mondo

Getting ready to pick up my 9918tqms. Can I make it thru winter with the stock sp8000's - Delaware winter, lots of rain, some snow- or do I need a set of all seasons? The dealer is willing to swap a set of 5 spokes with Eagle RS-A's. Do I lose much peformance with the RS-A's?<p>Thanks for the advice<p>Mondo

JB

Don't Swap wheels/tire with the dealer, buy a set of steels with other tires and switch off during the seasons

mondo

Dealer won't switch tires, But why not switch with 5 spokes,if I don't want to spend the $$ for another tire/wheel package? <br>

DAC

I am looking to do just this for my 2.8qms before it starts snowing here in the Boston area. Any suggestions on wheel/tire packages would be much appreciated. I can recall Gary at Ronal having a couple deals posted here but I cannot locate them anymore. Thanks.

Steve Mac

The sport package SP8000E 's are a really nice tire, good in everything but snow and ice. They are much tighter handling tires than the Goodyears. BUT... if you're not willing to do the seasonal changeover (and many people are not) then it's perfectly acceptable to switch for the 5-spokes / all season tires. You will give up some handling and response, but gain light snow capability. Ice performance will still be lousy, however.<p>IMO, it seems to be a bad tradeoff to get the sport suspension and saddle it with ho-hum tires, but I chose my car because of the sport package. If yours just happened to have it, it probably won't make any difference to you.<p>Hope this helps,<br>Steve<p>Oh, yeah. I understand that the dealer will make at least $100 per tire/wheel for the swap.

mondo

<br>Steve:<p>I tried to e-mail you. When you say snow,do you mean hard packed or accumulated snow? Waht about slush from salt usage, will the 8000's work ok inthat, since it is more like a wet condition?<p>Do any tires really work on ice?<p>Also, I assume that you're saying the tires or wheels or both are more expensive. <p>Thanks for the response,<p>Mondo

LouisE

Like many on this site I am in the process of acquiring a winter wheel/tire setup. I can tell you from experience that the Sport 8000s are dangerous on snow, packed or slush, and even more dangerous on ice. It will take only a moment or so to realize how dangerous once it starts to snow. Do your self a favor and purchase a least winter tires and a wheel/tire combo is really the best way to go.

Doug H

<br>Problem with the sp8000's is that the tread compound gets hard when cold. They then slide all over. Winter tires stay soft when cold. Might be OK for a year in Delaware, but any serious cold & you're a hurtin' cowboy.<p>I just bought a set of Michelin Alpins on steel wheels from the Tire Rack for $524. MUCH better than Blizzaks on dry pavement (at least last year's Blizzaks). No snow yet so don't know about that. Blizzaks are great if you never see pavement. But they wear fast and I won't buy another set (took me three sets to learn this... duh).

Steve Mac

For clarification: When I say that they are great on everything but snow and ice, I mean warm & dry, <br>cold &dry, warm and wet (no ****, please) and cold and wet. When you get toward freezing on icy <br>roads, those big tread blocks don't have anything to grab on the road surface and the rubber is as <br>hard as a rock. The other posters are right. I would save my Dunlops for better conditions and get<br>a set of snows for the crud. I wouldn't use them in snow, ice, slush or salty slush (yuck!). Personally, I have a set of studded Michelins that work wonderfully (I do hate the drone, though!). Our weather here ranged<br>from snow to ice to dry this past weekend and I got to try out the studs. Mahvelous, simply mahvelous.<p>Studs do work on ice. The ice tires also work nearly as well. I have used Graspics in the past and<br>I thought they worked fine. They were a little squirrely on the ice compared to new studs, but new studs<br>are only that way for a short time. Plus, I like the handling of the snow tires. They are a chance to refine<br>your skills at less than lethal speeds!<p>Regarding the money issue, I recently read a post that the sport wheels were about $100 more expensive<br> than the 5 spokers. I would guess that the Dunlops were also significantly more $$$ than the Goodyears.<p>Hope this helps. Enjoy your new car! (Dang, is it a nice car!)<p>Steve<br>

Larry

I driven A4s with both types of tires. The RS-A's perform like SP8000's that are nearly flat. There is a world of difference between them. Don't drive on SP8000's when its cold or snowy, though. Their grip diminishes towards 0 as the temp drops below freezing.