Preferred Tires to replace OEM Summer Hankooks
 

So I only have 5500 on my tires since January 2018...However, I am pinging my Audi owner-buddies for suggestions for when the day will come...

On my old BMW I swore by Pirelli P0 Neros. Loved those low-profile tires. What tires / specs do you all look to use on your B9s? I am looking at 19s from Michelin, Pirelli and possibly Continentals.

Thanks!

Same tire category? See here: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surve...y.jsp?type=UHP

I'd go one category up and get the Michelin Sport 4S and call it a day. There is no substitute. It even has better treadwear than the stock Hankooks.

Michelin PS4S or the Firestone Indy 500. I've put the PS4S (or the predecessor PSS) on every car I've owned for a while now, but will probably give the Indy 500s a try this time due to what a value they seem to be.

I'm on Continental Extreme Contact Sport and pretty happy. MP 4S is a great handling tire, but it's also very noisy.

All weather tire...
 

I was thinking of an all weather tire. I’m in California so the summer tire year around is basically ok...though we have had a ton of needed rain this year.

Not sure how long these Hankooks will last, so looking ahead.

ive never owned Michelin...so those have some appeal.

Are they truly more noisy?

I'm in SoCal and have Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ on my S4. Only 5000 miles on them, but find them to be a good compromise between sport driving and our rains this past winter. I would get them again.

DaveGee

The Michelin Pilot Sports are class leader for summer tires. Just look at the reviews on Tirerack. If you don't see snow or see temperatures that drop near or below freezing, a summer tire would perform better than an all-season in rainy weather. Yes, you read that correctly.

The other concern would just be treadwear. Depending on how often or frequent you drive, the prorated warranty is easy to deal with and you'll never have to pay full price for another set.

My last set sounded like I had bad wheel bearings by the end. Many performance tires are not quiet so be prepared for that.

Higher performance tires are usually noisier but will get noisy as the tread wears. Unless you go with extreme performance summer tires, I wouldn't worry about it.

Bridgestone RE980AS are a great tire. I had them on one car and the Michelin’s listed above on another and the Bridgestone was wearing better, quiet, excellent feel. BTW. My new S4 I have the all season tires from the factory and I am surprised Audi put Gran Touring Pirelli’s on the car......... To say the least they are not close to the feel of the High Performance Bridgestone. Good luck.

I have just under 15k on Michelin PS3 A/S's, and they are about half done. Noisey in 19" form, yes. But for double the mileage and 75% of the performance of Summer tires, I'd do them again.

True, summer tires will give you better performance in anything more than freezing temps (including rain), but I don't really miss the extra grip from the summers, and double the mileage for basically the same price for 4 tires is the most compelling reason for an a/s tire.

I do also live in an area that sees SOME snow, and drive through mountainous regions where snowfall occurs, so a/s's make more sense for me.

Conti Extreme's would be my second choice for an A/S tire. I've had Bridgestone A/S's on previous cars, and they weren't too bad either.

gr

Has anyone ever tried Nokian as an all season tire?

you cray cray running all seasons in snow :eek:

I grew up driving in Midwest snow.
Do I prefer having dedicated Snows? Well, hell YEAH I do!
Makes no sense for living in the South.

I even drove in a blizzard with 14+ " of fresh white stuff while I was home visiting for Thanksgiving, and had no real issues.

Most people in the midwest drive with their regular all-season tires year round. I'm not saying it's ideal, but it's done by 95% of the year round driver's out there.

If somebody made a summer tire that achieved better than 10-15k miles (300AA?) I'd be interested in that tire as well.

gr

Thanks all!




The Michelins are looking good.


Thanks All!

The next conundrum is if I switch out my Black Optic rims. I quite like them...but the black / "Tarmac" HRE flowform rims look pretty sweet:

https://www.hrewheels.com/wheels/hre-flowform/ff01

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Any experience with Falkens? They seem fairly well rated on Tirerack?