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Summer vs. All Season Tires - No Snow Here

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Ferzerp said:
I always overanalyze tires! Tires and brakes. My life is worth the extra (at least to me). I'd skimp somewhere else on expenses before I skimped on these items.
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Sure, if you're driving at 10/10ths on a race track I'd totally agree but he's not. He's driving at normal speeds on public roads and pretty much any DOT legal summer tire will perform well enough to keep him safe in the conditions he is driving in.
 
Insomniator said:
If it doesn't get cold or snow, I don't see the problem with summer tires if they are 200 dollars cheaper and you don't drive much anyway. Though, they usually wear down faster then all seasons no?

I've always used good all season (Michelin or Bridgestone) and really... have never had a problem with traction in dry, wet or freezing conditions. I'm not sure what people mean by 'not enough grip' when you are driving around town. Are they racing to work or to the grocery store? Or are they using no name $30 walmart tires? Snow is another story, I have constantly read that winter tires make a WORLD of difference... but you don't have to worry about that.

I'm tempted to get those V12's on sale for next summer but only because have an extra set of wheels w/ all seasons for this winter. Can't really beat 76 bucks a tire!
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Some high performance cars come with really sticky rubber stock and those tires can be really tricky to handle on very cold roads because they need to be warm to give the level of grip normally expected and it can catch a driver out on a cold day when they're used to that level of grip.

This really isn't the OP's situation though.
 
In my experience summer tires turn into hockey pucks around 35-40 degrees with no grip and a very hard ride. Make sure whatever tire you get has a compound that can tolerate your overnight low temperatures because that's what they'll be at when drive in the morning due to thermal inertia.
 
My recomendations would be Pilot Super Sports or Conti DWS. I don't say DW because I would go with the PSS over the DW... DWS if you need an all season for colder weather. I have DWS's on my car right now... and MPSS on the second set of rims.
 
Anything below 50ish gets interesting on summer tires. Unless you have a huge need for the additional performance of summers in the summer I'd stick with all seasons for your area.
 
Never had a problem with summer tires in rain or temps around 40 degrees. The only ones that were crap are the Goodyear runflats on my Corvette.
 
KentState said:
Never had a problem with summer tires in rain or temps around 40 degrees. The only ones that were crap are the Goodyear runflats on my Corvette.
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Googling suggests 40 degrees is the minimum recommended temp. FWIW I read an article that winter tires outperform all seasons below about 50. Its not summer tires in cool temps are like running bald tires in deep snow. Just there are better options if you're a one tire for the whole year kinda guy.
 
I remember driving in RS3s when it was in the low 30s.. not fun at all. Had to make it to an autocross though and didn't want to swap tires at the site.
 
I live down in Georgia and while the past few years we've had ice/snow its mostly hot humid summers and wet winters. So far I've had the follow tires on my car:

Bridgestone Potenza RE050As (stock)
Toyo Proxes TR1s
Continental Extreme Contact DWSs
Kumho Ecsta 4Xs (replaced rear Conties)
Hankook Ventus V12s (replaced front Conties and rear Kumho's)
Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3s (current)

For the price I was most pleased with the Toyo and Hankook tires and so far I'm enjoying the Michelins but I only have about 2k miles on them.
 
Leyawiin said:
Well, the deed is done. Bought a set of Cooper Zeon RS3-A. Seemed to be the best review (professional and user) that I could get for the lowest price. Won't get them installed for a week though.

http://us.coopertire.com/Tires/Performance/ZEON-RS3-A.aspx
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Those are the ones I linked to before and also have on my CTS. I wanted all season performance but still wanted a tire that could handle well. So far in dry and rain they have worked great, much better than the factory tires my car came with.

I think you will be very happy with your choice, I am so far. We'll see how they do in snow soon.
 
All-season tires tend to last longer than summer (performance) tires, especially since they more frequently come in non-directional format. Other than that, it's just a toss-up between cost vs grippiness vs tire wear.
 
Jimzz said:
Those are the ones I linked to before and also have on my CTS. I wanted all season performance but still wanted a tire that could handle well. So far in dry and rain they have worked great, much better than the factory tires my car came with.

I think you will be very happy with your choice, I am so far. We'll see how they do in snow soon.
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Found them at Pep Boys for $160 a tire installed. That's with the required road hazard and TPMS rebuild to get the "buy three, get one free" promotion. Plus there's a $60 MIR on them. I was pretty shocked how expensive tires are now - this was about the best I could do for a well regarded all-season.
 
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