New Tires & Replacement process experience

[BigRick]

I thought it would be of public interest to let you know how the process of replacing my tires went.

First let me thank OzRS4 and MrBucket for their advices on the available tires.

Then it was time to do the shopping. So I called a dealer in my area. Those GY F1 AS 275/30/19 96Y XL were 610$ CAD and the Pilot PS2 were about 540$ CAD. Which got me pretty upset because I wasn't thinking I would have to spend about 3k to change my tires.

But hopefully I got on TireRack.com to check the price difference and well what to say... the Goodyear were 330$ USD (but these days CAD = USD more or less).

The good news for us Canadien is that now TireRack does ship to Canada (right to your door or your installer if you wish) and they even calculate taxes, duties, brokage & special recycling tax for you.

So two days later the tires are at my front door (yes, two days!!!). When you count the hours it's even less than 48 hours as I ordered during the evening and they were home mid day. Simply amazing.

The dealer took care of installing them last friday and I'm now enjoying them.

Talking of enjoying, here's what's better than the last set (Michelin Pilot PS2)
Ride is better on small bumps and cracks
Noise level is better
Wet traction is pretty much the same (didn't test extensively but can't complain of anything)
Handling, I still can't say for sure but the extra rubber seams to make a small difference in corners.
Tram-line effect (I was complaining about with the old tires) is almost completely gone.

So unless those tires wear really fast they are a really good replacement for the Michelins. I was down to 3.5/32" after 25,000 km with the Michelins. So, I'll have to measure in a year to see if they wear faster or not.

So for all Canadiens looking to change their tires, have a look at TireRack.com it's really worth the time.

[OzRS4]

Good day BigRick, I would highly recommend TireRack as well. Ordered on Thursday and the tyres arrived at my door across the big lake the next Tuesday morning. The whole international order was so easy and quick and I saved about 30% off the rrp here in Aus.

Just waiting to wear off the last bit of the oem Pirelli and the new GY F1 will be on. Looking forward to it.

[MrBucket]

Nice, I'm glad you like the larger 275/30/19 tire. It fits so well and rides so well that you almost wonder why Audi did not have them on there in the first place.

Tire Rack is the best place by far to get tires in my opinion. They are cheap, have a selection like no one else and will either mount them on new wheels for no extra cost or send them right to any installer that you want.

[BigRick]

A little update on the tires.

Went to the track last Friday and we only started to feel them sluggish after 20-25 mins of somewhat hard beating on a quite fast circuit. The ICAR new track here in Montreal. Nice spot by the way, we'll have to see what they are going to make out of that place in the future but for now it's quite promising.

The Michelins we feeling the same after only 7-10 mins on a slower track.

I also had the opportunity to test them extensively under the rain and they do "float" quite them same but they are larger which would indicate they perform really good there too.

After around 700km I'm pretty satisfied and would also recommend them.

Thanks guys for the good recommendation!

[OzRS4]

Good to hear your review Rick. You're making me itch to put them on sooner....hmm be patient.

[firewired]

Sorry to be ignorant. But are there any inherent issues to putting a larger tire than was originally spec'ed?

[BigRick]

Sorry to be ignorant. But are there any inherent issues to putting a larger tire than was originally spec'ed?

The ones that I know of would be that larger tires:

would require that the car be well aligned or you'll feel it even more.
are somewhat heavier.
they could touch the arch (but it's not the case here).

All of these haven't been a problem for me

Hope it helps

[firewired]

What are the benefits of putting on larger tires?

[MrBucket]

What are the benefits of putting on larger tires?

More grip. Less sidewall so the tires are stiffer.

[MrBucket]

Do you have any pictures of the new tires?

[MR USER]

There are other sideeffects of wider tyres...

One is the grip on snow and water... the wider the tyre the easier it will be to enter aquaplaning (as a general principle... going from 255 to 275 is almost irrelevant IMO)

Slower top speed due to increase in mechanical grip

Arguable the ride comfort could be deteriorated (rs4 is rock hard anyway!)

Last but not least... the feeling of the car steering by itself on uneven roads... that increases notably and demands more concentration.

By the way I just changed my 5th set and I went for the New Pirelli Pzero assimmetrico... It feels very good on water, it has loads of grip on dry and it has super hard shoulder taht to me translated in pure joy when driving it as it gives a much stronger Kart feeling...

[KK265]

255/35/19?What cost?I am waiting for them on October in Greece.

[MR USER]

they don't come cheap! 2000 chf...