Yokohama Avid TRZ, Cooper Lifeliner (if they still make them), or Hankook Optimo 418 (an excellent tire in my opinion).
As someone said once: when it comes to tires, if you ask 100 different people you'll get 100 different answers.