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Old 8th January 2017, 12:49 PM
ainarssems ainarssems is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Rushden, Northants
Posts: 3,799
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A8 is very quite car anyway. For me tyre sound level is not that important. The price is obviously important or to be more precise value for money, in terms of performance most important is the grip level, especially at the conditions where it's normally low like cold and wet. Second is ageing in terms of change of hardness and loss of grip due to age, then wear, then ride comfort and noise and fuel economy come in last, I mean I don't try to sleep while driving so don't need them to be quite I will not set any fuel economy records with a V8. The tyres are the only thing connecting you to the road and even if you do not drive hard or on the limit at the time of emergency it could make big difference, it does not matter how good your brakes or steering are if you do not have enough tyre grip to keep you connected to road. I have Eagle F1 tyres made in 2012 on 8 that I put on car in 2014 and grip has been poor since start, especially in wet and cold, if it is 20C+ then it's kind of OK and grip is getting worse as they age. They are quite I'll give them that and comfort is not bad as well but I will definitely not buy another set. From the Avon I only had ZZ3 on A6 when bought it and they were horrible, mediocre grip on warm and dry at best, poor grip on cold and wet and wore out quickly, I have seen Korean makes perform better.

I like the Michelins best and in fact I like winters more which are great for 90% of year of UK weather, can get a bit floating if temperature is 25C+ but still doing fine. Great grip in any conditions, not much loss of grip due to age and last very long. I have not tried their new CrossClimate yet so they could be good contender. But obviously any winter tyre and probably CrossClimate as well will make more noise and be worse on fuel economy.
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Currently 8less
2011 Q7 S Line 3.0TDI, 2016 Tesla Model S 90D

8 history:
2006 A8 Sport 4.2TDI quattro SOLD,
1997 S8, reached end of life with gearbox failure

Last edited by ainarssems; 8th January 2017 at 12:56 PM.
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