Best Tires For a Stock FR-S That I Don't Skid In

[Byte11]

I bought a used FR-S (yay!) and it had the Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 tires on them. They're garbage. I've never skidded in any other car before, but with these on I've skidded at low speeds, high speeds, around turns, going straight, accelerating from 0, rain, no rain, ice, no ice, you name it, I've skidded in it. This morning I skidded 5 times (one of which I felt really out of control on) and I've had it.

I need some good tires that have good performance and can hold their own in winter. Sometimes there's a little unexpected snow or ice, so I want the tires to hold up, but I'm not really going to be driving in snow. I will be driving in rain, though (not too fast).

I need some tires that give me the best performance with these constraints. Their longevity is fairly important as is it being from a fairly reputable company. The less noise, the better, but I can deal with noisy tires.

[churchx]

From googled up those seem to be grand touring all-seasons. What size those are?

There are no weird suspension mods or bad alignment by chance (eg. toe-out, that may make it rather unstable on road)? Was car completely stock when you bought it? All is OK with tire pressures?

For me this car skidded a bit more then other cars on similar tires, but mostly because i drive it faster due feeling more subjective confidence from low CG/less roll/rather good handling. I'm sure, that if i'd drove as slow as in cars before, grip might be on comparable levels.

From all seasons i've heard often well spoken of michelin pilot A/S3. Hmm. From googled up average weather in Kansas .. hmm .. awg temps ~ -5C+/-5, sometimes snow .. i might consider also using real winter tires.

[Gunman]

Mich Pilot Sport A/S3+, was a big improvement over stock for me.

[wparsons]

The stock primacies are summer only tires, so if you're getting winter weather that's the whole source of your issues. Not sure how cold it gets where you are, but if it's consistently under freezing you'd be better off with dedicated winter and tires

[JazzleSAURUS]

It really sounds like you need dedicated tires. These cars shine with nothing less than a high quality summer tire.

The absolute LAST thing you should settle on with a car is tires. It's what connects you to the road, and with that, it's what allows you to feel the road. I'd put on softer springs and dampers before I compromised the tires on my car.

It sounds like you won't be driving in snow, but on your 10 day forecast I see temps all the way down to 4 degrees. I'd grab some actual winter tires with an alignment for your stock wheels, (or steelies if you like your stock wheels,) and grab a summer wheel you like with a decent summer tire. Something more mild but still enthusiast oriented like the Hankook V12, all the way up to a Michelin Pilot Super Sport would be my recommendation.

What cars have you had in the past? They can help us inform why this car feels so different. If you're coming from open diff FWD cars, and you get in a Triplet on some all seasons when it's cold out, I'd be surprised if you weren't shocked at the chirping, sliding, and traction control light yelling at you.

Edit: For winter tire recommendations, I'd look at the following - Cheap: Altimax Arctic 12 - these tires are really inexpensive, dig through wicked amounts of snow, and are a dream to go snow sliding with. They are a bit more wallowy, and are not a performance tire. But for the money, who cares. They do great in all conditions, the dry you can tell the sidewalls are a bit soft, and in the wet you can tell they aren't a rain tire, but they do fine on either surface. Best overall: XIce 3 or Blizzaks - These tires are both excellent. I am a big bridgestone fan, but the Blizzaks don't wear well enough for their price imo. They do however balance the ice performance of the XIce 3, and snow performance of the Altimax arctics well. I would choose the XIce 3 for a DD tire, or one where you need a winter tire but don't plan on going out during storms all the time. The best period(.): Nokian Hakkapeliata - You don't need these tires, but they are literally the best at everything and their price shows it. They also don't wear great, but are better than the blizzaks in my experience.

[dutchman1]

Tires that work on everything (all seasons) are always a compromise, by nature.

Summer tires want to be more sticky, tolerate more heat, and have stiffer sidewalls to deal with the lateral loading caused by the increased traction.

Winter tires want soft sidewalls (conforms to the road/snow/whatever better), a compound that performs better in the cold, and lots of tread to grip on softer surfaces like snow.

The rubber used in winter tires will overheat in the summer, and the rubber used in summer tires will harden and not provide much grip in the winter.

All season tires are designed to be able to handle everything, but by definition don't excel at anything.

Optimally you'll get a good summer tire, and a good winter tire. Run the summer tires all year, and then when the mornings become frosty, switch to the winters till it warms up again.

That being said, you'll still notice an improvement from what you have now by switching to a sportier all season tire, like the Michelin A/S or the Continental DWS.

[JazzleSAURUS]

Originally Posted by dutchman1

Tires that work on everything (all seasons) are always a compromise, by nature.

Summer tires want to be more sticky, tolerate more heat, and have stiffer sidewalls to deal with the lateral loading caused by the increased traction.

Winter tires want soft sidewalls (conforms to the road/snow/whatever better), a compound that performs better in the cold, and lots of tread to grip on softer surfaces like snow.

The rubber used in winter tires will overheat in the summer, and the rubber used in summer tires will harden and not provide much grip in the winter.

All season tires are designed to be able to handle everything, but by definition don't excel at anything.

Optimally you'll get a good summer tire, and a good winter tire. Run the summer tires all year, and then when the mornings become frosty, switch to the winters till it warms up again.

That being said, you'll still notice an improvement from what you have now by switching to a sportier all season tire, like the Michelin A/S or the Continental DWS.

Solid info, I would even consider running a decent summer tire year round, then switching to a more aggressive all season that can handle a bit of snow, and treating it as a snow tire. (Conti DWS would do okay, but I'd look at something like the Nokian WRG3, or Vredestein Quatrac 5. More aggressive, designed more to do decent in winter than in summer, but that won't matter if you have dedicated summer tires, and it's no biggie if they happen to be on your car and it's 95 degrees out. The winters are still a better choice, but this may be a valid balance for you as well if you avoid poor driving conditions.

[tyler_win_photo]

+1 for Continental DWS if you experience cold enough weather for ice

[Byte11]

I just fixed the tire pressure a couple weeks ago. It's fine right now. The car was dealer leased when I bought it and I can't find anything that isn't stock. I'm 99.99% no mods have been done to it.

I'd prefer to buy a tire that is sold at Costco (they sell Michelins cheap, so I can buy quality Michelins) and I don't want to keep switching tires during the year. I can deal with some skid during the winters, but I really don't want to see skidding year-round.

The Michelin Pilot A/S3+ Sport looks really good.

One thing I will say is that this is the coldest time of the coldest winter we've had in the last few years.

[PandaSPUR]

I use my Conti ExtremeContact DWS06 all-seasons all year round here in NYC.

I've only driven in at most 2-3 inches of unplowed snow, and the coldest weather ive used em in is 5-10 degrees. Will obviously skid if I do something stupid, but otherwise I love em.

Dedicated summer and winter sets are always the better choice if you have the space to store and swap them twice a year (I dont).