Looking for advice on new tires...

[jfabes]

i currently have the oem conti's (255/35-19) with about 19.5k on the clock and they are at or just past the wear tabs...and they are very noisy. I rotated every 5k lowered on oe's with alignment and they wore very evenly. so, looking for new tires now and wasn't crazy about the conti's as they started getting noisy around 13k. I'd like to get something that will last 20k again and hopefully be quieter than the conti's were/are as they wear. I had the conti dw's on my gti a few years ago and liked them but they felt a bit soft. searching here, is see that pilot ss's are a good choice, and that's what i'm, leaning towards. i also read the Sumi htrz III's are pretty good, especially for how inexpensive they are. i had a friend that had them on a 335i for 10k with no noise or issues. i don't autocross or anything (my car is a dd) and with living in the south and all wheel drive, not overly concerned with grip. anyway, looking for some advice on what to go with. thanks in advance.

[MVR 155]

The Conti DW's are great for the money (one of the best) but for another $50/tire the Pilot SS's are a fantastic tire. If you don't care about the extra $200 and want max performance from your tires go for the Michelins.

[integroid]

Michelin PSS

[Toecutter]

Here's a new video released by tire rack just today. What is interesting is that they compare the Michelin Pilot Super Sport and the new King of all seasons, the Michelin A/S 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSqWD5BSeoY&feature=em-uploademail

[Meehow]

I have a set. Best tire on the market, IMO. Had Conti Sport Contacts and Pirelli P-Zeros, which both were extremely noisy!
Here's a new video released by tire rack just today. What is interesting is that they compare the Michelin Pilot Super Sport and the new King of all seasons, the Michelin A/S 3.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSqWD5BSeoY&feature=em-uploademail

[C14 Rider]

If you don't care about the extra $200 and want max performance from your tires go for the Michelins.


Michelin PSS

this... [up]

I couldn't be any happier with mine.. [:)]

[S4_Phantom]

I am in the minority here but I am not in love with my Michelin PSS tires. And to make it worse, since they were pretty much back-ordered in the whole country at the time I bought them I feel like I overpaid. I do not feel as much confidence as I did when I had the Dunlop Sport Maxx GT's or even the stock UHP Conti's (which are loud at low speed). And I drive hard so feeling secure on the road is very important. If I push them hard through a turn they start to slide and that's not acceptable for an all-wheel drive car on dry pavement. For the record, I also have the sport diff. Just my .02 cents.

[damndante]

I love my michelin pilot sports, way better than the pzeros it came with. totally sticky, did great on track. I wentfromstock 18 to 19 255s and rode was softer, they are louder on rough roaf

[MerkurRS]

that was an "ok" video.
it really only shows which tires provide better grip on a warm/hot day. I'd be interested in a true three season test myself.
Then again, it doesn't much matter for me anymore....i just ordered Michelin A/S 3's for my car. $1072 installed with tax out the door....then less the $70 rebate.

[Toecutter]

that was an "ok" video.
it really only shows which tires provide better grip on a warm/hot day. I'd be interested in a true three season test myself.
Then again, it doesn't much matter for me anymore....i just ordered Michelin A/S 3's for my car. $1072 installed with tax out the door....then less the $70 rebate.

I'd be interested in a 3-season test too. What I took home from it though was that Pobst was happy (or at least not unhappy) with the A/S 3 tire on a race track. If he's okay with it on the track then I'm sure I'd be okay with it in normal and spirited driving.

[gendry]

I have them on my RX8 and am quite happy with them. In fairness, I don't track it and am not doing a back to back comparison with a summer on the same car, so this is admittedly a less than useful anecdote (which doesn't stop most people from chiming in ;). But that said, I do occasionally push them until I get some spin, and you have to PUSH really hard. Plus, braking power is phenomenal wet or dry. The ride is probably a bit harsher, but I like it so have no problems.

My own guess is that these would perform in the S4 on a level similar to the stock summers in hot/dry and of course way better for wet/winter conditions. I wouldn't expect them to handle as well as PSS of course, but that is sort of a silly bar to compare against. They are A/S, they won't match the best of the best in perfect conditions, that's fine. Most of us are quite happy on the stock tires and not tracking, so if we can get acceptable occasional winter driving as well with 1 set of tires - that's great.


I'd be interested in a 3-season test too. What I took home from it though was that Pobst was happy (or at least not unhappy) with the A/S 3 tire on a race track. If he's okay with it on the track then I'm sure I'd be okay with it in normal and spirited driving.

[stactum]

Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 (Extreme Performance Summer) (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE-11&partnum=535WR9RE11XL&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Audi&autoYear=2013&autoModel=S4%20Sedan&autoModClar=Premium%20Plus) are on closeout at TireRack. These are Extreme Performance Summer tires, ranked #1 within category. Don't know much about them, but the price is really good.

[helix139]

I am in the minority here but I am not in love with my Michelin PSS tires. And to make it worse, since they were pretty much back-ordered in the whole country at the time I bought them I feel like I overpaid. I do not feel as much confidence as I did when I had the Dunlop Sport Maxx GT's or even the stock UHP Conti's (which are loud at low speed). And I drive hard so feeling secure on the road is very important. If I push them hard through a turn they start to slide and that's not acceptable for an all-wheel drive car on dry pavement. For the record, I also have the sport diff. Just my .02 cents.

Odd. Mine are an improvement over my stock dunlops. They're quieter, wear better, have stiffer sidewalls, and if anything they seem to have slightly more grip. They also do very well in the heavy afternoon rain we get here in Florida.

[Toecutter]

I have them on my RX8 and am quite happy with them. In fairness, I don't track it and am not doing a back to back comparison with a summer on the same car, so this is admittedly a less than useful anecdote (which doesn't stop most people from chiming in ;). But that said, I do occasionally push them until I get some spin, and you have to PUSH really hard. Plus, braking power is phenomenal wet or dry. The ride is probably a bit harsher, but I like it so have no problems.

My own guess is that these would perform in the S4 on a level similar to the stock summers in hot/dry and of course way better for wet/winter conditions. I wouldn't expect them to handle as well as PSS of course, but that is sort of a silly bar to compare against. They are A/S, they won't match the best of the best in perfect conditions, that's fine. Most of us are quite happy on the stock tires and not tracking, so if we can get acceptable occasional winter driving as well with 1 set of tires - that's great.

I'm thinking the A/S 3 will be my next tire once my OEM Contis wear down. Where I live, during the shoulder seasons I often wake up to 30F and see 80F by afternoon. Plus if I need to drive over the Cascade mountains it can be snowy or freezing on top of the passes even during May or October. I don't like the idea of being caught with summer tires when it's snowing up in the mountains, nor do I want to run my WS70 Blizzaks from Oct.-May.

[gendry]

That's my mind set too. I def don't need/want winter tires at all (we are lucky to see a measurable amount of snow on the ground 2x a year unless I drive into the mountains to ski). But the thought of having an AWD S4 which is a death trap in snow just seems like a waste to me. So the A/S 3 is the compromise. Even if they turn out to be pretty mediocre in snow, they will still be light years ahead of stock summers.

To those that say summer tires on S4 is okay because of the AWD, yes the AWD will allow you to have some traction when accelerating so you might get by accelerating from a dig on summers, but when you take your foot off the accelerating and instead hit the break the AWD aspect is gone and you are breaking a 4k plus pound car on summer tires on ice.


I'm thinking the A/S 3 will be my next tire once my OEM Contis wear down. Where I live, during the shoulder seasons I often wake up to 30F and see 80F by afternoon. Plus if I need to drive over the Cascade mountains it can be snowy or freezing on top of the passes even during May or October. I don't like the idea of being caught with summer tires when it's snowing up in the mountains, nor do I want to run my WS70 Blizzaks from Oct.-May.

[integroid]

That would be brake

[jfabes]

Thanks for the input guys. After reading a bit more on here, i'm now wondering if i should go with 265/35-19 or even 275/30-19 with PSS's since it seems they fit differently than other tires and are a bit narrower. i certianly don't want a narrower look than i have now with the oem conti's which are just a little stretched with the 255's on 9.5" et42 with oe springs...rubbing should be an issue, and the speedo diff seems negligible. thoughts on this?

[S4_Phantom]

Odd. Mine are an improvement over my stock dunlops. They're quieter, wear better, have stiffer sidewalls, and if anything they seem to have slightly more grip. They also do very well in the heavy afternoon rain we get here in Florida.

The sidewall on the Dunlops did feel a bit softer but I think the tread pattern towards the sidewall is better than the Michelin's thus providing extra grip in hard turns. The tread right about the sidewall on the PSS seems to be different than the rest of the tire. Almost all rubber with no cuts. That said, it also could be that the Dunlops were a SOFT compound tire. I only got about 10-11k miles on them when I had my '12 S4. Got them replaced with the PSS literally days before buying a '13. Couldn't return them and wasn't about to waste the money (as I already overpaid) so I put on the stock 18's and traded the car with those. Drove the Conti's for about two weeks before putting the PSS and Ti wheels back on the new car. Should have kept the Conti's and Peelers on the car.

[Bronx Cheer]

I am in the minority here but I am not in love with my Michelin PSS tires. And to make it worse, since they were pretty much back-ordered in the whole country at the time I bought them I feel like I overpaid. I do not feel as much confidence as I did when I had the Dunlop Sport Maxx GT's or even the stock UHP Conti's (which are loud at low speed). And I drive hard so feeling secure on the road is very important. If I push them hard through a turn they start to slide and that's not acceptable for an all-wheel drive car on dry pavement. For the record, I also have the sport diff. Just my .02 cents.

Definitely in the minority. Michellin PSS are the best on market for a UHP tire that you can drive every day. There are stickier tires out there, but you will get about 1/3 less miles out of them. I had them on my M3 and they were very predictable and plenty grippy.

[Bronx Cheer]

I'm thinking the A/S 3 will be my next tire once my OEM Contis wear down. Where I live, during the shoulder seasons I often wake up to 30F and see 80F by afternoon. Plus if I need to drive over the Cascade mountains it can be snowy or freezing on top of the passes even during May or October. I don't like the idea of being caught with summer tires when it's snowing up in the mountains, nor do I want to run my WS70 Blizzaks from Oct.-May.

That, coupled with Quattro, is why I went with Summer + A/S two wheel setup instead of Summer + Winter. In my RWD here in DC, A/S were OK but not in any way confidence inspiring in the cold and wet. Thus, I went with performance dedicated winters. I loved them, but unfortunately I burned through those suckers quickly because I had to run them 4-5 months a year to ensure that I did not get caught in random freezing/snowing weather in mid Spring and Fall. The trade off for that safety was that I ended up regularly making long highway drives in 70F and above weather in winters.

A really good A/S should be fine for me from mid Oct through mid March with Quattro and it will save me some significant cash on tires. Considering the mileage I put on my car, this is actually one of the reasons why I traded in my M3 for the S4. Between mileage, tire costs, and depreciation, it was too expensive to use as a commuter car.

[B8_Jim]

Bridgestone Potenza RE-11 (Extreme Performance Summer) (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Bridgestone&tireModel=Potenza+RE-11&partnum=535WR9RE11XL&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&autoMake=Audi&autoYear=2013&autoModel=S4%20Sedan&autoModClar=Premium%20Plus) are on closeout at TireRack. These are Extreme Performance Summer tires, ranked #1 within category. Don't know much about them, but the price is really good.

Keep in mind tire weight - the Bridgestones although highly rated, are about 4 lbs heavier per tire than the PSS (28 vs 24 lbs). FWIW, I am very happy with my PSS.

[helix139]

The sidewall on the Dunlops did feel a bit softer but I think the tread pattern towards the sidewall is better than the Michelin's thus providing extra grip in hard turns. The tread right about the sidewall on the PSS seems to be different than the rest of the tire. Almost all rubber with no cuts. That said, it also could be that the Dunlops were a SOFT compound tire. I only got about 10-11k miles on them when I had my '12 S4. Got them replaced with the PSS literally days before buying a '13. Couldn't return them and wasn't about to waste the money (as I already overpaid) so I put on the stock 18's and traded the car with those. Drove the Conti's for about two weeks before putting the PSS and Ti wheels back on the new car. Should have kept the Conti's and Peelers on the car.

The dunlops are a slightly fatter tire and thus a little more resistant to rolling over onto the sidewall during hard cornering, though the stiffer sidewall on the PSS makes it close. That could be what you are experiencing. Add sways and solid end links and your opinion of the two tires will likely change. They make a huge difference at the limit of traction.

Additionally, how many miles have you put on the tires? All new tires have a bit of a break in period. They generally will perform better the more wear they get up to a point where he tread depth becomes too shallow.

[MerkurRS]

What I hear everyone say, and from what I take from what I have read; is that the PSS's are the best ultra-extreme summer performance tires available if you push your car hard and only drive in the summer
.
For those that drive our cars in a "spirited" fashion (with an occasional burst of extremely-enthusiastic driving) and we want to drive our cars in any other season than "summer"- the new A/S 3 is the better choice. The A/S 3 might have a slight disadvantage in the summer, but will certainly gain an advantage during the other seasons (for those of us that do have seasons) when the road is colder. I am not worried about snow...I have a V10 4wd Excursion for that.

I weighed those advantages and the A/S 3 won out.

My only comparison will be against worn out Pirelli Rosso's. I will report my first initial thoughts tomorrow afternoon.

[OEMplus.com]

I currently have Pirelli P Zero's on my car, but I have had the Michelin PSSs previously and also Conti DWS's, I like the Michelin the most of the bunch. The DWS are great for an all season tire though. Have yet to try the new Pilot Sport A/S 3 though, sposed to be a decent tire as well for all season purposes.

Joe@OEMplus

[A4 Centaur]

Just ordered Conti DW's for track day. Not a cheap priced tire at all. Lot's of good reports about them so I took the plunge. Will report back after HPR and Audi Club activity.

[saxon]

i wouldnt call the dw a track day tire, plenty of others out there that will outperform the dw's on the track

for my i need a set of tires that i will get 20k miles out of and will actually have some grip

[FatalBert]

Just ordered Conti DW's for track day. Not a cheap priced tire at all. Lot's of good reports about them so I took the plunge. Will report back after HPR and Audi Club activity.

Are DW's a summer tire?

[S4_Phantom]

The dunlops are a slightly fatter tire and thus a little more resistant to rolling over onto the sidewall during hard cornering, though the stiffer sidewall on the PSS makes it close. That could be what you are experiencing. Add sways and solid end links and your opinion of the two tires will likely change. They make a huge difference at the limit of traction.

Additionally, how many miles have you put on the tires? All new tires have a bit of a break in period. They generally will perform better the more wear they get up to a point where he tread depth becomes too shallow.

Interesting you said that about the Dunlops. I did notice a little more gap between the edge of the tire and the fender. I thought it was just my imagination. Probably about 1000 miles on the PSS since I got them. I didn't go with another set of Dunlops because of the cost/wear factor. Close to $400/tire and not even a year's worth of driving. Unacceptable.

Like I said before, I am not in love with them the way everyone else is but I don't hate them either. I admit they drive well in the rain and that's important since it rains here every freakin' day. Was just disappointed that I almost slid into a damn curb on brand new tires that are supposed to be the holy grail of rubber. Maybe I need to beat the shit out of them some more for them to perform properly. I have no problem with that. [:D]

[helix139]

Interesting you said that about the Dunlops. I did notice a little more gap between the edge of the tire and the fender. I thought it was just my imagination. Probably about 1000 miles on the PSS since I got them. I didn't go with another set of Dunlops because of the cost/wear factor. Close to $400/tire and not even a year's worth of driving. Unacceptable.

Like I said before, I am not in love with them the way everyone else is but I don't hate them either. I admit they drive well in the rain and that's important since it rains here every freakin' day. Was just disappointed that I almost slid into a damn curb on brand new tires that are supposed to be the holy grail of rubber. Maybe I need to beat the shit out of them some more for them to perform properly. I have no problem with that. [:D]

By 500 miles they should be pretty well broken in and all of the lubricants used to keep the tires from sticking in the molds should be gone. Until that time they will be relatively slick. You will notice a little more tread squirm after that and thus a slightly slow response until they wear down further, though. That said, you shouldn't be sliding into a curb unless you are taking a corner/curve at more than double its rated speed and/or transferring weight off of the rear, braking during cornering, or accelerating hard during cornering. All tires only have a limited amount of grip and that grip must be divided between trying to accelerate the car, steer the car, or slow the car down. What were the details of how you were driving and how the car broke loose when you almost slid into said curb?

[Toecutter]

That, coupled with Quattro, is why I went with Summer + A/S two wheel setup instead of Summer + Winter. In my RWD here in DC, A/S were OK but not in any way confidence inspiring in the cold and wet. Thus, I went with performance dedicated winters. I loved them, but unfortunately I burned through those suckers quickly because I had to run them 4-5 months a year to ensure that I did not get caught in random freezing/snowing weather in mid Spring and Fall. The trade off for that safety was that I ended up regularly making long highway drives in 70F and above weather in winters.

A really good A/S should be fine for me from mid Oct through mid March with Quattro and it will save me some significant cash on tires. Considering the mileage I put on my car, this is actually one of the reasons why I traded in my M3 for the S4. Between mileage, tire costs, and depreciation, it was too expensive to use as a commuter car.

It's supposed to snow above 7000' for the next three days, so our mountain passes will be cold and wet with lows in the 30s. Meanwhile it will still hit the 70s during the day. This is the time of year I want those all-season tires.

[S4_Phantom]

By 500 miles they should be pretty well broken in and all of the lubricants used to keep the tires from sticking in the molds should be gone. Until that time they will be relatively slick. You will notice a little more tread squirm after that and thus a slightly slow response until they wear down further, though. That said, you shouldn't be sliding into a curb unless you are taking a corner/curve at more than double its rated speed and/or transferring weight off of the rear, braking during cornering, or accelerating hard during cornering. All tires only have a limited amount of grip and that grip must be divided between trying to accelerate the car, steer the car, or slow the car down. What were the details of how you were driving and how the car broke loose when you almost slid into said curb?

I have spent the last two days doing some different road tests in both wet and dry, i.e. beating the hell out of the tires. I have come to the conclusion that it is possible I pushed the car beyond the maximum limits of tire adhesion thus causing the car to slide a little. The slide happened under hard acceleration and making a left turn at the same time. Like you explained about tire grip, between accelerating and cornering at the same time, there is only so much grip the tires could offer while handling both tasks at the same time. I likely pushed the car too hard. So I'm feeling a little more positive. I'll give it some more time and miles to see if my opinion changes.

[dr bryan]

Dunlops definitely had better grip and were better performance wise. Slightly louder than the PSS's if that's a concern and way overpriced (which is why I went with PSS's). Didn't notice a diff in wet traction during rainy track days.

PSS's needed to be pumped way up in an attempt to prevent tires from rolling over in corners if you drive hard on track (52 psi hot is when they finally didn't roll except on the most extreme cornering but they sure get slippery up that high). I ran dunlops around 47 psi hot on track. For street, you'd be hard pressed to reach the limits of the PSS's which I think is why so many people like them. You can see the difference in the pics between the two tires. Dunlops had 4 track days and about 8000 miles of street driving on them with stock suspension. Installed sways and endlinks before PSS's which had 3 track days and similar street mileage.

Neither are an ideal choice for track (duh). PSS's more comfortable for daily driving. Dunlops, better performance. As was mentioned above, dunlops were definitely wider (same tire size 255/35).

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq44/trumpetski/2012-07-13_15-32-14_813_zps6b8dfccf.jpg (http://s432.photobucket.com/user/trumpetski/media/2012-07-13_15-32-14_813_zps6b8dfccf.jpg.html)

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq44/trumpetski/20130921_140512_zpsa15aeb37.jpg (http://s432.photobucket.com/user/trumpetski/media/20130921_140512_zpsa15aeb37.jpg.html)

[u2nelson]

I have a set of 4 Mich Pilot super sports, 255/35/19 nearly brand new. They have less than 300 miles on them. These cost me 1100 but I did not like the size on my car. There is nothing wrong with them at all, they are perfect.

Sacrifice at $700 for all 4, your gain is my loss. I'm in north LA area. PM me if interested. I will be placing more adds this weekend after I get some pictures taken.

[MerkurRS]

I have had these tires for four days now and so far, I like them.
The ride is "firm", meaning expansion joints and larger bumps are felt. Smaller cracks, bumps, etc are absorbed OK. I can feel the stiffness of the tire, which is fine, but I wonder how bad this will be once the tire is near it's usable life? Cornering is great- more grip than I care to test on the street. I have yet to drive it in the rain and or course, no snow yet in PA.

[dave96gt]

[QUOTE= The ride is "firm"[/QUOTE]

What tires do members have experience with being on the "softer" side? I was hoping that the Michelin A/S-3 would have been more "soft", after reading some reviews specific to the comfort of the tire. Performance (grip) aside, which tires do people recommend (if seeking out the least stiff sidewall)?