Time to swap the summer tires for winter, and I don't think snow tires are necessary with quattro...

I really found very little diferences between the 2. Kumho Ecsta ASXs are a little less expensive, but according to Tire Rack, the Conti Extreme Contacts have better snow traction. I would not waste my money spending more for anything else. Both of these tires worked well for me. BTW, I got though 3 winters in suburban SE PA with these tires without issue. Summers as well.

My PS2's were more fun in the summer, but the PS A/S are awesome in the wet and in the snow. So good I'm leaving the 4Runner at home and taking the S4 to Whistler next weekend (and they already have a good amount of snow)

but need really good A/S for my incoming S4 - I've posted a few times on this. Looking for opinions as to whether the difference in price between the Pilot Sport A/S is worth getting vs. the Goodyear Eagle F1 A/S - both have gotten nice reviews, but the Michelins are around $60/tire more. Looking for a tire that will last, be reasonably good in light snow, and will also perform reasonably well in dry conditions. If I were planning on tracking the S4, would very definitely get PS2's. They're incredible.

The PS A/S work very well in the snow (the few times I've used them in that condition), are quite good in the dry (though they are a little harder than the PS2's, which hook up better in hard cornering), and they seem to be quite durable. I have over 22K miles on my current set of A/S's, whereas I only got 18K out of my PS2's. And I still have tread left on the A/S's- should be able to get well over 25K on this set.

All of that being said, I may go back to PS2's just because they are so much fun and I rarely drive my S4 in the snow (4Runner usually handles those duties.) If I was to compare the performance vs. the 2 (purely subjectively), I say the PS2's are a 100/100 in dry performance, a 92/100 in wet performance, and a 75/100 in snow performance. I'd call the A/S's a 90/100 in dry, 96/100 in wet, and a 90/100 in snow. (recognizing that you are not driving as hard in the wet and the snow)

Also- these tires have an XL load rating which is very important for a car as heavy as the S4.

Sorry, but I'm going to disagree. I've owned the CEC (contiextremecontact) and test driven the kumho ecsta asx... I think they're both very squishy and feel like crap. The CEC wasn't even nice on snow.

I had pirelli zero nero's for 3-seasons on the s4, now that's a good tire but I'm not sure about snow, doesn't seem to have the pattern for it. For a car as good/powerful as the s4, my dollar would go for the goodyear f1, bridgestone 960, the pirelli or the michelin.