toyland

i have posted similar question in the new member area as well.

so i'm in need of a new car and want something sporty. been looking at pre-owned rs7's and s8. I know I know totally different beasts. My concern is i live on long island and am worried about pot holes and blow outs.

i had a 2005 audi a8 in the past and loved it, then i moved on to a lexus ls460 (sofa on wheels). i never had a tire problem with either of these cars and i lived in nyc when i owned the a8 (i think i had 19's on it) the lexus has 18".

With the rs7's huge front brakes i cant put anything smaller then a 20" wheel on them, and with the exception of the winter tires 245/40/20 i have not seen all seasons (i know everyone's thoughts about all seasons on this type of car)or summer tires with a sidewall higher then 35 for the 20 tires. (at least none that are approved by audi for the wheel and tire insurance package)

i know there are more options with the s8 and i think the s8 can even handle 19's

am i being to concerned with regard to 20" with a 275/35/20 tire? every pothole i have hit in the last week has me thinking if i was on these i would have a blow out and would be kicking myself and the safer bet is an s8 with a 19 or 20 inch option with a higher sidewall.

by the way this will be my daily driver and i am told by my wife that i drive like a grandpa (nothing to aggressive)

i think you can fit 19's on an s7 but kind of fell out of love with it after seeing the rs7.

any feedback especially if you live in an area with the freeze thaw pothole issues would be appreciated.

markoos11

I have an RS7 with 21" stocks for the summers, and 20" HRE FF01's for the winters. I live in NYC and travel to Boston (family) a lot. This is a weekend car, not a daily driver.

I've hit a LOT of potholes driving so often in two of the worst pothole cities in existence. I've yet to have a bubble or a blowout with the RS7, as from my experience low profile tires are built pretty strong. (That's just from my experience...I bubbled something like 5 tires on my original S4 with 17's, but 0 on my RS4 with 19's and 0 on my RS7).

But what I've seen does happen in reality is that hitting potholes hard will bend the rim slightly even if it doesn't damage the tire. Then when you get back on the highway and hit 70, you'll feel a shimmy in the steering wheel, similar to if the wheel is out of balance.

The solution to this that I've started doing is to bring it to a tire shop that does rim straightening as well as balancing. If you go to one of these shops, you can ask to balance all 4 ($20-25 each), then straighten as needed ($100). If you need 2 you're looking at something like 250. But compared to the cost of a tire then it's not that bad.

In Boston, I used Wheel Solutions (Wheel Solutions - Straighten Bent Tire Auto Rims Boston Area). Rob is a really nice guy who built his own finely tuned machine and process. He's a perfectionist. Great results.

In NYC (Brooklyn), I used Kwicksilver. Bit less personalized, but they have a laser machine which also yields great results.

I'm so picky about any vibrations at highway speeds that I'm going to mix this into my yearly maintenance going forward -- i.e. have the tire place swap summers to winters and do a balance/straighten as part of the process.

Hope this helps.

tubby116

I have a S6 in philly and hit a pothole with 20's and got an instant flat depends on how you hit the pot hole i guess i was going like 70 miles an hr on the highway