Baloo588

Welcome! First of all BMW OEM wheels are crap, softer and bends more than Audis in my lifetime. The runfalts are also pathetic and always bubble. I never used tire wheel insurance though because I have always been careful driver and I use 20s now and I have good nonrunflats and havent bent or bubble a tire in 6 years and I drive 25k miles a year!! Now that is impressive. My Audi rims are perfectly round after 110k miles on 2012 Audi A8l with 20 and series 40 wheels. I get occasional puncture but my nonrunfalt michelins still hold enough air to go to my german auto mechanic who is tirerack certified to fix and get new tire if need and road force balanced. I also have Audi A7 with 20s and series 275/35R20 and no bends or damaged tire here in southeast michigan or Detroit in 2 years and 21k miles.

I highly recommend the S8 and get series 40 tires and trust me the Audi rims are 4x stronger. My BMW 3 and 5 series 6-8 years ago were horrible. Simple bump or dip bent the rims. I would get vibration galore. I hate BMW now.

Uber.8

I've owned my S8 with 21" wheels for over a year. I was initially concerned about the same issue but can say without hesitation that it's been a non-event. I have my suspension at the mid-level and keep the tire pressure at 36 all around vs. the factory recommendation of 40+.

absent

13k miles on my car now, no damage to rims on our horrible, potholed roads in Chicago.
By this time in my previous cars (M5, E63S, S63), at least couple of them had to be replaced or at least reconditioned.
Audi's wheels are much more sturdy then competition.

Swissman564

So true. A few months back I curbed my D4 at a fairly high rate of speed. (Long story - yes I did it). Tore the tire sidewall to shreds but somehow miraculously didn't deflate it (Pirellis) and the wheel rim is scarred badly but survived and is repairable. 1/4 that amount of impact would have bent any BMW wheel I've ever owned. I couldn't believe it.

Jack88

Yep, they are strong. Everytime I've had to take them on and off again, the weight of them tells me they should be. They're heavier than any wheels I've had on anything else, in fact.

Ngerstman

Is the ride comfortable enough on less than stellar roads? I've been considering a cpo s8 for a while now but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Was thinking of going to 20 inch rims should I buy one but hopefully that wouldn't be necessary. Regards. Ned.

Swissman564

Yes, put the suspension in comfort mode and the car will deliver a pothole-forgiving ride.

MP4.2+6.0

Ride is not dramatically stiff by any means on 21's, and even on rough roads feels good. Still comfortable given the air suspension. Nonetheless I put 20's on mine, but more for the overall dynamics and issues associated with higher unsprung weight of the 21's.

audisession

Having dealt with about a dozen different sets of wheels for my Porsche 911 that I tracked all season for the past 15 yrs, I can tell you heavier wheels most times does not mean stronger.

In fact, forged wheels are the lightest of ALL wheel manufacturing, and are the strongest wheels.

It is the gravity cast wheels that are the heaviest, and most often the most prone to breaking, cracking, bending.

The Audi forged wheels in 20" are in fact 8lbs - 15lbs LIGHTER and far stronger than the cast 19" wheels.

polo1

Are these OEM 19" Audi wheels cast or forged?