Reggie

I put Conti DWS on my Q5 the day I took delivery as it came with summer tires. I spent one winter on them driving to Steamboat Springs and to Seattle and back (Colorado) in snow storms (some where I had 200 miles of 40mph max) and the Contis never caused me to skid but they felt so squirrelly (spelling) that I use them only now for summer use and got a second set of rims and snow tires.

I recommend you do this. If you have no place to store them then rent a storage locker.

stuffinder

Having lived in the Central NY snowbelt since 1970 I've become a true believer in Winter tires. Having averaged 35-40K annually for most of this time I've gone through a lot of tires! I have been using Nokians primarily for the past 20 yrs. but have tried Micheliin, Gislaved, Blizzak, etc. The new Nokian R2 is truly phenomenal. My '95 S6 Avant came w/fresh set of Conti DWS, which I refer to as Ohio snow tires since that's where the car came from. They don't work in real snow/ice. If you insist on an all-season which is not my recommedation, I would go with the Nokian WR G3. I've used the WR G2's and they're definitely better in the slippery stuff than the DWS. They had wear issues but are supposedly resolved in the WR G3 which they claim a 50K tread life. I've attached an image of the Nokan Hakka R2 which is, arguably, the best non-studded snow tire available. Just replace my'06 A6 Avant 245/45x17 Nokian Zline summers w/225/55x16 R2's.

SamLV

I wanted to say thanks to all who posted. You just saved me a lot of time. Good forum members here. @mods I noticed that the edit button has appeared. Thx for that too.

Barrels41

Reggie:
My wife has the DWS on her 2007 A4 3.2 and I agree they have a soft sidewall. Extra air pressure may help. I like my summer tires but had an early November snow and early April snow and had some scary driving with summer tires. The DSW may make sense as a summer tire in CO. Sorry you sold the OEM summer tires? Good for a few months in CO. Regards, Barry

Billy S. McKinzie

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