[V8] tire musings

Tue Jul 20 10:08:04 PDT 2010

My hands down next choice for a new set of tires will be Generals.  I think
the Altimax would suit your conditions perfectly.  There's a higher
performance version that I might try as well.  I sort of helped another V8
lister choose those for his V8 and he's happy, eh Superdave?

The Generals first caught my attention because they are shown to be
considerably lighter than most anything else at Tire Rack.  I have watched
the tire reviews pretty closely over the last 1-2 years and they seem to be
very favorably regarded, on the whole, taking into consideration the almost
complete lack of any real reliable wisdom... you kind of have to distill
each review, taking into consideration all the info available and make your
best guess what the real situation is.

I noticed Fusion were crap very early... heavy and lots of poor reviews at
TR.  If you read enough of them you can glean a fairly reliable opinion of a
tire.

I have had Michelins and was very impressed, but also not inclined to pony
up for them.

As for wheels... the stock wheel for your Avant is 15x7 with a 45ET offset
wearing 195/65-15 tires.  An urS6 Avus wheel is 16x7.5 ET37.  With a
205/55-16 tire, you should see no speedo error.  The General Altimax RT is a
standard touring all-season tire and is available in that size.  TR shows
that the max rim width for this size tire is 7.5.  Even the load rating is
the same as stock (91).  The only measurable difference in tire/wheel
dimension will be a function of the offset which will cause each corner to
be pushed outboard by 1/2 and inch which will widen the tire track by an
inch.

I'd say go for it.  I have two sets of urS6 Avus wheels and like them very
much.  They're not quite as light as the previous 5-spoke urS4 wheels, and
some say the urS6 Avus are more prone to bending, but I haven't had an issue
yet.  I have a set on the black V8, with 10mm spacers and it looks great.
On my 91 Avant, they are perfect as is.  I have some old Kumhos on them but
when I do re-tire for the Avant, I will get the Generals.

Enjoy!

Ed

-----Original Message-----
From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf Of
Bryan Kamerer
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 6:09 AM
To: Roger Woodbury
Cc: v8 at audifans.com
Subject: Re: [V8] tire musings

Roger,

I do not think the wheels are a problem.

1) I guess you are talking about the Avus 16" since you say "+1".  Some S6s
then came with the 15" five-spoke alloy, same as is probably OEM on your CS.

2) +1 doesn't matter, because you will use a lower profile tire to match the
OD.  It's the width you are concerned about.  I don't think that will
matter.  It's only 1/2" overall (thus 1/4" on either side of centerline).

3) Yes, the '95 S6 did have nicely flared fender arches, but I don't think
much more than the 100CS.

The Avus 16" is only 1/2" wider overall vs that 15" you have - I have had a
set of the Avus wheels for a long time; I have used them since about '99 as
a my snow wheels on my V8.  I use some late '90s A8 alloys as my "summer"
wheels.  I think the Avus wheels are sharp, too.  But I do think they look
better on the S6 or a 100CS than on a V8, though, in all honesty.  I saw a
photo of a 92 100csq running the A8 alloys, and they fit inside the fender
wells just fine.  So if it will run them then the Avus are no different; I
know as I have both.  I think the offset is 3mm different between the two,
but not enough to matter.

As to tires I have little advice other than check out some General tires for
good value.  I did a ton of homework last year for new tires for the Land
Cruiser, and lots of people said you got a lot of bang for your buck from
them, especially vs. the Japanese and Euro brands.  I heard this from
multiple car-guys whose opinion I respected.

Bryan

On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 3:21 AM, Roger Woodbury
<rmwoodbury at roadrunner.com>wrote:

> 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
>
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