A4Driver

I'm just curious ... If you leased your car with A/S tires on them, do you have to return them with A/S tires or can they be summer tires, too?

I have a set of Pirelli original equipment summer tires from my previous A4 that have only 2,000 miles on them. I have kept them stored in dark, air-tight plastic bags out of the sunlight. They look brand new.
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HyperS4

You can turn it in with whatever you want. Ive had customers who left winter tires on their cars for lease turn in.

morris39

@HyperS4
"You can turn it in with whatever you want. Ive had customers who left winter tires on their cars for lease turn in."
Just who do you work for. That was a sharp response to VK BTW. This has that just so story feel to it.

HyperS4

I sold Audi for almost a decade. Not in car sales anymore. I was trying to cut off any derailing of my thread early, it was sharp but he understood where I was going with it. Lastly, what does "This has that just so story feel to it" mean?

HyperS4

Update 2.5:

On my way home from work last night I was on the same 70 mile commute on the Turnpike back. Again, basically an hour of sustained speeds under triple digits(a couple times bouncing on it). High speed lane changes felt agile and direct. There was no delay in feedback or any extra steering input needed. Again, very quiet at those speeds, no discernible tire noise. Another good heat cycle for breaking in.

This morning I was on my normal commute and was able to test the roads I know a little bit more. First thing I noticed again is that these tires dont tramline as bad as the old Pirelli. Could be because they were worn out and that made them bad, but they felt seriously unsafe on certain roads. Second thing I noticed was how planted these tires are on uneven pavement. There is a turn I take that is about 90 degrees off the highway and the road is broken and raggedy. On the Pirelly, the car would skip and hop on that turn. With these new tires it just stayed on track, impressive to say the least. There are a few long sweeping on/off ramps that I enjoy taking and thats where I really got to test the tires. Granted they have just shy of 200 miles on them now but I feel like they are basically scrubbed in. There is one long decreasing radius sweeper that I take and I was able to take it at a considerable speed comfortably. It was when it started to decrease that I felt that the sidewall wasnt as stiff and it leaned in a lot more than the Pirelli. It didnt feel like it was going to understeer, it just felt like I had to put in a little more steering input than normal. Also, still getting used to the tires in the sense of not knowing their break-away point. Lastly, its been near freezing so Im not really getting to test their handling in the proper conditions.

Anyway, any other questions feel free to ask. Ill update this when I discover anything new or theres something good or bad that happened with them.

minmet

Thanks, HyperS4! This is really a great thread. Enjoy reading it. Curious, where are those cheaper tires came from?

HyperS4

https://www.carid.com/2017-audi-a4-tires/

minmet

Thanks for the source, HyperS4! I searched earlier and see many vendors have them. I was wondering about the brand, manufacturer and origin of those tires.

mkwan

I would NOT recommend any cheap tires to anyone. The tires is what connects you to the road. Tires is the #1 thing that affects the handling and performance of your vehicle that you can actually feel. You spend $XXX amount of money on a new car and you want to cheap out on your tires? Mined as well buy a cheap used car or lease a cheaper car. You don't buy a luxury automobile and buy cheap tires. I don't bother reading the user review on the tire websites as they could be fake/paid reviews. I would only purchase tires from reputable tire manufactures that actually show proven test results. Purchase tires accordingly to your intended usage ie track, high performance, snow, touring, etc. Sorry I just don't get the logic on high end car and low end tires but to answer your question Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ are great tires for your application.

HyperS4

Thanks for taking the time to read the purpose of my thread. Nobody is arguing that tires are not important. Nobody is arguing that "mined" is a substitute for "might" either. That being said, I never asked for your, or anyones recommendation for tires for my car. I have had the DWS/DWS06/MPS AS 3 on my previous S6's. They are all great tires, no doubt about it.

This thread is a test to see if inexpensive tires are good, if not as good, as the better well known more expensive brands. Im doing this so nobody else has to. Im doing this because my car is a lease and Im turning it in soon and its not worth spending a grand on tires I will hardly use. Im doing this because I enjoy doing things for this community that most people would/are objectively opposed to or afraid to do themselves.

And unless one of these tires blows out(which Ill update this thread from my hospital bed), so far these tires are just as good as tires twice to three times the price. I have yet to test them in the rain(Here in NJ Ill have plenty of chances) and snow(Maybe this weekend!).