15" Pepperpots

I saw the chrome ones as well but I thought they looked a little too "bling" for my liking ;)

Even 150 quid for a decent set isn't bad considering how much they must be new from Audi :eek:
 
Nitrogen in tryes contains less moisture, so less chance of tyre faults, well thats what halfords use to say, use to be £1 a tyre and you got green valve caps.

Alan
 
Tyre ratings

I am now the proud owner of a set of 5 pepperpot 15 inch wheels, but without any tyres fitted.
Yesterday I went to my local tyre dealer to get some 195/55/15 tyres (which I calculated to have the same radius as my current 205/40/17 tyres).
The guy asked me what speed rating I wanted, I said I wasn't sure but V rating would be more than enough. So he said I should check what is currently fitted to the car. The 17 inch tyres are rated at 84Y "extra load", so he said I should have the same rating on my new tyres otherwise I would risk overloading them, and that particular size/load rating of tyre would have to be ordered in and, of course, cost that much more. So I said "thanks mate" and drove away.
To me this is crazy! the gross weight of the A2 is around 1500kg and the maximum speed is just over 100mph (in standard trim), and I am told I need a tyre rated at 186mph at a maximum load of 2000kg (assuming an equal load of 500kg on each tyre).
Tyres with a size of 195/55/15 with an 85H (130mph) or 85V(149mph) rating are fairly common so surely these would be OK, or am I missing something?
 
On my Pepperpots I have Continentals 195/55/R15 85V and they have proven to be excellent. I cannot for a moment understand why an A2 would need "extra load" rated tyres, as these are normally for light vans and such which have a big payload. I can only assume that whoever chose the last set of tyres overspecced them.
 
The extra load refers to the sidewall stiffness and aids steering feel etc. it is not just a van thing..............
A4 are spec.ed with EL tyres from new as are A4 cab and the 'sport' and s-line A3s.
 
maersk said:
The extra load refers to the sidewall stiffness and aids steering feel etc. it is not just a van thing..............
A4 are spec.ed with EL tyres from new as are A4 cab and the 'sport' and s-line A3s.
Click to expand...


Which probably explains why they ride like boards :D

I thought the few A2 Sports I tried had an unnaceptable ride quality, whereas mine rides very nicely. Guess I now know why.

;)
 
John H said:
On my Pepperpots I have Continentals 195/55/R15 85V and they have proven to be excellent. I cannot for a moment understand why an A2 would need "extra load" rated tyres, as these are normally for light vans and such which have a big payload. I can only assume that whoever chose the last set of tyres overspecced them.
Click to expand...

Thanks John, I will probably go for Continentals as well as they seem to get good all round recommendations, and 85V rating seems more than good enough to me.
I reckon I will buy them via one of the on-line dealers who do Contis for a good price and have them delivered to a local fitter. That way I can get the tyres I want without the dealer trying to convince me that I need something that is grossly over specced.
 
You do not need a 'Y' rated tyre on an A2 - unless it's been seriously modified.

My 2004 110 bhp 1.6 FSI has the standard factory fit 5.5J x 15 seven spoke wheels and runs on 175/60R15 Continental EcoContact3 tyres which are rated at 81H. The current (2nd) set were fitted by my local independant tyre dealer in Leeds last June and were off the shelf - so obviously a common size of tyre that fits a lot more than just A2's.

Your 17" tyres may only be 'Y' rated because that size of tyre could well fit many different cars (some of which could easily be able to travel at speeds much closer to 186mph!). Car companies and tyre manufacturers will always need to allow a safety margin in the size/rating of the tyre they specify for any particular model of car - since you do not want a tyre to be operating at or close to it's maximum speed/load limit for the majority of it's working life - but that safety margin is not usually so excessive.

A good tyre dealer should also be aware of the capabilities of the actual car to which the tyre is to be fitted, and not just generalise and say "you have to replace like with like". When in any doubt, all tyre retailers can easily telephone their own suppliers salesmen or the customer service dept of the tyre manufacturer in question to check if a particular size/rating tyre is suitable for a particular model of car. I used to work in one of the sales offices for Michelin UK and the technical staff there were regularly asked such questions by retailers.

Certain tyre size/speed rating combinations are difficult to obtain due to limited demand (and are correspondingly expensive). Put simply, whilst it is physically possible to make a car tyre in any size/speed rating, certain size/rating combinations will not be made by the majority of tyre manufacturers if that size/speed rating is not common to a lot of cars and therefore only sells in small quantities.

It could be that the 195/55R15 tyre size you are looking for is quite difficult to find in an 'H' rating whilst the same size in a 'V' rating is quite common -since most of the cars it fits need the higher rating due to their higher performance. But then the 'V' rated tyre should be priced accordingly (ie not overly expensive since it's common to lots of cars and will sell in larger numbers).

If you can find an 'H' or a 'V' rated tyre in the size you want at a good price then buy it.
 
Mike1410 said:
A good tyre dealer should also be aware of the capabilities of the actual car to which the tyre is to be fitted, and not just generalise and say "you have to replace like with like". When in any doubt, all tyre retailers can easily telephone their own suppliers salesmen or the customer service dept of the tyre manufacturer in question to check if a particular size/rating tyre is suitable for a particular model of car. I used to work in one of the sales offices for Michelin UK and the technical staff there were regularly asked such questions by retailers.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Mike.
The guy at the tyre dealership should have sensed that I was loosing interest in making a purchase, and got onto his computer terminal or phone to find out what rating my car actually needed. The result is that I am going to buy my tyres from somwhere else!

After having a quick look on the net, H and V rated 195/55/15 tyres are quite common, and a number of sites do Contis (and most other makes) at a reasonable price, so I reckon that is what I will do!

Thanks for the advice.
 
15" PP's and 175 tyres are a HOOT in deep snow. :D

I was 'rally staging' it along my local B roads this morning.

'Brilliant fun!'...and I love my 15's :D:cool:
 
What impact would a set of these with 195/65/15 tyres fitted have ?

Would they fit, what impact on the speedo reading ?

cheers. :)
 
true-blue said:
What impact would a set of these with 195/65/15 tyres fitted have ?

Would they fit, what impact on the speedo reading ?
Click to expand...

Well, the tyre size of 195/65R15 would be way too large for the A2. :eek:

There are mainly two disadvantages:
  • the speedo in combination with above tyres would indicate too low speed versus true speed – for safety reasons that situation must be avoided because the speedo always has to show more speed than the real speed. In Germany for that reason there's a clear universally applicable directive describing the maximum and minimum allowed tyre perimeter deviation based on the smallest and largest stock tyre size of a car.
  • the massive increase of unsprung weight of each wheel resulting to distinct ride comfort loss. Also acceleration performance will suffer...

Just to get an overview, please check out the following alternative 15“ tyre sizes suitable for the A2:


:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top