Quattro & snow chains

[jimbouk]

Just wanted to check that on a quattro (A6 avant) one just puts snow chains on the front tyres?

I've 235/45 17s fitted, suspect it might be tight getting the chains on, anyone managed?

Wife is due to give birth in a couple of weeks and having been snowed in this morning with local roads blocked by abandoned SUVs, and expecting another 20cm of snow tonight need a plan to get to hospital if it all kicks off! Especially as council have tonight announced they will only grit / salt the A-roads from now on....

Plan B is the co-ordinates of nearby flat field to land a helicopter..........

[Dilligaf10]

Without really knowing the correct answer I would doubt it. quattro owners are always advised to replace tyres in sets of 4 as the difference in rolling diameters can upset/bugger the system up. Best to check with your dealer asap.

Mind you the snow is not meant to last long as rain is allegedly on the way later today or tomorrow.

[nicktowe]

Snow tyres are the way to go! Now wishing I had a spare set of rims with snow tyres on. My 255 profile tyres are too wide to cut through the snow

Quattro good in the snow except for stopping, I think the weight of the A6 counts against it. But uphill is great passing the cars with wheels spinning.

[Russ T Bolt]

Yep snow tyres, got them on my A4 quattro, it has had no problems this week at all.

[Dilligaf10]

Just done an early morning pick up in the A8. Virgin snow most of the way until I got to a medium hill in Dursley. Cars slithering and sliding all over the road halfway up, just pulled out and drove round them all!

Very difficult trying to keep a smug look off my face. Even managed to get up a steep hill to a care home to pick up my client.

[james S]

They are genuinly amazing aren't they. My village is on a hill and littered this morning with cars that had given up. The TC light on the A8 didn't come on once!

[Dr G]

Quattro (don't worry, only because I started a sense with it) has been making me grin all week.

Not attempting to do anything other than drive carefully of course but even where the snow is really packed down I've had no problems at all

[Big Bob]

Dilligaf10 said:

Best to check with your dealer asap.

Crikey, dont phone us we dont know!!!! We dont even sell the bloody things!

Edited by Big Bob on Thursday 5th February 21:21

[mr pg]

The manual for my Allroad (with 17's) states that chains can't be fitted. Unbelievable really, as an Allroad should be an ideal candidate for the current conditions.

[andy97]

Well i must admit that i actually hit a kerb yesterday in my A4 Avant quattro. No speed at all but I just went straight on at a roundabout. Traction is fine & I am a lot happier in a "q" than the rwd mercs & BM's I saw fishtailing about, but no steering going round corners. The front tyres are virtually new, too, so that wsn't the issue. I'm now looking at "winter tyres" (isn't that the correct term rather than "snow tyres". Any recommendations? Anone got a cheap st of spare wheels?

Will have to get the tracking checked, although the handling is fine.

[nicktowe]

Snow tyres are different from winter tyres as I understand it. The tread is more specialised for snow. Winter tyres have a compromise tread pattern abd a compound that is better than normal tyres at lower temps. But I stand to be corrected

[rossc]

Only problem with chains is they can shag your alloys.

I have an S4 which we are off to the Alps in next week and have got a set of 'snow socks' for the car, luckily we havn't suffered too badly this week or they may have got an early try out, and they save your alloys.

I have them for all four wheels after some deliberation with Audi but thats another story.....

[Russ T Bolt]

andy97 said:

Well i must admit that i actually hit a kerb yesterday in my A4 Avant quattro. No speed at all but I just went straight on at a roundabout. Traction is fine & I am a lot happier in a "q" than the rwd mercs & BM's I saw fishtailing about, but no steering going round corners. The front tyres are virtually new, too, so that wsn't the issue. I'm now looking at "winter tyres" (isn't that the correct term rather than "snow tyres". Any recommendations? Anone got a cheap st of spare wheels?

Will have to get the tracking checked, although the handling is fine.

I run Vredestein Wintrac Xtremes on both my cars, I leave them on all year (didn't intend to, just happened and they proved to be much better than I expected), my last set on the Forester lasted 2 years and 30k miles. Compared to the tyres that the cars had on previously the grip is as good in summer, better in the wet and obviously much better in the winter. Neither car has had any problems this week. I work in Wales and have missed the worst of the weather, shame really I wanted to see how good they were. The Audi has seen some bad weather this week and hasn't had any problems.

When the A4 was new I did exactly the same as you did, straight on into a kerb, cost me a new wheel.

[jimbouk]

Thanks for the advice, having had another 20cm of snow yesterday I fitted the snow chains to the front.

Seem to work fine in the snow and particularly impressive on the compacted snow /ice. Now able to get them on and off fairly quickly.

Not doing the alloys much good but such is life.....

Might consider some snow tyres next year, but having one just got a full set of P zeros, not an option at present.

Not had to use on a hospital run yet!

[Flying Fish]

Holy Thread Resurrection!
Having recently acquired an A4 Avant Quattro, I was looking for advice on driving in the snow.
The car is currently on summer slicks and I'm planning to head down to the Alps for most of January.
Who here has any experience with socks? Are they any good? I have no doubt that proper snow tyres would be better but A. Don't want to spend £120/ tyre+
B. Don't really have space to store the slicks over winter.
Any new input gratefully received.
Oh and to the OP. Hope everything came out ok.
Cheers.
FF

[sgrimshaw]

FF,

You need to check the regulations for the country(s) you are visiting, you may need to fit winter tyres and have chains with you.

https://www.michelin.co.uk/auto/advice/winter-tyre...

[Flying Fish]

Thanks for the info, I checked. It's France I'm heading to, so no mandatory snow tyres, but I plan to carry socks or chains in case they are necessary. The question is really had anyone got any up to date knowledge or info on how the quattro system handles the slip / slack in the chaind or socks. Bearing in mind that this thread was started in 2009, perhaps the system has improved or the socks are fine.

[sasha320]

Dilligaf10 said:

Without really knowing the correct answer I would doubt it. quattro owners are always advised to replace tyres in sets of 4 as the difference in rolling diameters can upset/bugger the system up. Best to check with your dealer asap.

Mind you the snow is not meant to last long as rain is allegedly on the way later today or tomorrow.

Not strictly true, the advice is not to have more than a few mm variance in tread across the four tyres.

[ST66N]

Flying Fish said:

Thanks for the info, I checked. It's France I'm heading to, so no mandatory snow tyres, but I plan to carry socks or chains in case they are necessary. The question is really had anyone got any up to date knowledge or info on how the quattro system handles the slip / slack in the chaind or socks. Bearing in mind that this thread was started in 2009, perhaps the system has improved or the socks are fine.

I wouldn’t worry about it, any time you need chains or socks you are likely to be going very slow. They’re very good at keeping the roads clear, by the time you need chains on a Quattro everyone is going to be crawling.