winter tires... are they necessary?

[joeking1978]

Hey guys... I just got my '00 S4, and this is the first time I've ever had to consider the necessity of winter tires. (My S2000 has never seen the snow... winter tires would be like Bush fighting Terrorism... just doesn't do any good [:D] )

The car came with some relatively new Kumho's supra ecsta's...

How are they in the winter?

what difference does winter tread make?

Is it necessary with AWD?? (I know I found out that I bought the model just before traction cntrl too- [mad] )


Thanks for input...

[dbtong]

If you're going to see snow, then you need tires that are rated for M&S. Quattro doesn't do anything for you if your tires don't have traction.

[Hutash]

Quattro is great, but even better with tires that get traction. MS tires are good; snow tires are better.

[joeking1978]

what ones do you guys recommend?

[Hutash]

I use Conti. extreme contacts which is an allseason M+S rated tire. Happy with them so far, but in S. California I only get to use them in the snow on ski trips. I do not use winter tires since I have to drive through the desert and warm temps before getting to Mammoth, and winter tires would be ruined. Call Oscar at Tirerack and he will set you up.

[Oscar@tirerack]

The Kumho's are only three season tires. If you will be driving in snow, you must change to a all season tire, or the better pick woul be to use a snow tire.

Two you should look at closely are the Bridgestone LM-25 and or the Dunlop Winter Sport M3.

Give me a call, and we will go over this in more detail if you like.