dseag2

So, I've had a slow leak in my rear driver's side tire for months and I just fill it up every week since my lease is up in December. Well, Saturday I was heading out and it felt like I was riding on the rim so I stopped at the closest gas station and noticed my FRONT driver's side tire was flat. I filled it up and took the car to the closest Firestone store. They checked it out and told me I had sidewall damage to one tire (from potholes no doubt) and nails in two other tires. I ended up buying two Bridgestone Potenzas. The patching and the tires were $565 on a car I will be turning in in 4 months! As a side note, I will say that the Bridgestones seem much more hard and "bouncy" than the Pirellis that came on the car.

I travel a lot and there has been lots of construction at DFW. I must have picked up nails there because the tire was fine when I left the airport and flat when I left home the next day. The real reason for my post is to say that the wheel/tire package may be worth the price. I didn't think I would need it on a 24-month lease, but after a couple of wheel touch-ups and new tires it would have paid for itself.

Another side note... on May 1, a valet parking attendant pulled my S5 into a concrete bench, damaging the front driver side of the car. It has long since been fixed, but I've never had so much happen to a car in less than 2 years. Love my S5, but I feel like it is "cursed". :-(

mgmarsh39

Had to help a co-worker today with a flat. We have a plant beside the Texas Motor Speedway, and this area is super prone to construction debris. He had a 6in long piece of concrete sticking out of his rear tire. Yeesh!

eric strauss

… It is a curse here in LA. In 2016, two already - both on my wife's S4. Patched (plugged) on the road by me and then inside patch at Wise Tire in Inglewood. Last year, two as well with one on the sidewall so the tire had to be discarded :-(

I included a pic of the one that couldn't be repaired. The contractor in our neighborhood picked up that cost. The other pic is a sickening site of my collection of nails retrieved from our street when a house was being constructed last year. These are the nails picked up by me over a three month time frame. I had to do it each afternoon when I came home so I wouldn't run over any more nails

Yikes...

superswiss

I buy my tires at Tirerack. They come with free road hazard protection. It's a reimbursement program that pays $20 per repair or if the tire can't be repaired, they reimburse the full price you paid for the damaged tire or the cost of a new tire, whichever is lower. I've repaired a few tires on their dime and got two tires replaced at no cost to me so far on my current car. I won't buy tires anywhere else. Their road hazard program used to be an extra cost, but two years ago or so they started to include it for free.

I suppose you don't care at this stage, but you are not supposed to mix different brand tires on a car with Quattro and the thread wear all around should be within 4/32" of each other. They may ding you at the end of the lease for turning in a car with mismatched tires.

lemonpeal

Hi deseag2 - a bit off topic...just curious what you are going to do when your lease is up in December. I would have ordered a new S5 but the '17s are exactly the same as my '14 and the new model won't be available until Spring or early Summer 2017. Thanks.

dseag2

I need a bit more room, so I'll just be turning it back in to Audi of Dallas. The field of sedans/SUVs is wide open. I probably won't be going back to Audi because they don't lease well. The car only has 12k miles on it.

dseag2

Thanks for the heads up. Yes, it's a bit late at this point. I knew that cars had to be returned with the same TYPE of tire (ie. runflats) but wasn't aware the same brand was required. I asked the guy at Firestone and he said it wasn't an issue. (Of course he would say that.) This is the third car I've purchased/leased from Audi of Dallas so hopefully they will go easy on me.

dseag2

Just an update on this. Superswiss, you were right. Firestone replaced the two REAR tires on my S5. Not only did the car seem to need overcorrecting on the highway, I got the surprise of my life when I put it in Dynamic and the Stability Control came on repeatedly. It even came on in Auto mode when I tried to take a corner at my usual speed (fast). I had them replace the two front tires today. All are now Bridgestone Potenzas and she drives like a dream!

$1,100 later, someone will get a really nice 2015 S5 with 14k miles and almost new tires when I turn in the car in late December.

superswiss

Yup, you don't want to cheap out on tires with Quattro. BTW, you gonna take a huge bath by just turning in your S5 with only 14k miles on it. Leasing in Texas is a bad idea to begin with, because you pay full sales tax. On top of that as you already figured out Audi leases are terrible. You most likely have a serious amount of equity in this car and since you will have paid the full sales tax at the end of the lease, buying the car and selling it instead of just turning it in seems like a nobrainer. Just something to consider.

Force-1

I might even take it to Carmax and see what they will give you for it. Free, and about 30 minutes of your time.