Anyone caught out by "the beast from the east" ??

Tiger-G

Tiger-G

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Hi ,

I got caught out this morning trying to get through about a foot of snow on a rural single track lane about 40 metres from my house. So much for an all singing, all dancing 2015 A4 Allroad !! .

Had to dig it out, reverse it back back home and walk to work. Fortunately, I managed to get a lift off a 60 yr old lady driving a Ford Fiesta about half a mile further down the road !! I say fortunately, but that was 'till I got to work and had the p!ss taken out of me all day by the lads for getting rescued by a pensioner in a Fiesta !! .
 
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I beached the RS4 this morning and had to dig it out.
The drift didn't look that big until I got stuck on top of it. Winter tyres and quattro don't work if the tyres aren't in contact with the ground

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Tiger-G said:
Hi ,

I got caught out this morning trying to get through about a foot of snow on a rural single track lane about 40 metres from my house. So much for an all singing, all dancing 2015 A4 Allroad !! .

Had to dig it out, reverse it back back home and walk to work. Fortunately, I managed to get a lift off a 60 yr old lady driving a Ford Fiesta about half a mile further down the road !! I say fortunately, but that was 'till I got to work and had the p!ss taken out of me all day by the lads for getting rescued by a pensioner in a Fiesta !! .
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That’s not good.... do you have winter tyres on? My Allroad seems pretty unstoppable in the snow, but wouldn’t be so confident without the winter tyres.....
 
toadusmodus said:
That’s not good.... do you have winter tyres on? My Allroad seems pretty unstoppable in the snow, but wouldn’t be so confident without the winter tyres.....
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Mine has normal tyres and I can move ok but still managed to kerb a front wheel yesterday. Will replace them with all season tyres when the time comes

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toadusmodus said:
That’s not good.... do you have winter tyres on? My Allroad seems pretty unstoppable in the snow, but wouldn’t be so confident without the winter tyres.....
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I've read about having a good set of winter tyres on making all the difference in this sort of weather. Unfortunately, my tyres are normal ones, and don't have the most tread on them . I think I'd have done better knocking the traction control off too, allowing the wheels to spin a bit more ??
 
Tiger-G said:
I've read about having a good set of winter tyres on making all the difference in this sort of weather. Unfortunately, my tyres are normal ones, and don't have the most tread on them . I think I'd have done better knocking the traction control off too, allowing the wheels to spin a bit more ??
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Indeed, tyres make a LOT of difference in this weather! And yes, in the Allroad at least, it puts it into an ‘offroad’ mode if you disable the traction control, allowing some wheel spin so you can keep going. Never really had to use that yet though.
 
toadusmodus said:
Indeed, tyres make a LOT of difference in this weather! And yes, in the Allroad at least, it puts it into an ‘offroad’ mode if you disable the traction control, allowing some wheel spin so you can keep going. Never really had to use that yet though.
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Tell me more about this please. I've pressed the button and get the message in the display but what does it actually do? Thanks
 
MarkWizard said:
Tell me more about this please. I've pressed the button and get the message in the display but what does it actually do? Thanks
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I believe it just ‘slackens’ the traction control to allow some wheel spin, rather than just cutting power completely to a spinning wheel, therefore should be more likely to get you unstuck.
I was just going off what it says in the manual, which I don’t have to hand. If you don’t have the manual for your car, let me know and I will take a pic later for you.
 
Was meant to be working in Dundee on Wednesday so headed across country in my A4 Allroad. Running Pirelli P Zeros which were next to useless so gave up at Banchory and joined grid-locked traffic back into Aberdeen. Now looking at winter tyres on steel rims in the summer. Already have Kumho winter tyres on my Škoda daily commute (which my wife had borrowed) which I really rate. Looked at Michelin CrossClimate+ tyres, but £170 a corner, I'm not entirely convinced as it will always be a compromise.
 
toadusmodus said:
I believe it just ‘slackens’ the traction control to allow some wheel spin, rather than just cutting power completely to a spinning wheel, therefore should be more likely to get you unstuck.
I was just going off what it says in the manual, which I don’t have to hand. If you don’t have the manual for your car, let me know and I will take a pic later for you.
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Very kind thank you. The only manual I have for mine is a standard A4 one. Hadn't realised there was a specific Allroad one - ebay here we come!
 
spartacus 68 said:
Was meant to be working in Dundee on Wednesday so headed across country in my A4 Allroad. Running Pirelli P Zeros which were next to useless so gave up at Banchory and joined grid-locked traffic back into Aberdeen. Now looking at winter tyres on steel rims in the summer. Already have Kumho winter tyres on my Škoda daily commute (which my wife had borrowed) which I really rate. Looked at Michelin CrossClimate+ tyres, but £170 a corner, I'm not entirely convinced as it will always be a compromise.
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Are you looking at 16" steel rims?
 
MarkWizard said:
Very kind thank you. The only manual I have for mine is a standard A4 one. Hadn't realised there was a specific Allroad one - ebay here we come!
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There isn’t a specific Allroad manual, just a page in the regular one.
Also, see image for recommended winter tyre and wheel size, although I was lucky enough to find a set of 18” Allroad wheels on ebay and use those for my winter tyres. Make sure you get the correct offset, (26 I think) for the Allroad, as they are different to regular A4.
 

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toadusmodus said:
There isn’t a specific Allroad manual, just a page in the regular one.
Also, see image for recommended winter tyre and wheel size, although I was lucky enough to find a set of 18” Allroad wheels on ebay and use those for my winter tyres. Make sure you get the correct offset, (26 I think) for the Allroad, as they are different to regular A4.
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Thanks. Just bought a 2009 - 2011 specific Allroad handbook off ebay. Yes I found out about the offset difference yesterday cheers. Half tempted just to fit all season tyres when mine need replacing
 

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QUATTRO + RIGHT TYRES TOUCHING THE GROUND + TC OFF = UNSTOPPABLE
 
It's got me thinking for the future get a cheap 4x4 and possibly engine swap it or a6 4.2 c5 Quattro cheap enough :racer:
 
Well my driveway and estate road both have about 18 inches of snow on them, as long as the wind is blowing and the snow continues to fall slightly, I have not tried to get the driveway and road clear as it will just fill back in!! I suppose it is winter though.
 
Tyres, tyres, tyres! Amazes me how many people think "oh, I have 4wd, ABS, TC, ESP, Skid Control, etc, etc, etc" and then wonder why they get stuck when driving around in their summer tyres.

Tyres are the ONLY thing making contact with the road, each tyre only making contact with an area about the palm of your hand in size, so if that relatively small contact patch has no traction then you can have every feature under the sun, you'll still be going no-where!

Oh and I use Michelin Primacy Alpin tyres on both the B7 & B8 Quattros in our household.
 
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Yup, same here, what I had not expected was that Michelin Alpins last for ever - almost, I had not expected that, so I don't worry about running on them for 6 months instead of the usual 4 or 5 months, so I get them on in plenty time before it is too cold to wash and dry the removed summer wheels, and make sure that there is no chance of salt being laid down by the time I remove them - and again it is warm enough to wash and dry the removed winter wheels!
 
I got caught out by the cold, ****** screenwash froze! Must have mixed the wrong quantity, either that or my screenwash of choice is naff. Just had an MOT done where Audi Lincoln kindly thawed it for me and topped up with this mega screenwash, down to -70! Might be ok now...

ea61aa1e01d0754ed3d1b6dcb5da1c29.jpg



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I checked the freezing point on my mix, guessed or was aiming for maybe -10C, measured it as being -5C so I need to get the filter out and remove as much as possible and add in neat, rated at -23C but measured by me as being -15C Prestone conc to avoid any surprises! That VW stuff can be bought for £5 or just over £40 for a case of 10 bottles via an on line VW Group main dealer, maybe something that I'll change to in the future!
 
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Came back from Stafford to S Devon Wednesday evening, M6 snow settling, then M5 cleared nearer Bristol, no snow then till 15 miles from home, rapidly got worse nearer home (wife had reported Blizzards all day) - S4 with fairly new Goodyear F1 Assy 3 no problem even up fairly steep slope. I had F1s on an S3 in the snow in 2010 and was surprised how good it was. Many years ago had problems in the snow living in Kent with a one week old Volvo 850T5 (turned through 180 degrees trying to get over bridge and kerbed wheel, mind you it had traction problems just in the wet on the original tyres) with Pirrellis, changed to F1s and it was much better the next time it snowed.
 
audi upgrades
MarkWizard said:
Are you looking at 16" steel rims?
Click to expand...

If I could run with alloys, then I'd stick with 18", but I'm considering steel wheels. I'm not precious about it - as from October on the roads are filthy. The way I see it, we maybe get a couple of weeks of snow all-in during an average winter in Scotland, and the rest of the time is frosty mornings. This winter has been particularly bad, but not as bad as it's been, say 8 years ago when we had -18 degrees and so much so snow - it was like a scene from the Great Escape, trying to get rid of the stuff.

Still in early stage of working out what I'm going to do, but if I don't get winter tyres and rims, then my next tyres will be all-season.
 
meph137 said:
I got caught out by the cold, ****** screenwash froze! Must have mixed the wrong quantity, either that or my screenwash of choice is naff. Just had an MOT done where Audi Lincoln kindly thawed it for me and topped up with this mega screenwash, down to -70! Might be ok now...

ea61aa1e01d0754ed3d1b6dcb5da1c29.jpg



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Click to expand...
I use 1 bottle of that screen wash every time I fill up, then top up with 3 litres of water. Not had it freeze yet.
I think the -70 is if you use it neat.
Always use good quality screen wash the cheap stuff causes algae and blocks your washer jets.

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I’m in north east Scotland and been hit pretty bad with the weather, living out on a farm too the drifts are pretty bad,

However I’m going against to old and tired winter tyre debate here and have my a4 quattro avant black edition with 255 summer tyres, hold in the damn esp button until it says off on the dis and not sport and away you go! No issues at all and have been pulling rwd/fwd/4wd cars, some WITH winter tyres fitted, through the drifts since Tuesday night, especially mercs!

But now that the drifts are that deep that the tractors are struggling now without bellying out, I won’t be taking the car out in it, that’s just stupidity :icon thumright:
 
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I have to agree with others, proper tyres make ALL the difference (if they can still make contact with the road) I’m positively evangelical about proper winter tyres. Here in sunny Glasgow, winter tyres come into their own at temps below 7Deg. That’s more or less 5+ months of the year. It’s not just about snow and ice, good winter tyres have significantly better braking and cornering qualities in the wet. That could mean stopping or swerving before hitting the kid who runs out in front of you.

Slow and steady driving with summer tyres also applies...too much throttle, even in a quattro will obviously spin the wheels and quickly turn snow into a nice layer of ice. Slow and steady makes all the difference.

Loving all this snow in the S4 though!


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no_idea said:
I use 1 bottle of that screen wash every time I fill up, then top up with 3 litres of water. Not had it freeze yet.
I think the -70 is if you use it neat.
Always use good quality screen wash the cheap stuff causes algae and blocks your washer jets.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I mixed 1 unit of that with 3 units of water and found that it gave -12.5C protection which is normally good enough, 1:2 gave -20C and 1:1 -28C if anyone is interested, I only checked that out after I discovered that my 1:2 Prestone conc mix only gave me -5C protection!
 
rum4mo said:
I mixed 1 unit of that with 3 units of water and found that it gave -12.5C protection which is normally good enough, 1:2 gave -20C and 1:1 -28C if anyone is interested, I only checked that out after I discovered that my 1:2 Prestone conc mix only gave me -5C protection!
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That's it, I couldn't remember the exact mix options. I have always used it and get a good deal on it at my local Audi centre.

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Broonie said:
I’m in north east Scotland and been hit pretty bad with the weather, living out on a farm too the drifts are pretty bad,

However I’m going against to old and tired winter tyre debate here and have my a4 quattro avant black edition with 255 summer tyres, hold in the damn esp button until it says off on the dis and not sport and away you go! No issues at all and have been pulling rwd/fwd/4wd cars, some WITH winter tyres fitted, through the drifts since Tuesday night, especially mercs!

But now that the drifts are that deep that the tractors are struggling now without bellying out, I won’t be taking the car out in it, that’s just stupidity :icon thumright:
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Really living on a farm you should have already discovered that normal agric tractor tyres are as handy as nothing in snow, it is only the high ground clearance that is on your side. If you had driven, and that means starting, stopping and steering with 4WD and summer tyres with good tread, then did the same thing with winter tyres with good tread, you would see that the difference was like night and day. Maybe like you, I spent quite a few years driving a 4WD drive VX Cav GSI with Pirelli P6000/P7000 and thought everything was okay, then after 9 years changed to a Passat 4Motion with Goodyear Tourer tyres, again felt invincible - changed to Michelin Prem HP and they were okay until we had a "nasty" winter and that exposed them for what they were, got a set of Michelin Alpins and never looked back. Okay one thing that I do know is, never ever aim to trust Michelin summer tyres in winter, and there are just not enough "old style" summer tyres around that give you grip in cold weather or ice and snow, you may have got off with it so far, but that will be more by luck than design. In general, a FWD car with winter tyres will out perform a 4WD car with summer tyres under all winter road conditions, and that is exactly what I've found as my wife has always had a FWD car and for the past 2 cars has always had winter tyres to use in winter weather.
 
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no_idea said:
That's it, I couldn't remember the exact mix options. I have always used it and get a good deal on it at my local Audi centre.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

If you don't might, what did you get charged for a 1 ltr bottle, my local VW Van Centre easiest and nearest place to get it, charged me £5 inc vat, you can buy it on line for £43 for a case of 10 bottles inc vat and P&P.
 
Gray S said:
Came back from Stafford to S Devon Wednesday evening, M6 snow settling, then M5 cleared nearer Bristol, no snow then till 15 miles from home, rapidly got worse nearer home (wife had reported Blizzards all day) - S4 with fairly new Goodyear F1 Assy 3 no problem even up fairly steep slope. I had F1s on an S3 in the snow in 2010 and was surprised how good it was. Many years ago had problems in the snow living in Kent with a one week old Volvo 850T5 (turned through 180 degrees trying to get over bridge and kerbed wheel, mind you it had traction problems just in the wet on the original tyres) with Pirrellis, changed to F1s and it was much better the next time it snowed.
Click to expand...
DROOOOL T5 5 CYLINDER
 
rum4mo said:
If you don't might, what did you get charged for a 1 ltr bottle, my local VW Van Centre easiest and nearest place to get it, charged me £5 inc vat, you can buy it on line for £43 for a case of 10 bottles inc vat and P&P.
Click to expand...
I get it at the best price you can, normally free I get on quite well with my local centre. Have known them for quite some time.

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I live and work on the farm and never had the need for winter tyres on any of my vehicles, even the s2000 was fine to get out and about with its 255 potenzas on the rear

Our tractors are fitted with normal 580 or 650 trelleborg and Michelin tyres, again no issues pulling lorries and cars out drifts

A friend of mine has a b7 a4 quattro with winter tyres fitted, all year round I may add too, he was one that was pulled out by tractor today on same bit of road my a4 with summer tyres went through with the wife driving

Believe it or not I didn’t pull out a single bmw today!

You have your opinion and I have mine and nothing will change it, simple, don’t try condescend me, your wasting your time!
 
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He had to replace them for mot end of last month so pretty fresh and they’re Michelin’s, he doesn’t fit anything other than michelin to any of his cars, quite anal about it
 
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One of the lads at work has an old Audi A8 (I think ?) Quattro, and he puts his winter tyres on every autumn, and I take the p!ss out of him for being so anal, when it only snows for a few days of the year.

After getting stuck the other day, then reading up and watching some vids on the benefits of winter tyres, I'm eating a large portion of humble pie now !! .

What do we reckon are the best winter tyres ??
 
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As I said, I only ever used Michelin Alpins on four cars, and with my usage, they last a long time, are not any noisier than summer tyres, and have always gripped well in extremely wet weather, cold weather, ice and snow.

If you are thinking about diving in now to buy winter tyres, your choice might well be limited to what is available, UK tyre outlets and their stockists do not tend to over stock with winter tyres and it has been said that continental tyre manufacturers only commit one production run to winter tyres, so when they have finished that run, typically late September or early October, that is it until next year!
 
I've got michelin PS3's on my B8.5 avant, didn't get stuck once and had some lethal country lanes to steam through
 
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LEW_PERFECT said:
I've got michelin PS3's on my B8.5 avant, didn't get stuck once and had some lethal country lanes to steam through
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So far as far as summer Michelin tyres are concerned, I have only got experience of using 205/55 X 16 Premacy HP on a 2000 VW Passat 4Motion and 195/55 X 15 Exalto on a 2002 VW Polo 1.4 SE - the next time that I revisited that Michelin tyre depot for a couple of new Exaltos, the tyre fitter said "you don't plan on using them in winter do you?" - by that time I had learned my lesson and had bought in a set of steelies with 14" Michelin Alpins on them, so I could honestly say "no, I'd worked that out!".

I've always liked Michelin tyres but now know when not to expect too much out of their summer tyres. My daughter's late 2009 Ibiza needed a full set of tyres and so I convinced her to buy all season tyres, but with the size of 17" wheels that car has there was not a Michelin all seasons tyre, so I ordered in a set of Kleber Quadraxers, maybe that was a good choice for this winter!
 
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