Re: snow tires

[Steve Patriquen <spatric1@maine.rr.com>]

> 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).

I've been running AWD cars since 1992, and eventually invested in real
studded snow tires, since I live in the Great White North. We're not
talking about the occasional jaunt to the ski hill - we're talking about
five solid months of white stuff everywhere. When I got the A4, I bought a
second set of Borbet O alloys (the cheap three-spokers). I decided I liked
them better than the stock 16" eight-spokers, so I put the snows on the OE
wheels.

It's certainly possible to get by with less, but I was commuting 50 miles
to and from work, on ice, in slush, in snow and on two-lane roads, to boot.

I've only had the A4q in snow a couple of times (got it last March) but it
seems quite good . However, on the same tires I ran on my AWD (with centre
& rear LSDs) Plymouth Laser (coincidentally the same 205/55-16 size as the
A4) it was not quite as invincible in the snow. On the other hand, it does
have a back seat humans can fit in :-)

Steve P - 98.5 A4TQMS - 97 Passat GLX - 94 Kawa ZG1000