Winter tire review

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D

deheld

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Hi,

Yesterday I've switched from my normal tires to my wintertires.
The normal ones are 175 Michelin on the standard alloy wheels as seen on page three of the european owners section.
The winter tires are 155/65 15 M+S Continentals on 5J*15 steel rims. The steel rims were very hard to get since Audi advises the ET (offset) of the rim to be 28. These rims are for sale but not for rent so I had to pursuede the leasing company to buy them for me, and they did. The forecast of a snowchain plowing it's way through some parts of the A2's body were enough.

I really wanted michelin wintertires but since there already were additional costs it had to be the conti's.

The change in tires is definetly noticeable. The car is a bit more wobbly in the steeringwheels. The normal sharpness that is a part of the a2 is gone. This is probably due to the fact that wintertires are more suited to mud and snow that to quick steering.

But the noisy and bumpy ride is also a lot less. Normally at 130/140 km/h the cabin would get pretty noisy and I always thought that it was windnoise. The wintertires produce a sonor hum that drowns in the noise of the dieselengine. The result is a more pleasant sound that is less of a burden on the ear.

The bumpy ride is also less bumpy. The car still feels stiff but it's more forgiving on small bumps and ridges.

If the effect stays I might actually try to get smaller tires on my normal rims. Has anyone tried this ??

Dennis de Held

Amulet Red 1.4 Tdi
 
I can't comment specifically on the ride quality of winter tyres but I can on the 175/60 R15 wheels versus the 16 inch. Most UK magazines seem to have had the 16 inch wheel versions to test and the ride quality has been universally criticised as being hard and fidgity. Having driven both versions it is apparent that the A2 definitely rides better on standard 15 inch wheels rather than the 16 inch that UK buyers get when they specify the SE pack and the handling doesn't suffer either. I suspect the choice of the 16 inch wheels is largely dictated by fashion and what Audi UK specify rather than what is actually best for the car. In fact with 15 inch wheels our A2 rides better than my A6 - but perhaps that's not too much of a compliment since the A6 isn't that great in the ride department, not on our poor British roads anyway.

A2 1.4 petrol Crystal Blue, black dasboard, grey interior
 
Hi,
I have 15" 185er Nokian winter tires and 16" 185er standart Michelin summer tires, both on alloys.
I see no real difference between it. The winter tires are a bit more quiet because they are made of weaker material, i´d say.
Wolfgang

2001 A2 1.4 TDI/black/open sky,sport seats, cruise controll,16" alloys, radio symphony+bose +++
 
The Continental Winter tyres came top in just about all the German car magazine reviews for 2002 and 2001. I have been using 145/80 R14 winter tyres on my 1.2 TDI - and found them excellent on the icy roads up in Scotland this Christmastime. They are a bit noisier and the car uses about 5mpg more than normal but otherwise no problems
 
Hi,

I've put some pictures of the A2 on it's black steel winter rims on the owners site.

They're on page three of the european owners section !


Dennis de Held

Amulet Red 1.4 Tdi
 
Hi,

I have Bridgestone Blizzak 145/80 R14 on my A2 1.2 TDI. Car needs about 0.5l - 1.0l/100km more diesel at winter time, maybe partially tires and rest is then just plain cold.

Tires are quiet to be winter tires. But at very icy roads they don't hold that well. I wish there would be tires with studs in this size, but I couldn't find any.


With best regards,
Jones (A2 1.2TDI, no aircon)
 
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