Re: snow tires

[Alex Rosser <lxrosser@arachno.ugcs.caltech.edu>]

In message <l03010d00b238670c61f7@[24.93.143.64]>you write:
> > 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

> If you got by with FWD and SP4000s, you'll be fine with SP8000s (on 16"
> rims, correct?), for "go", although they will be a bit slick on the "slow"
> side (as others have remarked, most vehicles today have brakes on all four
> wheels, so you have no advantage there).

The SP4000 at least takes a crack at being an all-weather(IMHO a ridiculous
concept, but what the hey...) tire. The SP8000 is a wet/dry performance tire.
and to call them a "bit slick" on snow is a *huge* understatement. I've proven
this experimentally by autocrossing my 911 on SP8000s in the snow(don't 
ask....). Unfortunately, I had minimal problems getting started, because I 
had a *lot* of problems steering and stopping(or rather, not steering, and 
not stopping). 

The ability to "go" on snow is great, but you *have* to make sure you can
stop and steer. If not, leave the car parked in the garage or you'll end up
parking it in either a ditch, or someone else's car. 

-Alex
 1971 Volvo 142E		1994 Volvo 944T
 1987 Porsche 911 Targa		1986 Audi 4000cs Quattro