Re: Snow Tires

[Paul Wilson <pwilson@pop.ma.ultranet.com>]

At 11:50 PM 9/29/98 PDT, Rodney Spear wrote:
>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.

I think your best bet is to get a set of steel wheels and dedicated snows.
That's what I did.  I got a set of 4 steel wheels and wheel covers from a
'98 Passat at Minuteman VW in Bedford.  Total cost was $100.  For tires,
I'm going to get Pirelli 210's.  The real reason I'm getting these is that
I won the door prize at the NE A4 event last May, which was $250 worth of
Pirelli tires at Direct Tire.  

Out of the snow tires I've used(Blizzaks, 2 types of Pirellis, Graspics and
Guardex, none of these on my '98 A4), the Pirellis have been the best.
Nokians have a good reputation also.  Blizzaks absolutely suck IMO.  They
wear horribly and their wet road traction is so bad as to be dangerous(lots
of wet roads in the winter).  I also didn't find them to be any better in
the snow than the others.

Good Luck
Paul Wilson