RED HORSE

Well, your reference speaks of "OE" tires. I can believe tires delivered to the factory may be of marginally higher quality, but not tires installed by a dealer after the original tires are worn out. I may be wrong, but I don't see any proof yet.

KnappAttack

Because you not looking for it.

Blurb from previously.
"Not surprisingly, the most uniform tires typically go to the automakers for OE fitment. How much variation is acceptable for independent tire dealers versus the discount clubs is probably something that is not discussed in public."

Here is another good internet site. All you have to do is search for "tire imbalance" or "OEM tire runout" and things like that and you can read for weeks. Any old tire engineer is happy to speak of the "good tires" going to the OEM, the next best tier to the dealers and the third string going to the online discount places etc.

Barry's Tire Tech


Personally, I think there is something to be said for OEM installed tires and wheels/and or Audi's "AO" stamping on their replacement tires. They are made for Audi to a higher standard to eliminate the shakes and shimmys through out their life. Same can be said for the other high end vehicle manufacturers.

RED HORSE

Sorry, I remain unconvinced. You are telling me that for example in the Porsche world, that an "N" rated tire from Tire Rack is different than an "N" rated tire from the Porsche dealership? Just isn't possible. The "N" (Porsche equivalent to Audi's "AO" I presume) wouldn't be on the tire if it didn't meet Porsche's requirements. Now, I can't speak for other suppliers, but I've bought lots of tires from Tire Rack ane they were all fine, and you still haven't offered an explanation of why I've seen tires from the dealership with Tire Rack stickers on them.

KnappAttack

No, I'm not saying that at all! What do you not understand? If you did any research whatsoever you would understand the difference in tire quality, runout and balance. The best tires go to the OEM's, naturally they do not want their vehicles going out the door with a ride disturbance. Second best tires go to the brand name tire dealers, they don't want to deal with people coming back with ride disturbances either, third string tires go down market to the internet sellers and discount places where people are less likely to complain and send tires back with shaking and vibrations, it's just much more hassle to deal with sending them back and replacing them that people put up with it. Many people purchase tires from TireRack and have them delivered to the dealer, I have done it for many years, but have now had enough of the problems down the road.

Any tire that is rated with an "AO" would be a better tire built with tighter tolerances. TireRack does not have many of these that are rated "AO", and thay don't have a single set for an A8 with 20" rims. They mostly sell aftermarket tires, and aftermarket tires are not the quality of an "AO" or factory spec tire when it comes to runout, consistent construction and balance.

It's entirely up to the dealer where he wants to purchase his tires from. I'm glad that you have had good luck with their tires, I on the other hand have had the complete opposite, I have had nothing but back luck with them, and I have had my last set from them road force balanced by three different Audi dealers. All three say the same thing, two of the four tires are out of round, and its typical of EVERY set of tires I have ever bought from them, and that's no exaggeration!

Many may not drive hard or fast enough to notice any problems. If I keep mine under 60 with the GoodYears, its not bad at all, but running 70 you'd think your cars coming apart, over 80-85 and its smooth as glass again. Perhaps some people never run into the shake zone and experience these things. Maybe they just don't even pay any attention, I don't know, but I pay attention and want my ride glass smooth and any speed over the course of a tires life. If it's not then the tire is changing some how, either tread separation or the tire is changing shape somehow. And with better factory OEM tires I never have had that occur.

A 8

I've been thinking about this and with a very varied experience with regards to tires as well as where they come from.
I can understand the AO vs not AO and reading the link provided leaves me with the practicalities involved with further quality/roundness/etc selection and distribution.

If what it says in the link is true how and who decides which tire goes to which sales channel and how are the different sales channels managed? This is a volume business and very automated so there just needs to be a structure.

The man hours checking each tire and than the effort keeping track of them just don't make economical sense at least in Europe given our wages and taxes. If its systematic there simply need to be some sort of marking on the tires which other than the AO or not I am not aware exists , do you?

KnappAttack

All I know from my research is each tire is checked when coming off the line for runout, balance etc. From my research it appears that they place dots on these tires for different reason like high or low spots and heavy and light spots.

The "AO" tire is built and tested to higher standards according to Audi and I believe them on that too.

Audi Original Tires | Audi USA

snagitseven

I've had tires on my cars that came from the factory, including Audi, that ended going bad in one way or another and many tires from TireRack and other retailers that were just fine until they wore out and vice versa. After many different new cars over the years with multiple sets of tires per car, I can see no correlation between tires that came mounted on a new car from the factory or those purchased from TireRack or other dealers. The articles found on the internet (that of course, as we know, must be true), are not supported by my experience.

RED HORSE

This I believe, but if you buy an "AO" tire from TireRack it is the same tire, just like Porsche's "N" rated tires.

Now, I can also believe that dealers would tell you otherwise.

jengram

KnappAttack is 100% correct about this issue. I and many of my friends work for one the largest tire manufactures. Just because all the 1st rate tires go to the car manufactures doesn't mean the other tires going to the internet sellers are 3rd rate; however, it does mean they don't meet the same standards as the tires that are sent to the auto manufactures.

The quality for the 3rd party sellers are very good and will last as long as the 1st rate tires, but they may not provide the same ride quality. The ride quality can vary with car model and style of driving.

The reason the 1st tier tires going to the auto manufactures should be obvious. They want the cars, especially while under warranty, to have the best ride possible.

And to whomever mentioned above about sorting manually, this is not the case. The tire plants are automated and this is done by the machinery to keep the cost down and reduce the possibility of mistakes.

A 8

Did not think it was manual which sort of was my point bringing it up, if automated then there need to be an identifier on the tires and the only one we know about are the AO etc or not. Reading the link and what's been indicated is that there is a subset of quality within the AO and non AO marked tires. It leaves at least 4 levels of quality to manage so what are the identifiers?
Not saying you are wrong but I struggle to understand how this is managed beyond the AO vs std tires.