Some of you may have seen my wanted ad for a single 255 40 17 Dunlop Wintersport M3 earlier in the week to due an unfortunate encounter with a crater-sized pothole. I have not been able to locate a used tire yet, and being late in the season, most places (local and online) are sold out for the season of the M3's or 3D's in that size. The places that do have them in stock are way overpriced ($250+ per tire shipped). I would probably replace 2 tires, although the remaining 3 have between 8-9/32nds tread left. So it looks like I have a few options:

(1) 1 new 255 40 17 Dunlop M3 ($250 + mount / balance) - Probably bad idea since new tire is 2-3/32nds bigger than the remaining old one on same axle
(2) 2 new 255 40 17 Dunlop M3's ($500 for tires + mount / balance) - Damn $$$ for just 2 tires that usually sell for at least $75 less per tire
(3) 4 new 235 45 17 Hankook Icebears ($472 shipped + mount / balance) - Probably a better size tire for the potholed Pittsburgh roads, but is their a dry handling tradeoff versus the 255 40 17 size? A lot of my driving is 70+ mph freeway cruising.

I'm still going to continue to look for a good single used tire, but if that fails, I'm leaning towards option 3 at this point since it leaves me with 4 new tires for the price of 2. I've read some favorable reviews on the Icebears, but none from a C5 4.2 A6.

So I'm looking for some feedback on both the smaller tires size (235 45 17) on a 4.2, and also the Hankook Icebears overall as a snow tire. We do get some snow / ice here in Pittsburgh, but there is also a lot of dry pavement driving here in the winter season.

 

Narrower is better in the snow..makes no difference for the body style/engine.

 

Another thought:
Our old neighbor filed a claim with the town when he damaged their A6 oil pan because of a pothole. You may want to try that path?
I would take a picture of the pothole and provide documentation from a tire shop about the tire damage and replacement price. Maybe even the dealer since in most cases the price is higher than the local tire shops. I'm sure it will take longer to get the money than you will wait to replace the tire, but it might be fruitful.

 

...I had looked, only to find them out of stock. I went narrower when replacing mine, went with 235 45 17 in the Dunlop 3D, and those tires are terrific!!!

 

^^^^what he said....

 

That would be my concern, dry highway cruising at 70+ mph.

 

I did not notice any performance changes for my day-to-day driving between the 255 and 235, but I did notice how much quieter the 3Ds were. Talking on the bluetooth phone, I noticed how quiet the cabin was during my conversations with Press and grapeking ))

 

To date, Pittsburgh roads have bent/ cracked 3 BBS RCs on my car.

 

I've noticed no dry pavement limitations with them, in fact, stock tire size on the 4.2 was 235/50/16. To go even further, the OEM winter wheel/tire combo for the 4.2 was a 215/55/16 tire on a 16X7 ET32 alloy. You'll be fine with 235 if you choose to go that route.

Koz.