18s or 19s for year-round use?

[kirby]

My girlfriend and I recently bought a 2006 A4 Avant 2.0T QM6 in moro blue. The only option she came with was sport suspension which we're generally pleased with by the way. We've been thinking about new shoes for her as her stockies are only 16s.

We bought an avant because we travel, camp, snowboard, hike, rock climb, etc. Are 19s too much for some of these activities? In fact, are 18s for that matter? We also have a 2006 Passat 2.0T M6 on Audi A8 fat fives and lowered on H&R sports which we use year-round. The 18s on our Passat seem to have held up fine but are 19s pushing it?

I'm not one for swapping between summer and winter wheels so something we can use year-round is a must for our cars.

[deephouse]

Then 17 or 18.

You can get away with 18s i think.

17s for sure but thats not a big upgrade from 16 so there's the trade off.

Brian

[MarkChai]

Yeah, the biggest I'd go is 18's in your situ. 18's are more comfortable for trips, A/S tires are cheaper and have better grip in ice/snow (though 17's would perform better in that case. Keep your stock wheels for the snowboarding trips and off-road rock climbing!!)

[djs]

A lot depends on the road conditions in your area. For those lucky people in Cali and Texas where the roads are nice year round, 18's are easy and many go with 19's

Here in Michigan, the roads are not in as good of shape, so even 18's can be rough. I personally use 18's in the summer on my '02 and 16's during the winter (they were original equipment so I just kept them). My wife has 17's (stock) on her '07 Avant and we use those year round with no problems.

[D's Avant]

Given our last winter I would go with 18" max. You are better off running 16"s during winter at 205/55-16s and 18"s at 225-235's during summer.

[streetsoffire]

kirby: I have 19s on my S6, all year round now......but for your lifestyle, you may want to go plus 2 to only 18s.

[Kievskiy]

i wouldn't let the girl drive with 19's ; putholes ant parking...... imo 18s will be perfect for this situation and cheaper to fix

[dmaize]

i would make sure you get good clear coat on your rims, like a powder clear. otherwise the winter will eat them.

[kirby]

Thanks for all the input so far. I think I'm leaning towards 18s as I'm currently running them on my Passat without issue and 17s - like someone mentioned - doesn't seem to be a big enough step up from my stock wheels.

As for the above post, which manufacturers use the clear coat you're referring to or is that something I have to have done myself?

[sliverwagon]

the last year I had my Audi I ran 18's all year around in PA and I was fine and my buddy (also in PA) ran 19's on his B5 S4 all year around and he was fine.

it all depends on the tires you buy

[kingofnyc]

I would use 18s. they are more comfortable and the tires are cheaper.