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I recently bought the 208 A5 sportback. I took the 19" designo wheel option which came with summer performance tires from BridgeStone Potenza.
I live in the bay area. I don't drive to Tahoe often. but the roads to get wet due to the fog and rain. and I love going on road trips around here.
When I replace tires,
Do you recommend All season tires or maintain winter and summer sets ??
I love the handling and sportiness of the car. I do not want to sacrifice performance. I take 280 or 101 every day and I commute 25 miles each way.
Please give me some suggestions on the best tires that do not compromise performance and handling for my car.
I'd drive the car in the wet a few times and get a feel for it. Most Max Performance Summer times I have owned (Michelin Pilot Sport, Continental Extreme Contact, Potenzas, Eagle F1 DS-G3) are actually excellent in wet weather, especially with Quattro, and do fine with almost anything that isn't large amounts of standing water. Ice and snow - use chains. Multi-season tires are really just for someone with bad roads and frequently changing weather (Michigan, not Cali).
AWD makes even garbage tires perform way over their typical performance on a FWD car.
I'd drive the car in the wet a few times and get a feel for it. Most Max Performance Summer times I have owned (Michelin Pilot Sport, Continental Extreme Contact, Potenzas, Eagle F1 DS-G3) are actually excellent in wet weather, especially with Quattro, and do fine with almost anything that isn't large amounts of standing water. Ice and snow - use chains. Multi-season tires are really just for someone with bad roads and frequently changing weather (Michigan, not Cali).
AWD makes even garbage tires perform way over their typical performance on a FWD car.
Thank you!
I will drive once and see.
Also, of all the tires you owned, which ones are your favorites ?
Sai,
Fellow Bay Area denizen here. If you don't go to Tahoe then summer performance tires is all you need. I've lived here for 13 years now and always had summer performance tires on my cars all year around. I've had one set of BridgeStones, but mostly Michelin and Pirelli. Michelin are by far the best. I currently have a chewed up set of Pilot Super Sports on my RS5, which I'm about to replace with a set of the new Pilot Sport 4S, which is currently arguably the best street performance tire available. The PSS was already excellent in the wet, but the PS4S is supposed to be even better. The only thing with summer tires is as the temperature drops into the 50s and 40s the rubber gets a little stiff, so the ride comfort suffers in the winter. I'm curious how the PS4S will do this winter as I've read that it also does much better in the cold.
However, don't drive to Tahoe on summer tires in the winter ever. Summer tires are no good once temps get to the low 40s and especially not if you have snow or ice on the road. My wife's car has all-season, so we take her car when we go to Tahoe or I just rent another Audi with all-season tires from Audi on Demand.
Last edited by superswiss; 07-16-2018 at 02:14 PM.
Sai,
Fellow Bay Area denizen here. If you don't go to Tahoe then summer performance tires is all you need. I've lived here for 13 years now and always had summer performance tires on my cars all year around. I've had one set of BridgeStones, but mostly Michelin and Pirelli. Michelin are by far the best. I currently have a chewed up set of Pilot Super Sports on my RS5, which I'm about to replace with a set of the new Pilot Sport 4S, which is currently arguably the best street performance tire available. The PSS was already excellent in the wet, but the PS4S is supposed to be even better. The only thing with summer tires is as the temperature drops into the 50s and 40s the rubber gets a little stiff, so the ride comfort suffers in the winter. I'm curious how the PS4S will do this winter as I've read that it also does much better in the cold.
However, don't drive to Tahoe on summer tires in the winter ever. Summer tires are no good once temps get to the low 40s and especially not if you have snow or ice on the road. My wife's car has all-season, so we take her car when we go to Tahoe or I just rent another Audi with all-season tires from Audi on Demand.
Hi Denizen,
Thank you. It makes sense.
you have great cars. Do you race ?
I'd drive the car in the wet a few times and get a feel for it. Most Max Performance Summer times I have owned (Michelin Pilot Sport, Continental Extreme Contact, Potenzas, Eagle F1 DS-G3) are actually excellent in wet weather, especially with Quattro, and do fine with almost anything that isn't large amounts of standing water. Ice and snow - use chains. Multi-season tires are really just for someone with bad roads and frequently changing weather (Michigan, not Cali).
AWD makes even garbage tires perform way over their typical performance on a FWD car.
He is correct in that you should drive the car and see how it does in the wet before you start down the path of replacing tires.
He is also correct in saying AWD really helps get the car moving..... but.... and this is an important but, AWD does nothing in getting the car stopped. It's pretty much all up to the tires and that where a dedicated winter tire comes into it's own.
The fact that you do drive to Tahoe makes me think you might be a candidate for a winter tire.
There is a new class of tire emerging referred to as "all weather". Vredestein, Nokian, Toyo and one other (??) are offering them at this time. They are supposed to provide snow/ice performance close to that of a dedicated winter tire meaning performance far above your generic all-season tire.
We just fitted a set of Michelin Pilot A/S 3+ last week to one of our cars. Supposed to be a great all-around tire. I have no experience in the snow and am always apprehensive about recommending tires (for snow use) where there is no experience.
Michelin PS AS3+ are real nice, as good as some summer tires for road handling, but don't count on them for winter. Their snow/ice performance is worse than typical grand touring tires (tirerack has plenty of test data that shows this); not good enough to get you to the mountain safely without chains. I had them on my previous car and they were okay on snow, and a mess on ice.
Nokian WRG3 all-weather tires are great on snow, but okay-ish on ice, and not too bad in the summer (I have these mounted on our Subaru Forester). They will not give you the high-G cornering traction that performance tires will have in the summer. Michelin CrossClimate+ also get really good summer/winter results, but limited sizes are available in the USA.
Tires are always a compromise. If you're never going to be in <45 F weather, go for Michelin PS4s or other summer tires. If you will drive in colder weather, go for Michelin PS AS3+, and possibly some chains for backup. Want slightly better snow traction for less performance, but a nice ride? Pirelli P7 AS+. Want even more snow traction, sacrificing summer performance more? Nokian WRG3/4 or CrossClimate+.
07-16-2018, 11:37 AM
All Season Tires vs Performance
