[s-cars] wheels and tires

[Matthew Farr]

Thanks to all who replied to my original post.

Here are some replies to some of the questions posted:

1. My opinion of the Gislaved Nord Frost II tires probably
isn't fair, since they weren't new when I bought the car.
I've put about 10K on the S4 since I bought it a year ago.
The tires don't have very deep grooves, so I want to get new
ones before the first freeze.

2. It sounds like having two sets of wheels & tires is a
great way to go. When do most of you swap from summer to
winter tires?

3. My budget only affords one set of tires right now. Should
I get the snow tires now? Or should I buy a set of wheels
and some great street tires now, and purchase some snow
tires for my old rims in a few months?

4. My style of driving/how will I be using them? In
Colorado, the roads are often slick in the winter. The snow
removal plan here is "It'll be sunny tomorrow." It's a
combination of snow and ice, with ice being my greater
worry. I'm an experienced snow/ice driver, but good tires
make a world of difference.

The S4 is my ski car, which means frequent 200 mile round
day trips to Vail during the winter. Usually you don't deal
with ice on these trips; it's either slushy snow/water or
thick fresh snow. However, the streets near where I live, in
south suburban Denver, do get icy on a frequent basis.

When it's icy, I tend to drive very carefully. When it's
completely dry, I like to go fast. I'm not very reckless
these days though, and the traffic in the Denver metro area
really doesn't lend itself to going fast anyway. I do notice
a lot of squeal from the Gislaveds when I corner hard,
although that could just be due to the age of the tires.

5. I'll let you know the scoop on Woody's Wheel Works when I
go over there.

Thanks for all the responses! I will be checking out the
tire rack ASAP.

-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of Linus Toy
Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 5:21 PM
To: Matthew Farr; s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [s-cars] wheels and tires


At 12:55 PM 8/8/2002 , Matthew Farr wrote:
>I've got a 93 S4 with about 100K on it. I've had it for
>about a year. The wheels are 16 inch 5-spoke Audi wheels.
>The wheels are kind of battered and stained. I've looked
>into having them refinished: there's a local shop called
>Woody's Wheel Works that will do it for $40-75 per wheel,
>depending on the condition. I think that's probably an OK
>deal, although I wonder what a good set of aftermarket
>wheels would cost. I've never bought aftermarket wheels, so
>if you have a recommendation(s), please let me know.

Based on the year of your car and description, I believe you
have the OEM
16x8 wheel.  This is a forged wheel, much stronger and
lighter than most
reasonably priced aftermarket wheels, not to mention wider.
Keep
them.  $40-75 per for refinishing is a good price--the local
guy here in
Seattle charges $75 for refinishing.

>I'm also planning to buy new tires. The current tires are
>Gislaved Nord Frost II tires in the 205/55 R16 size. I
>haven't been all that impressed with them. Any
>recommendations on tires?

If these wheels are the 16x8, this size is a bit
narrow--correct size
should be 225/50-16, for which you'll find many many options
(optional, but
common, size on the rear of Porsche 911 and 944 during the
80s).  Based on
the tire, I suspect the narrower tire was due to anticipated
snow
use.  What kind of driving do you do?  What are your
priorities and
uses?  Answer that and you''ll get lots of recommendations.

HTH
--Linus
*-----------------------------------------------------------
---------*
*  Linus Toy                      Insanity is doing the same
thing   *
*  Mercer Island, WA              you've always done and
expecting   *
*  linust at mindspring.com          different results
*
*                                      - Roger Milliken
*
*-----------------------------------------------------------
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