What do you look for in an all season tire?

[Leymenaide]

Sparta MI = 9 months winter 3 months piss poor sledding.

Toyo real snows . I have run them year round and changed at 60-80 K. If you plan on keeping the car for a long time 2 sets of tires and rims make for a good deal. You have to price it out.
All season in MI. You are playing with all of our lives.
I have driven well over a million miles most of it between Wisconsin and Prince Edward Island.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Low cost, quiet smooth ride, decent wet weather performance (no hydroplaning) that's pretty much it.

I don't give a fuck about performance. That's what the bike is for. Oh, and it is Pirelli Diablo Rosso IIs on that.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Doesn't it get down to freezing in every part of California? Northern California has a real winter too

Very rarely here in SoCal. It does up at higher elevations, we will see snow down to about 5,000-6,000' but along the coast it almost never gets that cold.

 

[jagec]

Your life truly relies on the tires and brakes for your car. These are two aspects you should NEVER cheap out on. It's amazing to me that people will spend the money for full synthetic oil, all this other jazz, then go for high rated "discount" brand tires. The extra couple bucks spread out over ~50k miles is a no brainer.

Highly-rated tires don't care how much they cost or what brand is on the sidewall. I agree that people shouldn't cheap out on tires, but spending more doesn't always get you a better tire. The rating and online reviews ARE what you should care about.

Unless by "rating" you mean treadwear, in which case I agree that high treadwear rating discount tires are CRAP.

 

[Howard]

For the all-seasons I buy for my Accord (has to do road trip duty, so needs to be able to deal with huge variations in weather in a single trip), I look for longevity, puncture resistance, speed rating, ride/noise quality, grip, and turn-in responsiveness. The Michelin Primacy is the best bang for the buck. Yes it costs more up front. But 80,000 real-world miles of aggressive driving, off-road excursions, 110 degree top-speed salt-flat runs, snowy mountain passes, and daily commuting are well worth the price. No, it doesn't grip like a summer tire. But it does every else superbly, and I have another set of tires (on another car) for when I want max lateral g.

MXM4 or MXV4?

 

[Jumpem]

I just buy a set of Blizzaks or Michelin X-Ice the first winter I have a new car. Swap back and forth betweent hose and the stock all-seasons. By the time the original tires are needing replacement, the car has 80k to 100k miles on it, and is ready to go. So the short answer is I have never bought a new set of all-season tires.

 

[michal1980]

I normally buy winter tires. But for my leases gs they were all in the 350+ price range each. So I'm going to try the khumo exscta 4x. I dont have to drive when the roads aren't plowed so I figure those will work.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I'm not a fanboy of many things, but with tires I've gotten to where I only buy michelin.

I've found that other brands (conti, BFG) make good tires here and there but you have to really read subjective reviews and even then you run a risk of a crappy tire.

With michelin, I just buy the tire that matches my needs and it's perfect. This has applied to everything from motorcycles to trailers to sports cars.

Your life truly relies on the tires and brakes for your car. These are two aspects you should NEVER cheap out on. It's amazing to me that people will spend the money for full synthetic oil, all this other jazz, then go for high rated "discount" brand tires. The extra couple bucks spread out over ~50k miles is a no brainer.

I used to think like you do but I've tried the expensive Michelins and also run the cheaper brands like Riken and Kumho and I've never experienced any safety issues with the cheaper brands.

There is very little difference on your average car so why spend the money? We're talking $1000 for 4 Michelins vs $600 for the other brands. That's $400 out of my pocket. That's no small amount of change.

 

[michal1980]

I used to think like you do but I've tried the expensive Michelins and also run the cheaper brands like Riken and Kumho and I've never experienced any safety issues with the cheaper brands.

There is very little difference on your average car so why spend the money? We're talking $1000 for 4 Michelins vs $600 for the other brands. That's $400 out of my pocket. That's no small amount of change.

i would say in general a michellin is a much more consitent brand then something cheaper.

 

[SilthDraeth]

Just posting this, as it was what I was about to buy, but then I found a set of used tires at a wrecking yard that looked almost new, and got set of four for $160. I normally wouldn't buy used, but I just need them to last a year, and I drive very little. This is probably what I will be buying when I get new ones in a year.

100k warranty on these. No idea really if they will make it that long. But if they last 5 years or 60k miles I would be happy.

https://www.onlinetires.com/products/vehicle/tires/maxxis/225%2F60-16+maxxis+ma-t1+escapade+98t.html

$96 a tire, set of 4 shipped to me would have been $460.

 

[JulesMaximus]

i would say in general a michellin is a much more consitent brand then something cheaper.

I never had any consistency issues with the cheaper brands. My last set of tires was a set of Riken Raptors, the fronts I replaced not too long ago due to vibrations probably because of an alignment issue and lack of rotation on my part and that was after almost 40,000 miles but the rears have well over 40,000 miles on them and they are evenly worn and still provide decent service.

I recently put Continentals on the front and those were cheap. I'm planning on going with the same when I replace the rear tires too. I've had this car for 9 years and 120,000 miles and I've never even had a single flat tire as long as I've owned this car.

The Continentals I put on the front a few months ago are the 4th set I've put on this car. First set were the OEM Bridgestones, I replaced those with Michelin Pilot Sports at $1000 for the set. Next up were the Riken Raptors and now I'm on the Continentals. I'll do the rear tires soon but they will probably be the last set of tires I ever buy for this car.

I got around 35,000 out of the OEM tires, 40k out of the Pilot Sports, and around 40k out of the Riken Raptors. My car runs 225/55ZR-17s all around.

No way the Michelins would be worth the money. They weren't worth the money when I bought them 6 years ago and they aren't worth the money now.

 

[phucheneh]

I never had any consistency issues with the cheaper brands.

Unfortunately, even Michelins have consistency issues nowadays. I've refused to complete pre-delivery inspections before because the Michelin/Bridgestone/ect tires had way too much runout and were making the car shake.

So they get someone else to sign off on it. Sad but true.

Or I just put the shittiest tires on the rear and tell them to have fun dealing with the customer after their first tire rotation.

 

[SSSnail]

A lot of people swears by the Conti DWS extreme performance. Seems like it has longevity as well as performance, online reviews are mostly positive, which has an average rating of over 8 out of 10. I'm going to try that next. My Potenzas, while good, but didn't last very long, I'm about to have to replace then again after only 12k miles.

 

[exar333]

I just buy a set of Blizzaks or Michelin X-Ice the first winter I have a new car. Swap back and forth betweent hose and the stock all-seasons. By the time the original tires are needing replacement, the car has 80k to 100k miles on it, and is ready to go. So the short answer is I have never bought a new set of all-season tires.

My wife has Blizzaks and I have the Michelin X-ice. Both are fantastic. I have heard that the General brand from Discount Tire has very good winter tires for a very good price as well.

Buy your winter's in October/November and you can usually get a great price. If you wait (at least around here) until later in the winter, stock is low and deals are few and far between.

 

[Howard]

Just picked up a set of 225/45/18 Primacy MXM4 for $150 each. Let's see how that works out.

 

[bruceb]

I like Pirelli as my tire of choice. Next would be Michelin. Goodyear is decent for normal cars. If you do heavy snow in winter, consider Blizzax or Conti Contacts as all snow tire.

 

[mcvickj]

This thread sure did explode. I appreciate all of the info. I ended up purchasing a set of Dunlop Signature II tires from RHD Tire. $450 out the door. So far I've been very happy with the way the car rides and the noise level. We will see how they do when winter arrives. Once I get my own place where I can store a set of tires I would consider investing in some dedicated winter tires.

 

[Fenixgoon]

A lot of people swears by the Conti DWS extreme performance. Seems like it has longevity as well as performance, online reviews are mostly positive, which has an average rating of over 8 out of 10. I'm going to try that next. My Potenzas, while good, but didn't last very long, I'm about to have to replace then again after only 12k miles.

what kind of potenza's? i'm running RE050A's and have ~25k on them, including ~10 autocross events.

 

[Howard]

Just picked up a set of 225/45/18 Primacy MXM4 for $150 each. Let's see how that works out.

Oh, man, the ride is WAY better than my old 245/45/18 Exclaim UHP tire. Tire noise is much quieter and bumps are attenuated significantly. Didn't see any increase in MPG (in spite of LRR) but only have driven for a day. Will report back in a week.

 

[Ferzerp]

My wife has Blizzaks and I have the Michelin X-ice. Both are fantastic. I have heard that the General brand from Discount Tire has very good winter tires for a very good price as well.

Buy your winter's in October/November and you can usually get a great price. If you wait (at least around here) until later in the winter, stock is low and deals are few and far between.

I have blizzaks. I couldn't wait to get my summer tires back on. However, I guess that would be true of all winter tires though....

 

[SSSnail]

what kind of potenza's? i'm running RE050A's and have ~25k on them, including ~10 autocross events.

RE760 Sport. They are 255/35/18 on my rear tires, and I haven't even driven them hard since I've here in SF.

 

[olds]

Depends on the vehicle.
If it's for my truck, an aggressive tire that won't be too loud on asphalt.

I've found BF Goodrich Radial TAs to be awesome. Also Firestone Destination ATs.
I had an F250 4X4, 7.3L PSD that would climb walls with them.

For my car, any name brand that has high ratings for water and wear.

 

[CraigRT]

Read reviews.
I rock all season tires for summer now, for tread life and quietness (and price) and winter tires for winter.

I like General and Cooper for budget brands. The Pirelli P4 is also decent apparently.

 

[JEDI]

When you are shopping for tires what do you look for in an all season tire? Brand? Warranty? Price?

I spent the money ($126 x 4) for some Goodyear Assurance TripleTred tires. Bought them back in April of 08 and the odometer had read 100,229 at time of install. Now I'm a little over 155k and they are starting to get close to the wear bar. I rotated the tires every other oil change but needless to say I haven't gotten the 80,000 miles that I had hope. I do probably 80% city driving and 20% highway if that matters. I have an 03 Impala with 225/60/16 size tires.

I've been looking on Tire Rack / Belle Tire / Discount Tire sites this morning to get an idea of what I want / read reviews. I'm expecting to pay around $110ish a tire again.

i look at wet traction.
all tires work reasonably well on dry pavement.

i use tirerack reviews.

my Michelin MxV4 is rated 60k, i'm at 70k and close to the wear bar. (maybe 3/32" left)
30% city/70% hwy

 

[mmntech]

I'm not a fanboy of many things, but with tires I've gotten to where I only buy michelin.

I've found that other brands (conti, BFG) make good tires here and there but you have to really read subjective reviews and even then you run a risk of a crappy tire.

With michelin, I just buy the tire that matches my needs and it's perfect. This has applied to everything from motorcycles to trailers to sports cars.

Your life truly relies on the tires and brakes for your car. These are two aspects you should NEVER cheap out on. It's amazing to me that people will spend the money for full synthetic oil, all this other jazz, then go for high rated "discount" brand tires. The extra couple bucks spread out over ~50k miles is a no brainer.

I put Michilin Harmony tires on my Civic last season to replace my old Firestones. Difference was like night and day. Better handling, smoother ride, less road noise. They're more expensive but I think they're worth it.