question re: tires from new member
 

New member here looking for some help. Considering purchasing a 2008 TT 3.2 and presently negotiating with the dealer over price/options etc. Just wondering if anyone out there has experience with the 19" rims with allseasons rather than switching out to winter tires for driving? The dealer is feeding me the story that the 19" wheels do not work well at all with all seasons and that you need to have the high performance tires and the winter tires as well. Given my long experience with 4x4 SUV's I have a hard time swallowing the story that allseasons aren't sufficient for winter driving in most conditions. It seems to me that 90% of the winter driving advantage is achieved through all wheel drive and not through the tires ....at least in my experience (albeit with larger wheel sizes). Is the Audi TT different for some reason? Are the 19" wheels just not well matched with all seasons?
My first reaction here is the dealer is simply looking to not have to swap out the high performance tires for all seasons and also make some additional cash through sale of winter tires with additional wheels ($1800 which is a deal but not so if you don't need winter tires). Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: question re: tires from new member
 

Hey man I know you might think you are getting screwed, but the dealer is right. Its a bit of a sports car and to have allseason's on there will have to be hefty price IMO because then you are looking at 18" rims as the all seasons need a bit more give on the tire wall. You are in a new ball game as these tires are low profile the only reason the winters fit on there properly and are expensive is because they are high performance speed rated and winter rated also. have you tried the tirerack.com for tires dont buy from the dealer.

Re: question re: tires from new member
 

Thanks for the quick answer. I'm quite familiar with the large wheels (22 inch)low profile tires on the Range Rover sport. These are all season and not a problem.
Why would the TT 18"wheels be more expensive than the 19"? I suspect I could convince the dealer to change them out. Is there a huge performance difference between the 18 and 19" in the s-line?

Re: question re: tires from new member
 

I dont think I implied that the 18" will be more expensive than the 19". But anyways I sent you a PM with some info on there. 18" = cheaper tires as well in the long run vs the 19" but with 19" performance wise if you are looking at the same rim the weight etc to get the 19"s going vs the 18's you are looking at a heavier car with the 19's not that it matters that much but my personal prefernace would be 18's

Re: question re: tires from new member
 

The Range Rover uses tires designed for trucks that are geared towards summer but will also work in the winter.

I don't know of any 19" tires that are classified for all season use. Personally, I've always used summer tires and winter tires, never all seasons. All season tires were invented for North America so that people could get by the entire year on 1 set of tires. The key word is "get by". They are neither good in the winter or in the summer.

Since 19" tires tend to have slimmer side walls, they cannot flex enough to be effective in the winter. It is possible to go through winter with them but I wouldn't recommend it.

Re: question re: tires from new member
 

We have summer and winter wheel / tires sets for two Audi's. Personally I'll never run All Seasons on a daily driver in this climate again. I have yet to find anything that can touch the S4 with the super soft Blizzak winter tires... traction is incredible.

For tires and some wheel options, consider TireTrends : Save on tires, wheels, suspension & brakes! as they are Canadian and ship out of BC.

I bought my last two full sets of tires and a set of B5 RS4 rep rims from tiretrends, great people, fast shipping, well packaged rims, etc. I'll be going back to them for another new set of Blizzak's next Fall. They beat the best price I could find locally by well over $150 per set, plus they are out of province so only one tax which more than covers the shipping.

Re: question re: tires from new member
 

Hey rrover,

I recently took delivery of an 08 TT 3.2 S Line.

I agree with all of these other guys...get yourself another set of wheels for the winter.

The 19" wheels that come with the S Line package are perfect for the car, but I'd be pretty sketched driving them in the winter. So far even this spring with potholes and cooler temperatures I've been hesitant. Also, you will be pushing around more snow in the winter. The stock 18" and 19" wheels for this car are 9" wide.

I didn't bother looking at the price of 19" winter tires, but on average (at Tire Rack - Your performance experts for tires and wheels) a set of 17" winter tires was about $200 cheaper than the same tires in 18". I assume there would be a similar premium going 18" to 19" if price is a concern for you. You do have to be careful if you are looking at 17" wheels on the 3.2. It has larger brakes (than the 2.0T) that won't fit under all 17" wheels. Personally I took the savings on the smaller tires and put it into better wheels that I preferred the look of: Hartmann Wheels — Audi Wheels: The RS6-172 HC

On a final rant, all wheel drive will only be advantageous for part of your winter driving experience. AWD will help to improve acceleration and handling, but isn't going to help a damn bit when you are braking. My other vehicle is an 06 Volvo XC90. I took delivery of it in November, 2006 and drove it until later in December with the all season tires. It seemed to perform really well. That was until I put a set of Pirelli Scorpion winter tires on it! It was night and day in the snow and ice for acceleration, handling and braking. I also noticed that same huge difference in the spring when I had prematurely gone back to the all season tires right before an April snow storm.

Tony