winter tires

[Marc]

Wellll... I guess I'm to late to offer any advice to the OP, but I'll share my winter tire experience so far for comparison.

My '01 S4 came with Hankook summer tires. I was told with the awd I'd accelerate fine in the snow, but in the interest of braking and turning, I investigated winter tires.

I went with an winter tire, the Dunlop Wintersport M3, rather than a true snow tire to preserve some dry road handling which is still the majority of winter driving I do. I bought them for $140 a piece (ouch) on TireRack in the stock 225/45-17 size. I had them mounted and balanced at a Goodyear shop for $20 a wheel, cheapest I could find in the area, the Friday before Thanksgiving.

Good thing too, the snow I woke up to on Thanksgiving gave me a chance to test them out. The results? Fantastic. After learning their limits, I found I actually had to work fairly hard and put a concerted effort in to skid and make donuts (not that I do those things.... much).

They had another test going up to Mount Snow on Sunday. Flawless and tons of grip abounds. I'd highly recommend them to anyone with a sports sedan. Great grip, beefy tread.

There is a noticeable handling difference, obviously from my summers, with a little corner creep and a bit more understeer than normal, but overall not bad. Nothing like dealing with the Blizzak's my father had last year.

I'd highly recommend them.

 

[tjd]

Winter Tyres

My XC70 cane with Pirellis which I quickly realized didn't cut it for me.

I've since switched over to Nokian WRs for year round use. Snow and speed rated. Great handling in all conditions.

http://www.nokiantyres.com/passengercars_product_en?product=610503&name=NOKIAN+WR

 

[Marc]

A visual comparison of my summer and winter tires:

The Hankook Ventus HRII H405

The Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3

Bit of a difference...

 

[Catul]

I went with an winter tire, the Dunlop Wintersport M3, rather than a true snow tire to preserve some dry road handling which is still the majority of winter driving I do.

I'd highly recommend them.

I concur on the recommendation of the WinterSport M3's! I drive a 2005 BMW 545i which came with high performance summer tires - I've always put snow tires on my cars (which tend to be performance-oriented RWD ones so they're not that great in snow no matter what :-?).

These Dunlops are great for the typical winters here in CT and the like, where there's not that much snow on the main roads at all; they actually do pretty well in the snow and ice, within reason, and are fine in the dry. Got 'em from Tire Rack as well.

 

[LVNLARG]

There's a link to the crazy new tires I got > http://www.goodyearfortera.com/tripletred/index.html

I'm kinda excited to see what they will do too. Havn't had much for weather since I got them a week ago..lol

 

[Greg]

I've got Bridgestone Dueller A/T tires on my Cherokee. I'm very happy with them.

 

[Marc]

I went with an winter tire, the Dunlop Wintersport M3, rather than a true snow tire to preserve some dry road handling which is still the majority of winter driving I do.

I'd highly recommend them.

I concur on the recommendation of the WinterSport M3's! I drive a 2005 BMW 545i which came with high performance summer tires - I've always put snow tires on my cars (which tend to be performance-oriented RWD ones so they're not that great in snow no matter what :-?).

These Dunlops are great for the typical winters here in CT and the like, where there's not that much snow on the main roads at all; they actually do pretty well in the snow and ice, within reason, and are fine in the dry. Got 'em from Tire Rack as well.

I feel your pain man, I was very close to an M3 but the AWD pushed me over the edge to go for the S4. I test drove a few 330xi's but they felt a bit sluggish compared with the S. Just couldn't resist the pull of the turbo's. Even though RWD cars aren't the best in low traction issues, they are still lots of fun in the snow.

Mmmm..... oversteer........ :beer:

 

[Catul]

I feel your pain man, I was very close to an M3 but the AWD pushed me over the edge to go for the S4. I test drove a few 330xi's but they felt a bit sluggish compared with the S. Just couldn't resist the pull of the turbo's. Even though RWD cars aren't the best in low traction issues, they are still lots of fun in the snow.

Mmmm..... oversteer........ :beer:

The E46 M3 is great, but I'm sure you're having a blast in the S4 - must be a heck of a ride no matter what the conditions, and a veritable tank with snow tires and AWD.

I do love controlled oversteer though - always looking for a little slick patch to play in. Even yesterday while driving home, I spotted a nice slick mushy part with no one around, so I turned into it and goosed the gas, the back end started to twitch just a little and I counter-steered, but didn't have to do much as the car's electronics intervened to stabilize things. I know some people would switch all that off, but I don't pretend to be the world's best driver, I'd rather have that stuff helping me out even when I'm playing. :roll:

 

[Marc]

Yeah, I won't ever not have fun driving the S. And I can go through just about anything that's less than 4" deeper than my ground clearance for a sustained time (about a foot). So yeah, that's plenty for the driving I do!


I love the E46 though. That six is one of the sweetest, smoothest, easy going and powerful engine every designed. The V8 is nice, but it's heavier and sacrifices just a bit of balance, not that you'd ever know in a car with the Bimmer badge on it though.

The V8 they stuffed in the newer S4's is actually lighter than the biturbo V6, since it's all aluminum (V6 was an iron block) and no turbos or plumbing or intercoolers. Gas mileage suffers but that maybe a sacrifice I'll have to make in another few years to have a V8 that tach's out at 8 grand

 

[Catul]

I like turbos too, had a Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 with some basic boost mods, lotsa fun! But even better is a high-revving engine, like my NSX that liked to live up in the 6-8k rpm range. I've only had the 545i for a few months, haven't really pushed it yet - I do like the torque of the V8. Can just imagine what the new M3's V8 will be like!