Best option for winter tyres on my A4 cab

[Freedomfighter]

Have a A4 cab 3.0tdi manual currently sitting on factory 18inch alloys with Goodyear eagle f1 2's. Would like to get some winter rubber for the first time but don't know where to start. Do I look for a tyre company that makes an 18inch low profile winter tyre or do I try to find a set of smaller alloys to use exclusively for the winter tyres. Thing is I've read that on 3.0 models up they have larger brakes so the minimum alloy size would be 17inch as the 16inch alloys won't fit with the larger brakes. If that's the case is their any point in getting a set of 17s for winter tyres as their only one size smaller than what I've got so I'm thinking tyre cost isn't going to be too great between them and the 18s I have. What have others done?

[s4tronic]

Its not just tyre price cost, its also cost of swapping them over twice a year (£50 a pop?).

I would get a spare set if you have funds and somewhere to keep.

[Adrian E]

+1 on spare sets of rims. Much less agro overall.

If you're happy with the ride on 18s and the cost of winter tyres in that size isn't a problem then stick with them. Also check if there's mention of a M+S tyre size on your tyre pressure sticker. If there is then that's the recommended size for your car.

I can look up what Audi recommend in wheel terms if you post year, exact model and current tyre size. There's usually a couple of options for winters but I would be guided by the tyre pressure sticker first and foremost

[Freedomfighter]

Adrian E said:

+1 on spare sets of rims. Much less agro overall.

If you're happy with the ride on 18s and the cost of winter tyres in that size isn't a problem then stick with them. Also check if there's mention of a M+S tyre size on your tyre pressure sticker. If there is then that's the recommended size for your car.

I can look up what Audi recommend in wheel terms if you post year, exact model and current tyre size. There's usually a couple of options for winters but I would be guided by the tyre pressure sticker first and foremost

That would be fantastic mate! My car is a 2007 a4 cab 3.0tdi sline. Current tyre size is 235/40y18

Cheers!

[Adrian E]

It looks like you can opt for 17s according to ETKA. They specify a 17 and an 18" fitment for the S4 cab so for an S-line either size should be suitable. I'd go for the 17s to save on tyre cost, especially as your 18" wheels don't have that much sidewall to start with.

Rather than looking for a specific winter wheel option, which are usually tricky to find, your best bet is to know the exact wheel spec for what you have now and find an equivalent smaller size that's got the correct offset.

Have you got the standard 5 spoke S-line wheels? If so they're a 8x18 ET43 so anything close to that in terms of offset will be fine, just be careful if you're looking at narrower wheels to confirm the relative position of the outer edge of the wheel isn't going to be too inset.

This site is handy:

http://www.willtheyfit.com/

Will also allow you to play around with tyre size options if you wish and will take account of different width wheels in deciding the rolling radius.

By the looks of the 17" wheel options a 7.5x17 would be the recommended size. By going narrower you really need to watch the offsets. Both ET45 and 38 are listed but the ET45 will move your wheel inboard by about 8mm whereas the ET38 is very close to what you have now.

Rough rule of thumb to maintain rolling radius is to step that up 1 for each inch of wheel size lost, but that doesn't account for narrowing the wheels as well.

This is the tyre info label on our S5 which shows the tyre size for the M+S tyres - I'd expect yours to have similar



Adrian

[Freedomfighter]

Thank you Adrian for such a detailed response! I have the 18 inch 15 spoke "dtm" alloys. (Factory option when my car was bought). I preferably would like new 17s to put the winters on but they do seem hard to find or if looking on eBay etc they are pretty rough...leaves me thinking is the best option to stick with my 18s in which case which tyre should I go for? Not worried about paying £50 a time to swap them over twice a year...

[Freedomfighter]

So having checked the sticker in the door well it seems 18s are a no go.

205/55 r16 94h xl m+s
225/45 r17 94h xl m+s
235/45 r17 97v xl m+s

Because my car is a 3.0 the brakes won't fit with the 16s so it looks like there's two 17s to go for. What are the differences?

[Adrian E]

Freedomfighter said:

So having checked the sticker in the door well it seems 18s are a no go.

205/55 r16 94h xl m+s
225/45 r17 94h xl m+s
235/45 r17 97v xl m+s

Because my car is a 3.0 the brakes won't fit with the 16s so it looks like there's two 17s to go for. What are the differences?

Basically speed and load index - you can either opt for a narrower tyre to cut through snow, but at the expense of load capacity and potentially more limited top speed.

I would go with the biggest 17 of those options and have a look around for a set to suit.

Couple of German ebay shops would be worth a look:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Wheels-with-Tyres-/9888/...

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Premium-Wheels-HST/Audi-R...