Summer Tires

[Gberg888]

Hey Guys,

I have a set of dedicated winters and dedicated summers, my summer rims however, do not have any tires on them right now as they are new to me.

Anyone have any suggestions between the following:
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...0&rd=18&cs=235

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...0&rd=18&cs=235

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...0&rd=18&cs=235

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...0&rd=18&cs=235

I have run the Hanook on my b5 as a daily and wouldnt mind them again, just wondering if the other tires are better or worse?
I run the nittos on my R32 for performance/track driving. They are loud on the street, but in my price range so I am curious about them on my A4.
The other two I do not know much about.

Looking for:
Max performance with a stiff side wall. Loud road noise. Good grip wet and dry - these will see about 3-5k miles a year in the summer.

[moyenecorniche]

Any reason why you would not consider the Continental Extreme Contact DW's ? They are a better summer performance tires than either the Hankook's or the Nitto's and are also priced in the same range at Tirerack.
I am biased, but having run Falken and the likes ( Hankook, Nitto ) those would not be my personal first choices.

The Neo Gen is aimed at subcompact cars, your A4 weighs close to 3800 lbs, not a good choice.
The Falken Azenis is patterned after the Conti DW Extreme but doesn't perform as well and after a year on Falken.. Meh ... I'll be back to Conti's
As for the 3rd option, that is a summer tire modeled after a track tire. Look at the tread pattern, you'll be screwed in the rain at freeway speeds.

Call Tire Rack or better yet, look at what Audi recommends for summer performance. I understand you don't want to break the bank, but then again if you are wrapped around a tree or worse, spending an extra $200 will seem irrelevant.
Choose tires rated for the A4 platform. Chooseyour tires on performance more than low price. Judging from your garage, you can afford $200 per tire.

[diztek]

if you don't mind some road noise, check out the yokohama s drives at Tire Rack. they lasted a looong time for me.

[texasboy21]

Im on my third set of Hankook Ventus, I like 'em.

[Charles.waite]

I am a big fan of my Sumitomo HTRZIII summers. They aren't the quietest, but they grip like whoa and are VERY stable. The noise doesn't bother me too much as I don't drive on the highway much (if ever) and the streets in Seattle are garbage, so you could have tires made out of marshmallow and they would still be noisy and harsh. The best part is they were $110/ea from Tire Rack.

I got them installed in October 2013 and have run them year round here in Seattle. They remain very compliant even in close to freezing temps, they don't turn into hockey pucks at all. Anyway I love them and plan on buying them again.

[Audi 4 Life]

Pirelli PZero Audi R01 tires are hands down the best tire for Audi's to run, they are quiet, comfortable, grip like no other, and have good tread life and are a reasonable price. They are the tires that comes stock on the R8 from the factory. Since I got them for my 19" BBS summer wheels I have not bought any other tire even on my 19's they are quiet and comfortable. I doubt any other tire is going to fit an Audi better than these.

[a4darkness]

BFG Comp 2's
/thread

[silljer_28]

Im on my third set of Hankook Ventus, I like 'em.

from what i hear, the evo2 k120 are even better than the k110 too!

[texasboy21]

I am a big fan of my Sumitomo HTRZIII summers. They aren't the quietest, but they grip like whoa and are VERY stable. The noise doesn't bother me too much as I don't drive on the highway much (if ever) and the streets in Seattle are garbage, so you could have tires made out of marshmallow and they would still be noisy and harsh. The best part is they were $110/ea from Tire Rack.

I got them installed in October 2013 and have run them year round here in Seattle. They remain very compliant even in close to freezing temps, they don't turn into hockey pucks at all. Anyway I love them and plan on buying them again.

Interesting, I was looking to change it up next time I need tires. Seattle is definitely more wet and cold than Houston, so I may give those a shot. How many miles do you get out of them? I usually get about 10K from the Hankooks (with a handful of track days).

BFG Comp 2's
/thread

I ran two sets of them before switching over to Hankooks. IMO the hankooks are superior, but have a much softer sidewall.

from what i hear, the evo2 k120 are even better than the k110 too!

I ran the K110s and am now on the K112s. I have no idea what the difference is.

[A4Mods]

I have heard nothing but bad things about the Extreme Contact DWS. I researched them a lot when I bought my Hankook Ventus EVO's. So many reviews about them cupping between 10-15k miles and creating very loud road noise and vibration. I couldn't bring myself to save a couple bucks for tires that I felt wouldn't last. I have 30k Miles now on my Hankooks. Still at 10/32's tread all the way across (They started at 12). Plenty of life left on them, they perform very well on dry and wet pavement. I even have played with them in the snow, and although stopping takes a good distance, they didn't have much problem getting the car moving. Of course, if I wanted to spin them, I easily could. =D

I ran the K110s and am now on the K112s. I have no idea what the difference is.

I'm running the Ventus V12 evo2 K120
30k miles on them with 10/32 left. (Although, I've never taken my car to the track.)
However, I do drive it pretty enthusiastically on a pretty regular basis.
You mentioned a "softer sidewall." Well, I recently discovered my front right tire didn't even have enough air in it to register on my tire gauge. Who knows how long I was driving with it like that......
I put some air in it, bumps instantly became more firm when hit with that front right tire, but even at highway speeds, the tire didn't show any signs that it had no air in it.....I wouldn't recommened running them without air, but, I'm kind of happy I found this out, since I don't have a spare. I know I can limp the car somewhere to park it. Haha!

[EastTNPharmD]

I have heard nothing but bad things about the Extreme Contact DWS. I researched them a lot when I bought my Hankook Ventus EVO's. So many reviews about them cupping between 10-15k miles and creating very loud road noise and vibration. I couldn't bring myself to save a couple bucks for tires that I felt wouldn't last. I have 30k Miles now on my Hankooks. Still at 10/32's tread all the way across (They started at 12). Plenty of life left on them, they perform very well on dry and wet pavement. I even have played with them in the snow, and although stopping takes a good distance, they didn't have much problem getting the car moving. Of course, if I wanted to spin them, I easily could. =D

The conti DW and DWS are different tires. From my understanding the DWS was redone after complaints. I've got about 5-10k on my DWS set and they are still amazing. Just my .02


"Two paths diverge in the woods and I, I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference to me- Robert Frost"

[A4Mods]

The conti DW and DWS are different tires. From my understanding the DWS was redone after complaints. I've got about 5-10k on my DWS set and they are still amazing. Just my .02


"Two paths diverge in the woods and I, I took the one less traveled, and that has made all the difference to me- Robert Frost"

Yes, I know there is a difference. I infact meant the DWS. I'm not saying it happens every time, but I found way too many people complaining about it to make me comfortable enough to buy them.
You haven't hit the 10-15k mile a lot of people were complaining about yet either. If you're happy with them so far, congrats. More power to you. I really hope you can get the full life out of them.
But most of the bad reviews about them, where on AWD cars I noticed. Again, I really hope you hit that 15k mark and all stays well and you are pleased. I'm sure not everyone who has bought them has had a bad experience with them!

[Charles.waite]

Interesting, I was looking to change it up next time I need tires. Seattle is definitely more wet and cold than Houston, so I may give those a shot. How many miles do you get out of them? I usually get about 10K from the Hankooks (with a handful of track days).



I ran two sets of them before switching over to Hankooks. IMO the hankooks are superior, but have a much softer sidewall.



I ran the K110s and am now on the K112s. I have no idea what the difference is.

I'm thinking I'll get around 30k miles out of them. Which for me is around 4 years.

[moyenecorniche]

I had them ( DWS ) on my B6 A4 Avant twice, felt they were one of the best all seasons out there. Sure once you lose the S and the W tread depth they are no longer able to perform as new, but after running Falken Ziex, Pirelli all seasons, Sumitomo ( which were on the S4 when purchased ) horrible in snow, the DWS are at the top. I would consider them again, however I do prefer dedicated winters since between the snow we get in CT's northeast and ski trips to Maine and Vermont, Michelin Alpin PA's or similar are a better choice for me.

[Audi 4 Life]

All seasons = no seasons, nothing will ever change that. Dedicated tires for application will get the best life and performance possible. No all season tire even comes close to dedicated season tires. When it comes to tires you definitely get what you pay for.

[Gberg888]

All seasons = no seasons, nothing will ever change that. Dedicated tires for application will get the best life and performance possible. No all season tire even comes close to dedicated season tires. When it comes to tires you definitely get what you pay for.

Exactly, thats why I wouldnt ever consider any all season tires. Im going with the Hankook Ventus Evo V12 K120s. I found them for 135 a tire and I have had great experiences with them. I have run them on my B5 A4 for 3 summers with no complaints and plenty of life. If they werent 17s they would be going on my B6.

[Luxus Panzer]

I looked into Cooper Zeon RS3-A tires as I could get a GREAT deal on some.

All reviews looked good...so I went with them

I got 4 installed and ballanced for 600 bucks tax INC Canadian. (18")

We will see how they perform this summer.

[Sales@DriveAuto]

I've run a bunch of different summers on the B6 over the years. Longest lasting were the BFG KDW2's (~35k miles), shortest lasting were the Ventus V12's (~10k miles). Grippiest were Bridgestone RE-01R's, best all around are the Conti DW's that I'm using now.

The Hankooks are great for the money - I just wished they lasted longer.

[Gberg888]

Mine have lasted a goo while, im surprised yours only lasted 10k.

[coolgraymemo]

Michellin Pilot Super Sports are supposed to be very good. I have not tested them.

I am a big fan of my Sumitomo HTRZIII summers. They aren't the quietest, but they grip like whoa and are VERY stable. The noise doesn't bother me too much as I don't drive on the highway much (if ever) and the streets in Seattle are garbage, so you could have tires made out of marshmallow and they would still be noisy and harsh. The best part is they were $110/ea from Tire Rack.

I got them installed in October 2013 and have run them year round here in Seattle. They remain very compliant even in close to freezing temps, they don't turn into hockey pucks at all. Anyway I love them and plan on buying them again.

I have about 10,000 miles on my Sumis. I don't think they're loud. I like 'em and recommend 'em.

Pirelli PZero Audi R01 tires are hands down the best tire for Audi's to run, they are quiet, comfortable, grip like no other, and have good tread life and are a reasonable price. They are the tires that comes stock on the R8 from the factory. Since I got them for my 19" BBS summer wheels I have not bought any other tire even on my 19's they are quiet and comfortable. I doubt any other tire is going to fit an Audi better than these.

Just because they come stock on a R8 doesn't mean they are great tires.
They rank 20 out 27 on TireRack's survey. Shitty reviews too.

[Fast4esT]

I think I'm buying a set of Dunlop direzza zii tires, from what I hear they grip like racing tires, nice tread pattern and a fair price
Also heard great about the sumitomo htrziii and the hankook ventus, and these are cheaper tires.

[customa4]

My buddy put the Michelin Pilot Super Sports on his 3.6 Passat and loves them. I pointed him to all the threads on here praising them and it was enough for him to bite. They are pretty pricey though so not all will go for it. When I get my summer setup together I will be going with them.

[Audi 4 Life]

Michellin Pilot Super Sports are supposed to be very good. I have not tested them.



I have about 10,000 miles on my Sumis. I don't think they're loud. I like 'em and recommend 'em.



Just because they come stock on a R8 doesn't mean they are great tires.
They rank 20 out 27 on TireRack's survey. Shitty reviews too.

LOL, its exactly the reason why they are good. and out perform every other tire anyone has listed in this thread. Especially your 100$ summi's If you think those perform anywhere near a 250$ Pirelli Tire made for a supercar, your crazy. That tire is made to spec for that supercar to perform to its ability. The only 2 Max performance summer tires that even come close to the Pirelli Pzero's are the Hankook v12 evo and Continental DW's which are a great bang for your buck tire and perform great. I personally would never buy the hanhook's I'd go with the Conti's first. But I perfer Pirelli because they have outperformed every tire i have ran on my 19" BBS wheels where I am not willing to sacrifice and have a loud shitty tire. The R01's are very quiet, grip like hell and if you care for them they will last plenty long enough.

The problem with following customer reviews is a lot of people are on a budget (like me) at the time I had more to spend and love the Pireli's so much I bought them again. But becasue a lot of people are on a budget and of course nothing wrong with that to them they have never bought a nicer tire so your getting a review from someone on a set of tires that run 5-600$ and that person has never driven on a set of Miichellin Pilot Super sports or Pzero's that cost over 1000$ for a set. So they have nothing to compare that 4,5, 6 or 700 $ set of tires to. So reviews are impartial. you have no idea the experience of that person giving the review.

The simple fact of tires is that you get what you pay for. There is no way around that unless a tire is low on stock or a new model coming out and they have it on clearance you can get a deal. But other than that. Tires are absolutely can be sorted by the best performing tires being the most expensive to the least expensive. Yea, there are some tires that offer a really good bang for buck like the Conti DW tires are plenty good enough for any A4 and if your reaching the limit of a max performance tire like that your driving way too fast. I'll never reach the limit of my Pirelli's but they are excellent performing and are the absolute quietest low profile tire I have ever driven and smoothest. Road noise is a biggie for me. And the B6 is a loud ass car with horrible sound insulation. A good tire helps this greatly. As will some sound deadening material which I have yet to do but will soon. In the end Tires all come down to what you can afford and I highly recommend for anyone buying tires to strech your budget as much as you can it is extremely worth it.

[LINDW4LL]

The Michelin PSS/Pilot Supersport is [in my opinion] the best tire for a street driven car. I think you'll come to the same conclusion if you research enough. The P-Zeros aren't a bad tire by any stretch of the imagination, but the PSS certainly wins that competition.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...-sport-page-10

[coolgraymemo]

LOL, its exactly the reason why they are good. and out perform every other tire anyone has listed in this thread. Especially your 100$ summi's If you think those perform anywhere near a 250$ Pirelli Tire made for a supercar, your crazy. That tire is made to spec for that supercar to perform to its ability. The only 2 Max performance summer tires that even come close to the Pirelli Pzero's are the Hankook v12 evo and Continental DW's which are a great bang for your buck tire and perform great. I personally would never buy the hanhook's I'd go with the Conti's first. But I perfer Pirelli because they have outperformed every tire i have ran on my 19" BBS wheels where I am not willing to sacrifice and have a loud shitty tire. The R01's are very quiet, grip like hell and if you care for them they will last plenty long enough.

The problem with following customer reviews is a lot of people are on a budget (like me) at the time I had more to spend and love the Pireli's so much I bought them again. But becasue a lot of people are on a budget and of course nothing wrong with that to them they have never bought a nicer tire so your getting a review from someone on a set of tires that run 5-600$ and that person has never driven on a set of Miichellin Pilot Super sports or Pzero's that cost over 1000$ for a set. So they have nothing to compare that 4,5, 6 or 700 $ set of tires to. So reviews are impartial. you have no idea the experience of that person giving the review.

The simple fact of tires is that you get what you pay for. There is no way around that unless a tire is low on stock or a new model coming out and they have it on clearance you can get a deal. But other than that. Tires are absolutely can be sorted by the best performing tires being the most expensive to the least expensive. Yea, there are some tires that offer a really good bang for buck like the Conti DW tires are plenty good enough for any A4 and if your reaching the limit of a max performance tire like that your driving way too fast. I'll never reach the limit of my Pirelli's but they are excellent performing and are the absolute quietest low profile tire I have ever driven and smoothest. Road noise is a biggie for me. And the B6 is a loud ass car with horrible sound insulation. A good tire helps this greatly. As will some sound deadening material which I have yet to do but will soon. In the end Tires all come down to what you can afford and I highly recommend for anyone buying tires to strech your budget as much as you can it is extremely worth it.

So... more expensive tires are better?
Oh, okay.

My cheap Sumis outperformed your glorious Pirellis on Tirerack's survey. That's a tire retailer whose reviews I trust. Not a biased opinion by someone trying to justify their unnecessarily expensive purchase.



fwiw, you contradicted yourself in your own post.

[adam044]

LOL, its exactly the reason why they are good. and out perform every other tire anyone has listed in this thread. Especially your 100$ summi's If you think those perform anywhere near a 250$ Pirelli Tire made for a supercar, your crazy. That tire is made to spec for that supercar to perform to its ability. The only 2 Max performance summer tires that even come close to the Pirelli Pzero's are the Hankook v12 evo and Continental DW's which are a great bang for your buck tire and perform great. I personally would never buy the hanhook's I'd go with the Conti's first. But I perfer Pirelli because they have outperformed every tire i have ran on my 19" BBS wheels where I am not willing to sacrifice and have a loud shitty tire. The R01's are very quiet, grip like hell and if you care for them they will last plenty long enough.

The problem with following customer reviews is a lot of people are on a budget (like me) at the time I had more to spend and love the Pireli's so much I bought them again. But becasue a lot of people are on a budget and of course nothing wrong with that to them they have never bought a nicer tire so your getting a review from someone on a set of tires that run 5-600$ and that person has never driven on a set of Miichellin Pilot Super sports or Pzero's that cost over 1000$ for a set. So they have nothing to compare that 4,5, 6 or 700 $ set of tires to. So reviews are impartial. you have no idea the experience of that person giving the review.

The simple fact of tires is that you get what you pay for. There is no way around that unless a tire is low on stock or a new model coming out and they have it on clearance you can get a deal. But other than that. Tires are absolutely can be sorted by the best performing tires being the most expensive to the least expensive. Yea, there are some tires that offer a really good bang for buck like the Conti DW tires are plenty good enough for any A4 and if your reaching the limit of a max performance tire like that your driving way too fast. I'll never reach the limit of my Pirelli's but they are excellent performing and are the absolute quietest low profile tire I have ever driven and smoothest. Road noise is a biggie for me. And the B6 is a loud ass car with horrible sound insulation. A good tire helps this greatly. As will some sound deadening material which I have yet to do but will soon. In the end Tires all come down to what you can afford and I highly recommend for anyone buying tires to strech your budget as much as you can it is extremely worth it.

I don't even read this much for college. Da faq.

[Audi 4 Life]

^lol, i wish I had your classes, seems like all I do is read, read and read some more its never ending, especially this philosophy book I'm reading this term its a mind fuck beyond anything i've ever read.

The Michelin PSS/Pilot Supersport is [in my opinion] the best tire for a street driven car. I think you'll come to the same conclusion if you research enough. The P-Zeros aren't a bad tire by any stretch of the imagination, but the PSS certainly wins that competition.

http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...-sport-page-10

I agree they are both great, I think at a certain point for most consumers it comes down to experience and being able to differentiate between tires like that can be hard and I don't think I could to me they would just both be really good tires. But thinking a Summi, or hanhook, or some other cheap tire is better than a Michellin or Pirelli is insane.

[coolgraymemo]

My Sumitomos are better than your Pirellis.
Come at me.

[LINDW4LL]

Here are my lowly Sumitomos outperforming your precious Pirellis from an objective retailer (Tirerack).

It's all what you want in a tire. I wouldn't say the Sumitomos outperformed the P Zero. They scored lower on dry traction, cornering stability, and steering response.

AKA, if you were on a track where performance counts, you'd want the Pirellis.

[Charles.waite]

Around town the sumitomos are good enought you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference I bet.

[Audi 4 Life]

That survey is so biased anyways its not even funny. The survey doesn't have a good sample so its not representative. Its complexly biased off selection. I've bought my pirelli's twice and have never taken a survey. That survey relies on a convenience sample which is drawn from people who chose to take the survey. How many people are out there that didn't take the survey. Could be 1000 people that bought the Pirelli's and chose to not take the servery and that every person but 10 who bought the summi's took the survey or vice versa. Then you also have to look at who is taking the surveys, regular people and some car enthusiasts mostly probably or people who just want to help ratings, people who also just probably go on there to for the company to make it look better and throw off results. Their is a million things that can affect it, if you understand how sampling works you wouldn't even consider the consumer ratings on that site accurate reflection of the performance for those tires in any way at all.

Also consider how many high performance cars Pirelli and Michelin come on, You never hear about "hey my Ferrari, or Mclaren came with this summi's dude you gotta see how great these are" Thats because they don't come on any high performance cars from the factory. Pirelli's and Michelin do for a reason. I bought the Audi R01 specifically because they are made for an Audi. And I also bought them because they weigh 22 lbs which is very light for a 19" tire and on my 19" BBS wheels which weigh as much as my stock wheels from the factory I save a few lbs per corner while driving on a tire made for an Audi that I know performs very well. Just for reference if I was driving on a Summi it would be an extra 4lbs per corner adding up to 16lbs rotational mass added.

[coolgraymemo]

lol

[Murph_129]

[NathanGrayW]

That survey is so biased anyways its not even funny. The survey doesn't have a good sample so its not representative. Its complexly biased off selection. I've bought my pirelli's twice and have never taken a survey. That survey relies on a convenience sample which is drawn from people who chose to take the survey. How many people are out there that didn't take the survey. Could be 1000 people that bought the Pirelli's and chose to not take the servery and that every person but 10 who bought the summi's took the survey or vice versa. Then you also have to look at who is taking the surveys, regular people and some car enthusiasts mostly probably or people who just want to help ratings, people who also just probably go on there to for the company to make it look better and throw off results. Their is a million things that can affect it, if you understand how sampling works you wouldn't even consider the consumer ratings on that site accurate reflection of the performance for those tires in any way at all.

Also consider how many high performance cars Pirelli and Michelin come on, You never hear about "hey my Ferrari, or Mclaren came with this summi's dude you gotta see how great these are" Thats because they don't come on any high performance cars from the factory. Pirelli's and Michelin do for a reason. I bought the Audi R01 specifically because they are made for an Audi. And I also bought them because they weigh 22 lbs which is very light for a 19" tire and on my 19" BBS wheels which weigh as much as my stock wheels from the factory I save a few lbs per corner while driving on a tire made for an Audi that I know performs very well. Just for reference if I was driving on a Summi it would be an extra 4lbs per corner adding up to 16lbs rotational mass added.

I'm not judging any of the tires, I've heard a lot of good things about all of them. But just because they come factory on high performance cars doesn't mean they're the best. If anything it just shows Pirelli and Michelin have more money to persuade the car manufacturers to include their tires.

Anyways, I'm happy with my DWS. :p I was more than happy with my stopping/turning ability this winter.

[adam044]

K


.

[fR3ZNO]

I'm not judging any of the tires, I've heard a lot of good things about all of them. But just because they come factory on high performance cars doesn't mean they're the best. If anything it just shows Pirelli and Michelin have more money to persuade the car manufacturers to include their tires.

This.

Read the tire rack reviews for some of the OEM Conti tires that come on Audi's and see how much people don't like them. Just because they're OEM doesn't automatically mean that they're better.

[demonmk2]

bwahahahahaha.....thank you again.

[Murph_129]