Eli McCraig

I have a few more days before I can’t change my order, and the last thing I’m wavering on is the BO package with the 19’s/summers vs. the standard 18” AS set-up. My last car with big wheels/lopro tires was a mk VI GTI. All 4 wheels were chewed up by 12k miles, and I replaced 3 tires from pot hole damage in 25k miles. My B8.5 A5 with 18’s and AS’s (knock wood) have zero damage in 30k miles, except 1 nail hole that was patched. And that’s why I’m on the fence on the BO pack.

I’m in Boston, and these centuries-old former cow paths are notoriously the nations worst. I think I’d be better off with the 18’s AS~ won’t have to swap wheels 2x a year or replace the summers every 12k miles. The speed limiter depending on shoes of 155mph or even 130mph for that matter, is irrelevant here in the US, but the 19’s are very nice. Form over function? Function over form?

What i I want to know is haw are your 19’s holding up?

stillwaterS6

Just swapped in the winter tires. These are what they look like after 5,000 miles of generally normal driving. Some spirited and most highway. I like the 19s but there are strong opinions on both sides. Get what you want!

markcincinnati

Does any company make 18"'s wheels that offer the look of the OEM 19"'s? Many of us have lamented Audi's limited wheel/tire program. I know I would have paid an "optional" fee to get the look of the 19" wheels without having to go to a 35 aspect ratio and the other negative "benefits" with only the cosmetic positive benefits.

This new S4 seems (speaking of Cincinnati) to be very popular. Due to the shorter lifespan of the 19" summer-only tires, the dealer is caught between "happy" customers when they pick up their new S4s with the 19's and "disappointed and disgruntled" customers when they're given the "remaining life" of their tires at the first oil change. Interesting dichotomy: Dealer stocks S4s with the 18" wheels -- creating happier customers at 10,000+ miles. Dealer special orders S4 with 19" wheels despite some mild "caution" some of the sales reps offer customers with respect to "You know what your're getting yourself into?" Even my sales rep "assumed" I would be configuring all-season tires even though he knows I'm not a fan of the lower performance H rated Grand Touring tires Audi mounts on those S4's configured with "no charge all-season tires." I told him I estimated the tires would last 12,000 miles and that I would then be replacing them with UHP All/Seasons from Continental, Michelin, or Pirelli.

He knows that my (one and done) Acura TL SH-AWD Advance with the 19" wheels/tires had THREE of the four wheels be declared "bent" (and Acura offered me a 50% credit toward new wheels, but NOT new tires) and he also knows that the service department gets a lot of complaints from customers who are told (at the first oil change) that their tires have 10-15% tread life remaining (plus the tires, at this point, are getting noisy).

At, pick a number, $500, $600, I would have -- in a heartbeat -- upgraded to 18" wheels that looked identical to the OEM 19" optional wheels. Someone, some manufacturer, must make (or could make) such a wheel.

Perhaps only Americans (compared to the rest of the world) are all-season tire buyers, but, you'd think there is a market (or would be) for the "upgrade" I'm suggesting. Also why build an S car and put GT tires on it -- H rated, no less. Sure these tires are "comfortable" and quiet and are good for perhaps 2 to 3 times the treadwear of the summer-only tires, but they serve in some performance aspects to hobble the "S" ness of the S4.

What were they thinking?

dbuxton13

This will probably just make you mad, but Audi has increased its selection of 18" wheels for German customers, but of course us 'Mericans get none of it courtesy of Audi of America HQ. They even have one that looks like the 19" BO we get (highlighted).

In fact they offer more 18s than 19s now! (bottom 3)

markcincinnati

Dear Audi of America,

Please take my money for an 18" wheel option that looks exactly like the 19" wheel option offered 'merican customers.

Thank you.

Signed,

Confused Customer

mplsbrian

I just bent both of my right-side 19" V-spoke wheels going over a medium-sized pothole on the interstate, in a construction zone where they had repainted a traffic shift and moved some lanes a few feet over to the left overnight. Immediately started experiencing steering vibration and knew what happened. The damage was confirmed a week later when I had my winters swapped on.

The tires are visually 100% fine and hold air, and you can almost not even tell the wheels are bent (no lip damage etc) -- but they are jussssstttt far enough out of round to cause the wobble at highway speeds beginning around 65-70mph to where it needs addressing.

A wheel shop is quoting $100/ea to repair them back to within factory specs for runout (3/1000ths of an inch)...which is good, because to replace would be $826+tax+mounting/balancing/labor per wheel.

mplsbrian

Co-signed...

Eli McCraig

Thanks,
looks like I’m gonna go for the 18” wheel w/ AS.
Btw, my sales rep also spoke to me about the 19” s with performance tires in the ‘do you know what you’re getting yourself into?’ tone...

nicotino15

Perhaps it's different in Texas, but I've never had an issue with my 19" wheels. I had 19's with 245/35 for years on my b7, and now I have 19's (black option 5 v spoke from an a4) with the p-zero's and it's just perfect. If your roads are that had, I don't know how 18's could even help.

markcincinnati

The difference is the aspect ratio of the tires themselves. Going from 40 aspect ratio to 35 requires a relatively huge increase in sidewall stiffness. Since the wheels are a larger diameter, they weigh more. The tires actually weigh more (apples to apples). So we transform the wheels into the weakest part of the car plus we increase the unsprung weight -- and we don't even get a wider tread.

I get the beauty aspect of the 19" tires -- and see no reason the same wheel cannot be cast in an 18" size. Perhaps in Texas, the roads are of an almost Germanic quality. In Ohio, they're often pretty crappy (a technical term). In much of the US, the infrastructure is full of potholes, patches, and frost-heaved road surfaces. It's not the 19" wheels that are the issue. It's the aspect ratio of the tires that increases the vulnerability of the most important piece of the overall system. A redesign of the car is in order if the market wants 19' (or larger) wheels so that the aspect ratio of the tires works for the US North East and "flyover" country. Perhaps south of Kentucky the roads have not been ravaged by snow plows and little maintenance aimed at keeping the roads "less dangerous" to the wallets of those of us who have opted for the +sized wheels and lower profile tires.

Is performance helped in any measurable way for the vast majority of drivers of the S4 by going to a lower profile tire that has no increase in tread width, but does have a stiffer sidewall -- by necessity. I know of no practical performance gains offered by the optional 19" wheels with short tread-life summer-only tires. They just look good -- until you've driven on them and bent them.

Again, since they are a vanity purchase for those who opt for them, I believe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have customers sign a waiver that stiupulates they know what they're getting into and holding Audi harmless from action regarding short tire life, bent wheels, noisier tires, and higher expenses to keep them "whole."

I have, quite often, opted for the up-sized wheels and tires. My wife and I have had 33 Audis, 3 BMW's, 1 Acura and 1 Infiniti (almost forgot, 2 VW's). Often (most of the time) we went with the bigger wheel options, because we thought we could pick up girls (OK, not really). Because they looked cool and we thought they would improve the handling of the vehicle.

We were often wrong -- the larger wheels and tires turned a durable and reliable car into one that required more frequent trips to the tire store and more cash than seems sane.

I wish we had Texas roads -- we don't. At least not in SW and Central Ohio.