Rick B.

I recently purchased a used 2010 S5 convertible that I will be driving in the winter. It currently has summer tires, which obviously won't cut it. I realize the advantages of winter tires, which I have on my other car, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the noise and yearly swap, unless I have to. I'm hoping that all-season tires will do the trick give that the Quattro system and stability control. I live in N. Utah, where we get a fair amount of snow, although not so much in recent years. Anybody have any experience or suggestions?

eric strauss

... The new breed of high performance all-season tires, such as the DWS series from Continental are superb and only are limited by severe winter conditions.
I would speak with a representative at the Tire Rack, where I have gotten over a dozen sets of tires and wheels.

When i lived in New England, I had severe service snow tires for my Audi's (with mountain snowflake symbol). Here is SoCal, I go up into the high mountains in the winter and contact light snow and ice conditions. The all-season fitment works fine.

Jamblastx

I used to have a 2006 GTI with summer performance tires which I then swapped out every winter with steelies and snow tires. It was a royal pain in the neck to say the least. For my 2013 S5, I bought the Continental performance all seasons from the get go and they were fantastic.

lemonpeal

ditto on the Contis DWS UHP all-seasons. '14 S5 cab in NYC.
'

Ixxe

These are the 2016 winter tire test results in Estonia (we get a lot of snow and ice each year), not sure if Europe brands differ from US:

Studless (all-season):
1. Continental ContiVikingContact 6★★ 7,6
2. Nokian Hakkapeliitta R2 ★★ 7,5
3. Goodyear Ultra Grip Ice 2★★ 7,4
3. Michelin X-Ice XI3 ★★ 7,4
5. Bridgestone Blizzak WS80 ★ 7,0
6. Sava Eskimo Ice★ 6,9
6. Hankook Winter icept IZ2 ★ 6,9
8. Pirelli Ice Zero FR 6,7
9. Landsail Winter Lander 6,5
9. Yokohama Ice Guard ig50 Plus 6,5
10. Nankang Ice Activa Ice-1 6,3
You shouldn't really use all-season tires during summer times. They wear quick (soft) and have less grip on dry conditions than actual summer tires.

Studded winter tires:
1. Continental IceContact 2 ★★★★ 8,6
1. Nokian Hakkapeliitta 8 ★★★★ 8,6
3. Bridgestone Noranza 001 ★★★★ 8,4
4. Pirelli Ice Zero ★★★★ 8,3
5. Hankook Winter IPike RS+ ★★★ 8,2
6. Goodyear Ultragrip Ice Arctic★★★ 8,1
7. Gislaved Nord Frost 200★★ 7,7
7. Michelin X-Ice North 3 ★★ 7,7
9. Toyo Observe G3-Ice ★★ 7,4
10. Kumho WinterCraft Ice Wi31 ★ 7,0

So get your hands on whatever you can afford, because this is pretty accurate rating.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Three words...Little Cottonwood Canyon. OTOH, the quattro and modern all-season tires will probably be sufficient...they just won't give you an edge.

PS: I use Michelin X-Ice 13 on my M3 after 10+seasons with Dunlop something or other winter tires...the X-Ice are a world of improvement in the snow and very nice in the spring and currently in Maryland in the fall in our warm weather. They are a lot more slippery than the Michelin Pilot SuperSport XL (which BTW wear VERY quickly compared to Continental DW (UTOQ 340) that are about half the price of the Michelin Pilots (UTOQ 300).

fstr n u

I am about ready to install my winters as well 6 months of snow/ice. Snow is okay to deal with ... its the ice that gets you in trouble. I've had almost every known type of winter tire installed...these Nokian Hakk 8 studded are phenomenal. I can drive with enthusiasm and know that these tires have my back...insane grip coupled with low road noise. If you don't deal with significant ice issues, stay away from studded tires.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

CO is one of the states with rules (not so stupid IMHO) but you can see what studs and chains have done to the right side of the Interstate from Denver to Glenwood Springs, for example. Groovy, baby!

fstr n u

Sloop John, we have similar issues up here in the great white north. I work in a Trauma Center (Emerg Dept) and see almost daily in the the winters here MVC's caused in part by vehicle owners who can't afford or refuse to equip their rides with winter tires. I believe 2 of our provinces are requiring all vehicles on the road to have them (or face impounding). It is unfortunate that the studs do what they do to the roads, but they sure do work here. If i lived somewhere not quite as miserable as here...i think a good ol set of Michelin X-ice or Nokian (non-studdeds) would be more than adequate.

We don't see much for chains until you get out into the rural areas (grid roads, etc)...in the city they would definitely cause some carnage to the roads

DucDude

I've tried several different performance All Season tires on various cars and I've been impressed with them so far.

Michelin Pilot AS: Put these on my Jaguar XK and they were excellent in pretty much any condition but deep snow and ice. Best ones I've tried for driving mostly in the summer with only short ventures in to the snow.

Continental DWS: Had these on my Q5 and they were awesome, even in deep snow. They day after I installed these I went through Red Mountain Pass in Colorado after a huge snow fall and had no issues at all. Best ones I've tried in the snow, slightly less responsive in the dry but an excellent fit for the Q5. These were probably the most quiet of the three as well.

Michelin Pilot A/S 3 Plus: I have these on my S5 (swapped out a set of worn out Pirelli P-Zeros). Not as responsive as the P-Zeros but the car still handles the curves at stupid speeds in the wet just fine. I haven't had a chance to try them in the snow yet but from the testing I've seen, this new version is supposed to be as good as the DWS with stiffer sidewalls.