Quote:
Originally Posted by spuggy
All season don't do anything well, MHO.
Buy some real winter tires and go as hi-perf as you like (or your wheel sizes permit) for the other 2-3 seasons (depending on your local climate). I really like Falken RT615K+ - but the manufacturer says you can't deform the carcass at all - not even roll the car around or change tire pressures - if temps are under 40F, IIRC...
I drove a set of Kumho Esctas in patchy slush once (hey, it was sunny when I set off), and it was nerve-wracking, but not outright terrifying. 2 years later, the same tires felt like they were going to kill me in 40F temps with light rain.
That's when I bought my first set of Continental Winter Contacts; awesome tires.
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Spuggy -- I was a long-term all season tire hater -- hated everything from the p7000 all seasons I tried on my 911 when I moved to Colorado (sucked for performance tires, sucked in the rain, sucked in the snow) to the continental all seasons that came with our Touareg back in 2004 (immediately swapped them out for dedicated summer and winter tires. Subsequently ran through half a dozen sets dedicated snows and dedicated summer tires on my 911.
Last tire swap (when both my continental extreme contact DW summer tires and nokian wrg2 winter tires were at wear limits), I took a leap of faith and, on the VERY enthusiastic advice of several forum members, tried the Michelin a/s3+ all season tires. Was ready to be let down again, but . . . instead, with around 10k miles on them now, remain a CONVERT -- don't get me wrong, they don't provide 1/10th the confidence in the ice/snow as my dedicated winter Nokians did (but they did allow me to successfully navigate some VERY hilly snow covered residential streets in Golden when I made a wrong turn during a surprise blizzard), but that's probably a good thing, as I. now use our 2004 Touareg when the roads around here get winter-crappy. Other than that, I've found these Michelin all season tires to be more predictable at their limits than my prior continentals DW tires (and I liked the DW tires enough to go through several consecutive sets), to drive GREAT in both hot and (most importantly) very cold weather and to provide a surprisingly compliant ride (again, subjectively better than my prior continental summer tires).
The michelins aren't perfect -- understand they won't stand up to track or a/x usage -- but for a daily driver, they're pretty darned close -- Plan to stick with them when it comes time to replace (though they continue to wear shockingly well and likely have another 10k miles to go).