My brother in law works for a business that gets all their tires from a local place, after looking at a lot of reviews, I was looking at the Potenza 960 A/S PP's. They seem to have good dry grip, but obviously living in Md this winter has been very interesting to say the least with all the snow.

I'm not so much worried about deep snow grip since I only go out in it when it's just a few inches, or after it's been plowed. I've been doing pretty good with my stock advans, but i'm tired of hearing rocks being kicked up all over my car all the time, so my main concern is good dry and wet grip which the Potenza's seem to have good ratings for both.

I can get all 4 for 640.00 mounted and balanced. The tirerack has them for 191.00 a piece. Opinions?

 

hmmmm, no help here lol

 

To get you through the winter months only, I think they're fine because they are some of the best all-season high-performance tires you can get. You could always switch back to the stock Advans when the weather gets better

But, you could also look at dedicated snow tires for the winter months. Just sayin'.

 

yeah, but I really don't have the money to even buy these, I would have to sell the advans to get them... so obviously I don't have the money to buy a dedicated snow tire and rim... which getting the rims would be easier.

 

The RE960 is a good all-season tire. It has a dual-layer tread to keep it's dry traction at it's best even when the tire is half worn. There's a bunch of technology in the tire which will justify it's price, although the tire is a bit heavy.

It's directional, so wet traction will be decent. I'd say if you can't afford a snow/summer setup this would be a great option for you.

 

If you're looking at them as a full replacement, than you just have to be willing to give up a good amount of dry traction. But, you'll gain better wet traction and the ability to safely drive on light snow and drive in sub 40* weather.

The RE960 is one of the best (that and the Pirelli PZero Nero) A/S performance tires available.

So, if you're cool with the performance compromise, I say go for it.

 

yeah, I mean I don't drive the car a lot in snow... but sometimes you just can't get away from it. I'm not so sure when people say "giving up a lot of dry traction" like what would be a good comparison? It's it going to plow like a dumptruck? Is it going to be slightly less than the stock advans? Will I even notice it unless I constantly drive the car hard or track it?

If there is a summer tire that is a little harder, but is great in wet weather, but isn't so soft that it wings rocks all over my car then i'd be willing to look into one of those as well. Any ideas on something like that perhaps?

 

P Zero Nero goes in the same category as Potenza RE050A performance wise which is far from an all season. P Zero in the snow is going to match or get very close to the stock Advans = useless.

On the other hand, I consider all-season tires useless too, because I'm used to driving winter tires in the winter and summer tires in the summer. All seasons - jack of all trades - useless at all of them.

And even the amount of posts commenting how stock advans or similar tires (RT615, Z1 star specs etc) is downright scary. I mean, are you guys really insane enough to EVEN TRY driving in the snow with an extreme performance summer tire? It's like trying to go ice skating in leather shoes....

Edit: for the OP - my vote goes against all seasons of any type - get dedicated winters for the winter, get summer tires for the rest of the year. You'll be happy everytime you see snow with winter tires.

 

P Zero Nero is an A/S tire. RE050A is a summer tire. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....toModel=Lancer Evolution&autoModClar=GSR

 

For everyday driving, you won't notice a difference in handling between those RE960s and the stock Advans. What you will notice is the RE960s will be significantly quieter and will ride softer.

When you get into any kind of spirited driving, that's when you'll notice. And your Evo will feel like less of an Evo on A/S tires. If you go hard into a turn, your rate of speed will need to be reduced vs. the Advans. You'll hear tire squeal a lot earlier with the A/S tires which is going to tell you to back off sooner than you would have with the Advans. I can't give you % difference, but it would be a noticeable feel from behind the wheel.

I don't think you should choose another summer tire since you're in a cold-weather state that gets light snow and routinely dips below 40*. You should look at:

1) Best Option: Dedicated snow or A/S tire for cold months. Dedicated summer tires for warm months. You can keep your same OEM rims. You don't need another set of rims since you can just get the tires unmounted and remounted for about $50. Getting a second set of rims would make it easier for you if you can swing the extra cash. Heck, buy a set of OEM wheels off here for $400-500.

2) Alternate Option: Buy A/S tires and run them exclusively for the entire year. You'll just have to live with some of the compromises in dry traction.

 

i've actually never heard any squeal come from my advans...

Ok if I were to try to find a summer tire that had better grip than the A/S, but was a bit less sticky and wouldn't throw rocks, sand, etc. all over my car... is there a tire that would be good for that and that is still good in the wet as well? A bit of a harder compound perhaps?

 

You're not pushing your Evo hard enough if you haven't made the tires squeal like a pig

If you go with another summer tire, you can't use them in the cold/snowy conditions you'll encounter every winter. They're just flat out dangerous because summer tires turn into hockey pucks once the temps get in the low 30s. And they have zero traction on snow...especially when braking...it's very dangerous.

I say get the A/S RE 960s. You'll like them.

If you want another set of summer tires, what price range are you looking? Since you want something that isn't too grippy, you'll want to stay at the ultra high performance category. Check some of these tires on TireRack:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...ting=S&tab=All

 

i'd probably go with the star specs, i've always heard good things about them on here.

 

I found this to be interesting...

We tested the g-Force Super Sport A/S in the wet-mounted on an Audi A4-and in the dry, on a Lancer Evolution IX. The tire has a respectable amount of grip for an all-season item and almost the same steering feel, response and initial turn-in bite of the A046 max-grip tires-with a hell of a lot more wet traction than any other tire with the same dry grip. Plus, it's a lot quieter than most aggressive and sticky summer tires.

http://www.modified.com/features/071...res/index.html

 

here's a link probably of the same test, but it's on an Evo IX and it sounds pretty good, plus these tires are even cheaper than the 960's http://www.superstreetonline.com/130..._as/index.html