[earthwateruser]

I searched the threads and didn't see anything related to the Vredestein Quatrac Pro all seasons, hence this post. I just replaced the OEM Conti runflats w/ the Quatrac Pros and my initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive. Super quiet and smooth, but I'll make a final judgment after I put a few thousand miles on them. A quick trip to 100+ mph indicates the Vredesteins (with a very basic balancing job) are perfectly smooth, unlike the Contis which had an 80 mph imbalance that even a high speed Hunter machine couldn't make go away.

I'm headed from MD down to the mountains of NC next week and I'll give a tire update after that trip. Looking forward to trying out the "three peak" winter aspect of these Vredestein all season tires. Kinda surprised nobody else has posted that on this forum. I'll also be able to report on the handling vs. the Contis after tires settle in. I've got the base 228i, so handling is not a priority w/ the 17" wheels. I'm more interested in comfort and quiet, but I think the handling will be on par w/ the OEM Contis. Better in the rain and snow, I hope.

BTW - TireRack shipped the Quatracs to my local NTB store and I was pleased that the store didn't "bump" me for an extra $60 for the install like they did when I ordered tires for my SUV a couple of years ago. I just made sure that I clearly asked them BEFORE installation, if the price from TireRack was going to work or not. It ended up being like $2 more, but that was fine.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by earthwateruser

I searched the threads and didn't see anything related to the Vredestein Quatrac Pro all seasons, hence this post. I just replaced the OEM Conti runflats w/ the Quatrac Pros and my initial impressions are overwhelmingly positive. Super quiet and smooth, but I'll make a final judgment after I put a few thousand miles on them.

Looking forward to trying out the "three peak" winter aspect of these Vredestein all season tires. Kinda surprised nobody else has posted that on this forum.

I considered the Quatrac Pros when I was thinking about taking long road trips. Look forward to hearing how they work out for you.

We had the Nokian WR G2 "all-weather" tires on the wife's grocery-getter Volvo V70 T5. They too had the three-peak winter symbol indicating that they were "Officially approved for winter use". This was when we lived up a steep driveway in New Hampshire. I thought the tire performed satisfactorily year-round. It didn't excel in any particular aspect, but I didn't expect that it would. IIRC, the G2s didn't last as long as I thought they should, but I no longer have the records for the car and might be misremembering it. For better winter performance, we went back to running two sets of tires when the Nokians were done.

[earthwateruser]

So I put close to a thousand miles on my new Quatrac Pros this past week. I'll start off by saying that I bought the H spec tires instead of the Y spec. I generally prefer a smooth quiet ride with handling and stability secondary since most of my driving is relatively low speed on backroads or on the interstate highways. And my 228i is base spec w/ 17" wheels.

The Tire Rack rep (Ross?) that helped me when I ordered the tires was very helpful and told me that the H spec generally had a softer sidewall and would likely be a bit quieter than the Y spec. The H spec is good for 130 mph, so I figured that would meet my needs.

The H spec Quatrac Pros are definitely quieter and more comfortable than the Conti run-flats. The old vibration at 80 mph is definitely gone and the standard NTB balance is just fine up to an indicated 120 mph (it was early and nobody was around). The tires also provided excellent grip in the light wet conditions on some backroads, but I haven't yet driven them in really wet conditions. But I'm pretty sure they will be excellent in the very wet and light snow. I'll update again when I know for sure. And on some extremely tight mountain roads in western NC, they handled very confidently.

So the only issue is stability. I typically leave my 228i in Comfort mode. But on the Interstate, I found that the car tends to wander quite a bit in comfort mode w/ the new Quatrac Pros. They aren't exactly unstable, but the softer sidewall (especially in my 225/45R17 size) is noticeable compared to the old Continental run-flats and I found myself constantly having to make steering input adjustments on the highway. At least I think it's the new tires. Switching the car to Sport mode completely cured that wandering at highway speeds. Maybe it's just the tread squirming around on the new tires. Anyway, I've just adjusted my settings to the Sport chassis w/ the powertrain left in the standard Comfort configuration and it's perfect. Around town, Comfort mode still works just fine, but as soon as I get on the interstate and up to 80 mph or so, it is clear that I need to tighten up the steering by switching to Sport mode. That was never necessary w/ the Continentals.

I'd still choose the comfort of the H spec tire over potentially more noise and vibration of the Y spec. But if handling is a priority and you are interested in the Quatrac Pros, I'd suggest you opt for the Y spec for just a few bucks more.

Oh, I should probably add that the MPG on my trip was definitely no worse than with the Continentals and I think it was actually much improved w/ the new Vredesteins. The efficiency of the 2.0 turbo/8speed on the highway is amazing and I was averaging about 36 MPG for the interstate stints. That is better than my previous 500 Abarth manual at similar speeds!