I live in Cincinnati and am about to take delivery on a 99.5 1.8QM with the sport package (and other goodies). Part of the reason I ordered this car is the quattro; we have major hills here in Cincinnati. My current rear wheel drive car is less than worthless on hills and snow. We really only have 4 or 5 days a year with snow covered roads, and probably only 1 or 2 with more than 2-3 inches of snow on the roads. My question is, will I need to replace the stock sport tires in order to get up my hilly street or will the quattro pull me through?

<br>I got my 1.8Tqms in mid-Feb, and survived the remainder of a central Indiana winter with the SP 8000s, including one 12-inch blizzard. The sport package tires are poor in the snow, but I had no problems carefully making my way around town.<p>However, I am going to get another set of wheels and snow tires for next winter, mainly because my wife will be driving the car some. For your conditions, I would not bother with winter tires unless you take ski runs into the mountains or something. Just remember on the slick days that the SP 8000s are handicapped, and go very slow.<p>BDW

A lot will depend on how you drive and how far. I live in Colorado and I have gone through two winters with my 8000s. On the day it snows, I only have used them for commute, which is not very long - one reason I moved from sunny CA. There were times when the anti-lock brakes came on at slick intersections. I never felt I could travel fast or make sudden corrections with the car (example - getting out of the way of someone else who was skidding.) If I did not have my wifes Jeep GC Ltd to drive when we need to travel out of town in the snow then I would buy winter wheels and tires. The Quattro is great at making the 8000s do more than they were designed to do, but if you have long commute( greater than 10 miles) I'd get snow tires.<p>Reggie<p>98.5 30vQMS

The 16x7 sport wheels will require to wide of a tire for optimal snow use. A 15" steel wheel with 195/65-15s(from memory, mine are home in the garage)has the right profile/surface area for the weight of the A4 to actually dig into and grab onto the snow.

With very little snow in your area, you probably don't "need" dedicated snow tires - BUT, for the days that you find yourself out in a nasty storm, you will definitley regret not having them.<p>IMHO - get them. Your car (quattro or no quattro) is only as good as the four patches of rubber that touch the ground (or snow!).<p>If you are interested in which snow tires to get, check the archives - tons of info,<p>Chris

Val,<p>First, make sure you get some different tires for winter..the dunlops are great for the summer, but german cars in Germany are sold with tires like this with the understanding you'll need winter tires. American cars are almost always sold with all season tires, by contrast, which are a performance compromise in every season--not great in the dry, not great in snow/ice.<p>So, best to put some winter boots on your A4.<p>Optimally, you get a second set of wheels so that you don't have to keep stretching the tire bead over the rim as you switch tires twice a year. Also, if you're in snow and ice regularly, better to have a narrower rim than stock, because it cuts through the snow better instead of plowing into it.<p>If you're not thinking your A4 will see a ton of snow and you don't want to buy a second set of wheels, you can put some decent snow tires on your stock sport wheels. I did this for two winters, and while it's not optimal, it works fine with quattro. I've posted before about pulling through powder that was deep enough to be coming over the hood of the car with this setup and Nokian Hak 1 tires. Disadvantages here include scratching up your only set of rims with the salt/sand mixtures they use in the winter, and snow can sometimes build up in between the spokes and inside the rim, leading to a harsh steering vibration from the wheels being out of balance with the snow/ice. This is easily corrected by spraying out the wheel at a do-it-yourself car wash. You'll be there constantly anyway, since you'll not want to be handwashing all that brake dust off the rims during the winter. Additional advantage of keeping the stock rims is that the wider tread may help a little with handling on dry pavement in between snows.<p>There are many good tire choices..lots in archives..include dunlop winter sport m2, pirelli winter asimmetrico, michelin arctic alpin, nokian nrw and hak 1, etc.<p>Rich<br>'98 2.8Q sport<ul><li><a href="http://www.tirerack.com">Tire Rack</a></li></ul>

Survived 13 winters in Switzerland w/o quattro w/o accident. Didn't survive one ice patch in Nevada on SO2 PPs. Not that this is by any means representative, but it should give you an idea.<p>Also, right now with the sunny weather people are more likely to give you optimistic input (the two days of snow weren't that bad). Browse the archives from January and you will hear other tunes (good god was I sliding those two days, next year I am buying snows).<p>You may save yourself $800 or what. A minor accident like mine will leave you with thrice as much - a bigger one could get you or someone killed. It takes only one ice patch :-)<p>- Stan<br>

I live in Warren county (north of Cincinnati) and have the sport pkg. I took a left hand turn kind of hard and slipped 4-5 inches sideways on what felt like 4 pieces of plastic. That convinced me that the SP8000e's were not going to be on my car for the winter. I got 4 snow tires from TireRack and kept them on until March. My only regret was that I got non-performance snow tires. I really wish I had spent the $20-30 per tire extra to get some tires that weren't so squirmy when the roads are OK (which is usually the case around here). <p>JayF<br>1.8tQMS<p>