Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?)

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Mon 1 Jul 2013 19:17
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Sarah D
I was thinking of putting a nice new set of Avon ZZ5's on my A4.
Having looked on P/h and reviews elsewhere they seem to be well thought of and good value for money (An important consideration these days with the costs of everything rising !!)
Evo seem to rate them highly on an S4!!! and I believe that Avon's are factory fitted to Aston Martins.
I rang Camskill only to be told that I could be in danger of having an insurance claim rejected if I didn't get 'AO' rated tyres.
Surely as long as they have good tread and are the correct size, load/speed rating this is not the case?
Your advice would be appreciated???
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Mon 1 Jul 2013 20:08
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Chris79
I've heard this too. Seems like any excuse to get out of honouring a warranty. Begs the question why my local audi dealer fits kumhos to all second hand audis on there forecourt, some of which are still in warranty. They didn't appear to have the all important a0 stamp on them.
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Mon 1 Jul 2013 20:19
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Chris79
Funny enough I just checked our q3. The original tyres are good year excellence and do have the a0 stamp on them. The previous a4 we had came with michelins and the a3 prior to that also with michelins.

I'm not sure how much difference the a0 stamp makes!
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Mon 1 Jul 2013 20:31
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - gordonbennet

Sounds like a letter or email to your insurance company for the difinitive answer.

I've never heard this one, sounds like a good wheeze but fail to understand Camskills angle.

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Mon 1 Jul 2013 20:57
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Cyd

See what it says in your handbook. I've just had new tyres on my Saab 9-3 Aero. The depot tried to tell me that Saab specify 97s, but the car handbook clearly listed 94W as the minimum. I had 94Ys fitted.

My only other contribution would be to say that I don't rate Avon ZZs on a FWD car. Probably fine on a RWD or 4WD. Believe it or not, tyres are engineered to suit different drive end.

I removed SportContact 3s from my Saab. Great tyres, but noisey and fast wear rate. I've fitted Goodyear Eagle F1 Assymetric 2s. Much more comfortable and quiet. Only done 300 miles so far and it was only damp the other day, but so far they seem very grippy.

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Tue 2 Jul 2013 00:27
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - SteveLee

The insurance companies can write what they like - but in the UK tyres are covered by the construction and use regulations and their clause will not stand up in court - any tyre matching the speed and load rating for the vehicle is fine. The long game (EU directives) is for the UK to follow German TUV like regulations - but we are not there yet. Perhaps if we all vote UKIP we won't be saddled with stupid tyre regulations in the future.

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Tue 2 Jul 2013 10:15
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Hamsafar

Read the manual, or enter the 3 digit codes on your build sticker (usually in wheel well or under boot carpet into a VAG decoder website such as

igorweb.org/equidec/

I doubt you need manufacture specific tyres as they all fit a variety of tyres as service items. You can even get quotes from the Audi website, so maybe try that and keep a copy.

www.audi.co.uk/owners-area/audi-tyres/online-quota...l

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Tue 2 Jul 2013 12:08
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Andrew-T

My only other contribution would be to say that I don't rate Avon ZZs on a FWD car. Probably fine on a RWD or 4WD. Believe it or not, tyres are engineered to suit different drive end.

From my driving perspective I would guess that 'ordinary' drivers merely want to know whether their tyres are good in the wet, will last a reasonable time and are quiet on the road. Finer points about relative grip and other characteristics can be left to those more prone to drive near the limit. To an extent one gets what one pays for, and when a set of tyres can cost a grand or even more, many will buy cheap.

I replaced worn-out Contis (OEM on a Pug 207) with Avons and immediately noticed an increase of about 5% in fuel consumption. I think this has improved as they have bedded in, but I can't detect any other difference in performance or road noise. You can argue that you need the best possible tyres in case you get into a panic situation, but so far I have avoided those, so I don't.

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Tue 2 Jul 2013 20:06
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - Cyd

My Rover Vitesse came with Uniroyals the previous owner had fitted. I found it a little skittish in the wet, but ok. I changed to ZZs shortly after getting it and they were awful in the wet. The car was all over the place and the Torsen diff was forever working overtime. I ditched them after just 1500 miles for a set of Goodyear Eagle F1 GSDs. It was like driving a different car - fantastic in the wet and hardly ever needing the Torsen. Lesson learned (again), which is why I've gone for the F1s again - and can report they sem to be every bit as good as I expected so far.

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Tue 2 Jul 2013 20:20
Audi A4 - Tyres (Manufacturer rated or not ?) - gordonbennet

Cyd's post shows how different tyres suit different cars.

I had F1's on an MB, agreed very good once warm but prone to excessive wheelspin when cold and would form flat spots overnight which took several miles running to round off and warm up, i took them off and sold them on.

I see the new F1 assymetric has good reviews but not sure i'll be investing.

I'm not an anti Goodyear chap by the way, many years ago i switched from lethally skittish Michelin ZX's to the then new Goodyear Unisteel, completely transformed my Ventora from an almost uncontrollable car in the wet to a safe preditable handler, Goodyears also fitted to my new lorry which is very controllable in the wet.

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