How bad are all season tires?
 

I might be swapping out the OEM tires soon, and I'm wondering about summer tires vs. all seasons.

I know people say all seasons are bad, but can we be more specific? Are we talking about adding tenths of a second at the track, or will it significantly impact daily driving enjoyment?

I'm leaning towards summers, though it sure would be nice to be able to drive when it's cold (if the roads are clear).

Summer tires are fantastic for daily driving, but so are all seasons. You won't get the amount of grip from an all season that the summer has, but how often are you really on the limit daily driving? All seasons will also last longer than a summer tire and work better when the temperatures get low. I've heard good things about the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3. It seems to be a great all season option with the grip of a lower level summer tire. Kind of the best of both worlds.

Second the pilot sport A/S 3's. I have them, and have nearly worn a set out in 30k miles (which is not my favorite thing about them, to say the least). They grip better in the wet than the stock bridgestone turanzas did in the dry. They've also lasted half the mileage.

Your mileage may vary (of course). Summers will wear even faster than the A/S 3's. I wager you won't notice the difference during daily driving, except in colder months when the summers aren't worth a crap.

Bad all seasons will damage your daily driving experience. They're super cheap tho.

Good all seasons are probably a good compromise for daily driving, and occasional autocross. They cost more than bad ones.

Good summers will turn into pieces of plastic when the weather turns cold, even worse if cold and wet. But they'll be a peach on the track. They'll cost more, probably.

What kind of weather and more importantly temperatures do you normally drive in? a summer tire is terrible in sub 50 degrees. some places like california, texas, florida etc can get away with summers year round. Not too many other places in the states can IMO. you would either need two sets of tires summer and winter, or just run an all season. or get an all season and a track tire setup if you plan on doing several track events a year.

Edit: Googling virginia's monthly temps looks like you have about 5 months a year with avgs under 50. and you get moderate rainfall.

Virginia, so it definitely gets below 50 degrees at times (rarely, below 20, which I've heard is the cracking point of a summer tire). I've been driving my backup car when it was below 40. I don't have space to store another set of tires.

Now I'm thinking about getting good all seasons. This isn't the advice I expected to get, so I'm glad I asked.

I reckon that a good set of all season tires would serve you well where you live and the type of driving you do.

When I DDrove my Miata, had two sets of wheels, one with summer tires and one set with all season tires and I switched twice a year.

When my FR-S was new, I installed a set of all season tires, with the intention of swapping them each year. I found that I liked the all seasons so well, I never switched back.


humfrz

You could go for all seasons, but you could also keep your oem tires for winter/ fall, and the have the summers during warmer months. But if you don't want to swap tires, then you can always get a good all-season. I had Continental DWS-06 tires on my previous FRS and loved them.

I had a set Michelin A/S + (they were replaced by the A/S3) and they feel more like a summer tire than an A/S. I'm not saying they are a perfect tire for everyone, but as tires for DD go, they are really really good, especially if it rains a bunch where you are. Having said that, I replaced the A/S+ with MPSS. And ran MPSS for 5 sets of tires. Im going to get MPS4S next though.

If anything, all seasons with "less grip" would provide more enjoyment, with the added security in the winter and reduced complexity of not having to keep 2 sets of wheels.

As others mention, not all tires are the same. A good A/S tire might offer better performance than a bad summer tire.

The advantage of our cars is low weight and reasonable power. It takes a lot to overwhelm the tires on the street, even if you are speeding. A Mustang GT with A/S tires is probably going to spin tires in 4th and feel really sketch at the limit. In the FR-S, in normal 5-7/10ths driving, you won't see a night and day difference, if any.

I'll advise that I have MPSS and they are excellent in the dry and rain. But you can not drive in even a light dusting of snowl; they generally turn to garbage below 50 degrees. Under 30, you will need 3x the braking distance in a panic stop. However, I've had these tire for almost 30K miles and they are just now at 3/16 tread. They have held up remarkably well even with me dumping the clutch and flinging it through corners.

I think what it mostly comes down to is, speaking specifically to our cars, how hard do you drive?

If your car is a daily driver and maybe you only occasionally hit a back road or take an onramp fast, but you also deal with a lot of cold weather, then A/S is probably a good bet if you don't want to deal with swapping tires or getting stuck in a snow storm.

I had all seasons (A/S3) and I had summer tires (MPSS, Firehawk Indy) and I would never go back to all seasons.

All seasons are fine if you're not about the grip life. They will be quieter, softer, cheaper, last longer. I want to add something though. A summer tire can work very well in the rain, and mild summer tires work fine until freezing temps. The response you get from a stiff sidewall summer tire is amazing, you will notice that every time you turn the steering wheel.

If you really cannot do both, get the Michelin A/S3.

Uhh... unless he is one of the few who got Bridgestones from the factory, his OEM tires are SUMMER tires, and should not be used in winter weather.

After owning both the PSS and the A/S 3+. PSS is better if you like to drive to the limit in street condition and there aren't any snow in the area. A/S 3+ have 8/10 of the grip but with improved performance in the rain and snow. If this is your only vehicle then i would go with the a/s3 +. If you need track tires go with semi slicks instead of PSS.