Elephantman_nosefacehead

for anything but the track. What will be the primary advantages to driving on a performance tire vs say a high performance all season one. Can you really appreciate the differences on a public road without risking injury to yourself or someone else? Just a question so try to be nice

Dan Martin

You probably shouldn't go for R compound rubber but you can never have too sticky of a tire.

Braking will be the biggest improvement you'll notice for daily driving. In fact that's the main reason why I want to upgrade the Michelins.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

I will be doing that as soon as I have worn the stock michelin down enough to warrant replacement.

kaikai114

How do you wear down tires enough to get warranty replacement? Or when should you replace it under warranty?

-K

Xtremespeed2102

i think he ment warrant meaning give him a reason to. not under warrenty....


are summer tires better in the rain? i mean down here in florida it doesnt snow so what would be the advantage of getting an all season?

xizor

certain summer tires are great in the rain (some are not). there's no reason at all IMO to get a all season in FL

Dan Martin

If you get enough snow in to justify an all season tire, you've got bigger problems than just driving.

Elephantman_nosefacehead

except maybe that a lot of summer tires only get about 15K of tread life.

kendroz

I replaced the stock michelins with yoko avs es100 on the same size and men that was great!!
I recommend this tire for aggressive daily drive.
I also considering now the Bridgestone RE750 and the Avon M500.

dom

Viking

Check out www.tirerack.com for replacement tires and check out each tire's reviews/ratings.

Selecting tires really depends on how you drive. If you are an aggressive driver you should get high performance summer tires for spring, summer and fall, but you will need a set of snow tires if you plan to drive in the snow.

IMHO, downsides on high performance tires is usually low tread wear and little to no traction in the snow.

vwong

Everyone says the same thing about summer only tires, but my experiences tell me differently. I've had a set of Falken GR-Beta (the earlier one, it's now been discontinued) summer only tires on my Prelude, I was able to get 36k miles out of them. Then I had several sets of tires (Bridgestone S-03, Toyo T1-S) that lasted at least 24k miles. I also had several sets (Falken Azenis, Yokohama A520) that lasted just above 10k miles but that was because they were used on many auto-x events on concrete surface.

Elephantman_nosefacehead

your right, treadlife does vary but one of the features of a summer tire is the tread is softer and thus will not last as long as an all season performance tire all things being equal. You auto-x so they are probably worth it for you but a lot of people never begin to explore the limits of their tires especially on public street and I wonder if we are paying more for performance tires with less treadlife and traction in snow is worth it to the average driver?

05_TSX_GP

I'd like to throw in my related questions about performance summer vs performance all-season.

First of all, I have heard from somewhere before that there's really no such thing as "performance all-season", is that true?

Granted I would believe performance all-season generally gives less performance than summer only ones, but for day-to-day agressive style driving, are performance all-season enough? I think that's the same thing original post asks anyway

Second... my real question A dilemma here in the Greater Van Area. We get lots of rain in the Fall and even Winter, but hardly get any real snow during Winter, even when there's snow, it's like only few days max and melt away within a week; and I don't go skiing or snowboarding, so snow/winter tires during Winter is definitely of no need for me (right?). Then should I go for performance summer (one that's good in wet) and try to use them all year? Or go for performance all-season?

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Think of it this way...a regular all-season tire will use a harder tread compound and a tread design with more sipes for removing fluid. A performance all season will use a softer tread compound but maintain the tread design. The true summer only performance tire will use the soft compound but have a more aggressive tread pattern with fewer cuts.

05_TSX_GP

Thanks.

That sounds like good enough of a basis for me to go for a summer only performance that also does well in wet (they do exsit, right xizor?) - as long as I can also live with the possible shorter tread life and just not drive the car on the handful of snow days here.

LI_NY_1

When "summer tires" are discussed, even aside from actual snow, aren't the cooler temperatures of say below 40 degrees F. important to note, or not? Don't true summer tires get "hard"in the colder weather, making them less effective? Or is this not exactly right?

Or maybe another way to ask is:
at what point in avg. daily temperature should summer tires be swapped out for a/s or dedicated winter?

al8818

1. You never know when you'll be needing all the performance you can get in an emergency stop.

2. You CAN also feel and enjoy the consistent quality differences/nuances of a good tire, not necessarily at its limit.

3. Why assume that we need to risk injury to anyone...what are you implying that we aren't responsible?

4. Tires ARE the SINGLE most effective way to change the performance and handling characteristics of a car. Besides you change them when they are worn anyway...so why not a good set. Surely your life OR that of OTHERS are worth more than a few dollars saved?????

AL

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Summer tires do harden with cold weather, but driving also causes them to warm up. Typically, climes that require true "winter" tires also develop a fair amount of precipitation.

If you drive on summer tires in the cold, just give them sufficient time to warm up to operating temperature before you try anything stupid. If you live in a place that is cold enough that summer tires can't warm up to operating temperatures, you likely will be getting snow soon so throw some winter tires on the car because you will need them.

05_TSX_GP

Good questions, good answers... I think these consolidate my decision further, thanks

During Winter here, temp doesn't stay below freezing (only overnight) on non-snow days anyway, and I surely don't do anything stupid when there could be black ice (no tire would help in these, right?) in the morning drive - I just want to make it to the office on those mornings. Certainly no or very minimal spirited/aggressive driving during that season, just want to get by with one set of wheels and performance tires all year if I can, that's all and seems like I can where I live...

vwong

Some of the summer only tires that are very good in the wet are Bridgestone S-03, Falken FK-451, and Toyo T1-S. These are the tires that I've had experience on. In fact, I had great results using the Bridgestone S-03 and Falken FK-451 in the rain during auto-x.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Well, my suggestion (and my understanding) is that since BC gets snow in the winter, I would recommend that you switch to winter tires starting in around December and get a good 3-season tire.

05_TSX_GP

Thanks for your input... though BC is a pretty big place.

I live in the Greater Van Area, and I don't go up to snow mountains for ski/board, so I honestly hardly drive on snow covered roads at all...

Elephantman_nosefacehead

No what I meant was to appreciate the additional roadholding a high performance summer tire could give you could only be appreciated on a track as you would have to drive too fast on a public street to notice the difference and that could "potentially" be unsafe.

05_TSX_GP

hmm, I see your point to an extent... though you would definitely be able to appreciate the improved braking even on public streets.

And there's no law against hard/late braking into turns You don't need to be at insane speed to execute hard/late braking. In fact, that's one of the things I enjoy doing most in my day-to-day spirited/aggressive (solo) driving

As for higher speed curves carving, I enjoy that on highways with some decent curves, as well as on/off ramps

Xtremespeed2102

hmmmm, well are the summer tires better in the rain? if i were to get new tires i would want something thats got better traction, expecially in the rain. tread life too is also a concern, but can you go wrong getting summer tires to get better rain traction?

xizor

I wouldn't say they're better in the rain, some summer tires are prone to hydro-planing which can cause accidents very easily. check out tirerack's reviews of wet performance.

Xtremespeed2102

true, becuase after driving around here its been raining for the past week and i cant tell you how much better i would feel if i had some better tires on it.... but then again we did go for a month or two without any rain, so i mean there should be some sport summer tire that is good for only rain n warm weather..... correct?

Alin10123

Had RE750's on my 99 540.
They are a GREAT tire. Very quiet and seem to grip well both in dry and wet.