Originally Posted by Stevelev

Are you sure the steel wheels will fit ? Best to test fit them as they may not clear the brakes.

A narrower contact patch will provide better traction in the slippery stuff (with or without quattro) but the compromise will be that the narrower tire won't handle as well in dry conditions (ie: high speed cornering). For what its worth, I plan to go to a 215/50/17 winter tire even though my summers are 255/35/19's. The issue is that its is best to maintain OEM specs so if you go narrower then you'll need a taller profile to keep the diameter/ circumference the same. I've read that one should stay within 2% of OEM specs

Here's a couple of helpful sites:

Tire Calculations

Wheel/ Tire size comparer

Originally Posted by tdenton

I have A4 2010 SLine and need 17 too clear my brakes

Originally Posted by gato

I would be very surprise if they don,t fit a s i have and Audi A5 2010 and the tires are 245/40/18 and just got some new tires from Tire Rack for this winter and talking to the sales person he told me i could go as low as 16 and thats what i did got some 225/55/16 and went to my garage and they put one on to be sure it fit and voila no problem at all as they are made to fit and clear the brakes with no problem at all .