DmanTT

I'm about to pick up a new '02 A4 3.0 with the sport package and was wondering which is the better tire?

formerly dennisA4

Continental Sport Contact 2's. That's what i got. =)

Count Schemula

They look bad ***. Meaty. They have a rubber bead on the sidewall which helped save my rim from evil in a parking deck once already.

The Dunlops seem pretty soft. Somebody else mentioned they thought they would last about 15k miles. I think they'll do a little better than that.

In the dry they grip and grip and grip. When they are through gripping, I have found breakaway to be delightful and predictable.

Tonight I plowed through my first rainy highway stuff and no noticible problems there. I don't push it handling wise at all in the rain, so I don't know anything about "rain grip." But I went the usual 70-75mph and most other traffic was 5-10 slower than that. Felt great.

<dumb story>

Guess that brings up a stupid rain story I have. Driving Berlin to Amsterdam in the rain. Most freeways over there are two lanes, so in reality, one lane is too slow, and the other can be too fast, depending on what car your in. I was in a 2.0 litre Saab, non-turbo, so, I was an in-betweener.

Anyhow, pretty heavy rain, and I rarely opt for the too slow lane since it drives me buggers, so I'm in the too fast lane.

Kind of on purpose, I did not brush-up on mph/kph conversion, so I had no real idea what the speedometer meant, I generally drove like the romans for the two weeks - floored! It's wild just standing on it for hours. La la la. 128mph steady. Tick tock clock.

Anyhow, pretty heavy rain, so I'm in a little train of cars, and we seem to be going at a good clip. When we passed tractor trailers, the splash was so intense as you drove through it, you literally could not see anything for about two full wiper swings. Just a grey watery mass. You just put all faith in the course of action, the faint shimmer of taillights just ahead of you and the set of headlights up your ***. Those concrete bridge overpasses were scary as ****. Seemed to just come out of nowhere. This went on for a long time.

Turns out we were averaging about 95mph the whole time. I just can't believe that the romans would lead me so astray! I guess that must be semi-normal or something. Looking back, it's about the wildest driving story I got, at least from my perspective. Way beyond the white knuckle.

</dumb story>

DmanTT

Thanks for the info.. I was leaning toward the Dunlops for the look. Just curious if anyone else had any input.

And btw.. not a dumb story at all. One day I hope to be able to drive in a european freeway like a roman.