New order...question and information thread
 

Hello all,

I just placed a deposit on a new Graphite Grey / black interior Q7 that has everything except for the rear entertainment tablets (it is wired) and the B&O system. Sticker price is $80,425 and will be in the dealership in 2-3 days. I was able to receive a 4% supplier discount but not the full 6%. Of course pictures and more information to come as I learn more.

Questions: It comes with 21" summer tires. Right now I live in a winter area that's sees quite a bit of snow. In a few weeks I will be in Houston for the next year and may or may not travel back here with the vehicle.

Should I buy an all-season tire and just use those (sell the summer tires)?
Should I buy an all-season tire and just swap them out with the summer tires when I get to Houston?
Should I just not drive my car for the next several weeks and use the summer tires?

Also, if I get tires, what's the best tires to get?

Thanks all for your help!

The vast majority of people cannot tell summer from all-season tires on a vehicle like the Q7 in warm weather. You may notice some traction difference in the rain with summer tires vs. all seasons though. Everyone can tell the difference between all-seasons and summer tires in cold weather and snow.

If you just want to drive the car to Houston with the summer tires, you will be okay provided you don't run into any snow. Once down there you will probably have to replace the summer tires because of wear prior to potentially returning to where you live now.

Update: On the issue of tires I have found out some information. I am getting the 21" summer performance tires. Since I live in the mountains those tires will not work all year long. Simple solution, put all-season or winter tires on, right? Wrong!

At this time Audi does not officially support any other 21" tire on the vehicle. My service manager has been escalated this issue up to the regional level. Audi official response to this issue at that level is to purchase a set of 19" rims and all season or winter tires and use them. (Seriously???)

Audi told me that if you place any other tires on the vehicle you void your road hazard warranty, and a variety of "other things"...however they could not be very specific about what "other things" entailed.

My personal opinion is that there is just no policy in place and/or deal made with another tire manufacture to provide an "official" all-season / winter tire. However with people taking delivery of their vehicles in northern parts of the country my guess is that this will be solved fairly quickly.

I take delivery within 5 days and there is an expected 8-12 inches of snow coming. Let's see what happens :)

In my opinion your dealer is full of crap and just wants to sell you another set of wheels. Check out the "New Q7 - Friday" thread. The guy got an extra set of all weather Conti DWSs from his dealer.

Yes, he and I have talked about that. Per my thread I escalated past the dealer service advisor to the regional service advisor located in another state. In talking with the people from Dealer Tires they also admit that the tires are not "authorized". Once again, what that means is anyone's guess.

I will say however that the dealer refused to sell me a set of Conti's or Perrelli's. They would only seen me what was authorized...a 19" rim and tire set. Needless to say I did not buy them.

I've never done business with them, but even my Sales guy speaks highly of Tire Rack. Once we know for sure the specs of the wheel on the new Q7 (don't know if they're the same as current), I'm sure you could get a much better price on a wheel & winter tire combo from them compared to the dealer. The rims won't be OEM but at least here in the Chicago area, I'd only need them on the car about 4 months in the year.
They do carry the Conti All Season in 295/40ZR21 if you just want to replace the OEM Summers.

I have a price of $350.00 per tire locally. It is not much more than Tire Rack so I may go with them.

The "not authorized" statement seems like BS; that completely contradicts what my Service Mgr told me they said and they deal with them on a regular basis.
Z

Update: Vehicle still not in to the dealership because of the snow. Hopefully early next week.

I also ordered 4 Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06 all season tires, size 295/40ZR21. These will replace the Pirelli Scorpion Verde Summer Performance Tires, size 285/40R21. Because I live in two places, one with snow and one without, I needed something besides the summer tires.

I ended up getting them from Tire Rack because my dealer would not order them (but will put them on) for a total of $1289 plus shipping. I have been told that are just slightly wider and taller than the OEM's. I do not anticipate an issue with this but am not 100% sure.

More to come.

Be sure. Those are the ones I have and they are just fine - no problems.
Z