jeff968

Do you guys in the North climates plan to run a true snow tire during the winter months? For my A4, I have 2 sets of rims, one with winter tires that I put on in late November. I'm wondering if I should follow the same approach for the Q5? Thanks

MartinQ5

Here in Quebec it is required by law to have winter tires. I noticed that on my 18 inches Dunlop has the winter tire logo on it, so in theory I could use them during winter. But I am planning on buying a separate set of wheels and put winter tires on them.

Anyone has an idea where I could buy a cheap set of rims here in Canada? I do not want to spend the 500+$ per wheel for Audi ones.

GenSpec

Depends on where you intend to drive. Where do you live? I do run dedicated snows. Where I live, you'd have to be a loose in the head not to run dedicated quality snows in the winter. 2 years ago we had 18' of accumulated snow. 12 years ago a huge ice storm that cripled the city and much of the eastern part of the province. Bad weather during the winter is common here, so is 5 months of snow for that matter. Besides my Sline tires are not a winter tire at all.

Old Dog

Salut Martin. I know you said in Canada, but just want to throw this your way in case you are interested. This year I bought new 18" RS4 replica wheels (VMR 708s) and tires premounted through www.vmrwheels.com and had them delivered to a US destination just in Champlain NY. 5-minutes after the border.

To give you an idea of cost:

4 18" Wheels - $700
Shipping - $75 (I took 1/2 of total $150 for S&H which included 4 tires)
Exchange - $45 (based on rate of 1.06)
GST/PST - $100
Duty - $0 (Zero)
Total - $920

If you are interested let me know and I can PM you the US shipping address. Include an e-mail address with the PM and I'll send you a scan of their business card.

Garry

pgarzani

Martin,

I got my winter tires from Audi Lauzon directly. Pirelli Scorpio 18".
They are $1265 for the set (but I got them free as part of my deal).

PeteDin206

In Seattle there is no reason to run dedicated winter tires, so most people run all-season. We just don't get enough snow on the ground to justify it. Now if I lived in a very snowy region (ie Quebec, Upstate NY) I would definitely have a set of snow tires and a set of summer tires.

refthimos

I live 100' from the beach in sunny Southern California and yet have a set of snow tires/wheels. Why? Because I want to be able to jam up to Mammoth for snowboarding at a moment's notice and not have to die when driving up in the snow while on the summer tires (which are great btw in dry and wet conditions) that come with the S-Line package.

So I think it really depends on how you will be using your Q5 and whether you have all-season or summer tires. I'm guessing you have all-season and wouldn't even be asking if you had the summer tires - if that's the case, I would imagine it depends on just how much snow/ice you expect to encounter - you indicate that you are in the North but no specific info - perhaps tell us more specifically where you are and someone from that region can give you their assessment of running the all seasons there.

luv2golf

Martin, My Q5 is scheduled to arrive in 2-weeks. Because I ordered SLine (actually all options) I went to tirerack.com and ordered 18" wheels and tires (MSW Type 14 Silver and Michelin Latitude Alpin). The tirerack site lets you see what the wheels would look like on your vehicle and you can choose your vehicle colour. My landed price in Ottawa is approx $1700 including duties and taxes or about $900 less than the dealer supplied wheels and tires.

Brian

KrustyClown

I'm going to be doing the same thing for my wife's Q5. We have the s-line package with the Sport Maxx tires, so running them in the winter (Toronto) is out of the question.

What offsets did you go with? I would actually prefer if the wheels sat a little farther in the wheel well to keep the slush from spraying up the side of the car.

Old Dog

First, I'll answer your question Krusty: offset I went with was 38, BUT this is for my 2007 A4.

I honestly don't know what is popular for the Q5. I'm sure there must be something here on the Q5 Forum that talks about off-set.

Cheers