New Tires (1 Viewer)

[Philip_T]

Time to get new tires for the family sled again and I was looking around at a few options. I'm currently leaning towards these BF Goodrich Traction T/A's and was curious if anyone here has had any experience with these tires. They are going on a 96' A4 and need to be good for wet, dry, and snowy conditions. Any other suggestions?

 

[Greg_R]

Haven't experienced the BF Goodrich's yet. After a lot of research I ended up deciding between the Pirelli PZero Nero M+S and the Toyo Proxes4 for my Impreza. Both of these tires are very popular with the performance AWD crowd. You should be able to get the Toyo's for about the same price as the BF Goodrich tires. The Pirelli's are slightly more expensive but will last a little longer.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Costco's good for tires. They can put them on while you are otherwise shopping. http://www.costco.com/Tires/SearchRe...cat=3960&MNo=0
I really liked the Bridgestone RE-950s on my Miata, but only drove in the dry and wet. What's "snow"?

Check out the reviews at www.tirerack.com .
Have you considered some cheap wheels and dedicated snow tires? I've done a lot of reading and there just isn't a tire that does well in all climates.

 

[JeremySt]

Exactly.

I currently have a VW, and will soon be getting an A4. Ill back up the "2 sets of tires" suggestion. Its the only way to go. Get a good set of summer / wet weathers, and set of winter tires. For maximum effeciency, get a second set of wheels just for the winter tires. Its what I do. The cost of getting tires remounted twice anually on the same set of wheels is about $50 buck each time, so just buying two different sets of wheels can pay for itself pretty quickly. If you have the tools, you can change your wheels yourself.

I would go online to an Audi / VW enthusiast website and look through the classifieds. People there are always upgrading, and you can get some stock wheels to use in the winter for cheap. If your lucky, somtimes low milage winter tires will already be on them. If not, go get some new winter tires at costco.

If you have never experienced proper tires ( that is to say, something other than all-seasons) youve never experienced how great your car can be. All season tires a compromise year round.

 

[Philip_T]

I was initially planing on going to Costco for tires, but found out that Sears is selling the same tire I was looking at for $10/tire cheaper. I'm beginning to question my Costco membership, but thats for a different thread. I've thought about the 2 set method, but honestly, I'm not that ambitious when it comes to tires. I just want them to be decent all around tires - as my 'spirited' driving days are behind me. Also, the thing about dedicated snow tires in Denver is that honestly, we rarely have snow on the ground here much. The snow we get usually melts off within a day or 2 so I'd be driving those dedicated snow tires around on dry pavement most of the time. I can see how the 2 set method would really work well for some, but I guess I'm just not that into it.

 

[Bob Graz]

I know that Sam's club (I just bought 4 Goodrich tires there) has a package for I believe $8 per tire that includes new stems, mounting, road hazard and lifetime balencing/rotation. I would think Costco does the same thing and I doubt that Sears could offer a deal that attractive. Something to consider.

 

[Ken Chui]

Philip:

I was in a similar predicament a year ago. I was running on Dunlop SP Sport 4000 A/S (OE tires) and needed to replace them after 45K miles. After a bit of research, I went with the Kumho ECSTA HP4 716 (also under consideration was the Dunlop SP Sport A2); after 17K miles of everyday driving, I would recommend these as an A/S option (when snow does fall around here, it's usually a fair amount at any given time, i.e. around 4-6" per storm that passes through). Snow traction on the KUMHOs is better than the Dunlops, but just about everything is. They're nowhere near as reassuring as true winter tires, but given that snowfalls only happen occasionally, I felt that it was the most cost-effective option. Wet traction on the KUMHOs is also better than the stock Dunlops (I have done close to 95mph during light showers on open road, though I would never recommend or condone such reckless actions ).

I bought my tires through TireRack.com and had them shipped and installed locally to one of their authorized installers; final total for goods and labour was ~$285. If I had bought replacement tires through my dealer, my total would have been ~$420 + tax (installation included).

 

[Philip_G]

I go back and forth on the 2 sets of tires thing, denver doesn't get all that bad in the winter, not sure if his A4 is quattro or not, but if it is I'd think all seasons should be fine, they are on my old tank and it's unstoppable in the snow.

Unless of course you like a spirited drive in the summer then maybe some nice sticky tires are worth it.


I put some khumos on the GFs car and am pretty pleased with them, short life on them but they're so cheap I don't care.
I've had the higher performance ecsta 712 on cars and didn't care for them in the past. Tirerack sells them cheap but then you've gotta pay 12 bucks each to install the damn things. :frowning: