All seasons or summer tires?

[Bluemustang]

Are there any all season tires with grip comparable to a summer tire? I want to replace my AS Pirelli tires which aren't doing me any favors, but I don't want to have to buy 2 sets of tires for summer and winter. I live in the DC area so dealing with snow is reality.

I can't hookup when going into 2nd gear and generally have degraded traction. I have an upgraded suspension and I need some tires that will make it work more. I'm considering all seasons but what is the grip like compared to a leading summer tire?

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[NightmareMoon]

For me its always been summer tires or summer + winter tires. All seasons are good for nothing

Summers are usually good for everything but snow where they are straight dangerous, all seasons are only marginably passable in snow/ice. While I'd rather rent a car than drive a mustang with summer tires on snow/ice, it just seems like a shame to put all seasons on a perfectly good sports car for the 51 weeks of the year that dont have snowy roads in the DC area.

 

[sigintel]

Excellent thread Op!
Its like holy grail of tire questions.
Options if I may suggest?:
1. Fresh all seasons every fall.
2. All Season + Summer/Track ( non freeze compatible)
3. All season + Summer ( wide temp range )
4. Winter + Summer ( wide range )

Notes:
There are some Summer/Track compounds that will crack or be damaged if allowed to freeze. These compounds are also dangerously hard below 55F ish and tires may have warning stickers to such effect.. Ie NT01, etc.
There are traditional summer compounds that are wider range that will structurally survive a freeze but still warn the compound is inappropriate in "near freezing"; ie MPSS

As you heat cycle an all season, the compound is typically designed where it may cross link further and stiffen the compound. This is typically more pronounced if you drive it hard into the summer as this may make it harder. Thus, if you like performance, you could just get fresh DSW06 every fall and drive them real hard in the spring and they will be ok in the summer. If you have all seasons like pirelli stockers that are below 5/32, try driving them hard and get some heat in them and you might find they perform better after a dozen substantial heat cycles. There are a couple dual compound tires out there; And if you include the sub tread compound below 3/32 you could say there are 3 compounds in some cases. Thinking about how the compound changes, it is wasteful to get new all seasons in early Summer (worst possible timing).

Some notable tires:
All season performance with decent snow:
Conti DWS06 (proven extensive history and market bench mark)
Supposedly the new Michelin AS3+ has gotten closer to the Conti snow performance

All season with cold wet weather but infrequent snow:
Michelin AS3 (current gen). This tire has higher dry grip above freezing vs the Conti DWS06

Full on snow:
Blizzaks, hakepelitas, yokohamas

Summer (> 45F overnight and significantly better traction above 60F):
Michelin PSS, NT05/NT05R

Summer Track(>55F overnight and >70 preferred):
NT01, RE11, AD08, RS3, etc.

 

[mumbles]

Are there any all season tires with grip comparable to a summer tire? I want to replace my AS Pirelli tires which aren't doing me any favors, but I don't want to have to buy 2 sets of tires for summer and winter. I live in the DC area so dealing with snow is reality.

I can't hookup when going into 2nd gear and generally have degraded traction. I have an upgraded suspension and I need some tires that will make it work more. I'm considering all seasons but what is the grip like compared to a leading summer tire?

Obviously AS tires are going to be a compromise over over separate summer tires and winter tires. I have heard nothing but good about the DWS06s, but they are expensive. I went with the BFGs in my sig and have been very happy with both wet & dry performance... I cant speak to snow cuz... well I live in Atlanta

 

[VinnAY]

One key part with fall/winter is do you need snow/ice traction or is your area more about freezing temps. An all season would be better if you get little snow and ice but have cold/very cold temps. I do have a snow/ice set but will replace my summers with an A/S, probably the BFG Comp 2 A/S or the Pilot AS3 as the temps here are a lot more than the snow/ice.

 

[dgc333]

A full on winter tire will be far superior to an All Season on cold dry pavement, cold wet pavement, icy pavement and snow covered roads.

All Seasons get much closer to the performance of a summer tire with much better longevity.

Even the vehicles that I own that came with All Seasons get switched to winter tires in late October.

 

[2015Etrac]

Has anyone driven the stock summer tires during NE winters? I'm in PA and have the stock summer tires on my 20in Foundry wheels. I have a Jeep I can use in the snow, but are the summer tires unusable even on cold days without any snow or rain? I really can't afford new tires right now.

 

[Cascadia_302]

Are there any all season tires with grip comparable to a summer tire? I want to replace my AS Pirelli tires which aren't doing me any favors, but I don't want to have to buy 2 sets of tires for summer and winter. I live in the DC area so dealing with snow is reality.

I can't hookup when going into 2nd gear and generally have degraded traction. I have an upgraded suspension and I need some tires that will make it work more. I'm considering all seasons but what is the grip like compared to a leading summer tire?

I didn't want to deal with running mushy winter tires for 4-5 months as we can have temps below 45-50° from Oct to Apr and getting any snow is never a sure thing.
Thought about doing a summer and A/S set-up but then having my 6GR wheels/summer tires off the car for that amount of time wasn't an option either.
It just made more sense to go with A/S's year round, my choice was the BFG's g-Force COMP-2 A/S (285/35-19). I've been totally impressed with these tires so far, very good dry traction along with good sidewall stability.

Here's some testing info/data and ratings from Tirerack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/surveyresults/surveydisplay.jsp?type=UHPAS

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/testDisplay.jsp?ttid=200

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=BFGoodrich&tireModel=g-Force+COMP-2+A/S

 

[kz]

For me its always been summer tires or summer + winter tires. All seasons are good for nothing

Summers are usually good for everything but snow where they are straight dangerous, all seasons are only marginably passable in snow/ice. While I'd rather rent a car than drive a mustang with summer tires on snow/ice, it just seems like a shame to put all seasons on a perfectly good sports car for the 51 weeks of the year that dont have snowy roads in the DC area.

This exactly.

 

[sigintel]

Has anyone driven the stock summer tires during NE winters? I'm in PA and have the stock summer tires on my 20in Foundry wheels. I have a Jeep I can use in the snow, but are the summer tires unusable even on cold days without any snow or rain? I really can't afford new tires right now.

You cant afford to wreck the car either. Please dont run summer tires below 45F.
Really bad idea as it puts you at massive disadvantage to any traffic around you.

 

[SpeedLu]

Get you some Continental ExtremeContact DWS tires. I use DW since I never get snow down here, but the DWS are the all season version. Good traction in rain, dirt, wet roads, dry weather, and snow... all seasons. It's a perfect year long tire.

 

[RitzGT]

Are there any all season tires with grip comparable to a summer tire? I want to replace my AS Pirelli tires which aren't doing me any favors, but I don't want to have to buy 2 sets of tires for summer and winter. I live in the DC area so dealing with snow is reality.

I can't hookup when going into 2nd gear and generally have degraded traction. I have an upgraded suspension and I need some tires that will make it work more. I'm considering all seasons but what is the grip like compared to a leading summer tire?

I also live in the DC area. Neither of those choices is going to be particularly useful in anything more substantial than a light a dusting. However, a good set of all season tires should be the better of the two in a pinch. I've had pretty good luck with Continental Extreme Contact DSW06 tires on my A8 and have just put a set on the Mustang to tide me over until I get my Boss302 rims and wider tires. The stock Pirellis were starting to get really noisy at 21k miles. I ended up going with 255/45/18's which are within 1% of the stock size and about 3/4 of an inch wider than the originals. I won't be driving it around in the snow, but I have no doubt they'll easily outperform the factory Pirellis.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...8DWS06XL&vehicleSearch=false&fromCompare1=yes

My local Walmart tire center ordered them for me @ $188/each.

That ought to at least get you around once the roads are plowed. I personally just hop in my truck or the Audi when there's a hint of snow or ice.

Good luck!

 

[RitzGT]

Has anyone driven the stock summer tires during NE winters? I'm in PA and have the stock summer tires on my 20in Foundry wheels. I have a Jeep I can use in the snow, but are the summer tires unusable even on cold days without any snow or rain? I really can't afford new tires right now.

They are passable as long as there's no snow or ice. I wasn't paying attention and got stuck at work with about 1/2" of snow on the roads here in the DC area. The Pirellis with about 15k miles on them were barely adequate on the highway driving like a granny and I almost got stuck in a couple of spots in stop and go traffic on an incline.

Not recommended at all.

 

[VinnAY]

I drove my summer PZeros in cold weather but never, ever, when it was wet. Under ~40 degrees they're fine if you take it easy, and I mean only in the context that it turned cold a few days but was dry, not as a rule.

 

[Bluemustang]

The thing is I want to get new rims and tires. I already decided I want RTR Tech 7s, 19s. But if I go with summer tires, I won't be able to use them much at all before winter hits - then have to buy another set of tires that will fit the new rims.. This starts getting expensive.

I'm considering just going all seasons and sacrifice some dry traction.

We can sometimes get a lot of snow here, so snow is a factor. And it gets below 30 quite a bit, so summer tires will not hold up in that weather.

I'm really in a conundrum because I don't like any of the options.

I think the best / most economical choice is all seasons all the way around. Continental DWS 06 or Michelin PS AS3+

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