[SimonRoma]

Tyres are super important as we all know cos they are the ONLY points of contact between the car (or bike) and the road so I am a great fan of good tyres and good tyre pressure, I check my tyre pressure several times on every long journey.

Well when I purchased my old Audi S4 she was on Conti Sports but as they were fairly worn I purchased another set and had them fitted together with a new set of Brembo rotors and pads cos I like to know that the car will steer and stop!!

Last week after 2 years of ownership and very few miles (thanks to COVID) I finally went to the UK to see family and friends so I travelled 6k kms in a week thro' Italy and France and France was almost totally covered in snow so I tested the car, tyres and brakes in amazingly awful conditions for the first time. Well, goodness, now I know why drivers say that that the Audi Quattro system is amazing, it really is!!! The snow was a laff for the S4 she drove as if the snow was not there and gave me a feeling of total confidence in a snow and rain, The highest part of the journey is of course the Mont Blanc tunnel between Italy and France where Chamonix is at about 1400m above sea level, great fun!!!

Wow. Great tyres and great car!!! Happy Days indeed.

 

[JohnS4]

Glad you had fun. I had a set of conti sports on my S4 when I bought it. I really didn’t rate the tyres, far too much tram lining and very concerning if you had to cross the white lines painted on the road surface. Swooped for a set of Bridgestones and what a total transformation.

Never drove on contis in snow though.

 

[JohnS4]

Should we guess how much the fuel cost for that journey?? 😎

 

[SimonRoma]

Haha, fuel costs indeed. The plan was to see a lovely XKR and a possible part exchange, but when I arrived in the UK after all of the snow and water along the way I decided that the Quattro was a better place to be, rather than 420 horses and RWD. The S4 managed to average about 25mpg as long as I kept her below about 150 kph which is easy in the UK (traffic) and in France (rozzers) but not in Italy!!!

 

[SimonRoma]

BUT: 1. She has a VERY small fuel tank perhaps cos she has a full size spare under the floor, and 2. In top gear the car revs far too high she could surely pull a much higher gearing. Hence the only way to get good consumption is to cruise her at 110kph but er stuff that officer!!!