All seasons for Winter tires

[Hard Driver]

I have had in the past summer tires and winter snow tires. Then in the two years, I just put all season tires on my last B5 S4. This is the first winter with the new B8 S4 and it has the 19" summer wheels and tires.. I just purchased some 18" wheels and was going to go the snow tire route and am now having some second guessing.... I got by fine on all seasons the last 2 years. And even in New Hampshire, you are only driving in snow occassionally, the rest of the winter you are on the dry plowed roads. So now I am thinking maybe I want 18" all seasons for the winter and then the 19" summer tires in the summer. That way, all winter when the roads are dry I am getting the better feel of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires over Bridgestone Blizzaks.

I know this is a personal decision... but figured I would solicit input to see if anyone else does this. Or if there are other thoughts on it I didn't think of.

[Psalm40]

I figure that if you have two separate set-ups, why not do dedicated snow tires? The all-seasons are a "jack of all trades, master of none". I don't find that running on dry (cold!) pavement is a problem with snow tires.

[torsendiffsrock]

How about a sporty winter tire?

[moyenecorniche]

I'm running Michelin's Alpin PA3's which are a dedicated winter tire...Quiet and far surpass All Seasons..
As a tech explained to me about dedicated winter tires...
It's not getting going which with Quattro is rarely an issue..But it's stopping or to be more to the point the distance it takes to come to a halt and not hit another object, be it moving or stationary.
I prefer knowing that with the Alpin's my stopping distance is much shorter than with an All Season. Plus the traction in wet snow, dry snow, slush and even dry pavement is great.

It's your choice but seriously..if you are spending this much on an Audi, then it makes no sense to have a contact patch that is a compromise...

[Justin@FCP]

I figure that if you have two separate set-ups, why not do dedicated snow tires? The all-seasons are a "jack of all trades, master of none". I don't find that running on dry (cold!) pavement is a problem with snow tires.

x2 on that!

If you've got a 2nd set of rims, just stick with Winter tires, especially with how much NH winters vary. Especially with a B8 S4, why take the chance, better to be safe then sorry and go with a dedicated snow tire set-up.

[Vogz]

Why would you waste your money on all-seasons if you're not going to run them "all season"? If you're going to run summers in the summer it only makes sense to run a winter tire in the winter. There are plenty of high performance winter tires that will give you good dry pavement handling and still be worlds better than an all season in the snow.

[Leor604]

A few years back, one of the car mags did a comparison test between winter, all-season and summer tires. They distilled all the tests down to one set of numbers. Using the winter tire as the benchmark, they gave it a "traction index" of 100. The all season had a traction index of 70 and the summer tire had a traction index of 40.

Basically a 30% decrease in traction for the all season and a whopping 60% decrease for the summer tire.

I know what I will be putting on my car!!! In fact I have Alpin PA3's on the way.

[B8 S FOR]

A few years back, one of the car mags did a comparison test between winter, all-season and summer tires. They distilled all the tests down to one set of numbers. Using the winter tire as the benchmark, they gave it a "traction index" of 100. The all season had a traction index of 70 and the summer tire had a traction index of 40.

Basically a 30% decrease in traction for the all season and a whopping 60% decrease for the summer tire.

I know what I will be putting on my car!!! In fact I have Alpin PA3's on the way.

+1 Michelin Alpin PA3s ALL THE WAY!!!! Got em on now with my 18" VMR 710s

[Hard Driver]

Thanks for the feedback...yea, I think all of you are right, full winters are a better idea. Considering we might get a foot of snow tomorrow, I guess I should face the music that I need to give up the feel of the summer tires for now.

[Seinsmeld13]

I'm running Yokohama Wdrive. These are a proper rated winter tire but are considered all weather. These are fantastic on dry roads. I chose these initially as the tire dealer practically gave them away. They were ordered with deposit and the guy who did never returned so I got them at cost. They are 225/45/18 and run like a dream. When my aggressive winters on my GTI wear they will be replaced with these Wdrives.