I have a 98.5 30Vqms.<p>There was an R1 in effect on the way up (in CA this means 4WD vehicles with all-season tires are OK w/o chains). I stopped at the officer, "Good morning, all-wheel drive and cables in the back" He asked to see the cables then let me through with the Dunlop 8000E's (didn't check not ask, so I didn't tell).<p>I drove carefully, not being an experienced snow/ice driver. The road was mostly just wet and chains were probably not needed. Further up the mountain, most of the residents were going chain free. I only came upon one place in the road that had an inch of packed snow on it, going straight, at around 30 mph. Sure enough, the A4 started slipping sideways, loosing all traction. I just held my breath and after a fraction of a second, the car found grip again.<p>My NEW opinion on taking the 8000E's into snow and ice: DON'T DO IT (this excludes any experienced snow/ice drivers who know better how a car responds on snow/ice).<p>Quattro lesson for today: 4 x 0 = 0 (Translation: you can still lose grip, even with quattro, if not properly tired).

What's worse is that even snow tires plus quattro does not equal traction if the surface is slick enough.

I just got back from a weekend trip to Mammoth (the first snow my A4 has seen). I opted to not go for snow tires for numerous reasons; I just carried cables in the trunk. They got 10" of snow on Friday and about 5" this morning. I did a lot of driving on snow-covered roads and the 8000's did okay, but I did drive cautiously. I would have felt much more comfortable with snows on. As others have said, a quattro will climb almost anything in snow with 8000s, but turning and braking are a problem. I will get snow tires before I head to the snow again; it's really not even Winter yet! I would hate to wreck my A4 as a result of trying to save $400 on snow tires. I saw one accident last night where a new Expedition went off the road and climbed up an enbankment and smashed into a stone wall! Ouch!<br>

<br>nt