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SNOW (Chains or Tyres) Alternatives?


NoScream~SPARTA~
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I have michelin winter tyres on 17" rims (unfortunately they are stocked at the audi garage so I cant give you their details. I drove on the motorway with my summer tyres (bridgestones) on about an inch of slush and found the experience unpleasant. I could feel the car squirming as it was constantly redirecting power to different wheels to find traction. The next day I was on winter tyres and have driven in all conditions (even on an ice track) without chains and the car is very manageable.

 

 

 

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The socks etc are great to get you out of trouble but winter tyres outperform summer tyres as soon as the temp drops below +5c. They accelerate and brake more effeciently even on dry roads.

 

Also, although the 19" rims look great, the 17"s are noticeably more comfortable.

 

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Studded tyres are illegal in the UK unfortunately, when we had a lot of snow last winter the posh motors were the ones most likely to struggle and a mechanic told me they should turn there traction control off I don't know if thats BS lol.

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In all seriousness Viper, I lived in Western NY for 20 years of my life. In case you don't know about Western NY, we get lake effect snow (18-24" over night!). Every year around Halloween, everyone changes their tires over to their snow tires with the studs. In my experience, besides the louder noise of the studs hitting the pavement, I did not notice any difference in performance nor any major wear of the studs after using them 5 years straight. In the snow and ice they perform remarkably.

 

Other food for thought. The sock is going to wear much more quickly. When I saw people using them it was from their "snow kit" in their car and used them once or twice for emergencies when the roads were blown over or when ice rain hit. Also, idk if anyone ski's, but many of the slopes around here won't allow anything but chains for when things get tough.

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Vii, proper winter tyres have a softer compound than the high performance summer tyres. When the weather is warmer they wear out really quickly. There may be an intermediate all season tyre, but I dont know how good the road holding is on dry roads. Also another consideration is the electronic stability program (ESP), I was told by Pro Drive that these programs are built around certain tyres. it may be worth checking with audi or the audi forums.

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Vii, proper winter tyres have a softer compound than the high performance summer tyres. When the weather is warmer they wear out really quickly. There may be an intermediate all season tyre, but I dont know how good the road holding is on dry roads. Also another consideration is the electronic stability program (ESP), I was told by Pro Drive that these programs are built around certain tyres. it may be worth checking with audi or the audi forums.

 

http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Vredestein/Wintrac-4-Extreme.htm

 

Given 76% (breakdown) while driving a Land Rover Freelander 2 (235-60-18-W)

Driving on a combination of roads for 28,000 spirited miles

It is important when considering a winter tyre that is expensive in comparison to a summer tyre that if you want to use it all year round it will do the job whatever you throw at it. Having looked at supposedly all weather tyres; I noteed various reports that basically said that if you are going to drive any distance in snow, dont bother fitting AW tyres. I then looked at what was available and the Veredesein fitted the criteria at a reasonable price and specification. Having now run two sets of these excellent tyres through heavy snow in Norway as well as running through hot summers in France and Italy - I can say that they have performed extremely effectively and have just ordered a new set for this years winter trip to Norway / Sweden where although I will carry snow chains I have yet had to fit them as the tyres are so good.

 

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Vii, proper winter tyres have a softer compound than the high performance summer tyres. When the weather is warmer they wear out really quickly. There may be an intermediate all season tyre, but I dont know how good the road holding is on dry roads. Also another consideration is the electronic stability program (ESP), I was told by Pro Drive that these programs are built around certain tyres. it may be worth checking with audi or the audi forums.

 

Typically the value of the car dictates how the tyres are developed. High end cars, Astons, Bentleys etc will have tyres tuned for the car (including tuning the DSC)and on this level of car it will also include a dedicated winter tyre.

On lower value cars they will tune the car to a tyre, picking a particular "off the shelf tyre / tyres" for the job. Say ContiSport 3's or Pirelli P Zero's for something like a TT. It's unusual at this price level that a dedicated winter tyre will be developed and input to the DSC.

The best option here is to talk to the main dealer and ask them to confirm what tyres the car was specified with as OEM fit and if a winter tyrewas chosen. A point to note here is that technically if you swap your tyres to something other than the OEM specified tyre you could be invalidating warranty and potentially insurance.

 

We demo'd the tyre socks on DB9 and they worked very well, as good if not better than spiders and chains, plus less risk of damage to the car. All of these though are only good in blanket snow coverage. If you're talking about partial snow, slush or ice they are actually more dangerous than good. In these situations winter tyres are the better choice and as they also improve handling in the wet, perfect for typical crap British winters!

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Damn Cobol i have a 4x4 w/o the wench i was thinking about getting one for my 2001 chevy s-10 Blazer ZR2 i already paid out the Arse for the tires nice though at 218$ per tire with a life time warrenty as long as i have the vehicle

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LOL Watchy, It wasnt the TT it was the Mazda. But I think we are saying the same thing. The RX8 was "tuned" on Bridgestones. someone had put Pirellis on theirs and it screwed with the handling. The TT on 19" rims uses Bridgestones and on 18" uses Pirellis and like I said my winter tyres are Michelins (supplied by the dealer), so the ESP may be more versatile than on the RX8, which makes sense. The RX8 is a purpose built platform the TT is not. Mind you when it comes to Astons, I imagine the V8 vantage can run on a wider variety of tyres than the DBS/DB9.

 

Good info on the warranty.

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ello

 

I got ESP for the first time on my car.That really helps alot.i was impressed the first time i needed it.

 

(Cause i don't have the money to buy an other set of wheels with snow -tires)

 

 

greetzzz

Edited by EBE
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Dude when you get stuck in snow, give me a ring. This is my formula for snow.

 

070709bfg--140x150.jpg+warn_endurance_winch.jpg=IMG_8976-1.jpg

 

 

 

 

Ya just got to love the redneck in CoBoL haha

 

If ya come over here this is what ya need for snow (mine).

 

Bronco.jpg

 

If the weather get's bad then I will Put bigger tyres but on average these work well.

 

I love my Ford Bronco!

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