Topping out at Stage 2+?

[mmmRacer]

They were running about 40psi at ambient. Which is fine for my daily drive but possibly a bit ambitious for a hard drive on a winding mountain road....

In the past I would be running as high as 36psi on the street. While this is great for fuel economy, it will tend to over heat the tyres to quick on the track. On the street now I use around 32psi on the front and 30psi on rear (factory recommended btw) and when on the track I use 28psi on the front and 27psi on rear. This can still change due to road temps.

While your at it why not check out the price of some federal 595RS-R's. Great street and beginners track day tyre and should be half the price of euro tyres. They do a 245/35R18 tyre.

[jimmedy]

Briefly;
The price comment was in regards to the 225/40.

In regards to overall diameter, the relevant section; 4.2.4 Overall Nominal Diameter
The overall diameter of any tyre fitted to a passenger car or passenger car derivative must not be more than 15mm larger or 26mm smaller than that of any tyre designated by the vehicle manufacturer for that model.

The 15 mm nominal increase is not relative to the OE tyre that your particular car came with, but any tyre fitted to that model as OE. So it may pay to check what sized tyre (and their diameter) are fitted to all A1 models.

That reg always makes me laugh, new tyres have 8-9 mm of tread depth, 1.5 mm is considered the minimum acceptable, so replacing a just legal tyre with a brand new one could increase the diameter by 15 mm. Even more speedo error built in, as the tyre wears.

I'll admit that I'm a bit sensitive when it comes to "Australia Tax" charging retailers, they lie through their teeth to steer buyers away from totally acceptable parallel imports. The "several year old stock" warning is a pretty poor attempt, hoping that the buyer doesn't know about serial TIN's on tyres.

Cheers
Gary

No argument from me on any of the above!

I definitely have the largest OE combo Audi sell on the A1, so 15mm more is it. But totally with you on the difference due to tread on a new set. On the way to Melb I went under the big digital speedo check and my own digital speedo at 100 read 98 on the overhead sign, on low tread. So fresh tread with my OE tyres should have been bang on accurate and these new tyres should have me running 2-3% over displayed speed, getting closer to dead on accurate as they wear.

I hate Australia tax too, and believe me, if the dollar hadn't tanked so hard I'd be buying from Tirerack or Performancealloys, but now the freight rubs out the advantage.