tpitsti93

All,

I thought I’d share what I ended up doing for winter wheels/tires on my 2016 S7 last winter. I purchased an S7 with the 20” Black Optics option that came with Pirelli P Zero 265/35R20 99Y summer performance tires on 5-double spoke OEM wheels. I did EU delivery with pickup in June and got the car here in The US in August. I live in Wisconsin so needed to do something pretty quickly before winter set in up here. Here's the car with the stock wheels/tires:



I looked at the Audi winter wheel/tire options, didn’t like them and they were $3095.



I also looked at putting 265/35R20 winter performance tires on my stock wheels but it was difficult to find winter tires at this size. It was possible when I looked last fall but they were over $400/tire and now that I look again, they aren’t showing up on Tire Rack. I also did a bunch of research online – most people online recommended that you use different wheels for winter driving just given all of the junk and potholes that come with winter driving. They also recommended that you go with narrower, smaller diameter wheels both to get the wheels a little further away from the road surface and to do a better job of cutting through the snow and slush vs. wider wheels that might have a propensity to “float” more on the snow.

After doing some research online and based on some recommendations for aftermarket wheel, I decided to go with the following package:

Hartmann – $310/wheel, plus $243.22 for Shipping = $1483.22 Hartmann Wheels - Audi Wheels, stock replicas - hartmannwheels.com item #2 HRS6-091-MA:M. I purchased tires from Tire Rack: Michelin Pilot Alpin PA4 255/40R-19 ASYMMETRIC XL. $301.90/tire plus $71.80 S&H = $1279.40. The Total was $2762.62.

These were a little wider and smaller diameter than what would have come on the Audi winter tire package (235/45R19). For Comparison:
• My winter Michelin Alpin tires (255/40R19) are 10” wide, 27” diameter, 4” sidewall
• The stock Pirelli P Zero tires (265/35R20) are 10.4” wide, 27.3” diameter and 3.7” sidewall
• The Audi recommended wheel package Conti tires (235/45R19) are 9.3” wide, 27.3” diameter and 4.2” sidewall

Below is a side-by-side picture. The installed wheels are the stock wheels with the Pirelli P Zero’s just put back on last weekend. The wheel to the right is the Hartmann wheel with the Michelin winter performance tire.



Hope this helps!
Tom

elonepb

Thanks for this!

Only thing missing: how'd it go during the winter? Do you wish you had gone with the Audi package that a narrower tire?

Wheel looks pretty clean considering it went through a winter.

tpitsti93

Hah, yeah, the most important part! It drove really well in the winter. I couldn't tell the difference between a few tenths of an inch here and there and I also never drove in foul weather with the summer tires so I can't compare but have to believe there would be a big difference. Separately, my wife went from all-seasons to winter tires on her Acura AWD SUV and it made a huge difference for her.

The wheels are clean b/c I had just spent the last two hours scrubbing them like crazy before bagging them for the summer :-) Notice the scrub brush wedged in there that's keeping the wheel from rolling away.

Indemand

Yes, very nice scrub brush! I know I have to do something before winter as well. I like those wheels. It would be great if it came with tires mounted. I'm in NH. Most of the time when I drove though the roads have been taken care of pretty well. So I'm not sure winter tires would be necessary. Most of the time I'll drive on drier roads adding wear to the winter tires. With AWD I was hoping an all season would suffice. I've made through bad winters with fairly powerful RWD cars with M&S rated all season's.

I'm debating between these 19" rims suggested with an all season or just changing out my rubber on the existing wheels. I love the Pirelli summer tires thus far. The Conti 20" all seasons seem to have mixed reviews. They appear to be the only AS tire available in this size?

I suppose I have 6 months to get this figured out.

tpitsti93

I forgot to mention. I had the tires shipped from Tire Rack to Hartmann. Hartmann then put them on the wheels, did the balancing then shipped the wheel/tires to me. I had a local service shop put them on. It was really easy. I just told Tire Rack to ship them to Hartmann and reference my Hartmann order number. Hartmann was great about it (it was actually their idea). It worked out very well.

Indemand

Thanks! Great to know this option exists. I'm feeling your control over my wallet sir.

tpitsti93

Sounds like I work for Hartmann but I don't! :-)

MikeM3412

Tom, Your pic of this factory and aftermarket wheel together is the first I've seen. Thanks! I'm considering this Hartmann wheel myself as my everyday. Tell me please, is the gray paint the same shade? What about matte vs. gloss? They do look pretty close..... Thanks

tpitsti93

They are pretty close in terms of color. The painted part on the Hartmann wheels are a little bit darker but it's really only noticeable if you have them side by side. Regarding matte vs gloss they seem similar. Both are what I would call semi-gloss. They don't stand out as being super shiny but they also aren't that try flat matte color you see on some wheels and car paint. The machined surfaces (the aluminum exposed parts on the outer surfaces) are just that. I'm sure they are machined and probably have a protective coating if I had to guess.

MikeM3412

Appreciate the response, Tom, and your detail. - Mike