by "gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
Published 03/26/2017 at 16:16
by "gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
Published 03/26/2017 at 16:16
Tags: tires
STARS: 0
Spring supposedly started a while ago, and it seems like we’re not getting any more surprise snow. So it’s time to buy some tires, and stop wearing my winters. Who has summers/all-seasons that they like? I’m in a temperate rainforest climate, so wet traction is at least as important as dry traction. That likely rules out any summer tires, or at least most. I have Michelin X-Ices on right now, and I like them a lot. They have really good wet and dry traction, and I’d be perfectly happy on them year-round if not for the rubber wearing faster because winter tires. So I’m looking for something at least as good as the X-Ice in the wet and dry, which shouldn’t be hard to find in an all-season. The Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ looks really good, and Costco has them $200 cheaper than getting them shipped from TireRack. They’re also only $3 more per tire than the Premier A/S. Still, it would be nice to spend less than $740 on tires. What are your thoughts?
"E90M3" (e90m3)
03/26/2017 at 16:21, STARS: 2
I’ve got A/S3's on the front in my M3, I think they’re pretty good.
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
03/26/2017 at 16:25, STARS: 1
Dunlop direzza ZII star spec. Summer tires that put all seasons to shame in the wet grip category, and are equally fantastic in dry. I’ve ran them year round in rainy capitol Seattle, where in the past year we’ve gotten 100% of our average yearly rain in 5 months.
There don’t seem to be a ton of sizes, but if you can find them in a size that works I’d seriously recommend them. They also handle sub-freezing temperature surprisingly well. Just stay out of the snow
"BLCKSTRM" (BLCKSTRM)
03/26/2017 at 16:37, STARS: 1
Pilot Super Sports.
There may be some 200 treadwear tires that are a little better (seriously though, just a little), but I got 30k out of my last set, which is what they’re warranteed for. And they are fantastic in both wet and dry.
If you’re doing a lot of track events AND need to be as competitive as possible AND you don’t mind having to get new tires every year, the Star Specs are supposed to be a good choice.
If you want them to last a couple years and still deliver 98% of what you get with the Star Specs, the Pilot Sports are fantastic.
For “normal” tires that need to last more than a single year, I don’t think there’s a better choice.
You may even be able to use the PS4S, which is even better, but they’re only making them in a couple 19" sizes right now.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
03/26/2017 at 16:57, STARS: 0
I hear many good things about them, but I feel like they’re probably overkill for a Legacy wagon. The Super Sports I mean. I’m definitely liking the look of the non-super sports. But I’ll definitely look into them and see what sort of prices I can get, thanks!
"AestheticsInMotion" (aestheticsinmotion)
03/26/2017 at 17:01, STARS: 0
Fair point. I get spoiled on tire life with a 2000# car...
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
03/26/2017 at 17:20, STARS: 1
I’ve put General Altimax RT43's on two cars now, and about to be a third. Great all around all season at a very reasonable price.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/26/2017 at 17:32, STARS: 0
Let me recalibrate your thinking.
“Summer” tires are more accurately described as “3-season” tires. Many have excellent wet grip. What makes them not all-season tires is they don’t work in the snow and can tend to lose grip on temperatures consistently below 40 F.
All-season tires make an attempt to provide snow and sub-40 F traction.
I wouldn’t go for full-on autocross style 200 tread wear rating summer tires, as they aren’t necessarily the greatest in wet, but short of that, go ahead.
But, if you still want all-season performance tires, check out the BFG Comp 2 A/S. I put a set of them on my wife’s Impreza and they are very nice for an all-season tire including in the winter. There’s a bit more tread noise than a non-sporty tire but nothing out of the ordinary among performance tires.
For summer tires, well that depends on how aggressive you want to go.
"Scary__goongala!" (corymagee)
03/26/2017 at 17:47, STARS: 2
Just recently got BFG Sport Comp 2s. Very happy with them and every review I’ve read praises their wet weather abilities.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
03/26/2017 at 17:56, STARS: 0
Fair point, I guess I’ve thought of all-seasons as “3 season” tires, and reserved proper winters for use during the winter. But if there are summer/performance tires that do well in the wet, that could be worth looking into. I’ll look into those BFGs, thanks!
"DC3 LS, will be perpetually replacing cars until the end of time" (dc3ls-)
03/26/2017 at 18:19, STARS: 1
I’m seconding Scary’s recommendation of BFGoodrich Sport Comp 2's. Except I’m writing a research paper here!
First the word of mouth stuff. They provide a lot of grip over your standard all-seasons. Can’t say to much about other summer tires since I haven’t driven many. Also they maintain superb traction in the wet. I had them on year round living in the PNW (PSW for you I guess.) and never had issue in the rain or light winters.
Furthermore they provide excellent steering feel over all-seasons. IMO this reason alone justifies these over all-seasons.
Okay according to tire rack. The Michelin X-lamos are rated at 8.8 for both hydroplaning and wet traction proof while the BFG Sport Comp 2's got 8.7 and 8.6 on hydroplaning and wet traction respectively (and are ranked AA the highest for wet traction ( proof! ).
Furthermore the BFG’s aren’t that expensive, $79 USD for 215/55-16s. The only draw back is that it’s tread wear is 320. But 1) They are well worth it for the boost in performance. Remember not just grip, but steering feel too. (Side note, you may loose a few MPGs with these.)
Fear not though! Because if the tread wear isn’t good enough for you there is still BFGoodrich’s g-Force Sport COMP-2 A/S (note I’ve never driven these, but they’re just the A/S equivalent) with a tread ware rating of 400 and they maintain an AA rating for wet traction. Although they are $90 at the same size as the summer equivalent, also aren’t available in 15" sizes.
TL;DR: Get the BFGoodrich G-Force Sport Comp 2's
"random001" (random001)
03/26/2017 at 18:32, STARS: 1
Pilot super sports.
"random001" (random001)
03/26/2017 at 18:32, STARS: 0
No, they are perfect tires for everything.
"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
03/26/2017 at 18:56, STARS: 1
I’d suggest looking through some of Tire Rack’s tests, watching some of their videos, and picking based on that and what matches your needs best. In my case that resulted in me getting the Continental ExtremeContact DWS 06. I wanted a tire that gave good performance in the wet and the dry, but could also handle temperatures below 40 (because it’s not uncommon where I am to get cold days/nights before/after the snow season) and be able to handle light snow in case any early/late storms caught me off guard. At the time the DWS 06 was the best tire in that category, though it looks like the updated Pirelli P Zero All Season Plus has taken that honor
in the latest test.
If your needs are similar to what mine were you should check out the test results in the link I just mentioned, as well as
watch the comparison video,
which adds input on things like feel and noise.
I will say that, while I’ll probably go with the Pirellis next time around (unless one of the other brands has released a tire with even better results by then) one of the things I really like about the DWS tires is that it has said letters carved into the tread at different depths, and when a letter disappears, that means the tire’s ability to perform in the respective condition (Dry, Wet, Snow) has been noticeably reduced. Easy way to keep track of the wear and the remaining performance level of the tires.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
03/26/2017 at 19:04, STARS: 1
I’ve heard very good things about both those tires, and I totally forgot about them. I’ll check out videos, that’s a really good idea
"Dusty Ventures" (dustyventures)
03/26/2017 at 19:08, STARS: 1
One of the annoying things about Tire Rack tests is they only test three or four tires at a time, even though there’s usually more than ten in the category. This means you’ll have to look at three or four sets of tests to find the ones that really scored the best.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/26/2017 at 19:53, STARS: 1
If you have winter tires, and you want performance tires for the rest of the year, there’s no reason to get all-season tires. Generally speaking, you’re giving up normal-temperature dry traction in exchange for snow/ice/low temp traction. Even though I like the BFGs on my wife’s car, I chose them because she wanted one set of tires to run year round. BFG makes a summer version of the Comp-2, and there are plenty of other summer tires that will also be good choices. Off the top of my head, in no particular order: Firestone Firehawk Indy 500, Kumho PS91 (I have these), Continental DW if you want something a bit comfier but still grippy.
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
03/26/2017 at 20:39, STARS: 0
I don’t necessarily want performance tires, I have a pretty slow car, I just want really good wet traction and I figured an all-season would be better at that than a summer, but it sound like I’m wrong. I’ll look into those ones too
"gmctavish needs more space" (gmctavish)
03/26/2017 at 21:54, STARS: 0
From what I can see, they don’t even come in my size. Also they’re very expensive, and I have an auto, non-turbo Legacy wagon
"BLCKSTRM" (BLCKSTRM)
03/26/2017 at 23:09, STARS: 0
That is a SUPER cool feature!
"BLCKSTRM" (BLCKSTRM)
03/26/2017 at 23:38, STARS: 1
Others have indirectly mentioned this, but most “summer” tires are excellent in the wet. Guys will use these tires we’re discussing for “rain slicks” on race cars.
Where they really fall off is when it gets cold. You don’t need all seasons if you already have snow tires, though all-seasons may have higher treadwear than these super high / extreme performance tires we’re discussing. And they’ll get you later into the season, too - I hate using my snow tires on dry pavement. Summer tires are like the plastic rear wheels on Razor Drifter go karts when it gets below about 40-45 degrees.
"random001" (random001)
03/27/2017 at 06:47, STARS: 1
I DON’T CARE GET NEW WHEELS THEY ARE THE BEST TIRES EVER!!!!
Wait....what just happened....
Whoa...
What were we talking about? Oh, right. Tires. The A/S 3's are really good. My FIL runs those and they feel nice.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/27/2017 at 10:26, STARS: 1
Honestly unless you’re specifically interested in performance tires, I wouldn’t bother with any of them, summer or all-season. Because there are plenty of regular all-season tires that are good in the rain, and they’ll be more comfortable, quieter, and longer-lasting than performance tires.
The General Altimax RT43 is a perfectly good regular tire. I almost bought a set for my wife’s car. Only reason I didn’t was because my local Discount Tire had them backordered. The BFGs were readily available, and since she puts such low miles on her car, and it had a comfy ride on the mediocre OE tires, I figured we could go with the sportier tire and not worry about the treadwear.