Audi A3 Sportback Tyres
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| Continental Sport Contact 5 (7) | 97% | 91% | 93% | 93% | 86% | 94% | 97% | 93% | 26,000 |
| Michelin Pilot Sport 3 PS3 (63) | 93% | 93% | 90% | 87% | 83% | 88% | 87% | 89% | 830,400 |
| GT Radial Champiro HPX (5) | 88% | 88% | 86% | 86% | 76% | 83% | 90% | 85% | 41,000 |
| Vredestein Snowtrac 3 (20) | 82% | 89% | 80% | 75% | 82% | 84% | 97% | 84% | 146,439 |
| Maxxis MA Z4S Victra (4) | 90% | 85% | 83% | 75% | 75% | 83% | 95% | 84% | 65,200 |
| Avon Ice Touring ST (19) | 82% | 91% | 78% | 72% | 81% | 82% | 92% | 82% | 87,000 |
| Michelin Pilot Exalto (32) | 87% | 82% | 77% | 82% | 84% | 76% | 84% | 82% | 1,050,130 |
| Bridgestone Potenza S001 (8) | 93% | 91% | 83% | 75% | 63% | 80% | 84% | 81% | 56,700 |
| Kumho Ecsta KU31 (84) | 85% | 79% | 78% | 76% | 73% | 79% | 83% | 79% | 1,551,400 |
| Michelin Primacy HP (85) | 85% | 75% | 75% | 72% | 75% | 76% | 67% | 75% | 2,026,075 |
| Bridgestone Potenza RE001 (22) | 85% | 73% | 76% | 79% | 66% | 63% | 76% | 74% | 329,451 |
| Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT (16) | 85% | 75% | 76% | 75% | 70% | 69% | 61% | 73% | 137,400 |
| Continental Sport Contact 2 (129) | 83% | 73% | 75% | 70% | 60% | 68% | 62% | 70% | 2,425,530 |
| Pirelli PZero Rosso (56) | 84% | 72% | 72% | 71% | 61% | 68% | 60% | 70% | 707,535 |
| Dunlop SP Sport Maxx (55) | 80% | 70% | 70% | 67% | 69% | 63% | 59% | 68% | 731,310 |
| Hankook Ventus Prime K105 (13) | 75% | 59% | 72% | 57% | 70% | 77% | 65% | 68% | 176,035 |
| Kumho Ecsta 712 (9) | 69% | 42% | 51% | 47% | 74% | 50% | 31% | 52% | 119,000 |
Audi A3 Sportback Tyre Review Highlights
Writing about the Bridgestone Potenza S001 given 97% (225-45-17-W)
Driving on a combination of roads for 500 average miles
Driving on a combination of roads for 500 average miles
My wife's A3 was originally fitted with standard 16" wheels with Pirelli P7's 225/55R 16 91W. In fairness, this wheel and tyre combination provided a very comfortable ride and was fine & economical (£70 a corner, P7's) for general family motoring. However, when pulling away on wet roads these narrow tyres would some times spin even with the modest power of the 140bhp diesel, and didn't insprire confidence when pushing on.
I therefore upgraded to Audi's 17" 5 spokes thinking these would still provide a reasonable ride with the car's standard suspension, and widen the contact patch from 205 to 225. I'd been told 18" could make the ride very harsh/choppy on the standard Sport Back suspension.
After reading a number of EVO magazine tyre reviews I went for Bridgestone Potenza S001's. Whilst EVO did rate the Continental Sport Contact 3 above the Bridgestones, I run Potenzas (RE040) on my Nissan 350Z and had always been very pleased with them on both road and track. With some hard negotiation I got them for £103 per corner all in which was far cheaper than I could get the Conti's reduced to. The Potenza S001's have a blocky tread pattern not dissimilar to the Conti's, and also a prominent rim protector ridge on the side-wall which is useful on the Audi 5 spokes as that design does seem a bit prone to the curb!
I have to say I'm delighted with this wheel & tyre combination, it really has unlocked the potential of the car when you do want to push on.
Clearly it's impossible for me to give a like-for-like comparison given that I've gone up a wheel size. As you'd expect, the ride is firmer and there is more road noise than from the narrower 16", but to my mind still perfectly acceptable for a family car. The A3's clearly not a 'drivers car' but feedback through the Potenzas is near telepathic; grip in both dry & wet is very good and has eliminated the wet pull-away slip. You can corner in confidence within the limits of the standard suspension set-up, and braking is significantly more confidence inspiring.
I'd certainly say these tyres are well matched to the A3 Sport Back and give a good combination of comfort and performance.
I can't give any feed back on wear on the A3 yet, but if my experience with the 350Z is anything to go by I'm expecting my wife to get a descent mileage from these tyres. They do have an 'outside' face which means you can't rotate left-to-right to balance wear, which is a shame given the A3's tendancy to wear nearside rears.
I therefore upgraded to Audi's 17" 5 spokes thinking these would still provide a reasonable ride with the car's standard suspension, and widen the contact patch from 205 to 225. I'd been told 18" could make the ride very harsh/choppy on the standard Sport Back suspension.
After reading a number of EVO magazine tyre reviews I went for Bridgestone Potenza S001's. Whilst EVO did rate the Continental Sport Contact 3 above the Bridgestones, I run Potenzas (RE040) on my Nissan 350Z and had always been very pleased with them on both road and track. With some hard negotiation I got them for £103 per corner all in which was far cheaper than I could get the Conti's reduced to. The Potenza S001's have a blocky tread pattern not dissimilar to the Conti's, and also a prominent rim protector ridge on the side-wall which is useful on the Audi 5 spokes as that design does seem a bit prone to the curb!
I have to say I'm delighted with this wheel & tyre combination, it really has unlocked the potential of the car when you do want to push on.
Clearly it's impossible for me to give a like-for-like comparison given that I've gone up a wheel size. As you'd expect, the ride is firmer and there is more road noise than from the narrower 16", but to my mind still perfectly acceptable for a family car. The A3's clearly not a 'drivers car' but feedback through the Potenzas is near telepathic; grip in both dry & wet is very good and has eliminated the wet pull-away slip. You can corner in confidence within the limits of the standard suspension set-up, and braking is significantly more confidence inspiring.
I'd certainly say these tyres are well matched to the A3 Sport Back and give a good combination of comfort and performance.
I can't give any feed back on wear on the A3 yet, but if my experience with the 350Z is anything to go by I'm expecting my wife to get a descent mileage from these tyres. They do have an 'outside' face which means you can't rotate left-to-right to balance wear, which is a shame given the A3's tendancy to wear nearside rears.
Writing about the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 PS3 given 97% (225-45-17-W)
Driving on a combination of roads for 1000 average miles
Driving on a combination of roads for 1000 average miles
My Audi A3 came with 4 Pirelli Pzero Rosso; their performances were quite good but the were terribly noisy and very rigid on the road unevenness (rigid shoulder) with a lot of vibrations inside the car.
So after 3.500 miles I decided to replace them with the new Michelin Pilot Sport 3; the PS3 are certainly better than the Pirelli Rosso:
1. very low noise also in motorways and very smooth ride
2. I tested them also in bracking and accelerating both in the wet and in the dry and they are awesome (the Pirelli Rosso are definitely inferior in this case)
3. very responsive steering (really impressive) without feeling nervous (better than Pirelli Rosso)
4. a lot of grip in cornering both in the dry and in the wet
These tyres are simply the best!!
So after 3.500 miles I decided to replace them with the new Michelin Pilot Sport 3; the PS3 are certainly better than the Pirelli Rosso:
1. very low noise also in motorways and very smooth ride
2. I tested them also in bracking and accelerating both in the wet and in the dry and they are awesome (the Pirelli Rosso are definitely inferior in this case)
3. very responsive steering (really impressive) without feeling nervous (better than Pirelli Rosso)
4. a lot of grip in cornering both in the dry and in the wet
These tyres are simply the best!!
Writing about the Continental Sport Contact 5 given 94% (225-45-17-W)
Driving on a combination of roads for 0 spirited miles
Driving on a combination of roads for 0 spirited miles
An amayzing tyre... very good grip on dry road and it feels very safe on wet!! It has a great progrssiveness and is far away the most comfort tyre (in this category) i have ever drove with very low levels of noise!!!
Writing about the Vredestein Snowtrac 3 given 94% (205-55-16-)
Driving on mostly motorways for 10 average miles
Driving on mostly motorways for 10 average miles
Great tyre in all conditions
Writing about the Avon Ice Touring ST given 93% (225-45-17-)
Driving on mostly country roads for 0 easy going miles
Driving on mostly country roads for 0 easy going miles
Had a pair of these fitted to an Audi A3 1.9 TDi 5 door 3 days ago - just as the snow arrived.
Last year the car was almost unusable in the snow and I never managed to get up the drive to our house. Yesterday I drove over 12" of packed snow up the 1:10 gradient without even slipping!! Went out again last night and returned after dark with the temperature at -3 and again not slipping.
I can't believe the difference in grip and am wondering why I didn't fit snow tyres before.
Last year the car was almost unusable in the snow and I never managed to get up the drive to our house. Yesterday I drove over 12" of packed snow up the 1:10 gradient without even slipping!! Went out again last night and returned after dark with the temperature at -3 and again not slipping.
I can't believe the difference in grip and am wondering why I didn't fit snow tyres before.
Writing about the GT Radial Champiro HPX given 91% (225-40-18-W)
Driving on a combination of roads for 25000 spirited miles
Driving on a combination of roads for 25000 spirited miles
Dry Grip: Exceptional for an economy tyre. The only difference that you'll notice between this and a premium brand is that it seems to give a little bit more (side walls aren't as stiff) under heavy cornering or huge acceleration. Overall though, you would have to be driving like a lunatic in order to overwhelm these tyres.
Wet Grip: Probably the best part of these tires. They disperse water so well that you will struggle to believe that your car isn't invincible in the wet.
Icy Roads: I've not tried them on full blown deep snow, but on what I've been able to, light snow and very icy (Black Ice) roads, these tyres take them in stride. Again once your driving within a rational limit these tyre's won't fail you.
Wear: I've done over 25K in these tyres and the only reason it is getting changed is that my vehicle needs to the wheels aligned and the camber adjusted as i've gotten an uneven wear of 4mm-4mm-1mm. Which as you can tell would suggest that I'd have at least another 5-8K left in the tyres.
Progressiveness: This is where you can tell that it's an economy tyre. Unlike the Pirelli's originally supplied with the vehicle, going into a corner you get a steady predictable slip factor. To expand, you know that going into a corner of Y tightness using X speed will result in Z slipping. Depending on how you look at this, this could be a good thing or not. It's good because it is predictable, but bad because you don't have that infinite grip that you'd have gotten from the Pirelli's. That being said, the Pirelli's would give you so much grip and then just give so you weren't always sure when it was going to give, although like stated earlier, you'd have to be driving like a lunatic to reach that point.
Overall: I've purchased my 3rd pair of tyre's and won't switch brands until they stop making these. Can't say anything bad about them and for around £65 - £70 per tyre, a bargin since I do around 30K miles per year.
Wet Grip: Probably the best part of these tires. They disperse water so well that you will struggle to believe that your car isn't invincible in the wet.
Icy Roads: I've not tried them on full blown deep snow, but on what I've been able to, light snow and very icy (Black Ice) roads, these tyres take them in stride. Again once your driving within a rational limit these tyre's won't fail you.
Wear: I've done over 25K in these tyres and the only reason it is getting changed is that my vehicle needs to the wheels aligned and the camber adjusted as i've gotten an uneven wear of 4mm-4mm-1mm. Which as you can tell would suggest that I'd have at least another 5-8K left in the tyres.
Progressiveness: This is where you can tell that it's an economy tyre. Unlike the Pirelli's originally supplied with the vehicle, going into a corner you get a steady predictable slip factor. To expand, you know that going into a corner of Y tightness using X speed will result in Z slipping. Depending on how you look at this, this could be a good thing or not. It's good because it is predictable, but bad because you don't have that infinite grip that you'd have gotten from the Pirelli's. That being said, the Pirelli's would give you so much grip and then just give so you weren't always sure when it was going to give, although like stated earlier, you'd have to be driving like a lunatic to reach that point.
Overall: I've purchased my 3rd pair of tyre's and won't switch brands until they stop making these. Can't say anything bad about them and for around £65 - £70 per tyre, a bargin since I do around 30K miles per year.
Writing about the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx TT given 90% (225-45-17-)
Driving on a combination of roads for 10000 spirited miles
Driving on a combination of roads for 10000 spirited miles
For all the merits of these Dunlop Maxx tyres (on an A3 2.0 TDI Sportback), I could not wait to replace them due to the excessive noise (I have had several Premium brands and these were noticably noisier!). They were very good tyres though otherwise as I constantly drove the car like I was on crack, and despite all the torque through the front wheels they rarely squeeled to get grip, and lasted over 10,000 miles which is almost double the previous Pirellis I had.
Writing about the Michelin Pilot Sport 3 PS3 given 90% (225-45-17-W)
Driving on a combination of roads for 17000 spirited miles
Driving on a combination of roads for 17000 spirited miles
Even on new rubber with deep tread the turn in is surprising and positive. Wet grip is exceptional as are comfort levels for a performance tyre. I swapped from Dunlop sp sport max and transformed the ride and grip levels. I would recommend Michelin PS 3's to anyone.
Writing about the Vredestein Snowtrac 3 given 90% (205-55-16-)
Driving on mostly country roads for 3000 average miles
Driving on mostly country roads for 3000 average miles
Was not sure of the difference these would make, but now i'm totally converted to winter tyre use.
These tyres are absolutely amazing in the snow and i can now drive up and down hills where other drivers are getting stuck.
I would recommend these tyres to everone.
These tyres are absolutely amazing in the snow and i can now drive up and down hills where other drivers are getting stuck.
I would recommend these tyres to everone.
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Driving on a combination of roads for 0 average miles