No subject

that.  A good quality all season tires, in the proper size and speed rating
for the car, will suffice 90 percent of the time.  The other ten percent of
the time, no one should be driving.

On my '89 200 Avant Quattro, I ran Firestone LH Touring Radials.  They were
superb, in that they were quite quiet, and extremely good on the car in
everything that I ran into.  During the mega ice storm of a couple of years
ago, I made three or more trips per day to a commercial building that I own
and maintain about twenty miles from here.  Bear in mind, that twenty miles
from here, means rural, two land, winding and twisting roads.

Anyway, I was making the trip to keep the common areas of this complex as
free of ice as possible using rocksalt.  The road crews were working on the
state roads hard, and the roads were icy, and very very wet, although the
ice was broken in many places.  Traffic was light to non-existent.

I never felt the slightest discomfort, and hardly slowed down.  The Quattro
was extraordinarily sure footed, and it never crossed my mind that I could
have appreciated "winter" tires, as the "All Season" Firestones were
outstanding.

Now, having said all of that, I wonder what kind of car your friend has,
with 245/50 tires.  It might well be that the car itself will not do
particularly well in the kind of snow/ice that you have near the big lake.

When I buy tires, I try to buy the best combination of speed rating/wear
factor that I can get.  This usually means that I end up with "S" rated
tires.  On my Audi 200 Quattro Avant, the manual called for V rated tires,
which I found unnecessary.  The "V" rated tires that I did use on either the
5000CS Avant Quattro or the "V" rated tires that came on the 200 originally,
did not offer anything to justify the higher cost.  In a land of speed
limits never exceeding seventy miles per hour, an "S" rated tire is
sufficient.

On my wifes 100CS Avant, we have "S" rated, Continentals that were put on
the car by the selling dealer, and thus, were new this fall.  On my V8
Quattro, the previous owner put new Pirelli Sport Volece this past May, just
before he traded it,a nd I came along.  I have NO idea how either "all
season" tire will work this winter, except to say that they will probably be
pretty good as they are all very new.

What I have learned though, is that expecially on the Quattros, expect to
get about 2/3 the mileage that the manufacturer says you will get.  Although
the tire will show quite a lot of tread remaining, once the tread gets down
below half depth, on slushy pavement, the quattro system "thinks" that the
traction is worse than it is, and the car can begin to do some VERY strange
things.

Roger