Tyre advice for Audi A5 TDI Quattro S line
Discussion
Hello everyone,
Apologies if this is in the wrong section.
My relative has a '14 Audi A5 TDI Quattro S line.
This is used to commute over the brecon beacons to place of work.
With the crappy weather imminent it's time to start looking at tyres for the conditions it will face on this journey.
It currently has the stock Pirelli Cinturato (245/40 R18).
I don't suppose any fellow owners could suggest a tyre that could handle more unforgiving conditions?
I've seen 'all season' tyres but have no idea of what to consider.
We're leaning towards something that could handle more rain than snowy conditions.
I'm not concerned with MPG and it's an open budget, we are after the very best available to hopefully preserve the drivability of the car.
Any advice/reviews would be greatly appreciated.
I'm seriously stumped at the moment.
Thank you.
Streps
Apologies if this is in the wrong section.
My relative has a '14 Audi A5 TDI Quattro S line.
This is used to commute over the brecon beacons to place of work.
With the crappy weather imminent it's time to start looking at tyres for the conditions it will face on this journey.
It currently has the stock Pirelli Cinturato (245/40 R18).
I don't suppose any fellow owners could suggest a tyre that could handle more unforgiving conditions?
I've seen 'all season' tyres but have no idea of what to consider.
We're leaning towards something that could handle more rain than snowy conditions.
I'm not concerned with MPG and it's an open budget, we are after the very best available to hopefully preserve the drivability of the car.
Any advice/reviews would be greatly appreciated.
I'm seriously stumped at the moment.
Thank you.
Streps
The current issue of Evo magazine features their big, annual tyre test and the Conti 5 wins it. Dry performance was fairly close among the top few but its wet performance was what seemed to separate it from the rest of the pack.
I've been driving an A6 on the newest Uniroyal Rainsport rubber recently and blow me are they noisy. They seem to make nasty scrubbing noises at low speed and whir at higher speeds. They may well be great in a downpour but they annoyed me too much to notice.
I've been driving an A6 on the newest Uniroyal Rainsport rubber recently and blow me are they noisy. They seem to make nasty scrubbing noises at low speed and whir at higher speeds. They may well be great in a downpour but they annoyed me too much to notice.
If you look at http://www.mytyres.co.uk they display the dB rating of all major tyres.
They are also pretty cheap.
They are also pretty cheap.
Got to say, if you're covering that terrain over the winter months then a set of winter tyres would not be a bad choice.
My soon-to-be-gone A5 has the same as you've had and coped the last few winters fine on the edges of the peaks but they were nowhere near the grip in wet, slushy, icy and deep snow conditions our old TT was on winters. Swapping to an A6 with Bridgestone Turanzas all round and will be buying winters this time around.
My soon-to-be-gone A5 has the same as you've had and coped the last few winters fine on the edges of the peaks but they were nowhere near the grip in wet, slushy, icy and deep snow conditions our old TT was on winters. Swapping to an A6 with Bridgestone Turanzas all round and will be buying winters this time around.
I found the Conti SC5 to wear very quickly on a heavy-ish Audi - think completely shot in under 10k miles and without any hooliganism on our part (it was an A6 3.0 Avant!) compared to Michelin.
Does the owner want to stick to the stock wheel size year round, or tempted to move up to 19s for summer use? I would definitely favour a spare set of rims for winter use - it's what we've done with ours, despite living in the South East with very infrequent conditions that require winter tyres except for the odd chilly day.
We acquired a spare set of A5 coupe s-line 5 spokes (8.5x18") already fitted with the AO marked winter tyres specified by Audi for our model (Dunlop Winter 3D). The correct size for your model will be on the tyre pressure label with an M+S reference next to the size.
If they fancy some 19s for summer use then if the rubber is worn I'd look to put 'winter' tyres on the existing wheels and go shopping early spring for new wheels for summer use. Swapping tyres between 1 set of rims is feasible, but you still have to store the tyres and it's quite expensive getting tyres swapped onto rims twice a year.
Does the owner want to stick to the stock wheel size year round, or tempted to move up to 19s for summer use? I would definitely favour a spare set of rims for winter use - it's what we've done with ours, despite living in the South East with very infrequent conditions that require winter tyres except for the odd chilly day.
We acquired a spare set of A5 coupe s-line 5 spokes (8.5x18") already fitted with the AO marked winter tyres specified by Audi for our model (Dunlop Winter 3D). The correct size for your model will be on the tyre pressure label with an M+S reference next to the size.
If they fancy some 19s for summer use then if the rubber is worn I'd look to put 'winter' tyres on the existing wheels and go shopping early spring for new wheels for summer use. Swapping tyres between 1 set of rims is feasible, but you still have to store the tyres and it's quite expensive getting tyres swapped onto rims twice a year.
Adrian E said:
Swapping tyres between 1 set of rims is feasible, but you still have to store the tyres and it's quite expensive getting tyres swapped onto rims twice a year.
This is what I'll be doing on my A6 partly for the vanity of quite fancying the 20" 5-spokes!Adrian E said:
Swapping tyres between 1 set of rims is feasible, but you still have to store the tyres and it's quite expensive getting tyres swapped onto rims twice a year.
Did this on the TT and my local Audi were fine, did the swapping for free and storage as if we'd bought a tyre and wheel set from them so it's always worth asking them. In our case the third=party they use to store them managed to lose our fairly worn summer tyres so Audi sprung for a new set of Toyos.IainT said:
Did this on the TT and my local Audi were fine, did the swapping for free and storage as if we'd bought a tyre and wheel set from them so it's always worth asking them. In our case the third=party they use to store them managed to lose our fairly worn summer tyres so Audi sprung for a new set of Toyos.
That's interesting - which chain is your dealer part of? I have our winter set in the loft at the moment, in wheel bags. The summer wheels were refurbished while off the car and the old tyres binned, so I didn't have to store them complete last winter. We have a service contract with our local dealer so might give that option a whirl if they offer it!I'm happy enough not having the summer 20s subjected to road salt over the winter months, so for a small outlay on spare rims I preferred that option but the storage side is a pain. A set of part worn winters on OEM rims was £500.
I would certainly recommend a set of winter (or cold weather) wheels and tyres - especially on a commute like that.
I run Dunlop Winter Sport 3D from November to March. But I think the Conti TS850s have the highest rating these days.
Cold weather tyres are better for the UK's climate as they work so much better in rain and cold than full snow tyres, but will still do a job in the snow.
I only switched about five or six years ago, but I wouldn't be without mine now.
I run Dunlop Winter Sport 3D from November to March. But I think the Conti TS850s have the highest rating these days.
Cold weather tyres are better for the UK's climate as they work so much better in rain and cold than full snow tyres, but will still do a job in the snow.
I only switched about five or six years ago, but I wouldn't be without mine now.
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