16' performance tires on new A4

[TM]

Like Jon said:
Drive summer tires for 3 seasons and use dedicated snow tires for the
winter. All of these stories about how you managed in the snow on your
SP8k/PZero/etc. are pointless. Summer tires are not designed for use in
the snow and can be hazardous to use as such. My friend drove around on
RE71s on his Jetta GLI for a few winters, in the snow. Is that advisable?
No. Did it work for him? Yes, barely.

Last winter, I was tooling around in fairly deep snow (for these parts)
of 5-6" on the ground and the only vehicles that were on the road
(besides crazy quattro drivers like me) were SUVs. I had dedicated snows
and even still needed to lock my diffs in order to get out of one
particularly
bad parking spot. If I had summer tires, there was no way I was getting out
of that spot.

I wish the idiots who drive around on summer tires in the snow would just
stay home and off the roads. Too many idiots caused accidents last winter
because of that. I saw an M3 nearly cause a multi-car accident by almost
sliding into a stopped row of cars at an intersection because Mr. Idiot
decides that an M3 w/ MXX3s is an acceptable car for 4" of snow on the
ground.

Sorry for the rant.

Taka

-----Original Message-----

Just to add a little BTDT experience (though I am sure there are others with
much more), I used my SP8000e equipped A4q in DC during the winter of
1998-99. I drove on a number of icy roads/bridges and they weren't the
_best_ tires for the job. They were adequate, but I am sure it was quattro
compensating for me using the wrong tools for the job. But, with only 1-2
icy/snowy days happening in DC, I was ok. Last year a number of new TT/S4
owners took their Bridgestone summer tire-equipped cars onto icy roads and
smashed them up.

Jon
njconn at mail.com