Dillondaly

My 2001 A6 2.7T has OME 16-inch rims. I want to upgrade them for a bigger wheel. Can anyone tell me what the issues are with going to an 18 or 19 inch wheel and what's the best size?

Also, I want to put some nice, high performance tires on. The tires that came on the car when I bought it a couple of years ago were nice, but I replaced them with Kumo (SP) and the ride is awful. I'm looking for a nice ride and good performance. Is there one all round tire that can handle rain and maybe a little snow (I live in DC) and still tear up the corners?

Press

with your 4th post you can tell us what you've narrowed it down to....8^)

welcome to the forum

SharkNardo

all season tire since I live in richmond, VA. I didn't want to deal with 2 sets of wheels (summer setup and winter setup). I did alot of research and settled initially on the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S. They were incredibly hard to get and were out of stock everywhere. I found out about the new Yokohama Advan S.4 tire which competes with the Pirelli. I bought them from Discount Tire, had them shipped to ECS tuning and they mounted them on my new rims. I have been extremely happy with the Yoko's. Similiar grip to my OEM ContiSport summer tires. They had some noise initially, but they were inflated to 40 PSI. I lowered it to 35 PSI and this improved alot, but took a little of the handling "edge" away. I'll probably play with the pressures a little to get it right.

I would not recommend going to a 19" rim with the D.C. roads. Especially since you're going from a 16" rim, the difference in ride would probably be huge. I felt a big difference going up only 1".

Not sure about size since I have a 4.2.

Buff-Daddy

This topic is a popular one, but a lot of it boils down to personal preference. Bigger tires usually means better handling (unless you are in snow), but a slight sacrifice in ride quality. Less rubber between the rim and the road. I wouldn't personally go larger than 18", but that it is just me. If you want an all season tire to handle changing weather conditions, these 2 rate high at tirerack and with many members on this board.

Pirelli PZero Nero M&S
Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Position

2 links you need to insure your larger rims/tires will fit are below.

http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

http://marksink.com/tire_wheel_offset/offset.html

LEH82

th the standard lower profile tire...40's on 18's or 35's on 19's...smooth roads necessary....I think 45's are pretty for 4000lb cars...bmw 740's run 18in 45 series tires and they handle pretty well for a big car and handle potholes pretty well.

I think a 18in 45 series tire will definitely change the rolling diameter but that can be recalculated if you have a vag com