Hey guys,
I need some help with this whole snow tire debate. I live in Denver and go to the mountains to ski all the time. I just bought my B5 S4 and would love some info on the best all around snow tire. I have seen that the blizzaks, toyos and dunlops all seem popular. I am not greatly concerned about having a snow tire that will be a really high performance tire on dry pavement. I dont mind if it is a little bit louder than some. Which tire is going to give me the best snow and ice traction that will have a good tread life but may not be a "high performance" winter tire. It doesnt even need to be speed rated. any advice is greatly appreciated. Right now, I have a set of the 16" A6 2.7t rims with the factory all season tires on the car. how good or bad will these be in the snow while i am searching for a true snow tire?

Thanks all

hunter

 

man o man, i think we should have a dedicated column to winter driving. hahaha
but it is a good question man, and its somethin that if you dont take seriously, it will come back and bite you in the *** big time. It seems like you aren't too concerned with dry performance, which makes your decision of pickin a snow tire even easier. Personally, i run the Blizzak WS-50's on the standard S4 rims, and i couldn't be happier. I go places SUV's can't, and i have plowed my driveway during a heavy snow so my buddy's X5 could get up. They offer excellent control in foul weather, but the tradeoff is they can be noisy at times and dont have the greatest dry weather handing. However, they are considerably cheaper than a performance winter tire, which will not preform as well in the snow. As for the all weather tires you have on there now, it really depends on how new they are, otherwise i would be careful cuz you know what they say, "4 wheel drive don't mean 4 wheel go" good luck in your search man.

 

Lots of threads on this lately...makes sense, that time of year.

Blizzak WS-50's seem to get allot of good press, especially if you are not concerned about dry pavement performance. Uh...Dunlop M3s and a few others get lots of mention as well. A quick searh will turn up lots of info. I decided to go with Blizzak LS-25s on stock b6 s4 wheels. I do allot of driving in Vermont on weekends, but for most of the week I am on dry pavement.

 

I have to put in a vote for the Vredsteins as the best high performance snow tire that you can get - period. See my posts on other threads concerning winter tires here.

 

I also live in Denver and I would vote for ultra high performance all seasons over winter tires. Most of the time it is dry in Denver and winter tires can be kinda dangerous on the dry, plus they wear down quickly when it is warm. I just got the Avon M550 A/S. So far they are good, just need to test out the snow. On the Tirerack website they are rated very highly for winter driving and they are pretty cheap, especially compared to a winter tire.

 

superfreq,

let me know how they do in the snow, this is the first winter i have owned my audi, so i have no basis for comparison. I am leaning toward the Dunlop m3 wintersports because it sounds from reviews on tirerack that they have a good tread life. I have an all season on now, so i will see how they are in the snow too. How much are the avons?

 

Blizzak LS-25's. They are great. In Chicago, the threat of bad weather is far more consistent than the bad weather itself. Having lived in Denver too, it's even more that way there. Having "winter tires" with no real performance attributes vs. all season tires that are performance and snow based, is like driving around on chains - all the time, and you know we wouldn't do that. And, in reality, you'll see snow, but the majority of your driving will still be on dry pavement...even in the winter. And the performance trade-off is pronounced, as some of the other posts have indicated.

Good luck!

 

The one tire that I've not heard here and am most surpirsed is the Nokian.

You can get them in either studded or non-studded vairants.

The particular model I'd reccommend is the 'Hakkapeliitta 2' and for your situation, the studded-version seems most appropriate.

This is the tire that I've heard used on the Audi Sport Quattro while plowing through snow an F-150 couldn't get through (car mag review, either Road & Track, Car and Driver or Automobile).

My brother uses them on his Jetta and they are more than adequate for the winter roads we encounter snowboarding in western Canada, unstudded.

You won't be dissappointed.