eric strauss

... below 50F they feel just like performance tires with a bit of extra noise.

Happy Motoring

Eric

joe0816

I will commit the blasphemy... If I wanted All Seasons, any suggestions?

JohnnyG0925

After a sidewall blew on my OEM Continentals with less than 2,500 miles and on a smooth road, I went with a set of Pirelli Cinturato P7 All Season Plus XL tires. I am very happy with the tires. A bit more noise on grooved pavement, but they do really well in wet and wintery conditions.

I'm not one to push the car in the turns (straight line acceleration is another matter :-) so for me, year-round safety is more important than maximizing g-forces in the corners.

vmoney

I just ordered the s6 with the same wheels for delivery in October. I had the same problem with my 2010 a6 that came with summers. After two months I had to change them since I live in the northeast. They sat in my garage for years since I didn't want to keep swapping them on and off. After replacing the all seasons I put on with another set of all seasons I finally put the summers on when the second set of all seasons wore out. I had tried selling them but I wasn't getting strong offers. I'm going to have the same problem again with this car. Replacing the summers in December and having a brand new set sitting in the garage. I never gave a thought about the calipers. I admittedly am buying the car for the looks and didn't think about the brakes having an impact on tire clearance. It seems as though everyone trusts tire rack so I will prob do the same. It just kills me to have those brand new summers sitting around doing nothing.

Boost Addiction

I have the 20" 5-rotor wheels on my 15 S6 that came with the Black Optic package. I bought a set of very close replicas of these in 19" from an eBay seller. The wheels cleared the calipers, but had so little clearance that the fronts had to be balanced with the weights on the edge of the rim, instead of on the barrel which is the norm (the weights scraped the calipers when they were mounted on the barrel of the wheel).

But the wheels were very inexpensive (around $700 for the set, IIRC) and with the Michelin Alpin tires, it seemed to stick really well in cold weather. Not that I spent much time driving it in snow...

So far no issues, but I drive pretty gingerly in the winter with that car (I have another AWD DD).

For me, it's much more useful to have a dedicated set of snows on wheels, as changing them is very easy in my garage, the wheels are not at risk from repeated tire changes, and the "nice" wheels don't get subjected to bad weather. When the cheap reps get oxidized or whatever, repainting them is easy and fast.

69Firebird400

I have factory 20" five-spokes. I keep my summer tires on those because I like their design. I bought a set of 20" Blizzaks and a set of slightly-used 20" VMR wheels. Once I had the tires mounted and balanced, I was then able to swap the wheels twice a year by myself. This way I have optimal tires for the season. (I did ask for and receive a Craftsman electric impact wrench and hydraulic floor jack to make the tire swap easier - the tire change itself is very easy to do with those two things).

You will find that an S6 with winter tires is freaking awesome in the snow. Enjoy your new car!

DD1546

I use OEM Audi 19 inch wheels with Michelin Arctic Alpins. Their performance is close to the summer tires and they have reasonable snow traction. If you expect a lot of snow, Blizzaks are the best choice. We only have a few days in NJ where we have to drive in snow. The rest of the time its plowed roads or slush.

tmiele

I need a winter tire set for my S6 and I’m looking at Tire Rack and Hartmann. While I like Hartmann wheels (I’ve had two different Hartmann sets for both an ’04 S4 and ’10 S5), they told me their 19” wheels that would fit the S6, but the wheel weights need to be attached to the spokes. Anyone here have wheels with spoke balancing done on them? Just wondering if they hold up and any down side to them.

djsiry

The OEM Audi Tire/Wheel packages don't look like a terrible deal to me, considering they include road hazard insurance for 2 years and I imagine you can get some discount off list.

http://microsites.audiusa.com/ngw/13...2_Brochure.pdf

I drive an S6, but the S7 Wheels on the above brochure look much nicer to me and I assume they will fit.

tmiele

If I could get a 20% off the Audi set I would most likely buy them. Last time around in 2011 I tried 2 or 3 dealers to get good discount the Audi winter wheel package and none would go more than 10%.

By the way, that price sheet you posted is dated 2012 and the packages have all gone up - last year's price the S6 wheels were priced at $3195.

I'm going to try again to see if any Audi dealer will give me 20% off for the wheel/tire package. If not - it's Hartmann wheels for me.