LIY

Very little snow past 3 years here - a bad winter, probably 5-7 days with snow on the ground (out in the NOrthwest suburbs). Ice storms have been a problem on ocassion.

Do we replace the Dunlop 8000's with dedicated snows (Blizzaks, Alpines, M2's) or some type of M&S tire (Dunlop 5000's, Michelin , etc.)

'Fraid that I will be accused of overkill if I go with snows - (which are bascially a "special order" item here).
Your input is greatly appreciated!!

John G

I don't always have the luxury of not driving somewhere when the weather is bad. Yeah, we can go a few winters with very little snow and then the next year get really hammered. Also, ice storms can be a bigger problem than snow. The 210A's don't give up as much in dry weather performance as some of the "snow" tires you mention, but will do much better than summer tires in the nasty stuff.

I'll leave the Goodyear RSA all-weather tires on our Avant, but I don't want to risk using high performance summer tires in bad winter weather on my S4.

John G
00 S4
99 A6 Avant

DougR

I made it through a bunch of winters in Baltimore on all-seasons, some snowy, some not-so-snowy. On the snowy days I'd do ok, on the icy days (more common?) it was scary.

So what I'd do is try and pick between the best all-season tire for snow and ice vs. the highest dry performance snow tire, and BTW, not bother downsizing. My choice would probably be the Dunlop M2 in 16" size - slightly better ice, slightly worse snow and dry performance than the Pirelli W210A. I'm not sure where I'd start in trying to find an all-season that does good in snow/ice...maybe Tire Rack's surveys? In snow and ice, I had very good luck with Goodyear Eagle GT+4, and very bad luck with Dunlop D60A2/JLB. Also had decent luck with some BFG Touring T/A, but they stunk in all other conditions and unfortunately lasted forever.

Don't worry about being accused of overkill, they're all just jealous ;-) Also, I recommend ordering tires through the mail anyway. I've had outstanding experiences with Tire Rack's (ask for Eddie, x369!) service and price, even when you account for the shipping charge. Others have had good experiences with Ronal (will you do just tires Gary, or only wheel/tire packages?)

HTH,
DougR

epic

When you say replace your Dunlops, it sounds like you mean putting them on your stock wheels. I'd sugest a wheel/tire package from Tire Rack or Discount Tire Direct (I've ordered from both). As for tire experiences. I'm currently on my 4th Audi (3rd quattro), and having lived in New England, have some experience on the matter. The best snow and ice tires I've had were my Blizzaks. They were unbeleivable! They would drive without slipping on ground I could barely walk on. They also handled like crap in the dry, and wore out way fast. Those were on my 20V Coupe. On my S4 I've had the old Winter 210s which are no longer made, and the new 210 Assimetricos. These tires are much better overall, but do give up a lot to the Blizzak in icy conditions. Of course, with the warm dry winters lately, that hasn't been a problem.

That said, my Coupe did pretty well during the blizzard of '93 on cruddy old bald Dunlops. We went for a drive around Norton, MA, when there was nobody else out but snowplows, and the car was still unstoppable. And back in the day, my '85 4000S did OK on mere P6s.

Anyhow, I think the 210 would be a good compromise, and then you can run real tires in the summer instead of a mud&snow that's not good at anything.