When I purchased my new 2001 Audi S8, summer driving was perfect [like a larger & smoother Quattro 350Z]. Driving in the first snowfall of the year was horrible and somewhat hair-raising. Junked the old Dunlop's and put on Michelin SXE 245's and went out to climb the closest 14'er. Problem gone.

With my earlier Audi A6 4.2, the original tires worked fine. Go figure!

 

It was 4 degrees here this morning. I let the car warm up for 10 minutes and went to go down the driveway. 30 feet and I had to get out and walk around the car to convince myself that I didn't have a flat tire. I laughed at myself for the next 3 miles until it stopped feeling like I was driving a square wheeled vehicle. As cold as this is I'm not sure what tire could do any better.

 

Well, now I think I see what may have happened...or at least how it felt.

I was driving my wife to work this AM, there no traffic and we're coming out of the holland tunnel. Theres a LONG curve that loops around onto canal street.

Normally I take the tuurn kinda fast. However I was hung over, so i took my time. Going 20mph. The temp this am in NYC was much better ~30 degrees.

In the middle of the turn with NO warning, the rear end steps out..NO VDC...no slip light...nothing.

Lucky for me I happened to have both hands on the wheel and was able to quickly countersteer without overcorrecting. Thankfully the VDC stayed off. Normally, when the rear steps out and I see that SLIP light, i never countersteer - I let the computer do the work.

So I'm starting to agree with you guys when you say the tiures suck. The tire pressure was 38psi on the rear which is acceptable pressure. I'm not sure that they may have been *warmed* up as we'de only driven 5 minutes and I know that pressure and temp while related - there's stioll a diff btw the tire temp and ambient temp to be considered.

SO the moral of the story I think is that when you see that ICY indicator on, watch out! Even if its decent (anything above 20 is decent compared to the last week on the northeast) outside. I never remember having these probs when it was still 50s...lets let the cali and florida boys sound off on this issue!

 

I had the same problem tonight. It is very cold and a little icy. A chevy monte carlo smoked me off the line, and there was no way I could keep up to him with these tires!

 

I don't yet own my DB Performance 6MT (60 days!!) so I cannot attest to any of the above objectively; however, I don't understand the "they're summer tires" argument. They may indeed be summer tires, but how many Z owners plan on driving this vehicle in ONLY track conditions?

To think that I may have to fork over another grand for new tread because it rains a lot in my area seems a bit absurd to me. I had no intentions of trying to drive this vehicle in the snow, but I felt that I would be safe driving the vehicle in reasonable conditions.

Does it really handle that poorly in the rain?

 

while I agree cold handling is poor, cant comment on snow handling, in the rain the thing is like glue. never noticed a problem with it at all. Ive gone through some DEEP puddles, an inch or 2, and you can feel it cutting through the water, but its still solid.

while the tires are shitty and limit your abilities in certain conditions, the fact is that the car is plenty safe when driven carefully; its just that "careful" seems like 5mph in the Z, cause even tho the tires are about to lose traction, the car is barely breathing at that point.

 

If you want an econobox - buy a civic. If you want a 300 hp sports car buy a Z. Putting all season tires on a sports car defeats the purpose of buying the car. Why do I even bother with you idiots?

joe

 

First of all, name calling was cool back in high school.

Secondly, please explain why tire companies make *high performance* all-season tires if it defeats the purpose of a sports car?!?!

 

Then you shouldn't buy a sports car you damn fool. Porsches, Zs, Vettes, S2000s, NSXs - any sports car you can name - all come with summer coumpound tires. WITHOUT EXCEPTION. The naivety of you people never ceases to amaze me. I'm more convinced than ever that the down side of the low price point of the Z means that too many budget minded front wheel drive idiots with no experience with sports cars can afford it - resulting in inane threads like this one.

The problem isn't the tires - it's YOU.

joe

 

I've never seen anyone put anything but maximum performance summer tires on a true sports car. If they need winter tires they buy them for the season. Why on earth would you buy a sports car and limit it's performance by 20% or more for 9 months of the year by puting all season tires on it? No one I know would. If you are going to, why not just but an Integra instead? There is no reason to buy a sports car if this is what you are going to do with it.

I wonder why do I have the impression you have never owned a sports car before?

joe

 

I guess you fail to realize that these tires suck *** in the summer too.....they're crap. Also, for what I'm going to be using the car for, I highly doubt that an A/S high performance tire is going to limit my ability in the car. If you think you need a maximum performance tire because an A/S tire can't hold you down, then more power to you, but I would bet that 85-90% of the people here would prefer to have a better tire, or an A/S high performance tire rather than the garbage that is OEM.

Is there anywhere we can sign up to be as cool as you?

 

It's hard to see any point you made amidst the diatribes.

 

My '92 VR-4 ran 12s all day long on Pirelli P7000 SS ALL-SEASON TIRES. I drove that car all winter long in Chicago and St. Louis, too. But, I guess people like me are idiots who can't possibly know anything.

Why don't you shut your mouth and stop the dribble before you really embarass yourself or get banned. Stop acting like you're going to be personally hurt by someone putting all-season tires on a Z. Why not get a prescription for a tranquilizer?

 

I will pose this question to all of you...


Has anyone found A/S 18" tires yet?

 

I've been looking and I haven't found any yet.

(not in stock Z sizing)

 

I think that's a major issue for all of us who have 18" rims. I don't want to put on 17" rims for the entire year. If I wanted 17" rims, I wouldn't have gotten the Touring 6MT. I personally have Blizzaks on for the winter and will go back to the stock rims and tires for the summer. I haven't had an issue with them yet so I don't see a need to change them for the summer anyway.

 

I am not able to find any 17" rim to fit the Brembo brake. If you have this brake, your only choice is 18" rim. There are not that many winter/snow tires that are make for the 18". Once you find a manufacturer which makes 18" snow tire, likely the snow tire inventory is gone and you won't find any until next season.

 

And that doesn't tell you something about sports cars and the kinds of tires most people run on them? If you want an all season compromise why did you buy a sports car?

joe

 

The drivel (not dribble) was already in this thread before I got here.

If I were banned I wouldn't be missing a whole lot from the looks of it.

joe