Winter is coming and Audi Quattro is made for it! ...I'm also probably one of the first who put studded tires on the R8 (years ago). Anyway, I see there is quite a lot of interest about this, so I thought I would post some info on what to look for when buying winter tires for your R8:
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This is gen2 Audi R8 with OEM tires (245/30/20 & 295/30/20) replaced with studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10's (235/35/20 & 275/35/20).
How to find winter tires that match your R8 (gen1 and gen2):
The easiest route you can go with is by trying to find OEM size for the winters tires too. However, likely the OEM ones are too wide and there are no matching winter tires available for this size (especially for the studded versions).
Then next route would be:
1. Use a tire calculator to see what your front and rear wheel circumference/overall diameter % difference is. For the Gen2, rear wheel with the tire mounted is 5% larger than the front wheel with the tire mounted.
This calculator is good: Rim & Tire Size Calculator. Custom Offsets
2. Ideally you want to find a matching set that keeps the overall wheel size similar %, so that you don't damage the differentials and 4wd system. So that even if your new wheels with the tires are smaller or bigger, they would rotate at a similar % difference (circumference/overall diameter/revs per mile). Dealerships told me (not guaranteed of course) that it's best to keep it at max 1% difference.
3. So if you find sizes that match that, you can see online if such tire is even available*.
*For my Gen2 and 20" wheels, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10's 235/35/20 & 275/35/20 were the only studded tire available that I could find. No other brand produced a matching tire for the front are rear that was suitable for the R8 at that time. Non-studded tires are easier to find.
Here are other tips when choosing a winter tire:
Here is an example of what to look for on the tire calculator (it's based on my Gen2 search), you don't need to know the rim width and ET (those don't really matter when comparing the tires, you can leave it like 9" wide rim for both):
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Just to get a better understanding in short:
So theoretically if you lift the R8 and even put 24" SUV wheels on it, the tire size ratios for the wheel rev difference on front to rear need to remain similar 4%. This way your quattro/differential system will not be damaged, even though the speedo would be massively off due to huge wheels on the car. (just an example to understand how this works)
This would be a lot more easier if the front and rear wheels with the tire on it would be 1:1 size, like on most other cars... 😅 Or if it's RWD then it doesn't matter either.
This is gen2 Audi R8 with OEM tires (245/30/20 & 295/30/20) replaced with studded Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10's (235/35/20 & 275/35/20).
How to find winter tires that match your R8 (gen1 and gen2):
The easiest route you can go with is by trying to find OEM size for the winters tires too. However, likely the OEM ones are too wide and there are no matching winter tires available for this size (especially for the studded versions).
Then next route would be:
1. Use a tire calculator to see what your front and rear wheel circumference/overall diameter % difference is. For the Gen2, rear wheel with the tire mounted is 5% larger than the front wheel with the tire mounted.
This calculator is good: Rim & Tire Size Calculator. Custom Offsets
2. Ideally you want to find a matching set that keeps the overall wheel size similar %, so that you don't damage the differentials and 4wd system. So that even if your new wheels with the tires are smaller or bigger, they would rotate at a similar % difference (circumference/overall diameter/revs per mile). Dealerships told me (not guaranteed of course) that it's best to keep it at max 1% difference.
3. So if you find sizes that match that, you can see online if such tire is even available*.
*For my Gen2 and 20" wheels, the Nokian Hakkapeliitta 10's 235/35/20 & 275/35/20 were the only studded tire available that I could find. No other brand produced a matching tire for the front are rear that was suitable for the R8 at that time. Non-studded tires are easier to find.
Here are other tips when choosing a winter tire:
- Keep the tire width smaller or same as OEM (wider tire catches more snow underneath it, doesn't plow through as good, plus you generally don't want it wider than OEM).
- They can be up to like 40mm less wide than the OEM, minimal stretch on the rim this way, not really noticeable.
- In my case, the front tire sidewall was 8mm higher (on gen2 this caused a small bit of rubbing to the wheel well liners on fully locked turns - I didn't really care as the liners are replaceable and it didn't damage it over the course of 2 winters), but this is something to consider if your winter tires will have higher sidewalls.
- Good to know: tire sidewall spec is a percentage of the width. For example OEM 245/30 tire means that the tire is 245mm wide and the height is 30% of its width. So generally if your height % is bigger, you will need a narrower tire.
- In my experience, at least on the Gen2, the biggest wheel that fits is max about 8mm above the OEM sidewall height. Whole wheel diameter is then 8mm x 2 = 16mm bigger.
Here is an example of what to look for on the tire calculator (it's based on my Gen2 search), you don't need to know the rim width and ET (those don't really matter when comparing the tires, you can leave it like 9" wide rim for both):
Just to get a better understanding in short:
So theoretically if you lift the R8 and even put 24" SUV wheels on it, the tire size ratios for the wheel rev difference on front to rear need to remain similar 4%. This way your quattro/differential system will not be damaged, even though the speedo would be massively off due to huge wheels on the car. (just an example to understand how this works)
This would be a lot more easier if the front and rear wheels with the tire on it would be 1:1 size, like on most other cars... 😅 Or if it's RWD then it doesn't matter either.
