evo_dan

There is no such thing as an ultra high performance all season tire that does well in both dry and snow. If you get a lot of snow where you live, forget about all season tires, get snow tires! An all season tire will also really hurt your performance during the summer on the dry as it will not even come close to a performance summer tire. In my opinion, all season tires are ok for beater cars that you don't really care about, but have no place on a high performance car if it going to be driven spiritedly.

SinGin

iTrader: (1)

I see this everytime there's snow fall. On almost every single forum regardless. It's the tires, not the car.

(I am so holding back from calling you a dumbass. )

SRD

you would figure someone from maine would know that! haha
even though he kinda saved himself, saying it probably is the tires!

SubEd

GR-VIII

I prefer the best performing all-season to a winter tire.
In the Chicago area we get quite a bit of snow, but it doesn't stay on the road that long. That is why I don't like snow tires. They are loud, lower gas mileage, wear quickly when there is no snow on the ground and are designed to run on snow not on dry roads, which by the way, for most of winter the roads ARE dry maybe a bit wet. I always run highest performance all-season and have had no problem in the winters. You have to select the proper all-season as they are not all created equal. Tire rack reviews have great information.

As far as summer tires, if you want the all out performance, then get a set of summer tires to use for the 5 months (May-Sept) when we don't get snow.
The Sumitomo HTR+ are extremely excellent all season tires. My buddy has an SVT which had conti-contact sports, a summer type high performance tire.
He replaced them with the Yoko's. Performance was nearly identical with a better and quieter ride and good tread life.

GR-VIII

ShapeGSX

My snow tires have lasted me 4 seasons so far. I expect to get another 2 seasons out of them at least. Just don't go nuts with them.

You will never get the performance of a snow tire out of an all-season. And both suck for dry weather performance.

The trouble is that there aren't many 17" snow tires available. And there aren't many 17" rims that will fit over the Evo's brakes. So your choices are rather limited.

evorammer

? I wonder if a 15 or 16" in wheel with the proper offset will fit on the rear hub?
Then, hard cores like me swap the 4 piston 12.7" rotors for a set of new 2 piston 11.9" rotors on the front? Then we could put smaller than 17" on. I personally would love to put a set of 16" or even 15" with 195 patch on this car!! Would be wicked in the snow.

jimmyv65

iTrader: (8)

I prefer a HP all season to a full snow tire. I agree with the earlier point that even in winter you typically are driving on wet roads. They still do well in the snow.

GR-VIII

I'll respectfully disagree. High performance, even Z speed rated, all season tires are quite good to excellent in dry performance. The type of tire on the EVO is actually overkill for regular street use even in high performance use.
The Advans are basically nearly a track tire with tread.
Modern all season high performance tires are amazing. Modern compounds not only provide longer life and stickier grip, but also use formulations that keep the "rubber" from becoming too hard in cold weather thus allowing the tire to grip even in cold dry roads. And, with computer aided tread design these tires bite the snow and kick out pieces keeping tread clean, while using silica and other ingredients to give awesome wet road traction.
All season technology for the daily use has advanced quite a bit.

The only time, I see, to use purpose built summer only tires is when taking your car to the track and need the ultimate in grip while not minding the ultra quick wear. Snow only tires are for places where roads are not normally plowed such as northern Michigan or northern Wisconsin and such places that have roads are not plowed during the winter. But then, with the best all season high performance tires and AWD, needing snow tires may be overkill as well especially if your taking a trip to somewhere where they do plow the roads in winter and the roads are dry. You'll want to have tires that actually give you performance.

It's a give and take, but all season tires are simply amazing these days.
Tire Rack has some excellent information on these types of tires.

This is just one's man's opinion, but it's shared with many.

GR-VIII

WestSideBilly

iTrader: (1)

Except that you really don't want this. Ideally, the tread blocks fill with snow and use the packed snow as tractive devices. Siphoning fluid out of the tires is desirable in the rain but not in the snow. This is why snow tires kick the pants out of all-season tires in the snow.

ShapeGSX

All season tires are a compromise in both snow and in the dry. I autocross on the same summer tires I daily drive with in the Spring, Summer and Fall. They usually last me 1.5 to 2 years.

All season tires have tread blocks that are too small for high performance driving.

And in the winter, I rely on my snow tires (going on 5 years of use) to get me home when it snows a ton while I am at work. There are many hills in the city on my commute route. All seasons do not cut it. I see tons of cars with all season tires try to make it up these hills, only to turn back. I won't compromise my car's traction in the snow.

KINGEVO7

why not just get straight winter tires and then swap back to the advans when all expexted snow is done .

well i have never seen snow but i do know i wouldn't want to drive in it

Mary-Kate Olsen

All you people saying all-season tires are acceptable in the snow are wrong. There is no comparison. Real winter snow tires are much better then any all-season tires.

Sure most of the time you are driving on plowed roads. But what do you do if it snows two feet when you are at work? Do you just wait for the road to be plowed? No thank you.

For performace cars the blizzacks LM-22 work great. I used them on my Supra last year and never had any problems.

GR-VIII

Sure most of the time you are driving on plowed roads. But what do you do if it snows two feet when you are at work? Do you just wait for the road to be plowed? No thank you.
*********
Ah, but that's when quality all-season tires really shine.
NO. I've never had to wait to have the roads plowed and I've never been stuck either. One more thing, you also have to know how to drive in snow and it's not just about tires. Been driving on these roads for 21 years and all-season are my tire of choice. The one in a couple times when it's snowed so bad that you can't drive, then you really shouldn't be on the roads anyway. But, that's rare, it happens but rarely. I don't compromise the majority of my driving for the once in a blue moon day.

I live in the outskirts of Chicago. I think I'm more than qualified to speak on the effectivness of all seasons in the snow and dry.

And as far as "packing snow in the tread" to get better traction, well, I know that the tires that work best for me move the snow away.
Again, snow doesn't sit on the streets very long and most of the time the snow is really slush. Having tires that can combat that is more important.
I don't drive on snow packed roads and I live in what would be "country" areas around the city.

I'd rather the consistent and smooth ride of all seasons than the loud ride of the winter tires. And, when the roads get cleaned, as they do fairly quickly, I'll take my all season performance over the lack-luster dry performance of "snow" tires.

I'm repeating myself. Too much on this topic already.

GR-VIII

SRD

Nokian makes a set of tires that are considered all-season...but also pass snow rating. Basically in Finland they're only rated as all-season, but in the US they are considered snowtires.

They are by no means a true snowtire, like Blizzak or the Hakka Qs, but they will work significantly better than any other all-seasons!

GR-VIII it is all about the tires.
Personally I rally race on the club level, and i've tried both all-season and snowtires. Let me tell you, it is night and day. This isn't even in deep snow! maybe a few inches. In deep snow, forget it, never gonna get a car to move with all-seasons, never mind turning.

Granted in racing you wanna be going fast. On road driving you're not trying to go fast...
In the northeast especially this past year...I've seen so much snow, they can't keep up...so snowtires are worth it. Especially to get to work and back.

For me personally when it snows, I go out driving, most fun time to go driving! No cars on the road! Nothing like driving on snow!
So on my EVO... Nokian Hakka WRs only!