snow tires

[Roger Woodbury]

For what it is worth, I have had three Type 44 Avants over the past fifteen
years. The first was a 5000CS Avant Quattro, which was my first ever quattro
bought with 110,000 miles on it; the second was a 1989 200 Avant Quattro,
bought with 62,000 miles on it, and the last was a 200 20v Avant Quattro
bought with 160k on it as a restoration project.  I drove all of the cars
all year round, including and especially in the winter and I never used
anything except for oem sized all season radials.

Normally, I changed tires at around 30,000 miles because that turned out to
be at the beginning of the winter snow/ice season here and I found that the
cars performed better in slushy/icy conditions with decent tread.  The best
tires I ever had on any Quattro were Firestone Firehawk LH Touring radials,
by the way.

But here on the often treacherous winter roads of downeast Maine, I never
thought that I needed anything other than decent all season tires, with
never less than 35% tread depth.

Now, having said that, your experience will vary, and if you drive a lot in
heavy urban stop and go traffic, I would think that studded tires in OEM
size would suffice.

Roger