Q5 (or other crossover) snow tires

[the huff]

Just got a Q5 2.0. What's everyone running for snow tires on their Qs or similar?

Torn between sourcing Hakka R2s / wheels (or mounting on stock) then getting mounted or going the easy route from tirerack with Michelin X ice, blizzak ws80s or conti extremewinter contact and wheel package.

Was very pleased with Michelin pilot alpins on my B6 S4 and seems they make great tires all around so I'm kind of leaning towards X ice. Not much experience with Bridgestone or Conti for either winter or summer tires.

[essfour]

I went with X Ice on my wife's X3 35i. The Nokian's were rated at too low a speed rating for my liking (i think R rated). If the WS80's are available in your size I think I'd go with them, from what I hear they are the latest and greatest.

[your daddy]

blizzaks are good too. I would go the premounted route, and have them rebalanced. they're always unbalanced when they do it for whatever reason. If you need help with any of this, feel free to contact us at the shop. see sig.

[Powderhound]

Have always had Blizzaks, of the ws 80 type, and been satisfied. Just switched to the Hakka r2 this year and so far like them better for handling on snow and ice. They also seem quieter than the Blizzaks on dry roads and shed water quite nicely, resisting hydroplaning, etc. in heavy rain. I'm okay with the lower speed rating so far, seems worth the trade off and still cruise 80-85 mph with short bursts of 100ish as needed.

[rymofo]

I have the Michelin x-ice on my s4. They are an absolute beast in the snow but very loud IMO. I've never run a dedicated snow set on any other car I've owned so maybe they are all like this.

[AnTarbh]

We're running these on our Q7 (Nokian WRG3 All Weather). Awesome performance. I wish they had some that fit my new S6, sadly none yet.

https://www.nokiantires.com/winter-t...kian-wrg3-suv/

Also I ran Blizzaks on my A6 each winter. They also worked great.

[LINDW4LL]

I've only heard fantastic things about the Hakka R2s. I think they're the best studless winter tire you can get.

That being said, the others are not shabby choices either. FWIW, TireRack has a comparison of the WS80s and Michelin Xi3s and the WS80s performed better at both stopping and acceleration. Stopping distance was 33.5ft for the Blizzaks versus 43ft for the Michelins, which is a significant difference.

[the huff]

Great thanks for all the feedback. So far it seems like there's a lot of good choices and many have had success with a lot of them. If only there was someplace you could go test drive tires on your specific car...hmmmm

WRG3s even have a Q5 pictured on the Nokian site.

The blizzaks seem to have a pretty soft tread (at least the outer most layer) - does that wear down quickly?

[The Fat Kid]

blizzaks are good too. I would go the premounted route, and have them rebalanced. they're always unbalanced when they do it for whatever reason. If you need help with any of this, feel free to contact us at the shop. see sig.

I just put my new winter setup (WS80s/Enkei wheels) on this past weekend and they feel really out of balance. I am contacting Tire Rack today.

I checked your website and see that you have Saturday hours. I might give you guys a call!

OP - I did a ton of research and ended up with WS80s. I would probably go with the Hakkas if I lived in a remote location where roads were not plowed often.

[The Fat Kid]

Great thanks for all the feedback. So far it seems like there's a lot of good choices and many have had success with a lot of them. If only there was someplace you could go test drive tires on your specific car...hmmmm

WRG3s even have a Q5 pictured on the Nokian site.

The blizzaks seem to have a pretty soft tread (at least the outer most layer) - does that wear down quickly?

I noticed that too, but reviews seemed to indicate that the winter tread held up pretty well. A lot of it will depend on your use; driving on dry roads will wear the tread out much faster than driving on snow.

[KRp220]

for the S4 drivers with blizzaks - why did you go with the WS80's over the LM32's? (i can't remember why i did) but i thought the speed rating was really low on the WS80's and the LM32's had the performance edge too

regardless, i love them. damn good tire so far

[The Fat Kid]

for the S4 drivers with blizzaks - why did you go with the WS80's over the LM32's? (i can't remember why i did) but i thought the speed rating was really low on the WS80's and the LM32's had the performance edge too

regardless, i love them. damn good tire so far

I have a 2015 S4 with about 100 dry miles on the WS80s and they have been OK.

WS80s still have a "H" (130MPH) rating, which is good for a studless snow & ice tire. I was torn between the WS80s and LMs, and went with the former because they rated pretty well for dry performance, and outperformed pretty much everything except Hakkas (expensive and only 106MPH rating) in the white stuff. Unfortunately, we have only had a couple inches of snow this year DOH!

[Shanster]

I went X-Ice xi3 this year because the load rating went down on the Blizzak WS 80. I believe X-Ice are 94 and Blizzaks were 91. I wanted the added strength of the sidewalls for my shitty Boston roads. Both had H speed ratings.


I had the WS60's before and they were amazing...had 5 winters on them (5th winter was iffy). So far the X-Ice have been fantastic, both in dry, wet and snow. They're not as spungy as the WS60s, that's for sure. Noisiness is not bad either.

[The Fat Kid]

I went X-Ice xi3 this year because the load rating went down on the Blizzak WS 80. I believe X-Ice are 94 and Blizzaks were 91. I wanted the added strength of the sidewalls for my shitty Boston roads. Both had H speed ratings.


I had the WS60's before and they were amazing...had 5 winters on them (5th winter was iffy). So far the X-Ice have been fantastic, both in dry, wet and snow. They're not as spungy as the WS60s, that's for sure. Noisiness is not bad either.

WS80s have a pretty broad range for load/speed ratings; my 225/45/R18s are 95H. The WS80s have not felt spongy (not pushing them nearly as hard as summers though), but that could change as I put more miles on them.

[Shanster]

In would have needed the ws80 out in 225/45R17 and they had a rating if 91H.

[The Fat Kid]

In would have needed the ws80 out in 225/45R17 and they had a rating if 91H.

Gotcha. 235/45 (97H) would have been too wide?

[Shanster]

I forget exactly, but I think it came down to dollars for me (always does right?!). 235/45 is stock for B7s and would not have been too wide.

[wildcat333]

I love my x-ice's

[rs4-380]

Had Blizzak DM-V1's on my old q5. No complaints. Have GY ultra grips on the Q7, no complaints. With the cars, I try to stick with the "performance" type snow tires (for example Blizzak Lm's vs blizzak ws's) as they tend to yield more confident dry road handling but I haven't had the same complaints on the SUVs.