235/40's for an S4 Avant

[Madelvic]

Checked the article - the Michelin are Pilot Sport not Pilot Sport 2. Also my mistake the Bridgestone's are S-03 PP. I'll look to scan in the article if anybody is interested and either post it here or make it available by email......

[Pete.S]

Any updates on this? Scotty, did you get the F1's fitted, and how are they running? What's the wear like compared to the PS2s?

I'm just about to order a new set now, had a much cheaper quote on the F1's than the PS2's, but I've been told Michelins are made from a far harder compound. I need a tyre that is reasonably long-lasting because of the mileage I do, and I don't track the car so I'm tempted by the PS2's. Good decision?

[Scotty]

Unfortunately not yet. Hopefully one night this week if I get away early or at the weekend.

[Pete.S]

So....

Full new set of PS2's on. Definitely less road noise, handling superb (just returned from a long drive through Wales, zero or near-zero temperature, gritted roads etc etc). One thing I would say though is that the car feels slightly, errr, "wobbly" I guess is a good description, especially at higher cornering speeds, certainly more so than with the Contis. Perhaps harder compound causing less give, so the car feels less planted than with the softer Contis.

[Scotty]

I'd say wait until they bed in. It normally takes a little while for the releasing agent to be shed off. I found the PS2's had more grip. Today I took my PS2's off and put F1's on. Only done about 6 miles so obviously nothing to comment on so far apart from I think they're a bit quieter.
The F1's sit on my RS6 rep wheels.

[Pete.S]

Looking good

Yes, was very impressed with grip during tight cornering/roundabouts etc, although it's difficult to be really objective because the Contis were well worn. It was more the car's stability through long, fast, gentle bends that I wasn't so sure about.

[Mike_K]

Today I took my PS2's off and put F1's on. Only done about 6 miles so obviously nothing to comment on so far apart from I think they're a bit quieter.
The F1's sit on my RS6 rep wheels.

any more to add yet Scotty/ Pete S ?? I'm about to shed my factory Conti's and short-list the PS2's F1's and Bridgestone Potenza S-03s(S-02's ?).

I like the idea of a bit more feel from the F1's that somebody mentioned, a little bit of progressive, controlled slide suits me much better than all hell breaking loose when/if the back-end were to go suddenly !!

mike

[Scotty]

Not yet. As I found with my TT, they are not great for the first couple of hundred miles and I haven't done that yet. I've been working a lot and as I commute the car's not been going anywhere.

I had S02's on my TT track wheels and found them good but I felt the F1's won over. Can you still get them? I'd heard S03s were not quite so good.

[Mike_K]

I had S02's on my TT track wheels and found them good but I felt the F1's won over. Can you still get them? I'd heard S03s were not quite so good.

I was checking prices on a dutch web-site http://www.autobandenmarkt.nl/start.html and they only offered S02's.

Went to the Bridgestone site to check out what they had to say, found a link to a pdf doc with availability: http://www.bridgestone-eu.com/upload/album/AP_9562.pdf and there was a note against the S-03PP 235/40/18 that stated "S-02 continued size"

- I wasnt sure if this meant that S-03s were available or not....., but the local discount tyre place only seems to offer S-02's.

[Pete.S]

Mmm that's interesting, I'd also heard the 02's had been discontinued, and that was about 2 years ago!!

Now done 2k miles on the Pilots, the grip really is phenomenal, so much so that I've had to get used to the decrease in understeer pretty quickly! I had Pilots on my old B5 and found them to be easily the best in terms of wear (was getting 20k miles out of the 17"s, Pirellis were giving me 10k), and because I do plenty of miles I'll probably stick with 'em. However, I would like to try the F1's for feel, seeing as quite a few guys on 'ere have praised 'em. Maybe if you're not doing so many miles, they could be the better option?

[wombat]

Today I took my PS2's off and put F1's on. Only done about 6 miles so obviously nothing to comment on so far apart from I think they're a bit quieter.

Hi Scotty,

I've just changed the front pair for F1s. Quieter and more positive are my first impressions.

The strange bit is that the original Contis that came off (front pair changed at 1 Year/10,000 miles) were worn down to wires on the inside edges where I couldn't see the damage... The outer edges were slightly scrubbed (ahem) with plenty of tread across the main tyre surface. The rear tyres are still fine.

--
Darren

[Scotty]

I had similar on my Contis but only the outside edge was very worn. I've still got them as since there's loads of rubber, I may put them on (on opposite sides) for a trackday. I need to have a good look at them first though.