What tires you rockin'?

[dkenn75]

The stock Continental's are about to pop any second and I'm in search of some new tread. I'm thinking living in sunny/rainy/snowy So Cal would best be suited with an All Season tire. I love hugging turns in the summer, but the A3 will see it's shed of rain and snow in the near future.

I liked the Continental's for the most part, they've held up for almost 4 years, but the inner sidewalls are starting to shed through so I need to pick up some new ones asap! I'm thinking Bridgestone, Goodyear or even Continental's again. Who prefer's what?

[t_white]

if you liked the stock Conti's you must be crazy these things are super loud and arent too great for mileage in my opinion. I love my sumitomos and falken tires. ran a few different sets of each on different wheels in the past. each set held up great to my driving style and they were not too loud and were perfect for rain and snow which you probably have none of out in cali just do some research on tires.

[T1noandaudi]

i use yoko sdrive im pretty happy with it

[whaden]

I've been rocking my Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions since 23k miles.
My Contis only lasted until then...I'm at 63k now with no sign of major tread wear.

Great dry, excellent wet...decent snow. Quiet Dry...sing but stick with spirited. I've even had them at the track.

If you don't have to worry about ice/snow then I'd recommend the Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs....Excellent Ultra summer tire.

[Machnickiⓐⓤⓓⓘ]

The tread I be rocking is Kumho Ecsta ASX (ASX for All-Season Xtreme). The price is the most attractive at around $85-90 each. Quiet, and grippy in heavy downpours. I haven't seen snow yet, sooooooo, yeah.

[Craig3Q]

I replaced my original ContiSportContact 2s with the CSC 3s about 8 months after getting my 2007 A3 because I heard that the CSC 3s were quieter and would perform somewhat better. Boy was I misinformed. The 3s were louder than the 2s and didn't have any real advantage in performance. The last set of tires on my A3, still on it when I sold it, were Falken Azenis RT-615s. Very fun on track, much better overall performance than the Contis and no louder (perhaps quieter when new), although tread life was shorter.

Now I'm running Goodyear F1 Supercars, but when it comes time to switch those out I'll get Michelin Pilot Sport 2 ZPs. But that's not relevant here.

[asrautox]

Quote »

The tread I be rocking is Kumho Ecsta ASX (ASX for All-Season Xtreme). The price is the most attractive at around $85-90 each. Quiet, and grippy in heavy downpours. I haven't seen snow yet, sooooooo, yeah.

I'd call these just about average. I had them on my S2000, and though they were relatively quiet, the dry grip was only ok, and they had a tendancy to hydroplane in the rain.. For the price they're pretty good, but if you can spend a little extra I'd go elsewhere..


Modified by asrautox at 7:34 AM 10-21-2009

[-PTK-]

Quote, originally posted by whaden »

I've been rocking my Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions since 23k miles. My Contis only lasted until then...I'm at 63k now with no sign of major tread wear. Great dry, excellent wet...decent snow. Quiet Dry...sing but stick with spirited. I've even had them at the track.

Glad to hear someone likes these on their A3. I've been thinking about buying these on tire rack the last few days. They seem to be very well reviewed.

[brungold]

i've got michelin pilot PS2s on. still pretty good in our socal "drizzle", i just wish they lasted longer.

there was a thread here where C&D compared budget A/S tires, see if you can find it.

[heuanA3]

u can just look on tirerack they do tests all the time.

I just ordered some bridgestone RE760 Sports.

[kayaker10]

This is my second season with the Toyo Proxes 4 high performance all season. I'm in Portland, OR where we only get a few inches of snow a couple of times a year. But we get lots of sub 40 degree rainy days. These tires are terrific. I almost hate taking them off in the spring to put my summer tires on. Quiet, very comfortable, excellent in rain and very good grip on dry.

They are very forgiving. If you like a tire that is predictable at edge of traction, you will appreciate these. They give plenty of feedback and when you do loose traction, there are no quick surprises. I have them on my stock 17 inch rims in a 235x45.

Modified by kayaker10 at 12:35 PM 10-21-2009

[dkenn75]

Ok so I have some tirerack.com research to do.

Looks like I'm going to stay away from Continental again (why not mix it up anyways, right?), I'm diggin' the Bridgestone's as well as the Toyo's posted above.

My roomate says he's able to get me a hook up with Goodyear tires (buy at cost), so if that's possible, I might just fend for some Goodyear Eagle GT's or something of the like.

Any reason why I should not get the same tire size I have now? I'd be looking at 225/45/17 on my stock wheels. Appreciate the suggestions everyone!

[audiqtr]

Quote, originally posted by MachnickiA3 »

The tread I be rocking is Kumho Ecsta ASX (ASX for All-Season Xtreme). The price is the most attractive at around $85-90 each. Quiet, and grippy in heavy downpours. I haven't seen snow yet, sooooooo, yeah.

I had a set of Ecsta's on my old Passat, they were a nail magnet!!!!

[tdotA3mike]

nawking performance summer tires!!!!..... and they suck!!! got um for free with my rims... they are going to be MIA by next summer i think!

[heuanA3]

go for the goodyear eagle F1 GS-D3's if u can get hookup those are sex tires

[heuanA3]

oh i am runign falken fk452 right now. they are noisy as hell when they wear down.

[MisterJJ]

Quote, originally posted by heuanA3 »

go for the goodyear eagle F1 GS-D3's if u can get hookup those are sex tires

Those were great until they wore down a little and suddenly started to generate REALLY LOUD road noise. We're talking monster truck with mud tires going down the freeway kind of noise.

[dkenn75]

Quote, originally posted by MisterJJ »

Those were great until they wore down a little and suddenly started to generate REALLY LOUD road noise. We're talking monster truck with mud tires going down the freeway kind of noise.

See, it's comments like that which steer me clear away from that particular Goodyear tire. I want a "great" tire, but I don't want to sound like a damn monster truck, know'wha'd'imean?

I've already had a lifted truck prior to the A3, I'm over road noise.

[RedLineRob]

any one running yokahama S drives? i heard there pretty good

[heuanA3]

Quote, originally posted by RedLineRob »

any one running yokahama S drives? i heard there pretty good

http://www.caranddriver.com/re...tests

[NY_Avant]

Quote, originally posted by dkenn75 »

See, it's comments like that which steer me clear away from that particular Goodyear tire. I want a "great" tire, but I don't want to sound like a damn monster truck, know'wha'd'imean? I've already had a lifted truck prior to the A3, I'm over road noise.

If you want a Great affordable tire with excellent wear checkout the Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S, I had a set for 25k miles, sold the wheel set with them and the next guy piled on 15k more, super quiet, great traction (even in light snow) and extremely predictable handling

[3G3T7I]

I just had Continental DWS's installed today so it's too early to report anything meaningful. I bought the car used with Conti Extreme Contacts. I went through two sets of Extreme Contacts on my 337 and although they started out OK they would wore out much too quickly and were quite loud after 30k or so. The DWS is fairly new but is intended to work in the dry, wet and snow hence the name. I know some folks claim all seasons do nothing well but the market for ultra high performance tires has been opening up causing tire manufacturers to produce better tires over the past few years. Of course like most things, you get what you pay for.

[LEWXCORE]

bfg drag radials !LoLz! treadware is very poor.

[dkenn75]

Yokohama sdrive
Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions
Bridgestone RE760 Sports
Goodyear F1 Supercars
Michelin Pilot PS2s
Toyo Proxes 4 HPAS
Pirelli P-Zero Nero M+S
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec

Ok time to do some tirerack reviewing...anybody else browsing feel free to chime in an give an opinion!


Modified by dkenn75 at 5:41 PM 10/21/2009

[LEWXCORE]

http://www.discounttiredirect....40516

try nitto NT05 if you want a good performance tire

[dkenn75]

Quote, originally posted by LEWXCORE »

http://www.discounttiredirect....40516 try nitto NT05 if you want a good performance tire

The NT05 does look like a very respectable tire, however, I know my tires will be seeing rain and snow this winter, so I want one set that can give me the best of both wet and dry conditions. I'd love some super badass high performance street tires, but I can't afford two sets.

[LEWXCORE]

True, they will most likely cause hydroplaning lol.

[MYH8for405]

I've had Falkens 452s on for about 2k miles and they've done great. Much quieter than my Toyo T1Rs but still sticky. Toyo T1Rs are more aggressive but a little noisy as they wear out. My old Kumho MXs were the stickiest but was much too loud after wearing them down.

[KnockKnock]

Quote, originally posted by dkenn75 »

Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions Bridgestone RE760 Sports Modified by dkenn75 at 5:41 PM 10/21/2009

x2 on these Bridgestones

[yankees25]

I got these as well back in July. Great wet traction, don't have the maximum grip of the summer tires they replaced. Decently quiet, and have a huge treadwear rating. I like them.

Quote, originally posted by 3G3T7I »

I just had Continental DWS's installed today so it's too early to report anything meaningful. I bought the car used with Conti Extreme Contacts. I went through two sets of Extreme Contacts on my 337 and although they started out OK they would wore out much too quickly and were quite loud after 30k or so. The DWS is fairly new but is intended to work in the dry, wet and snow hence the name. I know some folks claim all seasons do nothing well but the market for ultra high performance tires has been opening up causing tire manufacturers to produce better tires over the past few years. Of course like most things, you get what you pay for.

[LEWXCORE]

Quote, originally posted by MYH8for405 »

I've had Falkens 452s on for about 2k miles and they've done great. Much quieter than my Toyo T1Rs but still sticky. Toyo T1Rs are more aggressive but a little noisy as they wear out. My old Kumho MXs were the stickiest but was much too loud after wearing them down.

best part about this is that the FK452's are the LOUDEST tires ever after they wear. those were a NIGHTMARE. hahahaha have fun sucka!!

[vwlippy]

I had Falken 912's put on about a 1,000 miles ago. So far, so good.
I have them on the wifes GLi and they ride great on that too.

[SDNavyCPOVR6]

General Exclaim UHP...high grip, low noise and long wear. I love them and they're about half the price of the Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3s they replaced.

Quote, originally posted by MisterJJ »

Those were great until they wore down a little and suddenly started to generate REALLY LOUD road noise. We're talking monster truck with mud tires going down the freeway kind of noise.

He's not exaggerating...the Goodyears will drive you nuts they're so loud.

[darkmeth]

I second the suggestion for the General Tires. So far, a great improvement over the Continentals.. by the way, my Factory Continentals had the same issue with the sidewalls. I went to DiscountTire and they identified the issue as a defect and gave me credit towards a new set of tires since ALL 4 tires had the same issue.. They referred to them as torque/stress cracks a manufacturing defect.. hope this helps..

[dkenn75]

Quote, originally posted by darkmeth »

I second the suggestion for the General Tires. So far, a great improvement over the Continentals.. by the way, my Factory Continentals had the same issue with the sidewalls. I went to DiscountTire and they identified the issue as a defect and gave me credit towards a new set of tires since ALL 4 tires had the same issue.. They referred to them as torque/stress cracks a manufacturing defect.. hope this helps..

Interesting...

How long did you have your Continental's for? Mines a CPO '06 and I'm pretty sure it was built in '05 and the tires have yet to be changed, you think I'd have any luck if I took them to DiscountTire?