Last on tires

[Ti Kan]

Philip Montrowe writes:
> I currently have Goodyear Eagle RSA 205/55 16s on the 97 A4 2.8 Quattro.
> Some helpful suggestions have been for tires that are only available at
> 225/55 or 225/60. Can I go up to 225/60 and what is the effect or gain of
> doing so?  I don't want to change my rims.

If you want to go to 225 width tires on your stock rims, you need
225/50-16.  NOT 225/55 or 225/60.  Otherwise the rolling diameter of
the tire will be too big and your speedometer will read wrong (and
if you have a trip computer that will be wrong too).

Going wider is good for summer, dry roads.  If you want to have a
single set of tires for all season use (including snow), then stay with
the stock size, and use a good all season tire.  There is no substitute
for proper snow tires for good on-snow handling though.

> Also, the rear tires have less than a 1/16th of an inch left before the
> tread warning bars are level with the tire and in the last 4 weeks or so I
> have noticed that there is a lot of what seems to be "tire" noise coming
> from the rear.  It is as noisy as it gets when you have the backseat folded
> down because you have something long in the trunk.  Is this noise caused by
> the tread warning bars or something else in the tire to alert the driver to
> the need to replace the tires.

It's possible that the tire noise has increased because the wear
limit bars are now exposed.  Are your windows tightly closed? :-)

-Ti
01 S4 2.7 biturbo quattro
84 5000S 2.1 turbo
80 4000 2.0
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