I was wondering if anyone has tried the stock 205/55/16 SP 8000's in the snow- I may be doing some Winter driving soon and I'm not sure if I want to get snow tires. My A4 is a quattro of course. Thanks for any advice.<br>

I saw one in my dealer's service department last year after the first snow. The right wheel was crumpled where it had taken a curb. My advice is a good set of snow tires. They are cheap (relative to car value and crash damage) and make winter driving fun. See the Wheel/Tire forum for more info.

Life's too short and the A4 is too fine. Be safe.

I live in Montana and Sunday we received 4" of snow and ice. I have only had my A4 2.8 30V for one month and thought I could make it without snow tires - wrong - the car was all over the road. So I put Gislaved Nordic SST 205 55 R16 with studs on the car and now it can go anywhere. I would recommend these tires without reservation.

You'll be one unhappy person if you try to drive a Z rated tire on snow/ice.<br>I have 15" Pirelli P210s and although I hate the look, I would rather be able to have traction and keep my car in contact with the ground.<br>You can get a pretty good package as I did for not too much $ by getting the steel wheels (ugly but very strong).

NT<br>

Took delivery of the car in February, and didn't put snow tires on because it was already late winter. So drove one month of winter on those Z-rated tires. My advice is: don't do it. Even when the tires are new, the rubber compound just doesn't stick to the ground, especially when the ABS kicks in way too early under braking and you continue to move forward hopelessly. With quattro you have a false sense of security because you can outdrag a Jeep Grand Cherokee even with those tires in snow.<p>Put on some winter tires and you can really blow by those behemoth SUVs and also be able to stop and corner.<p>Wong from North<br>98 A4 1.8TqMS Tropic Green<br>

I used to have P7000 SS's on my Cosmos Black '95 M3 (which I loved, but wound up happily trading for my Laser Red 98.5 A42.8QMS), and I liked them a lot. They were great in cold, rainy conditions, in which the stock Michelin MXX3s were almost worthless IMO. Never even thought about trying the M3 in snow, hence my question.<p>I am curious as to whether the P7000 SS's are good enough in snow to use year-round on my A4. I was quite happy with their dry/wet performance on the M3, even compared to the MXX3s, which at the time were $100 more per tire! (No thanks, Michelin). :o)<p>I currently live in eastern South Carolina, where my question is almost totally moot, but about once a month I drive up through NC to TN, where I am from originally. In the winter, snow is common in the mountainous NC and TN areas through which I travel. (Now you see a little of why I traded the M-car - as great a sports car as it was, and it is the best so far IMO, its all-around qualities left a great deal to be desired). I don't regret getting it, though - it was a blast. I had it for almost a year. Wish I could have afforded both! Oh well, the new S4 is JUST what the doctor ordered - it won't get here a moment too soon! :o)<p>Thanks in advance for any info any of you might have!

I agree with Cathleen, the 8000's are very bad in the snow. I also got the Pirelli snows and was much happier, they stop and start much better<br>( they are also speed rated which I feel is important, many snow tires are not and that could be bad if you forget this fact and decide to go fast ).As mentioned earlier you can blow the doors off any SUV in the snow. Boy those folks hate it when you take off from a light, they spin and you win. SUV owners never think to change over from the crap tires the manufactures put on. I'm amazed at how little traction some of them get. I have actually seen them stuck on hills while the A4 just kept a hummmin.