All-Weather Tyres - Audi A6 C7 Avant 2.0 Ultra SE Executive (225/55R17)

[Amigo]

The time has come to renew my tyres, advisory on the MOT. The last three sets of tyres (including the one on the car now) have been: Michelin Primacy 3 (42k miles), Michelin Primacy 4 (50k miles), Michelin Primacy 4+ (35k miles so far), all summer tyres. While my Audi was having work done on it for 3 weeks, I drove my wife's Golf, on which I had fitted Michelin Cross Climate 2s all around last year. The handling of the Golf has been exemplary during the three weeks I used it, in the recent spell of cold and sleet/snow. Its handling was even more noticeable after I got my Audi back with its summer tyres and the handling was significantly poorer than the Golf in the same weather. That made me seriously consider fitting All-Weather Tyres to my Audi, which I had never done. Moreover, I may need to drive into Europe this winter, maybe at very short notice, unfortunately, in which case in order to drive through Europe I will need a tyre that is 3PMSF certified, which the latest iterations of the main All-Weather Tyres are.

After watching the last Tyre Reviews tests for All-Weather Tyres in 16” and 19” sizes, I narrowed down the tyres for this purpose to:
- Continental All Season Contact 2
- Pirelli Cinturato All Season SF3
- Michelin Cross Climate 2
- Bridgestone Turanza All Season 6

My car needs 225/55R17 97Y tyres, which is what the summer tyres that have always been fitted to it were. As the overall performance between these is going to be significantly better than any summer tyre in inclement weather, I was thinking of focusing on the following important criteria, in this order:
1. Wear – need to do as many miles as possible per set of tyres
2. Comfort – I am doing many miles and I want the car to be comfortable
3. Noise – an element of comfort

Based on the reviews, the tyre best fitting these requirements for my car seems to be Continental All Season Contact 2. However, in my size, they are only available in “225/55R17 101V/W”, and with Extra Load (XL), so one up from 97Y in load. I am running my summer tyres in the comfort setting pressure-wise, see here:
2017 A6 Avant SE Executive - Impressions (https://www.vwaudiforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php/179654-2017-A6-Avant-SE-Executive-Impressions)

According to the list above, the Conti tyres would work, but they would need to be at 36psi front 33psi rear, for the comfort setting, which I reckon will impact the ride quality.

In essence, I was wondering if anyone can comment on my findings, whether anyone used All-Weather Tyres on their A6 C7, ideally with my wheels size, tyre pressure impact, etc. and what have they learned. Any contributions welcome.

[Johnny31]

My C7 Avant is on Goodyear Vector 4s the last two years (stock 17" size and wheels).
I used to rotate summers and winters (winter hols driving across Europe) but settled on rotating summers and all-season instead (it makes way more sense I think for us in UK).
However, as my summers were 20s, and I want to go down to 18s, I did not swap the last two summers.
Super happy with them.
The longevity is better than summer Pirelli P zeros (in 20).
Now, I'm a big fan of tyre review but I limit myself to Goodyear or Michelin as they come with silly discounts in Costco. And (back when I got them) Vectors had much better wet handling than Michelins. Hence, that decided for me.

BTW check the stickers, my previous Michelin winters (I was on Alpines) and now GY Vectors were both 101v xl and that commands higher pressures. Still, muuuuch comfier than 20s...

Sent from my KB2003 using Tapatalk

[Amigo]

Thanks for that. It is hard to quantify the difference when changing wheel sizes as well. After further investigation, I realised that apart from the Michelin Cross Climate 2s, which are available in 97Y rating, all the others are only available in 101V/W ratings, which would require higher pressures, and I am wondering how that would impact the comfort in general, in terms of both ride quality and noise? On Tyre Reviews, where he analyses 16" All-Weather Tyres (which are closer to 17" than the 19" in the other review), the Michelins have poorer wear and lower starting thread depth than the best, although not too dissimilar to the 19” version in all aspects.

I found a link to an interesting document regarding tyres, which will take me a while to digest:
https://www.bridgestoneamericas.com/content/dam/corpcomm/americas/images/company/tire-safety/TireReplacementManual.pdf

[Crasher]

From driving customers cars and reading back the records we make during servicing plus their comments, all season tyres are noisier, don’t last as long and the fuel consumption is higher

[Amigo]

I guess there are no solutions, only trade-offs. Why are the All-Season tyres designed for Extra Load for the same sizes, in my case 101 instead of 97, and how much of a difference does it make, given that they need higher pressure? That suggests to me a worse ride quality, unless the compund is softer?

[Crasher]

Something I noticed about XL rating is a drop in rolling resistance but also reduced comfort. When I went to XL on my Octavia the way it rolled to a stop was noticeable longer.

[Amigo]

That is interesting, what tyres were they, if you can remember? And by comfort you mean the firmness of the ride, or the noise too?

[Crasher]

The ride suffers. I noticed the change with the Uniroyal Rainsport 3, 225/40 18 92W. After a while the sidewalls seemed to compress more than the rear by a noticeable degree so I changed to the same tyre but XL and the reducing in rolling resistance was a surprise but the Rainsport 3 and 5 in that size are only in XL now anyway and I am on the RS5 now.