Not true - I run all seasons - sure they are not quite as good as performance tires but who drives 110% all the time and here in CO one can get sudden storms with snow and ice even in August and July. You also get lower tire noise and better wear.

 

Agree. I run hi-performance A/S tires on my 330i and they grip like crazy. Sometimes I push it pretty hard and they've never squealed or slipped once. Although they are high-perfomance, so they suck in the snow, they are fine in cold weather, unlike summer tires.

Sure, summer tires will grip better in warm weather. But you have to push it to ludicrous speed to notice the difference.

 

I'll third that. A/S tires ride softer too. They're not for everyone, but they are the best choice in many situations.

 

Ok I can see where a/s tires are a good choice where you may have snow/ice in the middle of summer. No doubt I would do that too if I faced such extreems in summer. This however is not the case for most I would guess. As we all know it's about trade offs. The down side of many all season tires is that in above freezing conditions they are actually exhibit worse wet performance and hydro planing resistance than summer tires. Many summer tires use tree patterns taken from F1 rain tires. I have read other comparisons that came to the same conclusion. It surprised me the first time I came across this info but it makes sense. Generalizing- best water evacuation tire designs run groves at a slight angle to the direction of travel take the water forward and lateraly. For snow grip the direction is opposite with multiple small sipes running across the tire perpendicular to the direction of travel. So an all season design must combine these two contrary design demands which results in a sub optimal design in both wet, snow and dry. In dry conditions those sipes that are important for snow grip are detrimental as they cut the tread blocks into small pieces which then squim more and result in deceased grip, worse feel, and increased wear. On a track A/S have been known to " chunk" or loose entire tread blocks. Most will not but some will. Again depends on the compromises made in the design. The more criteria to fill the more compromises must be made. The reason most A/S tires last longer is because they are made of harder compounds that have less grip. The second point made is does that matter in day to day driving? Well I think it absolutely does. It contributes to your safety reserve. If you are faced with the most simple, easily reproducable scenario, a "panic" stop, which tire would you like to have on? Can the summer tire stop 5-10 feet shorter from 60 mph than an all season- absolutely. That can be the difference beween rear ending someone quite hard or stoping an inch short of their number and breathing a sigh of releif.
This is all a generalization of course, there is no such thing such as a universal A/S tire and the different combinations of carcass, compound, pattern, tread depth, etc make one group blend into another. I think of it more as a spectrum of design goals than groups of summer A/S, winter. For me however the choice is clear. Summer tires when warm and winter otherwise. The best available is what the RS line is about. I can understand other choices but give me a summer tire anytime over an all season. Audi seems to think the same.

 

Sorry about the horrible spelling - it was was written on an iPhone and the key board is not it's strong point. Is it possible to go and edit posts on this board once up?

 

Calling BS by the stealer on this one. You don't ever just "remove the clear coat", impossible and absurd, and it's quite clearly (no pun) the normal hideous plastic tape.

 

If the intake around the valves has not been cleaned it will be horribly caked with carbon build up, mine was cleaned at 20k under warranty. You have to be lucky and get a CEL before they will clean it, but at 30k it will be very bad for sure losing quite a bit of top end power. On your day's drive a dyno would have been worth it.

The DRC suspension failures will be dealt with under warranty now.

Other than that, most RS4 owners cannot think of another car they would rather own, even though it's five year old model.

 

I test drove this car as well. See my previous post about Holbert. I don't trust the Holbert sales People, so please "do your homework". Also, I noticed a strange "whining" sound coming from the engine. You will hear it when you rev the car during driving or in neutral.

 

That's a broad paint brush you got there I've maintained dedicated summer and winter tires for my three vehicles for the past two decades but recently that strategy was re-evaluated based upon my driving habits but especially the Michigan climate. Below is link to a picture that's better than 1000 words.

http://www.pirelli.ca/web/car-suv-va...rformance.page

 

I did notice a faint whine but assumed it was normal. I'm anxious to drive some other cars to compare.