Winter tyre options for an S8?
 

My lovely, shiny, recently re-furbished 20" FE alloys are proving to have pretty much useless grip on snow with Michelin PS2 rubber.

I've been religiously working through the handbook and the only advice I can find about winter tyres is that 225/55R17 is the only tyre size approved for use on the car. No info on compatible/recommended wheels or even the basic wheel dimensions and offset?

Has anybody done any research on what wheels from the Audi range will accommodate that tyre size and fit the S8 with no brake clearance issues? The front brakes don't exactly look tiny under the 20" rims, so I'm a bit concerned whether 17" wheels will actually clear everything?

I'm hoping there's a fairly common run of the mill wheel option from elsewhere in the Audi range that I can pick up for not much money which will save the FE rims from getting a pasting from road salt.

Cheers

Adrian

I've had the same problem with my S8 and have just bought a second hand set of 18" wheels (I think you'd struggle to get 17" rims on the S8, but I'm not an expert. I'm waiting for some winter tyres to be fitted, but simply having more rubber has improved the grip. There was a post a week or so ago on tyres that included a link to a review on winter tyres. I'll see if I can find it and come back

Here's the link http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2359&page=3

I have17" wheels on my PF S8 with 225/55 winter tyres. Does make a whole load of difference.

Cool - thanks

I presume PF is pre-facelift? Should 17" rims fit over late S8 calipers?

You probably have the Teves 360mm brakes.

I have 22mm between the inside of my rims and the outside of the brake caliper that would indicate I could go down another inch maybe.

The facelift S8 came with 18" wheels as standard so should go down to that. Maybe 17s. Someone with 18s could measure up and see if they would fit.:rolleyes:

I have seen 245x45x18 M&S tyres.

just go with 245/45 R18 or 235/50 R18( this is the size for the D3 winter tires but they will fit the d2 without any problems)

These are not any ordinary tyres....

Cheers for that - presumably D2 and D3 wheels are largely interchangeable? Just wandering what wheel size and offset to look out for to suit the S8.

Obviously with winter tyres the narrower the wheel, the better - I'm guessing these are designed to go on an 8.5J rim?

I guess pre-FE Avus rims would be a good choice, or some off a D3?