what tires to you guys recommend?

[Ian K]

I have almost religiously run Falken FK452's on my other cars with no problems. But after some research and personal experience I have found that a lot of people are having bubbling issues with them. I originally was running Dunlop Dirrezza's and they bubbled in less than a thousand miles. The 452's held up for a couple thousand and now they bubbled. Car is aligned within spec, and it only happens to the front tires. My assumptions are from the front suspension design and the heavy V8.

Running a 225/35/19

[miggity02]

Hankook Ventus Evo k12.

[ProgMetalHead]

I'm going to be getting some Michelin Pilot Super Sports this week. I can't wait!

[Silver B6 S4]

225-35-19 are all rated 88w XL or under, that's why the sidewalls are bubbling.

[M|R]

225-35-19 are all rated 88w XL or under, that's why the sidewalls are bubbling.

This

I believe our cars call for 95w xl.

[A4Ultrasport]

Michelin Pilot Supersports. I absolutely love mine, they're a game changer.

[nicotino15]

I would really like michelin pilot super sports, but I'll probably go cheaper and get the hankook ventus v12's.

[staticuxo]

i ran Hankook Ventus V12 225/35/19 stretched on 19x9 RS4 wheels on my B7 S4 with NO issues.. no bubbles, no blowouts, etc.. and i drove through NYC quite a bit on them.

Here's pics from my previous S4:






As a matter of fact, I loved them so much I just got my Hankook Ventus V12 275/30/20 mounted on my S5 last night.. here's shitty iPhone shots for now:

[Lefthook]

+1 for the ventus v12. Bang for the buck, they are utterly amazing.


Last time I had to buy tires I wound up getting into a crunch - needed to go on an 800 mile road trip for the weekend when a family member suddenly fell terminally ill. The ventus v12s weren't available locally so I went with the Dunlop Dirrezza's... they are utter garbage.

So +1 for the Hankooks and -1 for the Dunlops.

[reillyrocks]

can't afford Michelins and have been more than disappointed by every big brand high buck name, Dunlops were junk on my 4000Q, Yokohama's were loud and short lived on my S6, so for my B6 S4 i just purchased the cheapest 245/35/19s I could find....Forceum Hexa shipped to me for $371, UTQG rated 300, just put them on 50miles ago and I'm blown away by everything that I read about them from a Subaru owner, they are quiet, they are compliant, they don't tramline like my Bridgestones did, I will certainly report more after many miles and always share the good and the bad....but right now they blow away my Goodyear F1s on my stock Avus wheels, those Goodyear F1s are loud and hard and these cheap-ass 19s ride better. I don't begrudge or insult the buyers of more expensive brands, I'm envious sometimes, but I'm no longer convinced that you need to spend $400/tire either. If these tires turn out to suck I will report back and admit it and try some more established brands.

[Lefthook]

can't afford Michelins and have been more than disappointed by every big brand high buck name, Dunlops were junk on my 4000Q, Yokohama's were loud and short lived on my S6, so for my B6 S4 i just purchased the cheapest 245/35/19s I could find....Forceum Hexa shipped to me for $371, UTQG rated 300, just put them on 50miles ago and I'm blown away by everything that I read about them from a Subaru owner, they are quiet, they are compliant, they don't tramline like my Bridgestones did, I will certainly report more after many miles and always share the good and the bad....but right now they blow away my Goodyear F1s on my stock Avus wheels, those Goodyear F1s are loud and hard and these cheap-ass 19s ride better. I don't begrudge or insult the buyers of more expensive brands, I'm envious sometimes, but I'm no longer convinced that you need to spend $400/tire either. If these tires turn out to suck I will report back and admit it and try some more established brands.

I had s-drives on my e36 and I was never overly thrilled with those tires either. I really, really liked the mechanical grip of my BFG KDW2's and in rainy Oregon they were absolutely money in the wet traction department and flat-out refused to hydroplane. BUT THEY WERE LOUD. lol

And these Hankooks were something like 850 or 900 mounted and balanced at America's Tire. They are pretty amazing for the money.

[evomhcs]

can't afford Michelins and have been more than disappointed by every big brand high buck name, Dunlops were junk on my 4000Q, Yokohama's were loud and short lived on my S6, so for my B6 S4 i just purchased the cheapest 245/35/19s I could find....Forceum Hexa shipped to me for $371, UTQG rated 300, just put them on 50miles ago and I'm blown away by everything that I read about them from a Subaru owner, they are quiet, they are compliant, they don't tramline like my Bridgestones did, I will certainly report more after many miles and always share the good and the bad....but right now they blow away my Goodyear F1s on my stock Avus wheels, those Goodyear F1s are loud and hard and these cheap-ass 19s ride better. I don't begrudge or insult the buyers of more expensive brands, I'm envious sometimes, but I'm no longer convinced that you need to spend $400/tire either. If these tires turn out to suck I will report back and admit it and try some more established brands.

Reillyrocks: tires-easy.com? 81 ea? I actually bought them recently as well. So far they've also performed well!

[dparm]

Read the objective reviews on Tire Rack and make an informed decision. Don't base it off of posts like "I have tire X and it rocks". If you're going to do it that way, may as well flip a coin.

[reillyrocks]

why are the tire reviews on tirerack more objective? I agree that more detailed information is better in accessing a review but I come here for my information as well, I have just as much respect and confidence in the objectivity of this forum and it also allows me to contact the user directly and get more in depth, I do agree with your larger point in that one should seek multiple sources of information to make a decision...but objectivity from strangers on tirerack may be subjective

evomhcs - I'll contact you soon to discuss more offthread, I'm eager to learn what your experiences are

[Lefthook]

Read the objective reviews on Tire Rack and make an informed decision. Don't base it off of posts like "I have tire X and it rocks". If you're going to do it that way, may as well flip a coin.

my only issue with Tire Rack is that 90% of the reviews are made by people who haven't run the tire through their full cycle and are commenting on them when they have ~800 - ~1000 miles in or something.. plus most of them have no clue what "turn-in" means or any clue how to evaluate sidewall flex or roll-over.

additionally, a review of a tire that is mounted on a 2200 pound Miata is worthless to me when I'm considering mounting it on my 4000 pound AWD tank.. I find the discussions here to be a lot more relevant and informed.

Just my 2 cents though.

[VMRWheels]

For the average consumer the Hankook Ventus V12 is an amazing tire. Really good value for money there. Very quiet, affordable, and pretty grippy. My complaint though is that the sidewalls are not stiff enough. I bought some a little over a year ago and the sidewalls did bubble quite badly, and they needed to be replaced. Most people haven't shared the same experience I have had though so I would definitely recommend them to anyone interested in them. If you're looking for something even better though, Michelin Pilot Super Sports or Bridgestone RE-11s are totally awesome.

[M|R]

my only issue with Tire Rack is that 90% of the reviews are made by people who haven't run the tire through their full cycle and are commenting on them when they have ~800 - ~1000 miles in or something.. plus most of them have no clue what "turn-in" means or any clue how to evaluate sidewall flex or roll-over.

Agreed.

Tirerack tests themselves are pretty informative but if you want to know how real people actually like them everyday - be prepared to comb through a lot of "150mi on these tires and I love them" reviews.

If youre looking for high perf summer tires the michelin pilot super sports are completely bad ass. The re11s have a lot of road noise apparently and dont wear nearly as well as the michelin super sports FYI.

[rxbike]

7K on the Hannkook V12 : Sticky and predictable handling. Problem: They are getting noisy now, common problem with them if you are willing to live with them. I have them on both my S4 and my 911 and usually after 5-9k they get noisy.
Two sets are cheaper than one set of Michelins however so I don' t mind the noise.

+1 for the ventus v12. Bang for the buck, they are utterly amazing.


Last time I had to buy tires I wound up getting into a crunch - needed to go on an 800 mile road trip for the weekend when a family member suddenly fell terminally ill. The ventus v12s weren't available locally so I went with the Dunlop Dirrezza's... they are utter garbage.

So +1 for the Hankooks and -1 for the Dunlops.

[nicotino15]

Dparm is talking about the performance tests performed by tire rack or whoever they contract with to test the tires. He is not talking about the user reviews. Having said that, not all tires have tire rack performance tests, although all the major ones that everybody's talking about here do.

While I do agree with Dparm in using the reviews, I think a couple of tires have been pretty proven around on our cars, and that's the hankook V12's and even moreso the michelin pilot super sports.

I'd like to ask VMRwheels in his situation with bubbling which version of the v12's they were using, bc a lot of people that get aftermarket wheels get a tire with a different load rating and just wondering if his case of bubbling was with a tire that had a lighter load rating.

[VMRWheels]

My issue had to do with a lot of contributing factors that were particular to my case. I would prefer stiffer reinforced sidewalls, and if Hankook offered this I would definitely buy them again. In most people's cases though it is not an issue.

[dparm]

My point about Tire Rack is that it's a controlled review/test. Different tire models in the same size on the same car **** easy to compare. They run the same course repeatedly and that makes comparing times and feel easy.

I've driven their test loop and their track, and met some of the reviewers...I have the utmost confidence in their writing.

[reillyrocks]

....just brought to my attention after speaking with a fellow member, last night after my new wheels and tires were mounted, the salesman at the installation facility helping me with payment happened to mention to me that they filled the fronts to 34psi and the rears to 32psi....and I remarked that this seemed so low, and he responded that they filled them up according to the audi sticker, now I am questioning whether or not this sounds odd to you, where would audi indicate that my inflation would be 34F/32R? I will check the inflation after I leave work today but the fellow member with the same tire states that the tires are imprinted with '44psi max '....I normally ran my tires from 36-38psi, does 34F/32R sound too low to anyone?

[Ian K]

Thanks for all the input. I think I have decided that I am going to go a slightly different route with the car and am going to replace the 225's with 245/35/19's and lift the car a little.


This picture is about a year old. Other than the wheels being 9.5" at all 4 corners it looks essentially the same.


My S4 by Ian Kosiek, on Flickr

[Kem]

I was going to get Sumitomo HTR Z III based on the tire rack budget performance tire test. They preffered them over the Hankook V12.

[Lefthook]

My point about Tire Rack is that it's a controlled review/test. Different tire models in the same size on the same car **** easy to compare. They run the same course repeatedly and that makes comparing times and feel easy.

I've driven their test loop and their track, and met some of the reviewers...I have the utmost confidence in their writing.

ohhhhh, ok. You weren't talking about the user reviews, which are mostly useless. I retract my objection.

My issue had to do with a lot of contributing factors that were particular to my case. I would prefer stiffer reinforced sidewalls, and if Hankook offered this I would definitely buy them again. In most people's cases though it is not an issue.

this is a good point. I'm running stock ride height and wider tires (255/35/19) so I'm not stretched and the stiffness of the sidewall isn't as critical.

I did bubble a sidewall on the 245/35 Dunlops.

[Kem]

Here is the Tire Rack Value Max Performance Summer tire comparison:
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...&affiliate=FH8

It includes the V12 and the Sumitomo I mentioned.

[eze01]

i ran Hankook Ventus V12 225/35/19 stretched on 19x9 RS4 wheels on my B7 S4 with NO issues.. no bubbles, no blowouts, etc.. and i drove through NYC quite a bit on them.

Here's pics from my previous S4:


IMO - this car looks amazing the way it is set up

[kodquist]

2005 B6 S4 with stock rims and 235/40/18s. I had the continental contisport3's on my rig when I bought it about 13 months ago. There were a great handling tire - extremely grippy and very predictible when apporaching the edge of the envelope. However, the tread life was not good at all. I drive fairly aggressivly, but I expect my tires to last a bit longer than 11,000 miles before the cords start showing through. Tire rack has the 2007 models on sale right now at a $40 per tire discount when compared to the 2012 model - might be a good call if you like grippy tires and don't mind replacting them often. That said, I just replaced them with the Michelin pilot super sports @4 weeks ago because the reviews on tirerack said they were just as grippy if not not more, and were supposed to last longer. Don't know about the treadwear yet, but I can say that they hold the corners extremely well. I can probably average about 2-3 mph faster on 270 degree freeway onramps (before sliding) than I could with the Contisport 3's which is big because the Contisport 3's were very grippy. If you can afford 265 per wheel, the Pilot's area a very good handling tire.

KO

[guzerone]

+1 for the Sumitomo HTR Z III, ran them last year (245/40-18 on stock Avus) and liked them. They don't last 20KMi but for $139 per tire, I don't expect them to. They're reasonably quiet and have lots of grip, almost as much as the Falken 615 I had before (those are LOUD). The side wall is not as stiff as a PS2 but not bad either. Even used them for a track day in the rain (turbo-Miata is not good in the rain...) and they did great.

I was at the local Discount Tire store to get another set, the guy offered me Bridgestone RE760s for the same price. The reviews on those are pretty good, so I ordered those, should get them tomorrow...

[AudiS4ComeCME]

Currently I am running Continental ExtremeContact DW tires, and am very impressed with the overall performance. For being an extreme summer weather tire, they handle surpsingly well in the wet. They are very grippy. My only gripe is that the sidewalls aernt the stiffest. I ran the hankook ventus evo v12s previously. They were also a great tire, honestly no complaints. Just my .02