a_alyte

When I bought my '07 sport (19" rims) in November it came with summer tires and a spare rim, no tire. Since it was winter I purchased my first set of winter tires which came as a package and stored the original rims. I've been riding with no spare which I no is risky. When the time comes to change the summer tires, I was thinking of going with all-seasons rather than summer tires in hopes of prolonging tread life, I plan to keep my D3 for as long as possible. I understand the benefits of summer tires but is it true that summers wear faster than all-seasons? Should I just get a set of summer tires since I have winter wheels already?

My main question is this, since I have two wheel sets, is it necessary to have two matching spares as well? If so, I'll eventually need to purchase 5 tires for the 19s and one 17" rim with tire for the winter set.

Thanks

snagitseven

All season tires will almost always wear longer than dedicated summers, generally at the expense of some performance.
As long as the spare wheel and tire combo is close to the same overall circumference of both sets and you use it at a reasonable speed for a short distance emergency, you should be ok with just one. Mixing tire types for a longer period of time is not recommended however.

a_alyte

Ok. When I buy all-seasons I'll grab 5 and use one for the spare. I bought my 17"winter wheel package from tire rack and there suppose to be the same circumference as oem.

kgd_007

This is a great question as the factory tires on my car are 265/35/20 which I replaced with 275/35/20 tires. I didn't think of the spare but did want to keep the overall diameter as close as possible. The 275 tires added about 1 mph according to my gps. According to a tire comparison calculator the revolutions per mile for each tire are 731.7 vs 739 which is about a 1% difference. I am just guessing that this will be ok for short term use.

I went with the Michelin Pilot Sport AS3 tire and am really happy with them. There are smooth and quiet with great wet traction and very close dry traction to the Yokahama summer tires I replaced. I hear the snow and ice traction is not great with these AS tires but I expect to use the car rarely if at all in the snow. I only got about 12,0000 miles out of the Yokahama's and expect 30,0000 to 40,000 out of the Michelin all seasons.

Kris

MP4.2+6.0

Mine has always had the 275/35 20's. Yes, the running circumference is different, which translates into several things:

• the speedo should be more accurate. At least on W12's, the one data point available in the 18 inch fitment used in a German (language) road test is that the speedo was very optimistic--several miles per hour equivalent at around 60MPH/+/-100kph. The 20" fitment improves this since the tire diameter is 27.7", up from 27.0" on the 18" or 19" stock fitment and from 27.3 on the S8 style fitment with 265/35 20's. In the practical world, at least on mine using a GPS speedo app on my iPhone, it says it is essentially right on. It definitely does not read too low (the scary scenario for ticket risk).
  
• The overall diameter going up on the 20's in terms of the sidewall means when you do the math it is only .15" of sidewall rubber difference compared to the 19's as far as smoothness issues.
  
• The .7" in diameter change helps fill out the fender wells that much better, and I think the D3 looks better with the "big wheel" look--as do some other cars like the big Jags as another that comes to mind and also with big fender wells. If you VAG COM lower it you can decrease the fender gap incrementally more, yet the 275's increased the baseline ride height .35" to start with to help the undercarriage survive in the real world.
  
• And last, yes, the spare does not fit in 275/35-20 sizing. I've tried it. The running diameter is too big to start with, even really trying to wedge it there (good luck trying to get it out...). Plus I suspect even if I could jam it in there--letting a bunch of air out and a big mallet "persuader"--the width would make the trunk floor piece ride up. All why the 20" factory wheels like mine come with a 255/45-18 mounted on the (U.S.) baseline 18" five spoke wheel with a black paint job and some nanny safety stickers. The tire is a regular M+S Pirelli though, not any kind of mini-spare, inflatable or donut.

All this puts aside that I like the width appearance wise, and the handling feel and stop right now braking power. And meanwhile per the replies, agreed that as long as they aren't thought of as a real "snow tire," the Michelin AS3's are on my list when I burn off the current Dunlop Sport Maxx summers.