Re: Snow Tires

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

In message <19980930065051.24104.qmail@hotmail.com> "Rodney Spear" writes:

> This will be my first winter with Quattro, I take delivery of my A4 in
> November :).  I have lived in New England for the past 24 years, and
> normally prefer snow tires for the winter.  Although, in recent years my
> 94 Jetta VR6 aquitted itself reasonably well with Dunlop SP 4000 all
> season tires.  Will the Quattro make up for the loss of winter traction
> that I expect with the SP8000's?  My instinct is to get a set of steel
> wheels with dedicated snows for the winter.  But I'm hesitating because
> I will be in North Carolina for the next few years and rationalize that
> the quattro should be sufficient.  I have also considered going with a
> set of all seasons, like the stock Continentals on 15" rims for the
> winter.  All thoughts and input will be greatly apreciated.

Two things come to mind:

a) Quattro is good, but not _that_ good.  Proper snow tyres help handling
   in many ways where quattro has little effect.

b) It's your first winter with quattro, and you need all the help you
   can get.  We sometimes talk about 'quattro physics': 4 x 0 = 2 x 0.
   Quattro helps you get moving on snow - it does _nothing_ for your
   stopping ability.  Safe exploitation of quattro on snow requires
   experience.

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
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