All season vs Summer Tires

[Ernest72]

Originally Posted by Tokay444

All seasons are terrible, in all seasons.

Not true, plenty of decent all seasons. They are a compromise for sure. Let’s be honest very few need the best of everything at every moment and every season.

If you can afford it, get a winter/summer setup. Although not much winter for the OP. If you live in milder temps but still cold sometimes you could do all seasons in the winter.

Go to tire rack or other tires sites and read reviews. I have had contis and Michelin’s and both were great summers.

If it’s just a DD, most tires will do. If it’s also a weekend spirited run car, then maybe some better tires will be more fun.

Here in NY I have a set of PS4s for summer and BFG comp2 A/S for winter. On the BRZ, but I also have an 04 WRX with snows for the winter and recently tried the General summers and they are great so far.

I have driven the BRZ in snow on the all seasons, not great but you will get home if you are not an idiot.

Also if you want more fun(oversteer) get less grippy tires. The comp2 are more playful than the PS4s, but the PS4s handle turns so well.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Mrt1990

Hi Everyone,
It's time to change the tires on my BRZ. I have stock rims, and am looking for something that'll grip well, somewhat low road noise, and doesn't wear out too fast (not sure if all can even be in one package..). I live in Southern California. So there won't be any snow.. I was looking at Summer tires, but they seem to wear out way faster than all seasons. I never do any tracking. So I'm wondering if there's a big difference in performance between all seasons vs summer tires in daily driving. What do you guys think?

For sure you can get all of what you want, decent grip, not too loud, long life in one tire, and there are likely a lot of summer tires and all-seasons that will fit your desires and usage envelope. IMO, Ultra High Performance All-Season is probably best category to look in, most summer tires will have a lower treadwear rating and typically no treadlife warranty.

One note: you might give up some responsiveness and handling feel in order to have a very quiet tire, but presumably low road noise is the priority.

Tire Rack is an excellent resource for information, they have a lot of test data and also a lot of customer review data which gives good insight into road noise and tire life. Here's how some UHP all-seasons compare according to customer surveys, sorted by road noise:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/surve...rt#ratingsSort

[JD001]

I've just replaced my OEMs with Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric 5, it's a nice tyre. Smooth and quiet with lots of grip dry/wet. And they look good on the car.

[mrg666]

Originally Posted by JD001

I've just replaced my OEMs with Goodyear Eagle Asymmetric 5, it's a nice tyre. Smooth and quiet with lots of grip dry/wet. And they look good on the car.

I also have just installed all season version of Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric. They are very smooth and have very good traction. But I lost 2 mpg after General GMax tires I had ... which is okay.

There are very good tires around. I don't insist on certain brands when replacing tires to save money. So far, I have tried Yokohama Advan, General G-Max, Bridgestone Potenza, and Goodyear Eagle F1. All are good. Who knows what will be next. I can only say it will not be Michelin. They are always the most expensive.

[candygram4mongo]

If you have a Costco membership, the Michelin PS A/S 3+ is on sale right now ($70 off of 4 plus 1/2 price installation, 45K mile warrantee). A little noisy, but wear well. A lot of people think the PS4S actually has a more comfortable ride despite the performance rating.


This may not apply to you, but a lot of average Californians (not car people) seem to think summer tires don't have good wet traction because it doesn't rain here in summer. The A/S rating has to do with cold and light snow traction.

I have some no name Chinese tires on mine right now that came from the stealership when I bought the car 10K miles ago. Anything is better than them.

I'll be in the same boat as you in about 5K miles. Good luck.

[Tokay444]

Originally Posted by Ernest72

Not true, plenty of decent all seasons. They are a compromise for sure. Let’s be honest very few need the best of everything at every moment and every season.

If you can afford it, get a winter/summer setup. Although not much winter for the OP. If you live in milder temps but still cold sometimes you could do all seasons in the winter.

Go to tire rack or other tires sites and read reviews. I have had contis and Michelin’s and both were great summers.

If it’s just a DD, most tires will do. If it’s also a weekend spirited run car, then maybe some better tires will be more fun.

Here in NY I have a set of PS4s for summer and BFG comp2 A/S for winter. On the BRZ, but I also have an 04 WRX with snows for the winter and recently tried the General summers and they are great so far.

I have driven the BRZ in snow on the all seasons, not great but you will get home if you are not an idiot.

Also if you want more fun(oversteer) get less grippy tires. The comp2 are more playful than the PS4s, but the PS4s handle turns so well.

There is not one single "All season" tire on the market that will out perform even a mediocre season specific tire in it's specific discipline. Why compromise where the rubber meets the road?

[86TOYO2k17]

MPS A/S 4 is out and improves on the already great A/S 3+
But given the option i would do a MPS4s

MPS A/S 3+ / 4 are better than a lot of summer tires. But you’ll almost always get more performance for your $ with a summer tire vs A/S

[Ernest72]

Originally Posted by Tokay444

There is not one single "All season" tire on the market that will out perform even a mediocre season specific tire in it's specific discipline. Why compromise where the rubber meets the road?

Reread my first three sentences. I agree except most don’t need ultimate performance. In fact my A/S are way more fun than my PS4s.

[justalex]

I do run an all-season tire on my vehicles but I have noticed that summer tires provides a better a grip during hot season. I've used Continental PremiumContact summer tires before, now I am running Hankook Ventus all-season tires.

[Mrt1990]

Thanks for all the recommendations guys. After some research I'm leaning towards firestone firehawk indy 500. They seem to check all the boxes based on the reviews.. UHP summer tires, decent tread life, good performance, not much road noise, and pretty affordable. The reviews for them seem to be off the charts, also tire rack test results and ratings seem to be great too: https://m.tirerack.com/tires/surveyr...y.jsp?type=UHP
I still have michelin PS a/s 3+ at the back of my mind since Costco offers a $110 discount on them, but I'll probably go with the firestones as winter is mild in San Diego and I'll most likely get better performance from them. Besides they're $550 out the door + I get a $60 rebate with them.

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by Ernest72

Here in NY I have a set of PS4s for summer and BFG comp2 A/S for winter. On the BRZ, but I also have an 04 WRX with snows for the winter and recently tried the General summers and they are great so far.

I have the same BFGs and can confirm they are great. Very responsive and predictable, not a ton of grip (which is fun for me lol) and have lasted through 2 summers and 5 winters. Downside is they aren't very quiet and they are heavy.

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Tokay444

There is not one single "All season" tire on the market that will out perform even a mediocre season specific tire in it's specific discipline. Why compromise where the rubber meets the road?

Good UHP all-seasons will run rings around lower-performance summer tires in any conditions.

All-seasons are going to be the best choice for a lot of people, the idea that they're no good in any conditions is just wrong. For sure if you know you will be driving on snow/ice during winter months, winter tires are the way to go. But if you won't be tracking the car, and you *might* end up having to drive in light snow, and if tire life is important to you, you're not giving up much if anything in terms of warm-weather grip going with a good UHP all-season vs. a summer tire.

[ZDan]

FWIW here are test results for Indy 500:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=235
And for the PS a/s 3+ on the same car:
https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests...y.jsp?ttid=230

Indy 500 generally do a little better in the dry, a/s 3+ do a lot better in the wet.

Originally Posted by Mrt1990

Thanks for all the recommendations guys. After some research I'm leaning towards firestone firehawk indy 500. They seem to check all the boxes based on the reviews.. UHP summer tires, decent tread life, good performance, not much road noise, and pretty affordable. The reviews for them seem to be off the charts, also tire rack test results and ratings seem to be great too: https://m.tirerack.com/tires/surveyr...y.jsp?type=UHP
I still have michelin PS a/s 3+ at the back of my mind since Costco offers a $110 discount on them, but I'll probably go with the firestones as winter is mild in San Diego and I'll most likely get better performance from them. Besides they're $550 out the door + I get a $60 rebate with them.

[Tokay444]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Good UHP all-seasons will run rings around lower-performance summer tires in any conditions.

All-seasons are going to be the best choice for a lot of people, the idea that they're no good in any conditions is just wrong. For sure if you know you will be driving on snow/ice during winter months, winter tires are the way to go. But if you won't be tracking the car, and you *might* end up having to drive in light snow, and if tire life is important to you, you're not giving up much if anything in terms of warm-weather grip going with a good UHP all-season vs. a summer tire.

Dollar for dollar they won't.
Put a UHP A/S up against the appropriately priced UHP Summer, and run the same comparison.