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First autumn/winter in Seattle... tires?

chedder

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I drove my 5.0 and now my GT350 on Michelin Super Sports all winter. Leave traction control alone, use a taller gear and light on the throttle. Lived here 6 decades. Snows maybe 4 times, gone pretty quick on side streets but main roads are usually open. My 2 cents.
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NoVaGT

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I drive on UHP Summer tires year-round. Might miss a day or two of work.

Tires are extremely important, but so is learning how to drive in weather.
 

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Continental DWS06 will be your best bet for the PNW valley. I work remotely from Vancouver and have been fine on all seasons for the last few years. Even two years ago when the snow was really rough (for this area), no issues with an all season. They also work so much better in the 40-60* and damp weather we have ALL THE TIME when compared to summer tires.

All seasons do not suck, nor should they be considered no-seasons any longer. Today's ultra high performance all season tires are very good and rival summer tires of years past in terms of dry performance and will blow them away in the wet, not even in the same league when it drops under 60* or so.

The Michelin A/S 3+ is probably the best performing all season out there in the dry and wet, but gives up some light snow performance to the BFG Comp2 A/S. Continental DWS06 is the undisputed king of snow capability from an all season, but you give up a tiny bit of wet and dry performance. It boils down to what you value most. I personally run the BFG Comp2 A/S through late fall, winter, and early spring with great success.

- Cory
 

ElAviator72

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I use Hankook Ventus S1 Nobles here in Portland on my Ecoboost PP car in the winter...excellent wet traction. They're all season, but I got around just fine in the SNOW we had starting in December 2016 and continuing through Feb. 2017...with my tires naked. They're available at the Point S tire shops up here :thumbsup:
 

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So what I'm reading is that unless it actually gets down to freezing temperatures, winter tires don't help. And when temperatures are warm enough, summer tires are always better in the rain than all season or winter tires (this is not true of R888s which, even though they are used in the rain on the track, aquaplane at much lower speeds than summer tires). They become problematic at around 50 degrees and not much use (can even crack) below 40. So for most of the year, I can run summer tires, and even some days in winter i'd be able to get away with summer tires. But using them on the few days when its icy would mean damaging the tires. That suggests switching to a different tire around october. All season or winter? As long as it's not actually freezing, all season tires stop faster and corner much better than winter tires. And if it freezes, I'm just not gonna drive. So all seasons for my second set. R888 for the summer.
 

ElAviator72

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So what I'm reading is that unless it actually gets down to freezing temperatures, winter tires don't help. And when temperatures are warm enough, summer tires are always better in the rain than all season or winter tires (this is not true of R888s which, even though they are used in the rain on the track, aquaplane at much lower speeds than summer tires). They become problematic at around 50 degrees and not much use (can even crack) below 40. So for most of the year, I can run summer tires, and even some days in winter i'd be able to get away with summer tires. But using them on the few days when its icy would mean damaging the tires. That suggests switching to a different tire around october. All season or winter? As long as it's not actually freezing, all season tires stop faster and corner much better than winter tires. And if it freezes, I'm just not gonna drive. So all seasons for my second set. R888 for the summer.
All season handles 95% of the weather up here...snow tires would be for the rare moments when nature unelasheth her fury via frozen precipitation (rare, but it does occasionally happen here...)
 

Dave TBG

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So what I'm reading is that unless it actually gets down to freezing temperatures, winter tires don't help. And when temperatures are warm enough, summer tires are always better in the rain than all season or winter tires (this is not true of R888s which, even though they are used in the rain on the track, aquaplane at much lower speeds than summer tires). They become problematic at around 50 degrees and not much use (can even crack) below 40. So for most of the year, I can run summer tires, and even some days in winter i'd be able to get away with summer tires. But using them on the few days when its icy would mean damaging the tires. That suggests switching to a different tire around october. All season or winter? As long as it's not actually freezing, all season tires stop faster and corner much better than winter tires. And if it freezes, I'm just not gonna drive. So all seasons for my second set. R888 for the summer.
You've got most of it right, but I can't agree that summer tires are better than all-seasons in the rain. Summer tires are the best when it's warm and dry out and they are OK when it's damp out, they aren't that good when it's wet or cold out. A good high-performance all-seasons tire can come very close to the summer tire when it's warm and dry and is generally better in cold and/or wet conditions. The all-seasons will have the ability to channel more water out of the way to avoid hydroplaning and won't be negatively impacted by evaporative cooling.
Even on the track, it's nearly impossible to warm up wer tires on a wet surface. I participated in a DE a number or years ago that was a good example. Early April in Connecticut, light rain on-and-off, 40 ish, probably pretty similar to your winter. I probably had the slowest car in the group by a good margin. Most of the cars were on summer tires or DOT slicks, I left the all-seasons on. I ran the dry line and had no problem passing much faster cars while they struggled to stay on the wet line.
 

Apex Wheels

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Summer tires are very temperature dependent. The disclaimers they put on the product pages about performance under 50* or 60* aren't just there for legality, they really do not perform that well once the temps start to drop. The Michelin Pilot Sport 4S is probably the best street oriented summer tire out on the market today. But below 50* or so it's all season brother, the Pilot Sport A/S 3+, will have more grip due to the rubber compounds they construct them from. This is where all season tires shine, between 30-50*. Below that a performance-oriented winter tire, like the Michelin Alpin PA4, will be your best option even on clear pavement.
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