[V8] tire musings

[Roger Woodbury]

Alas it is about tire time, and sooner rather than later I must replace the
horrid Fusion tires that I put on my wife's 100CS thirty thousand or so
miles ago.  Tread depth is really shy on the rears and the fronts aren't
great.  They will not pass state inspection in October, I know.

I am having a flirtation with a set of '95 S6 wheels and tires, used. The
wheels look very pretty in the pics, but the wheel/tire size is a plus one
for the '94 100CS Avant we have.  

Any comment about whether these would be a direct fitment, or will I have
clearance problems with tire width?  I cannot for the life of me remember
whether or not the S6 had slightly flared fenders in '95.

The cheapest deal in town is Super Walmart. Right now they mount and balance
free, and will meet any price from anywhere if you bring it in, in writing.
I am in the process of choosing tires, and am reading the tire ratings,
particularly noise levels with feverish frenzy.  The Fusions have been sort
of OK.  They provided decent service and value for the price, which was
cheap, and have worn OK on the heavy Audi.  But NOISE?  OMG:  can you say
LOUD?  

What is the current opinion about the "hot hand" in tires?  The choice will
need to be a decent, quiet, all season standard duty or touring radial.
Would love to put Michelins on this car, but they are probably going to be
simply too much money.  The car came with a set of Michelins that had about
ten thousand on them or so, (39,000 miles at original purchase date).  

Then I bought a set of Dunlop D40's (?) on the Fuchs rims that the car is on
now, because I had one OEM wheel that had a cracked rim.  Those tires had
some miles on them as the wheels were used.  Worked great and the wheels are
MUCH lighter than the OEM star wheels, whatever those are/were.

Then the Fusions that really, really suck in terms of road noise. The guy at
Tire Rack warned me that these were "Bridgestones on a budget", and he
wasn't kidding.  If we were doing any really long distance driving in this
car, they would have had to be sacrificed a long time ago.  One thing most
Audis are is pretty quiet from underneath if the tires are any good.
Anyway, we're at the end of the road with these, and now, something better.

So as usually, to break the monotony of a Tuesday morning, I am poling the
brain trust.

Roger