Denis54

I need to replace the summer tires on my 2010 S4. I love my car but I would prefer if it had a smoother ride. I do not drive aggressively. Which tires should I get?

togatown

Most high performance summer tires should ride smoother than A/S tires. The trade off is wear and once they do, they usually get loud. 18" tend to ride smoother than 19's.
The general consensus is that the Michelin Pilot Super Sport is a great performance tire for our cars. I run the #2 rated tire Bridgestone S-04 and have been very happy with the performance and price point. YMMV.

uberwgn

Denis, what tires do you have now that you're unhappy with?

Denis54

I have 255-35-19 Dunlop SP Sport Maxx GT. They are fine but I would prefer tires that ride a bit smoother.

I am surprised to read that high performance summer tires ride smoother than A/S. I thought that it was the other way around.

uberwgn

The compound on the summer tires tends to be very soft.


My '11 A4 was optioned with the Sport Pkg and that yields an 18" tire/wheel. My car came from the factory with the Pirelli P7 Cinturato (not the cheap version of this tire). They have turned out to be exceptionally quiet and smooth. I liked them so much I bought a 2nd set. An outstanding tire apart from the wear factor. I think an aggressive driver is going to get less than 20k miles.


FWIW, roads are very poor where I drive.


You could contact "Doc" over at Tire Rack. He's our forum rep and I'm certain he could shed much light on this issue.

Doc@tirerack

With a 35 series tires, there is only so much comfort we can hope to get. For the most comfort, you can go down to an H rated Pirelli Cinturato P7 AS;


Pirelli*Cinturato P7 All Season


This tire is used as Original Equipment for the new Jag XE, and uses a lower speed rating (H) to smooth things as much as possible. Bear in mind that going from your Y speed rating Dunlop to an H rated will be at the cost of some steering feel / response as well as grip when driven aggressively. If you don't want to make that big of a change, you could get a tire somewhat in the middle with the Continental Extreme Contact DW;


Continental*ExtremeContact DW




AS always, feel free to call me !

Rshanep

I went with the Hankook Ventis V12's. Love them.