Tires OEM Audi or FEDERAL

I have Federal Himalaya Inverno K1 on my Highlander and they are boss. Never gotten stuck. Never had traction issues and I can go 120 in a blizzard

Federal 595's are to my knowledge, the best bang for your buck.

I have used the 595-RSR tires for 8 years now, several sets. yes they are noisy, get worse with miles but I noticed the newest ones were even louder! These tires are the ultimate in grip/handling, one of the few that can put FWD power to the ground. Make my cars handle like its on rails and they don't squeal when pushing to the limit around corners. They are so sticky they pick up all the rocks/debris and throw it up in your wheel wells/rockers. I think they are easily one the best handling tire out there. Very stiff sidewalls, but extremely loud (like louder than winter tires). If you can handle the sound and dont expect a lot of miles out of them, go for it.

I've gone through at least 5 sets of 651's over the past 4-5 years of daily driving and autox (07 scion tC & now a 17 BRZ). as a budget tire, really can't complain for learning without breaking the bank.

I really like the federal command tires, they were an amazing price (around 60$ for 2). They also have a very pronounced grind protection lip on the side wall. On a super hot supper day they have amazing grip and wonderful feedback.

My only complaint is because they are a slick tire, you get amazing rolling, but the second there is a dusting of sand on a hard surface you can slip out pretty easy.

The next set of Federal 595 RS-Pro lasted 30k and looked like OP tires.

Chinese snow tires are hit or miss. I had a set of federals for a short while that handled snow great for what they were.

We ran them on our champ car endurance race car. They were ok for what they are. Beware they will get greasy after around 10-15 laps at full pace and grip goes immediately. Caused significant understeer at the limit when this happened.

In size 225/40 (r18), their thread width is comparable to other makers ~205. Well, does it matter? Yes, in the sense that when you install them onto an 8.5 wide rim, you'll notice that you're stretching the fit, and the sweating starts. Installing a tire alone with a basic tire machine is no longer possible.

I got federals once because bills were coming all at once. Worst tires i ever had, so noisy, rough on the road and just didn’t feel great. Snow they were actually great surprisingly.