tires redux

[Roger M. Woodbury]

This same question has popped up on all the lists that I subscribe to, and I
don't know if I have said this before here or not, but here is my .02 worth.

I have Continental somehting or others on the 100CS Quattro.  They were new
last summer when I bought the car.  On the V8 Quattro are Pirelli P6000's
and they also were new on the car when I bought it last June.  Of the two,
probably the Continental are better for all weather driving, but the
Pirelli's have been surprisingly good here in Maine, considering the light
winter we have just had.

But on my previous two Audi Quattro wagons, I used three sets of my all time
favorite:  Firestone Firehawk Touring Radial LH.  By far, the best general
purpose tire I have ever owned in all categories on these cars.  Quietest,
best wet and dry handling, and best wear/mileage.

Now,some caveats.  I have had "high performance" tires on all of my cars at
one time or another.  A "V" rated tire will handle better but also wear
faster etc, etc, etc. I also seldom run my tires beyond 30,000 miles, which
has not been more than 2 1/2 years recently.  The reason is that once the
tread is down to half worn, the Quattro systems tend to do strange things in
slushy-snow and freezing rain here in Maine.  I used to be a total Michelin
guy for general purpose tires.  Now all I can see in the value of them, is
that aside for the outstanding product, what you really get it an
outstanding reputation and outstanding advertising budget....which won't
help me in bad weather situations.

But from my experience, in the all important, "bang for the buck" category,
the Firestone Firehawk Touring LH was the best I've have had.

Roger