Snow Tires

[John Lajza <JLAJZAIII@compuserve.com>]

Message text written by "Rodney Spear"
>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.

Regards,
Rodney<

HI Rodney,
I live in NE and I am a firm believer in good snow / ice tires.  However I
got
caught by an early snow storm last fall.  I drove from Boston, MA to
Burlington, Vt 
with 3/4 worn all seasons.  After I got used to the way the car power
slides around 
corners.....well I had fun, once traffic thined out.  Phil made a good
point about 
stopping, AWD does not help much there.  
Where in NC will you be?  Do they get more than a dusting of snow?  Will it
last for 
more than a day?  Your answers to these q's should help with your
descission. 
Generally I find snow tires are made of softer rubber, they wear faster on
dry roads.  
For all season tires (that actually work in snow) I reccomend Nokia NRW's.

Good Luck,
John      86 4kq (aka Wanda)